By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

The Niles football team is hoping to be back at full strength Friday night when it hosts Portage Central in a Big 16 Conference non-divisional contest.

The Vikings fell to 1-2 following a 48-0 loss to St. Joseph.

Niles is expecting to have quarterback Cameron Sly back under center and wide receiver Myles Busby back in the line up against the Mustangs.

Sly missed the second half of the Vikings’ loss to Marshall two weeks ago with a dislocated shoulder.

Busby is returning from a one-game suspension after being ejected for fighting against the Redhawks.

Game notes
• The Vikings scored 50 points in their season opening victory over Coldwater, but have only managed 18 points since.

Niles scored all of those points in the first half against Marshall and have now gone six quarters without scoring.

• On the defensive side of the football, Niles gave up just 35 points in its first two games, but allowed 48 points last week to the Bears, who are averaging 36.6 points per game.

Brandywine game notes
• Brandywine continues to struggle offensively this season, averaging just 7.3 points per game.

• The Bobcats may have even more trouble scoring Friday night at Coloma as it will play without a pair of starters.

Dustin Sater (running back) and Dustin Bell (offensive line) will both miss Friday night’s Lakeland Conference game against the Comets after being ejected for fighting last week.
• While the offense has struggled, the Brandywine defense has actually played pretty well.

Despite spending a lot of time on the field, the Bobcats are allowing just 18.3 points per game on defense.

• Brandywine continues a tough stretch of games to open up the league portion of their schedule.

Brandywine opened with Berrien Springs last week on the road and heads over to Coloma on Friday night. The Bobcats will then face Edwardsburg, Buchanan and Cassopolis before finishing up with River Valley and Bridgman.

The Eddies, Bucks and Rangers are all conference contenders, as are the Comets and the Shamrocks.

Buchanan game notes
• After picking up its first win of the season last Friday night, the Buchanan Bucks are sitting atop the Lakeland Conference, along with Cassopolis and Berrien Springs.

• Buchanan scored 26 points against Bridgman, which is six more than it had scored in the previous two games combined. The Bucks may also have found a running game in junior Cordel Johnson and senior Adam Byrdak. The two combined for 295 yards rushing.

• Three of the Bucks’ next four games are against conference contenders