The more things change, the more they stay the same in the Northeast 8.

Norwell, Columbia City and Bellmont have ruled the conference more or less together for going on a decade and their knock-down, drag-out battles with one another are annually some of the best games in the area.

Last season, it was Bellmont, with a team compromised in significant part of freshmen, that emerged from that brutal gauntlet, running through conference play undefeated to capture its first NE8 title since 2019 and surprising even coach Andy Heim, who predicted some “growing pains” for a his young roster.

“I knew they were good; we’ve been working with them forever, they’ve been a pretty cohesive unit going through,” Heim said. “But they just hit the ground running.”

It was Norwell, though, that had the las

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