5A & 6A Regional Finals do not disappoint.

[psaboy]

1 hour ago, Justasportsfan said:

Their kicker hit big kicks last night..one being from 37 yds out..ik he missed an xp n they went for two rather than attempting to tie yet mathematically speaking it made sense..his kick with under a min left was clutch..

I think their kicker hit one big/good kick, not sure about "kicks"??. Anyway, I wanted to make point that special teams play is huge in playoffs,

[Justasportsfan]

Ehh..in hs 37 yds in a regional game could be seen as "big/good"..the other with a minute left could definitely be seen as "good"..some may have shanked a chip shot when attempting the presumably game winner..I agree special teams play is major in november...Westfield kicking bombs in the rain years ago still brings agony...

Edited November 12, 2023 by Justasportsfan
grammatical error

[Bobref]

11 hours ago, Boilernation said:

The Merrillville DB who broke up the final play in the EZ deserves as many helmet stickers as possible. It looked like a Valpo TD as time expired before the Pirate DB hit the Valpo WR and broke up the pass. 

I have seen the Hudl video. Sorry to have to say, but the play by that DB was actually a foul for unnecessary roughness against a defenseless receiver. Since time expired during the down, there should have been an untimed down after half the distance enforcement.

[Komets2727]

2 hours ago, Bobref said:

I have seen the Hudl video. Sorry to have to say, but the play by that DB was actually a foul for unnecessary roughness against a defenseless receiver. Since time expired during the down, there should have been an untimed down after half the distance enforcement.

I thought so as well, nasty hit. I think Merrillville players thought there would be a penalty as well judging by their reaction when nothing was called

[Boilernation]

11 hours ago, Bobref said:

I have seen the Hudl video. Sorry to have to say, but the play by that DB was actually a foul for unnecessary roughness against a defenseless receiver. Since time expired during the down, there should have been an untimed down after half the distance enforcement.

Can you share the link to the HUDL video you’re referencing? 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Boilernation

[Bobref]

7 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

Can you share the link to the HUDL video you’re referencing? 

Unfortunately, I can’t. You need a Hudl account. If you have one, I can share it with you. But there was a clip from the live stream on the Indiana High School Football Fans Facebook page that shows it well enough. I’ll try to find it. The person who posted that clip was extolling the virtues of the DB who dealt out the “big hit.” Unfortunately, those Sports Center hits on defenseless receivers are fouls at the high school level.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Bobref

[PHJIrish]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:03 AM, Boilernation said:

And I hope the Irish faithful look back fondly on O’Neils final game as a QB in what seems like 7 seasons of football. That kid took a beating last night and fought to the final whistle. 
 

 

This Irish faithful was honored to see most of Danny O'Neil's games the past three years!  He was amazing with his arm and his legs, when not banged up.  He had some young receivers this year, and of course he missed having Jaron Tibbs as his go to receiver.   The Irish lost four games this season, and the were all to highly ranked teams.  The only double digit loss was an early season loss to Brownsburg.  I just hope I'm still around for next season!  I'll be climbing to the top of some more stadiums if I am.

[RegionFBFan]

In my opinion, his issue was not lack of receivers this year but their offensive line looked bad vs BD.

[CoachMack219]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:47 PM, Bobref said:

I have seen the Hudl video. Sorry to have to say, but the play by that DB was actually a foul for unnecessary roughness against a defenseless receiver. Since time expired during the down, there should have been an untimed down after half the distance enforcement.

Watching it live, I felt that should have and would have been called given how the last drive was officiated (3 holds on Valpo during the game winning drive attempt). I truly don't know if all of those were holds or not, I'm not going back to find out either, but it seemed to me that the crew was not afraid to throw a flag in a big moment which is why I thought the flag was coming for unnecessary roughness. I was about as shocked as the Merrillville players. Helluva game, and a well officiated one (when I was watching), just tough to not get that call there (if you're a Vikings fan). 

[Boilernation]

On 11/12/2023 at 9:16 AM, Bobref said:

Unfortunately, I can’t. You need a Hudl account. If you have one, I can share it with you. But there was a clip from the live stream on the Indiana High School Football Fans Facebook page that shows it well enough. I’ll try to find it. The person who posted that clip was extolling the virtues of the DB who dealt out the “big hit.” Unfortunately, those Sports Center hits on defenseless receivers are fouls at the high school level.

Here's the link from Region Sports. Go to the 2:57 mark. I slowed down the speed and took the attached screenshot. #4 for Merrillville was already in position to make a playon the ball just as the Valpo WR caught the ball. It's hard to tell fromt the angle if the Pirate defender only hit the hands/arm/ball or the helmet of the WR as well. 
 

Would you still consider it a foul if he didn't hit the WR's helmet? 

https://www.ihsaatv.org/regionsports/?B=744109

[BTF]

No dog in this fight. Play went too fast for me to conclude anything. One things for sure though, Valpo not making that play had nothing to do with a penalty. 

[Bobref]

On 11/12/2023 at 8:16 AM, Bobref said:

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Bobref

[Bobref]

1 hour ago, Boilernation said:

Here's the link from Region Sports. Go to the 2:57 mark. I slowed down the speed and took the attached screenshot. #4 for Merrillville was already in position to make a playon the ball just as the Valpo WR caught the ball. It's hard to tell fromt the angle if the Pirate defender only hit the hands/arm/ball or the helmet of the WR as well. 
 

Would you still consider it a foul if he didn't hit the WR's helmet? 

https://www.ihsaatv.org/regionsports/?B=744109

I looked at the play again, and didn’t see anything different. The key here is that the receiver is, by definition, defenseless. That means any forcible contact against him, whether it involves the helmet or not, must fall into 1 of 3 categories, or it’s a foul for unnecessary roughness. The 3 categories of legal forcible contact are:

1. Contact occurring during a legitimate attempt to make a play on the ball.
2. Contact initiated with open hands and both arms extended.
3. Contact occurring in the course of a tackle, where the defender wraps both arms around the receiver.

In my opinion — and I stand ready to be corrected if a different angle shows otherwise — this is forcible contact against a defenseless receiver that doesn’t fall into any of the 3 categories of legal contact. Therefore, it’s a foul.

[FastpacedO]

22 hours ago, RegionFBFan said:

In my opinion, his issue was not lack of receivers this year but their offensive line looked bad vs BD.

Ben Davis has made many Offensive Lines look bad. Coming into the game they had 44 or 45 sacks on the year. Had O'Neil not suffered a knee injury he probably eludes some of those sacks in the 4th quarter like he did in the first half. There is no shame though Ben Davis' front 7 are THAT GOOD!

[Boilernation]

2 hours ago, Bobref said:

I looked at the play again, and didn’t see anything different. The key here is that the receiver is, by definition, defenseless. That means any forcible contact against him, whether it involves the helmet or not, must fall into 1 of 3 categories, or it’s a foul for unnecessary roughness. The 3 categories of legal forcible contact are:

1. Contact occurring during a legitimate attempt to make a play on the ball.
2. Contact initiated with open hands and both arms extended.
3. Contact occurring in the course of a tackle, where the defender wraps both arms around the receiver.

In my opinion — and I stand ready to be corrected if a different angle shows otherwise — this is forcible contact against a defenseless receiver that doesn’t fall into any of the 3 categories of legal contact. Therefore, it’s a foul.

Appreciate the feedback Bob. I have more clarity on your viewpoint. 

[Komets2727]

I have to agree with Bob, watching it live I thought it was a personal foul on Merrillville. Dangerous contact on a defenseless player. If you watch the video, the Merrillville players were expecting a flag after the hit, they knew it was coming, but it never did

[Bobref]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:56 AM, Boilernation said:

The Merrillville DB who broke up the final play in the EZ deserves as many helmet stickers as possible. It looked like a Valpo TD as time expired before the Pirate DB hit the Valpo WR and broke up the pass. 

 

On 11/11/2023 at 8:47 PM, Bobref said:

I have seen the Hudl video. Sorry to have to say, but the play by that DB was actually a foul for unnecessary roughness against a defenseless receiver. Since time expired during the down, there should have been an untimed down after half the distance enforcement.

Here’s a different angle on the play at 1:33 of the video. Definitely a foul.

 

[Boilernation]

1 hour ago, Bobref said:

 

Here’s a different angle on the play at 1:33 of the video. Definitely a foul.

 

Oh yeah. Without a doubt that should have been a flag. 

[FastpacedO]

11 hours ago, Bobref said:

Here’s a different angle on the play at 1:33 of the video. Definitely a foul.

Yep 100% (I can see why people were questioning from the game film and angle it was at. Looking from the other side though you can tell.

[BTF]

In all fairness, I don't think that hit impacted the outcome of the game anymore than the no holding call the year before on Valpo's game winning 2pt conversion at semi-state. 

It appears that the ball sailed through the Valpo players hands slightly before the hit is made. He saw the Merrillville player coming and wasn't making that catch. 

[Komets2727]

2 hours ago, BTF said:

In all fairness, I don't think that hit impacted the outcome of the game anymore than the no holding call the year before on Valpo's game winning 2pt conversion at semi-state. 

It appears that the ball sailed through the Valpo players hands slightly before the hit is made. He saw the Merrillville player coming and wasn't making that catch. 

It did impact the game, personal foul, untimed down from the 7 yard line. In my opinion, Valpo would have scored a TD to win the game

Edited November 16, 2023 by Komets2727

[BTF]

34 minutes ago, Komets2727 said:

It did impact the game, personal foul, untimed down from the 7 yard line. In my opinion, Valpo would have scored a TD to win the game

"Would have" from the 7 yard line? That's pretty bold. Merrillville's defense is pretty solid. I would say Valpo's chances of scoring on the next play was more like 35%. I'll defer to someone who was there. 

[WestfieldRocks]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:47 PM, Justasportsfan said:

Ehh..in hs 37 yds in a regional game could be seen as "big/good"..the other with a minute left could definitely be seen as "good"..some may have shanked a chip shot when attempting the presumably game winner..I agree special teams play is major in november...Westfield kicking bombs in the rain years ago still brings agony...

That was more like a monsoon at times. Yes, the punter hit bombs, then set a state finals record 52 yard field goal along with two others over 40 yards each the next week against Columbus East in the 2016 5A championship game.