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The fact that we beat the virus for the most part. I didn't believe we could get past week 5. great job by administrators, coaches, players and officials to get us to this point!

The fact we are having a season at all, to me, in light of all the earlier naysaying and the fact that some school systems literally were declaring that there would be no fall sports is, frankly, nothing short of miraculous and will always be what folks will remember about this “year that almost wasn’t”. With that, the season is far from over and the virus might still lay a heavy hand on what the final outcome of the championship season might look like.

Those are all definitely some good stories.. I have to throw Silver Creek into that mix. They were a brand new program 8 years ago. They just completed their first undefeated season and conference title in school history. Naturally, they get rewarded with a 7-2 East Central visit for the first round of sectionals, but that is for another thread 😆. Congrats to Coach Papenhaus and co. CLASS SECTIONAL JOHN HARRELL'S INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RECENT SEASONS 4A 23 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS FOOTBALL FIELD 9-0 TOURNAMENT HISTORY SILVER CREEK DRAGONS Coach: David Papenhaus, 17-2 in 2nd year at school DATE OPPONENT EASTERN TIME OA 45.2, DA 9.1 Aug. 21 Charlestown 3A © W 40 6 Aug. 28 Salem 3A © W 27 8 Sep. 4 Providence 2A W 42 0 Sep. 11 at Eastern (Pekin) 2A © W 60 8 Sep. 18 Scottsburg 3A © W 49 13 Sep. 25 at Clarksville 2A © W 70 0 Oct. 2 North Harrison 3A © W 28 14 Oct. 9 Brownstown Central 3A © W 42 14 Oct. 16 at Corydon Central 3A © W 49 19 Oct. 23 East Central 4A 7:00 pm Sectional 23 ©MID-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE GAME

I’d have to agree. I was just telling my wife last night that just a few years ago they were on the verge of not having a team and I think they may have only played a JV schedule that year to undefeated this year. Great story.

Two years ago Fairfield played a varsity schedule with basically no seniors except one (he was a cross country runner), a small handful of juniors, a nice group of sophomores and a handful of freshmen. They gave up 493 points and scored 27. They gave up over 70 points twice and over 60 twice. This current group of seniors that are 8-0 never quit. Coach Thacker has done a remarkable job.

If you're saying that Pioneer wasn't conference champ this year you're an idiot.

Im gonna go with West Washington. Yes, they were great last year but losing their coach the way they did. Great story.

The Fairfield Falcons I have always followed them since we played them in our 1st Regional win many moons ago (2009) and love what Coach Thacker has done in short order for the Falcons. Conference Champs: Tough Sectional but fun opportunity awaits FAIRFIELD FALCONS Coach: Matt Thacker, 14-15 in 3rd year at school DATE OPPONENT EASTERN TIME OA 38.1, DA 7.8 Aug. 28 Osceola Grace W 57 6 Sep. 4 at Central Noble 2A W 32 6 Sep. 11 Fremont 1A W 44 13 Sep. 18 at West Noble 3A © W 41 7 Sep. 25 at Angola 4A © W 29 17 Oct. 2 Garrett 3A © W 36 7 Oct. 9 Lakeland 3A © W 42 0 Oct. 16 at Churubusco 1A W 24 6 Oct. 23 Central Noble 2A 7:00 pm Sectional 35 ©NORTHEAST CORNER CONFERENCE GAME went 0-9 year one under coach Thacker, to 6-6 and a sectional championship appearance in 2019, to 8-0 this year SECTIONAL 35 (EASTERN TIME) Woodlan [1-8] 7:00 pm Oct. 23 Prairie Heights [0-9] Oct. 30 Eastside [8-1] 7:00 pm Oct. 23 Bluffton [8-1] Nov. 6 Whitko [4-5] 7:00 pm Oct. 23 FW Luers [3-6] Oct. 30 Central Noble [4-5] 7:00 pm Oct. 23 Fairfield [8-0]

Honestly don’t remember what I said or when I said it. Why would I quit though? The next few years are going to be a lot of fun as a coach getting to see the next reload of Panthers. We were supposed to be “down” after the seniors in 15 graduated. We were supposed to be “down” after Jack’s class graduated and still were able to run the table in conference. Will we be a different team after this season? Absolutely we will, it would be ignorant to say otherwise. We’ll be losing a senior class that has been a part of 2 state championship teams. However, we always have guys step up and our staff will always have our kids prepared for whoever we’re playing. I personally don’t coach to win conference titles or have “moral victories” like some of our friends in the HNAC. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by our recent success, but for me any goal less than a state title is settling. I coach because I love this team and the tradition we have. We have great kids and a staff that is family. I’m gonna be here for a loooooooonnnnngggg time.

Im sorry, but that "story" is not better than some of these other posts, CG as an established 6a powerhouse .... Vs. Stories like Fairfield Tell City Norwell Silver Creek Taking nothing away from Center Grove, but cmon man..... It would be a Story if THEY weren't 27-0 .....

I like that Whiting didn't give up on their season to give their young men the oppotunity to play their final 2 games of the season and hopefully into the playoffs. Good Luck Oilers !!!

One of the Roncalli faithful texted and said another Roncalli/EC classic.

Congrats to WL for another Hoosier Conference championship Fun game in Russiaville tonight. Bombers falling 49-42. Snagged an onside with 23 sec but heave was picked off. Really Really Really Really happy I personally do not have to see Jerry Padgett again. Or Erb or Tuggle or #75 or #8. Congrats to Panthers Gave it a go tonight. Proud of our boys who so gritty in some serious size mismatches.

Its really really simple...when the #4 team in the state is in your sectional. He said it not me!

6A NOTE: This is simply for fun and to generate discussion. This is how I predict the 6A postseason to pan out at this moment. Obviously it’s hard to predict every single game that is going to happen before sectionals have even started so this is just for fun. I’m sure some of my choices will change after week 1 of sectionals. Would love to see others predict their sectional winners and happily welcome anything anyone has to say about these picks. Let me know where you think I’m wrong at and if there’s something you strongly disagree with me about! Let’s all pray for a Covid-free postseason, all these teams to remain healthy and for some great football. Sectional 1: Lafayette Jeff and Merrillville will meet for the sectional title in what should be a great game. Jeff hasn’t been tested a whole lot this season but they’ve taken care of everyone they were supposed to. Merrillville hasn’t had a tough schedule either, other than their 45-28 loss to a very good Chatard team. Jeff’s strength is their O-Line and have a top 3 fastest kid in the state at RB. Merrillville has athletes all over the field and good size. Merrillville has a better roster but will they be as well coached and prepared as the Bronchos? Can Jeff get revenge for their 27-20 loss to the pirates last year in sectionals? I’m torn on this one. Jeff has 2 defensive lineman committed to Cincinnati and Eastern Michigan. Merrillville has ATH JoJo Johnson who is expected to commit to Michigan State soon and also have a DE committed to Bowling Green. My mind is telling me Merrillville but my heart tells me the Bronchos breakthrough and win only their 6th sectional title ever and first since 2002. Pat Shanley has one of the most impressive rebuilds in the state at Jeff and is building something special in Lafayette. Prediction: Lafayette Jeff 42 Merrillville 40 Sectional 2: Penn and Elkhart should meet in the title game for what will be another great game. Elkhart defeated Penn 20-19 in week 5. It is great for the state and 6A football to have another great football program in the North like Elkhart. Can they take the Kingsman down for the second time this season? Prediction: Penn 28 Elkhart 24 Sectional 3: I think Carroll takes down Warsaw fairly easily and Homestead takes down Snider again. Homestead sent a message to 6A with a huge 70-41 win against Carroll week 7. I think this one will be closer and either team can absolutely win. Prediction: Homestead 34 Carroll 21 Sectional 4: HSE and Fishers meet again after HSE beating the tigers 21-9 in week 4. I’ll take HSE again in this one. Westfield should handle Noblesville easily in their game although Noblesville has been competitive all year and hasn’t lost an HCC game by more than 21 all year which is impressive despite a 2-7 record. Westfield played HSE week 5 with the rocks winning 14-3. Both teams are solid but I think Westfield is the best team in the north by a decent margin. I would be shocked if they don’t win by more than 11 this time around. But as always, anything can happen in high school football and HSE is certainly a good enough team to win this ballgame. Prediction: Westfield 43 HSE 17 Sectional 5: Pike vs Carmel round 2 will be very interesting. Carmel won 45-44 in 2OT week 4. Pike is 3-6 but a great football team. Full of athletes and have gotten so much better over the past couple of years. Carmel is 7-2 with losses to the 2 best teams in the state. I like them to win by 14+ in this game. Brownsburg vs Avon in a rematch where B’Burg won 47-29 in week 4. This is a rivalry game and anything can happen but Avon is having a down year compared to the past few years. Give me the bulldogs by 12-18. Brownsburg vs Carmel in the title game is a tremendous game. Brownsburg’a only loss is to Westfield in OT. Other than that game and the game against St. Xavier, they have dominated their opponents. Can one of the HCC’s top dogs take down one of MIC and the states premier programs? Carmel is playing great and I really don’t know what will happen in this game. It’s hard to pick Brownsburg due to recent MIC vs HCC matchups in the postseason in recent years. Prediction: Carmel 37 Brownsburg 34 Sectional 6: Ben Davis will have their way with Southport. Tech and Perry are probably 2 of the worst 3 teams in 6a. I guess I’ll take Tech since they have won football games this year. Ben Davis will rout Tech in the title game. Ben Davis beating North Central 42-20 in week 9 showed 6A they are not a team to be taken lightly despite a 4-5 record. Also took LN to overtime. No one should be sleeping on the giants this postseason. Prediction: Ben Davis 66 Arsenal Tech 10 Sectional 7: Somehow Lawrence North only beat Lawrence Central 28-21 earlier this year. This one will not be nearly as close. LN by 35+. Warren Central vs North Central is a rematch of NC beating the warriors 10-0 in week 2. While NC losing big last week to Ben Davis is surprising, I’m writing it off as just a bad night for them, they are still a great team. You’ve got to consider O’Shea a top 3 coach in the state with the job he’s done with NC. Already taken down many great MIC teams since he’s been there and them going 6-3 this year is extremely impressive. Warren is 2-5 this yet and obviously fielding one of their worst teams in a very long time. That being said, they are still Warren Central. They could very well win this game. Their offense has a tough task against NC. I’ll take NC by 14. Lawrence North vs North Central will be a rematch of a 27-21 win by the wildcats in week 4. My heart tells me LN is a significantly better football team with a lot more firepower. My mind reminds me the panthers still have Kevin O’Shea as their head football coach. Lawrence North’s competitive 28-13 loss to CG sways me enough to pick them in this game. Prediction: LN 26 NC 21 Sectional 8: CG is the best team in the state but they have shown they can be beat, despite being extremely dominant over some great teams. I think they’ll flex their muscle over Columbus North and win by 35+. Columbus East vs Franklin Central could be closer than some may think. CE hasn’t had a difficult game since week 3 but they have dominated like they were supposed to since then. FC is 1-8 and went winless in the HCC. Their 2 closes losses were 7-14 against HSE and 13-20 against Noblesville. Will their gauntlet of a schedule pay off in this game? Give me Columbus East by 21. Is Columbus East a trap game for CG? I don’t think so. CE is certainly a solid team but it’s hard to imagine them keeping this game within 3-4 scores. Prediction: CG 45 CE 10 Regional 1: Lafayette Jeff vs Penn This would be an interesting game and a matchup of 2 very different programs. Penn is one of Indiana’s most accomplished all time programs but has been on a decline recently. Lafayette Jeff is top 15 in all time wins but has hardly any postseason success to show for it. Jeff was awful for about a 10 year stretch until Shanley took over in 2016. Penn isn’t as good as they’ve been historically this season but they are still a good football team. I haven’t had the chance to watch time since they played Valpo week 1 but I thought they looked good back then. Prediction: Lafayette Jeff 42 Penn 35 Regional 2: Homestead vs Westfield I’ll always have great respect for non-Indy 5A and 6A schools who give the state some parity when it comes to the postseason. Homestead has impressive wins over Dwenger and Carroll but it’s hard to forget them almost losing to Noblesville last year in sectionals after also having a great regular season. Westfield is battle tested and i am extremely high on them. I think Westfield is just too talented and too well-coached to see a slip-up here. They have a special team this year. Prediction: Westfield 55 Homestead 14 Regional 3: Carmel vs Ben Davis Carmel beat Ben Davis 31-9 in week 7 of this year. Although I think Ben Davis is playing really well, I have a hard time seeing them keeping up with Carmel. The greyhounds are on a roll right now. Could Ben Davis win this game? Yes. Do i think they will? No. Prediction: Carmel 38 Ben Davis 21 Regional 4: Lawrence North vs Center Grove Rematch of the week 8 matchup when CG won 28-13. Everyone knows what each of these teams are capable of. LN’s QB/WR duo of Donaven McCulley and Omar Cooper is the best in that state. CG is fielding one of the states best D-Lines of all time along with a great backfield on offense. I can’t get a grip on how close this one would be. I love seeing dominant teams like CG run the table and go down in history but I love how electric LN’s offense is. I really hope these 2 meet again. I would love to pick LN to win this game and I think they are more than capable of doing that, but it would feel silly to me to choose CG to lose when they’ve risen to the occasion every game this year and then some. Prediction: CG 42 LN 27 Semi-state: Westfield vs Lafayette Jeff Most will not know this, but Jeff actually won the last meeting between these 2. They beat the Shamrocks 27-24 in sectionals in 2017. The prior two years, Westfield beat them 38-14 in 2015 sectionals and 46-27 in 2016 sectionals. Jeff has unfortunate luck with their placement in the Indiana state classes and sectionals. I believe they are the 2nd or 3rd smallest school of the 32 6a teams and prior to last year, were stuck in a sectional with Westfield, Carmel and Noblesville for 4 years. They could do some real damage if they were in 5a every year. Westfield has proven week after week they are the real deal this year. They went to state a few years ago and have consistently been a threat in the HCC and in the state tournament. They are the more talented team and going 8-0 in the HCC is incredibly impressive. They have one common opponent in Harrison (WL). Westfield beat Harrison 34-10 in week 2. Jeff beat Harrison 76-55 in week 4. I have a hard time imagining them losing this game against Jeff. They will give CG all they can handle in the state title game. Prediction: Westfield 40 Lafayette Jeff 20 State championship: Westfield vs Center Grove I am more confident in these 2 meeting up i the state game then a lot of the sectional games I had to pick. Westfield is blessed to be in the north and I think they are just simply a better team than anyone they would play up until this point. CG is going to have to go through a gauntlet to get here. But by now I think everyone knows how talented and good this team is. If they run the table and win a state title this year, they will go down as one of the best teams in Indiana in a very long time. If they are dominant and don’t have a game within, say 17 points or so the rest of the way, I would put them among top 10 best teams in Indiana of all time. But again, all that talk is for when the job is complete. As far as this game goes, it will be a brawl. Westfield will not back down from this game and have no reason to believe they can’t win this game. Jake Gilbert is a tremendous coach and I strongly believe his team will be in this game. I want to pick the Rocks to win this game, I really do. But you’re just not going to have me pick against CG at this moment in time. Depending on how these teams play in the postseason, I wouldn’t even shy away from picking Westfield to win this game if CG has some scares along the way and Westfield dominates their path. Westfield is that good and CG will have their hands full. With that being said, I’m riding with the Trojans in this one. Prediction: Center Grove 24 Westfield 14

I have to go with 4A sectional 19. Saragin 5 Leo vs 10 Northridge. Can u top that? Don’t give me 6a... they all get byes so DISQUALIFIED.

Good to see Fairfield getting back to strength. Same for Norwell as well. I hope this can convey hope to Southern Wells to stick with it. They're playing a JV schedule with mostly Freshmen. Have saw some of the JV scores, and they haven't faired very well in contests vs other JV squads in the conference. Fairfield can give that group hope that brighter days are ahead, just have to work hard for them. A big shout out to Eastside Blazers. An OT loss to a much larger school was the only blemish this year. They are building off of last years sectional title. Also another good year for Eastside's sectional opponent Bluffton. The ACAC needs their teams to get back to strength. While it's fun to see SA, Woodlan (not too long ago), and AC have success, it's more fun when they earn it against strong opponents like the late 90s through 2000s Heritage & Southern Wells squads.

Please speakem some english, pail face.

Don’t have any brothers Sherlock, but nice try... Also, at Pioneer we don’t wait for the classes 5 to 10 years down the road to start winning games. Get excited about youth league and jr high scores all you want... Those leagues are for teaching fundamentals, not win-loss records. If our freshman come in knowing wing t fundamentals and how to get to the ball on defense I’m a happy camper. We know the conference is going to be more competitive in the coming years. Judson is going to be a problem next year. Hendryx will get Winamac turned around. Laville has a great young qb and a lot of youth getting valueable reps this year. I’ll still take the Panthers 🙂 Im done on this subject for now you know what they say about arguing with idiots....

Maybe you should rethink calling yourself .... TheStatGuy

Just because they are not celebrated doesn’t mean they are not earned.

The fact that both North Central and Lawrence North beat Warren Central. NC won for the first time in 21 years last month and LN beat the Warriors for the first time since 2005 in the regular season finale.

Don’t take it personal, PHJ and I have had these little jabs for years. It’s just my smart@ss mouth giving PHJ (an extremley loyal alum and fan) a hard time. Columbus East and Cathedral are the only 2 programs in the state that have bumped up 2 classes due to the success factor and both have won state titles in 2 classes. Anytime a program is mentioned with Cathedral it’s a good sign you are doing something right.

I saw on another thread that the sectional game between Goshen and Mishawaka was going to count as their conference game since they didn't get to play during the regular season. Why couldn't the semi-final game between Pioneer and LaVille (if it happens) be the same? Count it as the conference matchup for final placing. If LaVille wins they share the title. If Pioneer wins they are the outright champion. Pretty simple if you ask me.

42-0, not much else to say

I’d say nothing is better than a last minute drive by CG to beat Cathedral to claim the overall state championship.. greatest feeling I’ve had all year. I was jumping up and down in my underwear, fist pumping, double fisting my Busch Latte’s, while doing cartwheels all across my front lawn..

I was surprised by that score too. But now you guys get a fresh start and have a great chance to take Sectional 30. Best of luck.

We shall see Donnie.😉😉

Kyle Neddenriep did an awesome job covering this game on twitter. I was watching his updates while at the Delta vs NP game. We had quite the discussion when the 4th down call came up...punt to CG with no timeouts or go for it. That's a tough one. Touchback is most likely, you are just trying to get the ball out of there, right? So you're looking at losing 25 yards of field position or go for the win? Gutsy call, and you are 100% right, Coach Ralph would have gone for it. You have a play you like and it doesn't work out. You trusted the offense to get the job done. And you handed the ball off to your best playmaker...he gets the first down...game over. You punt the ball, and CG still may drive the field and score. That's what makes this game so fun!

It was a terrible decision to go for it and even worse play call. 1. Why risk giving good field position where CG only has to go 25 yards to get in FG range? 2. CG can't throw the ball consistently at all so the likelihood of them going 60 yards to potentially get a tying FG attempt is very slim. 3. If you do insist being aggressive and trying to end it right there why not give it to Langdon who CG couldn't tackle the entire 4th quarter? At the end of the day Peebles gave CG all the momentum with 2 bad decisions and it cost the Irish the game. That said they're going to roll to a 5A title with little to no resistance and this game will be forgotten.

As much as it pains me I'll go with Mt. Vernon. Undefeated, legit state title shot and they literally finally slayed the Dragons ending the 2nd longest regular season win streak in state history along with ending the Dragons 7 year stranglehold on the HHC.

First and foremost, thought you weren’t commenting for the rest of the season. Shallow promise as usual, DT. Peebles didn’t panic. That was his go-to all season in a crunch and at the goal line. With the way Langdon was breaking tackles, it was a bit cavalier to run a jet sweep. Peebles suspended Cam for Q1, so they both were probably hugging out a big play to seal the game. But, Cam was never in this one. Did he have more than one reception? Big void for this big game. I vehemently disagreed with the @Indystar about special teams, but punting destroyed the Irish tonight. We still had the better kicker, and, evidently, long snapper. But field position and our scare factor About our kicking inefficiency in the 4th with 1:13 proved to be too much. Great game. Heartbreaker for CHS faithful. Dammit

It wasn’t slanted immediately downfield. At some point you’re going to have to give CG credit. Jackson completed some big 3rd downs along the way and was composed as he faced immense pressure.

They had a mammoth RT but man for man weren’t anywhere near as big as Cathedral. I was there.

Further evidence there isn't a huge difference in the top of one class to the next. Congrats to South Putnam.

What a game.

I’ll let Ray Skillman know you aren’t pleased with the legibility of the scoreboard..

Looks like South Putnams answered some questions. I swear to God they did

Right decision to go for it, terrible play call. You don’t run jet sweep on 4th and less than a yard.

Great effort on both sidelines! I prefer winning but that was a classic. Folks will be talking about this one for a long time! Not much to choose between those two teams!

2020 in general is an *

Speed bump????? That's good to know.

Numerous players on our team have been hit by “close contact” quarantine about 4-5 times this season. (Not to mention the regular injuries.) We have had a cancelled game and opponent changes as late as Wednesday, so this has been a difficult year. Please keep in mind no matter what we are going through, we have an impact on these kids. The tweet below has been the a bright spot for us this season.

Have you seen how hard show choir kids work? You enjoy throwing kids under the bus to advance your own agenda of edginess on the GID page.

Did Carmel forfeit the semi-state game? 😆

Looking forward to Center Grove and Columbus East in the sectional.

Here, here. Cheers.

I see DT is trying to rile things up again. I agree that the play call was bad on the last 4th down play. If you're going to run the ball you need to give it to Jake Langdon. I have no problem going for it on 4th down. I was not impressed with the down and yardage displays on the "scoreboards." CG needs to have a down and yardage that is more legible. Outstanding facility otherwise.

https://reason.com/2020/10/16/the-pope-is-wrong-property-rights-are-human-rights/ Agreed. Just more populist claptrap from the Pope.

If you have Amazon Prime Video, there is a documentary titled, Kings of Indiana. It follows the 2015 Barr Reeve boys basketball team. Very well done. My wife and I watched it last evening and we both really enjoyed it. You can stream it for 30 days for a 1 time fee of $4.99 or you can purchase it for $12.99 (IMSC). We streamed it. Have a wonderful day.