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What an amazing reaction to my first post since my 2020 Catalina Wine Mixer Championship Post. You guys are too soft around here. I got Eastbrook people coming over here acting like they know anything about LCC. I just need some North Daviess fans to jump on that bandwagon and it'll be like living in 2009. Remind me: Where are the Engle Brothers from again? Tipton? Russiaville? Ten Buck Two?

Maybe it got lost in the move to Westfield and back.

Last year I remember seeing a video with IHSAA Assistant Commissioner Robert Faulkens instructing coaches on how to clean and sanitize footballs related to the COVID Pandemic. In the video he not only recommends the Wilson Prep Kit but shows you how to use it. https://youtu.be/3A4UtLaOnkg

.....I actually agree with something someone from GS said. Man, I didn't think that would happen all season! I almost feel dirty, like I need to go take a shower lol

Not sure there is an argument against it as much as a lack of agreement on HOW to do it. I could be mistaken however. Sagarin is not an exact science and doing it based on win/loss record would give schools incentive to schedule meaningless regular season games to pad their record. I could be way off base here though. I’m willing to admit that.

Welp…….I’m even more confused.

One thing I used to love about sectional championships was when it worked out that two good teams were in the finals and you could see all the different schools’ letter jackets in attendance.

Madder Days is in the same sectional with Liptons

Mostly because the #1 or #2 team is done after week 1, but the 0-9 team who got a favorable draw gets to play another week. It's one thing if it happens on the field due to an upset. It's another if a 2 or 3 win team makes it to the sectional final because their side of the bracket had all 2 or 3 win teams. For very selfish reasons it's disappointing to get assigned to a sectional final game with a 9-2 team traveling to a 2-9 team. It's likely no fans will be there and you'll have a running clock in the second half. Where else besides Indiana high school sports are teams randomly assigned to opponent and location in a post-season tournament? Explain this to someone not from Indiana and they will think you are crazy and making it up. It's not logical. But it is what it is, and I'll be happy to get any tournament assignment I can get.

Just read this article and have to admit I got choked up. Brave young man with a wonderful community support system. There is still a lot of good in this world.

I think those 1 or 2 games matter a lot. Someone has to lose that early match up between number 1 and 2 and they have both earned the right to get that extra game or two, for many kids it's the last time they will ever play.

I thought the sentiment here was if you lose to a better program you have to just get better. So what does it matter if its October 22nd or November 5th? 😉

Should just have all the coaches from a regional vote on seeding. Seed it 1-4 and then random draw the other 12 for the matchups. people get caught up on sectionals but forget that half of the frustration is that some sectionals are loaded and others are rather light. Might as well just break it up into groups of 16 teams seeding by regional also gives the tournament plenty of variance for year to year matchups.

I believe (tough I am not 100%) this year is a 1 year cycle. The SF's moved up/down and that was it. I think all sectionals will be reset after this year with enrolment. That means Webo/Chatard/LCC may move back down to their respective classes based on enrolment and not SF. Again, I am not 100% sure this is correct but how I (and some others) have interpreted the IHSAA info. At some point they have to shake this back out to get everything on the same 2 year schedule. The IHSAA doesn't want to have to redo sectional yearly.

Watching a hammer repeatedly hit a nail for 2.5 hours doesn’t intrigue some.

It’s funny you talk about this off the digest then come here and talk about it. He is a Tipton kid, family all went here. Brother was the RB on the team with Roudebush a few years ago. Yes they took him to Westfield for a couple years while his brother still went to Tipton but they had their reasons. This isn’t some random kid.

That would be a bad idea. Russ Isaacs said it best.............."we're #1 by default." A team from Indy loses one game and they drop in the polls behind an undefeated team from Fort Wayne or Lafayette. The AP poll goes by record only. The coaches poll is better, but not by much. Most coaches are too busy coaching their team and studying who they are playing next, versus worrying themselves about who the Top 10 teams are in their class. Outside of the Sagarin Ratings, the old GID polls of the past are the most accurate that I've seen. You've got a bunch of high school football fans on this forum that live and breath what is going on, not only with the team they root for, but also what is happening statewide. The GID polls, when we were applying them, were FAR more accurate than the AP or the Coaches Poll. And outside of the two closed conferences, the Sagarin Ratings are by far the most accurate thing we currently have.

George Brett preps ours. Never had an issue.

Could be the pizza guy ... sometimes, in lieu of a tip, I hear guys in the press box let the delivery guy wear the headphones until halftime is over. 😀 Lord, I apologize for that there.

It's not just folks in Tipton who might wish that ... I'd have no problem with Facebook getting swallowed up into the Pacific or a fault line indefinitely.

I’m guessing you aren’t the typical high school football fan. Would guess most high school fans are partial to either a specific school or town. Still an interesting perspective and cool nonetheless. Going to be a tough sell getting the casual Indy high school football fan to make the trip to West Lafayette the first or second weekend of sectionals with so many games in the area to choose from.

You meet fans and players from different schools at the sectional championship. I met a quarterback from Carroll who was eliminated and came to watch Snider in the sectional championship. I met a couple of older gentlemen from Garrett during a sectional game between Snider and Homestead. When the sectional championship comprises of two teams with good records, big crowds are the result.

Go to the Indiana high school football page on Facebooks. Couple of Tiptons guys already making excuses for week 9 and their potential ass kicking by Lures. Brad said week 9 doesn’t really count and some Hoover guy wants a pubic only tournament, however that works! You have to play them all. STATE LAW!

Well public interest for one. The two best teams playing in week three instead of week one when there are still six other teams playing is going to draw a ton of more regional interest. But I thought that was a given.

Definitely a headscratcher. From an individual standpoint, that might have been the most talented Cathedral team ever. Pete Werner (Ohio State/NFL), Emil Ekiyor (Alabama/soon to be NFL), and Markese Stepp although injured (USC/Nebraska) were all on that team.

Usually the week after the tournament ends.

That is the way I read it. And here's another question... Memorial was bumped up to 4A for the 2019 & 2020 cycle. They won 4A state in 2019 (4 pts) but lost in sectional in 2020 (0 pts.), so they stay in 4A for the next cycle. Is that cycle 2020-2021? Is that why this new provision was included in Rule 2.5 (SF) of the IHSAA By-Laws this year...? In Team Sports, when Schools are subject to reclassification, a School’s reclassification shall be dependent on the School’s previous tournament series success; the Commissioner may, however, determine that a School’s previous tournament series success should be applied more often, or less often.

I get that teams from other parts of the state want to keep the Indy area teams away as long as they can, but the unwillingness to seed past the sectional level pretty much blows the use of the "fairness" argument out of the water. Let's look at the 2A rankings right now. 7 of the 9 top teams in the polls are in the North. Eastbrook and Tipton are both in the top 5 and are in the same sectional. Luers and Eastside are in the top 5 and in the same sectional. Why should those four teams have half the opportunity as Linton-Stockton just because there aren't any other top teams in their area? Do those extra game that mean so much stop meaning as much outside of a 25 mile radius? As I said earlier, seeding sectionals doesn't usually ultimately change who gets a trophy . Seeding an entire class absolutely would.

Thank You!

Open Enrollment! It's a thing of beauty! I do hope Tipton gets it done vs Western, we'll get the class "we want the red devils" chant in post Tipton football games. I think the battle for hell won't be as interesting as the undefeated teams look on the newspaper page. Lord knows Sam King and JD Arland will be going after twitter clicks all week. Coach Nowlin, I donated let's get these ads out of here. It's almost unbearable.

https://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/news%20media/2020-21/040221.Reclassification.pdf

only thing last few messages have missed was a serious POW POW.

I guess I don’t understand what the big deal is. Unless you win and move on to the regional round, what difference does it make who you play in your sectional? You’ll have to beat any or all teams anyway.

From what I have heard, everyone is healthy and ready to go. Gilbert was banged up, had a shoulder injury but will be ready. Tibbs strained hamstring, he is good to go also

Surely an LCC alum isn’t complaining about transfers or anything like that nasty recruiting sin.

You can't use polls to seed a tournament anyway. Polls only rank the top teams, not all 8 from a sectional. Unless you're seeding only 1 & 2. Then the IHSAA should let us (GID posters) pick the top two from each sectional! 😃 And let's limit that to only GID financial boosters! I see this being a huge WIN for GID in the long run!! Ha!

If you seed all 8 teams, the worst two would always play a 1 and 2 seed, making for ridiculously lopsided games in round one. Not so if you seed the top 2 and draw the remaining teams. A zero win team would have a 71% chance of NOT playing a 1 or 2 seed in round one. Best of both worlds.

To the original question, I think the only thing that has come from the IHSAA is that with an all in format, draws are blind draws. To be honest, I think that is the ONLY reason I can recall for not seeding it. I agree though that it should be seeded. I think the discussion has been around longer than this digest has been 🙂 There really is no logical reason to not seed. In times where programs are struggling financially, including the IHSAA itself, the smart move would be to have the bigger matchups later. More neutral fans are likely to attend after their team's season has ended compared to having marquee matchups in the first round. Since playoff ticket revenue is shared among schools, it is obvious how to make the pot as large as possible.

I don't disagree with the concept of seeding, but the AP poll is always somewhat questionable and Sagarin / SOS is really no longer as reliable as it once was bc 2 of the top conferences in the state (SAC and SIAC) are closed, which screws the numbers up significantly. Here are the Sagarin numbers for Sectional 24... SECTIONAL 24 SECT. RANK STATE RANK TEAM OVERALL RATING SCHEDULE STRENGTH RANK RECENT RATING RANK PREDICTOR RATING RANK 1 59 Northview (5-1) 70.05 59.39 69 69.57 61 70.02 59 2 101 Boonville (1-5) 58.58 66.03 48 55.82 107 60.10 98 3 234 Jasper (7-0) 23.15 0.28 307 26.11 221 20.30 240 4 247 Evansville Memorial (6-1) 19.25 -1.09 314 19.91 245 17.97 247 5 296 Evansville Reitz (2-5) -1.92 3.09 305 -4.06 299 -1.97 293 6 309 Evansville Central (2-5) -8.63 -0.26 312 -9.14 308 -9.52 310 7 311 Evansville Harrison (1-6) -11.02 4.83 304 -11.96 311 -11.75 312 Linton beat Boonville by 21. You think Boonville is 5 TDs better than Jasper or Memorial? I'd pick Reitz, Central and Harrison to beat Boonville this year. And actually, Sectional 40 is even better because Mater Dei is the only SIAC school... SECTIONAL 40 SECT. RANK STATE RANK TEAM OVERALL RATING SCHEDULE STRENGTH RANK RECENT RATING RANK PREDICTOR RATING RANK 1 29 Linton-Stockton 79.71 56.31 83 81.22 24 78.71 29 2 78 North Posey 64.54 48.25 116 65.41 69 63.59 80 3 107 North Knox 56.09 40.44 174 56.48 105 55.47 107 4 124 Tell City 51.54 53.37 92 53.08 115 50.01 129 5 132 South Spencer 48.74 55.51 84 48.48 132 48.43 137 6 169 Forest Park 39.36 49.45 110 38.96 172 39.00 170 7 278 Evansville Mater Dei 8.57 2.49 306 10.93 271 5.85 282 8 285 Crawford County 3.22 24.98 258 5.69 282 0.20 290 With wins to close out the year over Harrison and Reitz, MD will very likely drop to #8 in Sectional 40. If given the choice to play MD as the #8 seed or take its chances with ping pong balls, wouldn't #1 seed Linton gladly take the ping pong balls?

2 Point Games Benton Central @ Lafayette Central Catholic Cass @ Hamilton Heights Rensselaer @ Northwestern 3 Point Games Twin Lake @ West Lafayette McCutcheon @ Muncie Central Kokomo @ Harrison Tipton @ Western Richmond @ Anderson LaVillaStrangiato @ North Judson ... the "Never Turn Your Back on a Monster!" game for @Donnie Baker North Newton @ North White ... If it were the Great White North, I'd give the edge to the Vikes, but no such luck Sheridan @ Eastern

Let Tecumseh join the SW conference. Just make a trade.

That would be interesting I think the bigger concern though would be how much the other schools value the current flexibility. All PAC teams do have 4 non conference weeks that they can freely schedule to achieve whatever scheduling balance they want…and honestly I think that’s understated. Almost half of the schedule. Gibson Southern is an example…have been playing up and schedule 3 5A/6A teams this year…all of them over 0.500 and then Southridge to the mix…playing our toughest schedule to date with Brady as a senior and at our peak….and next year I believe we are trading out Columbus North for Terre Haute South…who is still a big school but not on CNs level….perfect for a year when we lose a lot of guys…making that game a difficult matchup to win still

It's when Tom Brady preps them that it often presents an issue.

Seen this on Twitter a second ago….too good not to share 🤣🤣🤣

ok here it goes: here are wins and losses this year so for for 305 teams I counted 0 wins-29 teams 1 win-34 team 2 win-53 teams 3 win-46 teams 4 win-47 teams 5 win-46 teams 6 win-34 teams 7 win-16 teams out of the 29 0 win teams there are 4 games were 0wins vs 0wins play...so, at least 4 will have a win next week there are 19 undefeated teams...16 that are 7-0, 2 that are 6-0, and 1 that is 5-0... Like I said...I was really bored and thought there was a lot teams with no wins...so, i just started counting...everyone have a great week...cant wait until sectional draw.

Seems like a great post to close the topic.

This comes straight from Mr. Faulkens this morning. Context is included, so all will understand. When the Mercy Rule was first implemented in 2019, the directive to the officials was that it constituted the only manner in which normal timing could be altered. Agreements of the teams to the contrary notwithstanding. The idea was to take the decision out of the hands of the coaches, who often had competing motivations. Then the pandemic came and the thinking changed a little bit. It was thought that with lower numbers, quarantines, abrupt cancellations and reschedulings becoming commonplace, it was best to give the local authorities, i.e., game management and the coaches, some additional flexibility when mismatches occur. @Irishman and @SoIndRef are correct, the statements in the video about Mercy Rule timing starting in the 1st half were just part of a larger discussion and not pronouncements of a change in the application of the Rule. So that there can be no doubt, this is the official IHSAA interpretation of the Mercy Rule and the role of coaches' agreement to alter timing: Teams are allowed to shorten periods by agreement in the first half, meaning a period would be less than 12 minutes, and normal timing rules are applied during that shortened period. But they can’t implement Mercy Rule timing until the 2nd half. Once the 2nd half begins, Mercy Rule timing is the exclusive way in which the timing rules can be altered. Thanks to everyone for bringing this situation to light so we could get clarification. I know it got a bit acrimonious at times, and that was regrettable. But on behalf of the officials in Indiana, thanks for helping us make sure what we're doing is right going forward.

"We" don't spend a lot of time talking about anything since this is your first post....and it's AWESOME!

You know, I have decided I won’t give up quite that easy. Go to the link below and start the video at 1:02:30 and get back to me.