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I was on the John Harrell site (thank you John for amazing info) at the 2020 and 2021 Center Grove seasons, in which the team went 28-0 and won consecutive class 6A state championships. Pretty interesting data. Head to Head (CG victories) Ben Davis 4-0 Warren Central 3-0 Lawrence North 3-0 Carmel 2-0 Cathedral 2-0 Westfield 2-0 North Central 2-0 Indpls Pike 2-0 Lawrence Central 2-0 Decatur Central 2-0 Columbus North 2-0 Franklin Central 1-0 Columbus East 1-0 Total 28 Wins 0 Losses 2020 - 589 points scored and 107 points given up. 42.1 points/game scored; 7.6 points/game allowed 2021 - 571 points scored and 154 points allowed. 40.8 points/game scored; 11.0 points/game allowed Total - 1160 points scored and 261 points allowed. 41.4 points/game scored; 9.3 points/game allowed Note: Both seasons were in the running clock era. Also, a number of points scored against the Trojans occurred after starters were pulled. I am not sure where that places the Trojans 2 year performance in Indiana football history, but it has to be up there among the best, especially playing in the MIC against stellar athletes and excellent coaches. I guess that is up for debate. Congrats Trojans football, Coach Eric Moore and staff for what you accomplished!! May be awhile before this type of streak is repeated.

15 yards from the previous spot has had an impact as well.....not a bad alternative to a TD.

I don't know. I'm voting for Woody Allen.

It may be headed that way now that everyone has a voice, but to deny that over time the award hasn't been favored towards large class players from Central Indiana is being disingenuous at best. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. Well except the one elephant in the room who once again is acting pedantic.

"like" not lie. I don't know, maybe some of them would lie to be able to have a travel game lol.

Amazing stat I calculated last night and thought it was worth sharing... EIGHT FBS programs from the state of Texas (Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Houston, SMU, North Texas, UTEP and UTSA) all qualified for and are playing in bowl games...but the UNIVERSITY of TEXAS is not. That one blew my mind. NO excuse for the Longhorns to be this bad. Too late to pull out of the SEC deal?

Now that we are in the off season for HS football, I need to ask a question that I’ve been pondering for years. At all levels of football, the passing game has taken on increasing importance. Defending against the pass is, therefore, also more important. I played DB back in the antediluvian days, but obviously DBs are coached differently today. Now, DBs are not taught to find the ball. They’re taught to body up the receiver and not look at the ball until the receiver makes a move for it. At the same time, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that defensive pass interference calls are also at an all time high. So, I seriously would like to hear from a knowledgeable DB coach (or player) who can explain how modern DB technique is better. Because it seems to me that when you take into account the number of DPI calls, it offsets whatever advantage you gain in the ability to cover using this technique.

I realize that to most high school football fans the season ended after the Center Grove - Westfield game. However, for this guy it is just a start to the "best time of the year". Starting with Wednesday nights Alabaster (AL) Thompson - Phenix City (AL) Central game, I must have watched all of or portions of twenty plus high school games on NFHS. For those of you who don't want to watch Army-Navy next weekend, I suggest you fork down $10 for a subscription and watch all the high school football you want. Once the season is over, it is easy to cancel your subscription. A few thoughts as I wind down the weekend: - Some states, Arizona being the most prominent, have created an "Open" Division playoff system. What I mean is that they take the best eight teams in that state and those teams are in a separate playoff while all others play in the tournament based on enrollment. For years Arizona would have several teams in different classes claiming to be the best in the state, now they actually settle it on the field. Rhode Island, which has four teams in its "Open Division", takes it a step further by allowing the losing teams in the first round to drop into the Division I tournament. May sound crazy but they do not have any arguments who the best team is at the end of the season. - Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei is two touchdowns better than anyone in the country. They play this coming weekend in the Open Championship against a very good San Mateo Serra team, but it should be a formality for the team that has beaten Anaheim Servite (twice), St. John Bosco and Corona Centennial. And if you thought Byrce Young was good for Alabama yesterday, wait until you see sophomore starting quarterback they have this year. - Congrats to Bobref, as his Eagles won the Division 1 tournament in Ohio. They beat some very good teams along the way in one of the nations' toughest tournament brackets. - For some reason, Texas teams just appear to be bigger and faster than teams in other states. Caught a few minutes of the Duncanville-DeSoto game last night and was really impressed with Duncanville' size and speed. By the way, Mater Dei beat them 45-3 earlier in the season in Texas. - Finally, how do I think Center Grove would fare against these teams. I think their defense could hold their own, but don't know if their offense is powerful enough to win a shootout against teams like Collins Hill (GA), Austin (TX) Westlake and others that are ranked in the Top 20 in the country. It would have been great to see them against a Lakewood St. Edwards team, but it never came to fruition, so we will never know.

Honestly if it’s going to be a true best player award, need to scratch the idea that the best player is automatically a senior. If Mr. Football is truly designed to crown the best football player, it needs to be an open award. Honestly, I’m pretty anti-participation award but I wouldn’t necessarily mind them giving out a POY award to all classes. At the very worst a big class (4A-6A) and small class (1A-3A) award.

Or at least windblown. 😉

It's Kiser

I greatly doubt that varsity head coaches are being influenced by sports writers at the star.

The Pack is a 12.5 favorite. And it's a night game. I do have an extra ticket, but since @Irishman doesn't like night games, he's out...

Also don't discount the power in numbers small school (3A and below) coaches will have. They could very well band together out of some sort of general disdain for the audacity of INDY Metro footballs belief that the sun rises and sets in their proverbial sphincters.

C’mon man! I edited it on the LB. Just thought it was interesting that neither was 6A and neither from the Indy area.

I think that is a valid point....but I also think it might be that the muddying may skew away from INDY metro. Even in a tier two city like Evansville, Indy area football might as well not even exist. The causal fan down here thinks that the MIC is something you sing into (hopefully coaches know more).

Patriots vs Bills last night gave you a wet dream

Mater Dei’s James Ralph and Bosse’s Joseph McElory Jr both received offers to Hanover College today

Russ Yeast should have won in 2016 but the voters went with the QB instead.

I stand by my observation that single school counties - like Connersville, Rushville, Franklin Co., as well as Jennings, Pike Central, Benton Central, Jay County - generally struggle to build football success. The geographic size puts them in a class 1 or 2 levels above their "true" football playing level based on the economic realities of a mainly rural county.

Honestly them dropping, if they do, I think will help them in the long run. They never had a chance to compete in 4A after the late 90s and haven't done much in 3A. If they were to drop to 2A I think it would give them more of a chance to be relevant in the playoffs again. Maybe at some point that can be the same for Connersville and Rushville. This year when Connersville played East Central they dressed 34 kids. Hard to compete at the 4A level when your team is that small.

Maybe it just time to, you know, Run The Dang Ball.

That year finished kizer Bell Lindauer Elliot I think George QB from WC was just outside top 4. 3 players from one team. Wow. Bell wound have been my pick.

Bell was the best player.

My thought on classes is they don't really matter. I'd favor a system that showed no bias directly built in by class. For single year rankings, this could create discrepancies, but if you start factoring in something like "Program Prestige" and "Recent Program Prestige," it should all work out. This would also help to address when say you have multiple Top 4 teams in a class in the same sectional... If you factor in previous years' success, then teams like HH or GS in the same sectional or Chatard and Roncalli don't get penalized simply because of arbitrary lines and arbitrary geography. It will probably take at least 10 years of data, but I'm hoping to eventually get it to something like CalPreps where you could compare teams from different decades... What if Roncalli 2004 played Cathedral 2021... etc.

David Bell would like a word.

He was the 2nd Mr. Football from Columbus East behind Gunner Kiel in 2011. There have been several players that have won Mr. Football that would have had outrageous stats had they played 4 qtrs in all their games. Ones I have watched play live multiple times (more than 3-4 games): Carson Steele, Charlie Spegal, Reese Taylor, Terry McLaurin, Darren Evans, Dexter Taylor, Desmond Tardy, James Banks, Otis Shannon, Derrick Ellis, DuJaun Daniels

I have not heard a name. Freeman did say yesterday that BK offered it to him initially.

Congratulations all all who won. Well deserved

First Hey, how come *insert name from Top 50* doesn't show up on the *insert IFCA Class 6A SR All-State* list? These lists are a joke. 😀 I just wanted to be the first to post that ... over/under on time until someone really posts it?

The RPO craze at all levels of hs football has forced defensive coaches to use more man coverage concepts, thus the DB's have to play tighter coverage and less eyes on the ball. Old school zone allows OC's to put defenders in conflict and hit the RPO's. Man coverage employed by DC's get the defender out of conflict. And because most RPO's are of the quick pass variety, DB's are forced to hunt up the receivers immediately, reducing vision on the ball

The rule has been waived for a handful of basketball games over the years. I get the issue with the rule, but there are inconsistencies in it. Angola HS could play a game in Northern Alabama, but a team in Evansville would only be able to go the same distance in that direction. I could see adjustments to it. About 15 years ago, Cathedral was in the Herbstreit Classic at Nippert Stadium. There was a team from Mission Viejo, CA that was part of it as well. The people in charge wanted the two teams to play. Even though MV had traveled to Cincinnati, the rule still applied and Cathedral could not play them. Things like that I do not get. Maybe someday we will see changes, especially considering a team could potentially travel 300 miles and stay in State to play a game.

I mean he did coin some third string QB who had 11 pass attempts in November “the chosen one”. He often seems to have all the answers, so why would this be any different?

I know Allen well ... some of my tax dollars, I lived in Allen before moving to Indiana, are tied up in that stadium.