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BOYS VARSITY FOOTBALL · DEC 7Thank You For A Great Football Season, Michigan City!! An Open Letter to Michigan City THANK YOU!!! The love and support for our football team has been incredible! While we came up short in our semi-state playoff game, we must take a moment to thank the amazing people of Michigan City who have made this experience so special. We have now made the IHSAA Semi-state game three times in five years! We truly love the young people we work with, and we have dedicated our lives to helping them, but we could not do it without you! It was an awesome experience to see the whole town rally behind these young men and give them the support they needed. We cannot say enough about how the town and its’ people turned out to get behind our effort. We take pride in representing Michigan City, but we could not accomplish all we have accomplished without you behind us. There are so many people to thank, and we hope we don’t leave anybody out. Gratitude and thanks go to Dr. Barbara Eason-Watkins, Dr. Wendel McCollum, Kyle Dean, and Sarah Hendricks. We must thank our football parents-Jenny Heath, Bill Buskirk, and crew, who worked as hard this season as anybody else! Thanks to our Booster Club, the Michigan City Police Department-including Chief Campbell, Officer Corley, and Officer Combs, the Michigan City Fire Department, and our teachers and staff at MCHS. Special thanks to Beth Penfold and Abby Vittatoe and our awesome Cheer Squad who were with us for the whole journey. Our Athletic Training staff-thank you! The incredible fans who made the drives to South Bend and Mishawaka to support us-thank you! Our students who showed up in record numbers throughout the season and playoffs-thank you!! There is a very long list of businesses in town that showed support with marquee displays, signs in windows, or print ads. We think this list shows just how deep the community pride and spirit of Michigan City runs. Thanks and gratitude go out to the American Legion Skwiat Post, Shula-Large Insurance Agency, Kabelins, Patricks Grille, Galveston Steakhouse, Lakeshore Coffee, Family Express, Centre for Contemporary Dentistry, MCAS Transportation, Brandt’s, Schoop’s, Uptown Auto Sales, Great Deals on Wheels, Flores Tax Service, Midas, Holly’s, Wright’s Flowers, Springfield Township Fire Department, St. Joe Club, Athletico, DAV, MCAS Administration, Michigan City Area Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corporation Michigan City, MC Promise Scholarship, MC Park Department, General Insurance Services, South Bend Chocolate Company, Gymboree, Paris House, Franklin Street Barber Shop, Domino’s, Apex Muffler, Dough Boys, Hokkaido, Nest #4, Hoity Toity, SFC Gallery, Mucho Mas, Bubbles, The Beacher, Chris’ Car Care, Naturally Wood, Local Option, Hot Sun in the City Tanning, Magro’s Shoes, Platinum Design Barber, 2.1.9. Designs, Crowning Glory, Temerity Boutique, Janus Tax Accounting, Franciscan Health, NIPSCO, 3 Sheets Bar and Grill, Dolson Insurance Agency, Flanigan Tire, Root Funeral Home, The News Dispatch, Carpet Town, Snyder Insurance, and Horizon Bank! Neither of us are originally from Michigan City, but this town has welcomed us with open arms, and we fully accept! We are SO PROUD to say now that we are from Michigan City! We pledge to continue to work with our students and young people every day to make them better people. Thank you again for supporting us and the team and making Michigan City a great place to be! We love you all! GO WOLVES! Sincerely, Craig Shaman Phil Mason Athletic Director Head Football Coach Michigan City High School Michigan City High School By Craig Shaman on Dec 7, 2021

Are you guys arguing there is no drop in participation numbers or you just don't like the reasons given? I don't have numbers to back it, but it seems like the number of schools with frosh and/or JV teams is lowering every year. A one or two year low trend can be overcome, but all of a sudden a kid doesnt have a chance to pay in games from his 8th grade year until maybe junior year, the participation levels will only worsen. Goshen and Plymouth are great examples of the current situation in a number of districts.

Can't imagine that this is the top item or even in the top three. Maybe kids being pulled in MANY different directions by MANY different options, but soccer's just a scapegoat. I know kids who aren't planning baseball because they are: playing football and want to focus on that, running track and wanting to focus on that, racing dirt bikes, and another wanting to focus on robotics. I know a kid who was going to play soccer, but plays football instead. Know one that who was going to play football, but now plays soccer. In essence, while there may be a regional propensity for soccer, soccer's not the reason for any statewide or national decline. Incidentally, football has ALWAYS tried to recruit from the soccer team ... used to be kickers, but now there's an appreciation for other things like footwork if you can get the hands to work. Some of my better fullbacks were soccer players.

7. Coaches' vote dependence influences officiating behavior in a negative way. It stands to reason that since advancing in the playoffs is a goal for many crews, the officials on those crews will adopt behaviors they perceive as more likely to help them advance. Unfortunately, those behaviors do not necessarily correlate with good officiating practices. In same case, the coaches' vote system has operated to reinforce negative behaviors. Two examples come to mind. First, sideline management and control has been a point of emphasis for a number of years. This is a safety issue, not a cosmetic or "territory" issue. As a consequence, the IHSAA has repeatedly urged officials to strictly enforce the restricted area and sideline rules. In contrast, many coaches don't like that. They like to be as close to the sidelines as possible, or even a little way out on the field, so that the players on the field can easily see and hear them. There is a perception among officials that coaches react negatively to being told to get off the field, get out of the restricted area, etc., and that negative reaction manifests itself in the coaches' vote. So, some officials are lax in enforcing the sideline rules in the belief they are avoiding the negative effect on their coaches' vote rating. A second area where the fear of an unfavorable coaches' vote causes some officials to let things slide is uniform violations. The IHSAA has been very clear with its officials. They want uniform violations cleaned up. Uniform adornments, pants or jerseys that are too short, face paint that looks like it came right out of Braveheart, etc., all those things need to be caught in the pregame and corrected. But more than one coach has expressed frustration when a crew member comes up to him just before game time and informs him that he's got 10 kids with illegal face paint and two that are wearing pants that don't cover the knee. So, some officials let those things slide. And it's not a defense that they are "nitpicky." We all have a boss. Our boss wants those rules enforced, so we should enforce them. Although the vast majority of coaches undoubtedly participate in the process in an ethical way, every official has a story about a coach who threatened a bad coaches' vote after a controversial call. Such conduct is grounds for an immediate unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but again, apprehension about the effect such an action would have on a coaches' vote -- one that would follow a crew for several years -- sometimes prevents officials from doing what they should. In short, while incentivizing behavior that leads to better officiating is a goal of our process, in this regard the coaches' vote actually works contrary to the articulated goal.

6. Coaches often have misconceptions about the practical effect of their votes. One of the unfortunate aspects of the coaches' vote system is that the coaches get very little information on the effect of their votes. The result is that many have misconceptions about what their vote does to a crew's chances of advancing. For example, suppose a crew gets 40 votes. Every one of those votes is a "4," because the coaches voting believe that crew is good enough to work to the semistate level. I don't know where in the current climate a 4.0 average on the coaches' vote will rank a crew, but I can promise you it will not be at the semistate level. Those coaches who thought they were helping the crew get a semistate have, in fact, doomed their chances. If the coaches thought a crew was worthy of a Regional, and voted them "3" accordingly, that crew would be fortunate to get a second game in the sectional. Far from just being vague, the labels in the coaches' vote instructions are actually misleading, since they do not correlate with the practical effect of the votes cast.

At 3,000 that puts then in the top dozen and in the top 5% of of the state's football schools.

A Civil War is a great book. Feinstein references an Army fullback by the name of Coby Short in a couple of places in the book. Coby played football here in our state for Bedford North Lawrence. Center Grove's Alex Aukerman had a great career at Army, and ended up #2 in all time sacks. His team won a couple of the games against Navy, 2 CIC trophies and is currently serving as an officer at Fort Knox, KY.

5. The coaches’ vote provides officials with no useful feedback. One of the functions of any evaluative process is to provide those being evaluated with feedback they can use to improve performance. This tracks well with our announced goal “To incentivize officials to develop and adopt best officiating practices.” Providing officials with feedback on their performance promotes learning and growth, and serves the goal of raising the level of officiating in Indiana across the board. Unfortunately, the coaches’ vote misses this opportunity. At the end of the season, each crew is provided with information on their aggregate vote, their average, and the identity of the schools that rated them on the coaches’ vote ballot. No explanation is provided to the officials as to why they received a particular vote from a particular school. In fact, although the crew is told which schools cast votes for them, they are not told what that any specific school's vote was. So, not only does the coaches’ vote fail to provide specific feedback on officiating performance, it does not even provide the very gross measure of the vote cast by each school. It is impossible to incentivize officials to improve when they are not told the areas in which they need to improve. The coaches' vote, as an evaluative process, therefore, misses the opportunity to generally increase officiating proficiency because it provides no useful performance on a coaches' perception of a crew's performance.

We're going to finish our critique of the coaches' vote process, demonstrating its many flaws. Then we'll talk about where we might go from here to better accomplish the goals we identified at the outset of this inquiry. 3. Coaches are not given clear enough standards, and the standards they are given promote inconsistency and do not correlate to officiating excellence. The coaches’ vote ballot instructs the coaches to assign a score to each officiating crew they have seen in the last 3 seasons, plus whatever part of the current season has passed. Scores range from 1-5. The instructions they are given in how to assign a rating to a crew are as follows: 5 State Ready: The official/crew exhibits excellent communication skills, NFHS/IHSAA approved mechanics, arrives at the contest site mentally and physically prepared, demonstrates excellent game management, and has control of the contest by making consistent calls from beginning to the end and can work the highest level in the tournament. 4 Semi State Ready: The official/crew displays very good communication skills, and is in position to make most calls. The official manages the game well and has control of the contest, but not at the highest level. 3 Regional Ready: official/crew demonstrates adequate rules knowledge and acceptable game management. Communication with coaches and players is acceptable but needs more experience to work the higher levels of the tournament. 2 Sectional Ready: The official/crew has the ability, rules knowledge and communication skills to work the lowest level of the tournament. Improvement in one or more of these areas is required for advancement 1 Not Tournament Ready: The official/crew is unable to adequately demonstrate the skill level, communication, judgment, mechanics, and rules knowledge expected for the tournament. Game management needs improvement in order to officiate a tournament contest. Note: Schools that submit a rating of 1 must provide specific feedback via a dropdown menu. At the conclusion of the coaches’ vote process, the IHSAA totals up the coaches’ vote and divides by the number of votes to give each crew an average score. For example, if a crew gets 20 “5” votes and 20 “4” votes, that crew’s coaches’ vote score is 4.5 (20 x 5 + 20 x 4 = 180; 180 ÷ 40 = 4.5). There are several problems with this approach. First, as you can see from the descriptions of the various numerical ratings, many of the other flaws in the coaches’ vote system are repeated here. The various ratings speak of mechanics, rules knowledge, being in “proper position,” etc. Yet, the evidence is overwhelming that most coaches do not know the rules nearly as well as an official should, and they know literally nothing of mechanics or proper positioning. There is no way, therefore, for the coaches’ vote to correlate directly with officiating proficiency in the areas of rules knowledge, mechanics, and philosophy. Secondly, there is no suggestion of weighting factors. Obviously, some are more important than others. But there is no suggestion of that in the rating system. Third, this is a very blunt instrument. Officials are rated using whole numbers, but the fact that the coaches’ vote provides most of the differentiation between crews mandates that the numerical scores of each crew be carried out to three decimal places in order to distinguish between crews. The difference between making a Regional and topping out at a Sectional Final can literally be just a few thousandths of a point. Making such fine judgments using such crude numbers is statistically unsound. Finally, the terms used are either vague, or employ circular logic. A crew rated “5” is considered state finals ready, but among the rating criteria are “can work the highest level in the tournament.” Similar, a crew rated “1” is not tournament ready, and among their rating criteria is “needs improvement in order to officiate a tournament contest.” A definition that includes the defined term in it is not much of a definition at all.

2022 Clinic Friday and Saturday morn. Itinerary.pdf REGISTRATION FORM JANAUARY 2022.doc

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.

One could argue CINCINNATI has a more impressive win on their resume than UGA, no? Now, do I think the Bearcats would have run the table with Georgia’s schedule? No.

My freshmen year at Andrean, at the beginning of the past decade, we had 35+ plus on the freshmen team (which was large but still around average). Now, they don’t even have a freshmen team. Now that’s just one school, but I think there’s undoubtedly been a drop in numbers across the board, just from what I’ve seen at the games I’ve been too.

I agree Irish....SEC East was down this year. What was Georgia's biggest win? Kentucky? Auburn? When one studies their schedule, it doesn't really impress. Their opening win against a really down Clemson was a 10-3 score. I know I am alone on an island, but I thought Georgia deserved the #4 seed and while not sexy for viewers, should have had to prove themselves against Bama again for that really bad game. I am torn on Cincy...I want them to compete well against Bama. But I was at the Cincy/IU game. IU led at the half and was in that game until the end. This was after multiple turnovers, getting stopped on 4th down giving up an easy FG for 3, and losing Micah McFadden (their best player) in the first half when leading 14-0. If Cincy plays the way they did in the IU game, they are in for a long day against Bama.

Area where factories have closed, people have moved out to the suburbs or farther, and demographics change attributes to much of it. Inner city schools are down enrollment wise and high schools should be closed like in South Bend but the school board is afraid of charters moving in and more students lost. Many cities in northern Indiana have seen a population growth in the Latino community. Goshen Elkhart, South Bend, Laporte so that is another aspect of the total picture and there is nothing wrong in any of these. How many schools this past year did not have a freshman team or a JV team or both? And why is that? The coach? Winning, Parent philosophy? This can be beaten up in many ways.

You couldn't pay me to live in Brookville, with a large man-made earthen dam just north of you able to literally sweep the town away if the right conditions are met.

Great letter and City has shown up many times when teams were successful. The fans that followed basketball under Doug Adams was unreal. I was in City the night of the semi state game. They paraded the team around the town prior to the game. Yard signs were all over. Business windows were decorated. It was so nice to see a community rally behind a group of young men. One high school towns do have an advantage to rally community support.

One is a Senior (Hauser) and the other a Junior (Bowen). We have another year of seeing Drayk Bowen, should be interesting.

It is at "4A" Frankfort High School. When your 9-12 student body is >50% Hispanic/Latino then soccer tends to be bigger deal than American tackle football. Just saying........

I’m sure the 30 boys on a big HS soccer roster is really the reason a football team can’t get 70 kids from the 400+ boys at a given 4A school. there are plenty of reasons why a kid may not want to play football and I’m sure most of them are perfectly good reasons…but kids playing soccer is not a reason why a football program cannot field a full JV/Freshman team….that goes without even mentioning that the OL/DL/LBs/TEs are not even going to try to get on a soccer field. Do coaches think kids who are 6’0+ 215lbs want to run around for 80 minutes trying to be more agile than everyone else? Lol like come on. The kids playing soccer have builds that are more similar to DBs and WRs than anything….which funny enough…DBs and WRs are the two positions in football that every team carries the most depth at. blaming kids playing soccer is a joke to me and I refuse to give any credit to that idea.

I dunno. With the exception of sometimes Ohio State every time I watch a B10 team play an SEC team in a big bowl game the B10 players look to just be 1-3 steps slower across the board than their SEC counterparts. And that makes all the difference in the world.

https://nypost.com/2021/12/08/white-house-working-with-media-to-get-positive-biden-coverage/ White House ‘working behind the scenes’ with media to get positive coverage The White House has been secretly begging news organizations to give “favorable” coverage to President Biden rather than focusing on his failings, according to a report. The administration is “not happy” with the unflattering headlines and coverage of the supply-chain disaster and handling of the economy — and so “has been working behind the scenes trying to reshape coverage in its favor,” CNN’s Reliable Sources said. Senior White House and administration officials “have been briefing major newsrooms over the past week,” a source told the outlet’s media reporter Oliver Darcy. The meetings have been led by a trio of administration officials: National Economic Council deputy directors David Kamin and Bharat Ramamurti, as well as ports envoy John Porcari, Darcy wrote in his newsletter. “I’m told the conversations have been productive, with anchors and reporters and producers getting to talk with the officials,” Darcy wrote. Reliable Sources has itself been leading the way, with its latest tweet on Monday about how the White House is “absolutely right” to have grievances about brutal coverage of Biden’s time in office. Darcy’s report about the secret talks also linked to the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, who recently wrote an op-ed titled, “The media treats Biden as badly as — or worse than — Trump. Here’s proof.” In it, he pointed to data analysis reportedly showing that “Biden’s press for the past four months has been as bad as — and for a time worse than — the coverage Trump received for the same four months of 2020.” He said that the findings during a time when Biden’s approval ratings have plummeted “confirmed my fear: My colleagues in the media are serving as accessories to the murder of democracy.” Milbank admitted that “Biden has had his troubles,” mentioning the Delta variant, Afghanistan and inflation, but not numerous other scandals that have seen the president’s ratings plummet. The columnist appeared on CNN Monday to further push his theories — admitting that the negative press was bipartisan, having ramped up from the spectacular failings of the doomed withdrawal from Afghanistan. “The left-wing media is tough on him … He has no real support,” Milbank said of Biden, showing his own feelings as he hailed the commander-in-chief as a leader “trying to restore the organs of democracy.” His views knocking the media were — unsurprisingly — shared by the White House, with chief of staff Ron Klain sharing the Washington paper’s op-ed, writing, “Submitted for your consideration.” Reports of the secret PR mission quickly had the administration roasted online. “Biden’s policies are so popular that he’s begging the MSM to do a better job at lying about it,” one person wrote on Twitter. Another wrote, “BIDEN’S HANDLERS MEETING WITH THE MSM ASKING FOR A BETTER SPIN ON HIS POLICIES AND A MORE POSITIVE IMAGE OF HIM. ALL THEY DO IS LIE.” Others suggested that the spin was “the opposite” by being favorable to the president, noting the lack of media coverage of The Post’s numerous scoops on first son Hunter Biden. “Had they not protected [Biden] and his con artiste son for months we wouldn’t be here now,” one person complained, while another urged the media to “strap their balls back on and show this pathetic president for exactly what he is.” Really? Does anyone have any sympathy for the current President considering the unrelenting negative press the former President had for 4 solid years?

SWIAC looks to be a three horse race at the top between Linton, North Daviess, and Bloomfield. All 3 are highly ranked and deservedly so. The Miners are proving to be more than just pieces for Joey Hart, and if they can get Drew Smith back in form, there could be a lengthy run in store come March. North Daviess prides itself on defense and right now they are playing stellar defense. Of course, for them to make a run they'll have to get out of the gauntlet that is sectional 63. Bloomfield looks to be improved this year, on both sides of the ball. We knew they could score but they've become a good defensive team to start the year. Should be a sellout wherever these three teams play all year long. North Central has impressed me this year. Even without Tyler Vaughn, the T-Birds could be poised to take the next step. After all, they did defeat Bloomfield in last year's sectional and if their talent level and conditioning level even up, they could be a real threat to any of the above teams. Shakamak is hard to figure out. Like was said above, they went from getting run off their court to losing at the buzzer in one night. Coy Gilbert is a very good player and can heat up at any time, if his supporting cast comes along, watch out Bloomfield and North Central in sectional 57. WRV has trouble putting the ball in the basket, but their defense seems to have improved which might help them against teams of their caliber. Max Hostetter is a nice point guard but needs pieces around him. Clay City is a very young team but not one to overlook, Coach Ames values shot making and in a couple years with that decent freshman class, they could give the teams above maybe a challenge. Eastern is just hurting right now. Injuries and youth have left Coach Hudson looking for answers that just won't come yet. Like Clay City, they have a decent freshman class that is gaining experience now. They may take their lumps now but hopefully things turn around there. My SWIAC power rankings: 1. Linton 2. Bloomfield 3. North Daviess 4. North Central 5. Shakamak 6. Clay City 7. WRV 8. Eastern Greene

Tbf….I was in diapers when Rex was a freshman in high school lol

The second I saw the title of the thread I knew who authored it.

No, Rex Grossman

Yes, pretty much the perfect football game.

I'm back from a short vacation spent mostly with the in-laws. It was not uneventful as my wife's first cousin tested positive for COVID, another first cousin totaled her car on the way to meet us and has severe whiplash injuries and a second cousin was hospitalized with COVID. There were plenty others to visit though. As far as football goes, never bet against Saban in a big game. We should know better by now. He's the master at getting his players to play lights out in the spotlight. I'm comfortable with Brian Kelly's leaving. IMO, he was getting quite stale at Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman is an excellent choice and I hope he's the coach at Notre Dame for many years to come. He seems to be the kind of coach that Notre Dame has lacked for many years. He can coach up and inspire players better than any coach in the Irish near past. He seems to have the right mentality for the unique challenges of Notre Dame. I guess we'll find out soon if Jack Swarbrick and the players were right. The CFP played out just as I'd hoped. I want the Irish to get to a good Bowl Game, which the Fiesta surely is, and play a team that will challenge them. I think this will benefit the Irish, long term, more than a playoff spot would. The future looks bright and I'm hopeful that the ND spirit is on its way back to South Bend.

Simple algorithm is an oxymoron.

The state finals was the first time I was able to watch Brady Allen and GS play. I was very impressed, as I was with all 12 teams. Allen, and maybe it was because of his #, immediately reminded me of a young Peyton Manning. Whomever wins Mr. Football, is very well deserving. Best wishes to all.

Glad to have seen this move back to its own weekend a couple years ago. So much to love and appreciate about this game. I have said it before but John Feinstein's book "A Civil War" is a must read about this series. Go Navy!!!

Went thru the FC football roster for this year,we had 18 freshman 11 sophomores 7 juniors and 11 seniors. Next year is going to tough as it will be a fairly young team. Having the same numbers issue in basketball 9 freshman 2 sophomores 5 juniors and 5 seniors. Have 3 juniors and 1 sophomore that play jv and dress for varsity as well. Have to pull 3 freshman up for jv to have 9 players for it. It's tough not having the numbers but for what we have we do ok.

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

Finally, Offenses have been cheating for a long time

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.

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?

They can no longer lay claim to being that small school that competes with the Mega Schools.

So, Notre Dame and Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. Great matchup. Irish will put their streak on the line: they’ve never lost to a team coached by a guy who wears a mullet. 🤣😂

He is also intending on playing football next year.

McAfee is always good for some comic relief, and this is no exception...careful though the language may not be suitable for work

@Coach Nowlinhitting it out of the park with this one. 🤣

I agree. As Bobref has posted several times, this is a zero-sum game. Anyone who doesn't get assigned will feel the the process is unfair and can show it by leaving. We don't gain anything by using this as a collective justification for changing the process. The same number of officials/crews will be upset. It will just be a different group. I have friends in college and NFL officiating and they complain about their rating and post-season assigning process as well. Yes, the process needs to be updated, but retention of officials is not a primary reason. The other comment about having to "start over", they technically do. A crew who worked a state final is only eligible for a sectional final the following year just like every other crew. They often return because they are still getting the votes required to advance. Crews that only get 1 or 2 games need to realize the crew working regional and beyond aren't the ones they are "competing" against. They are competing against the crews getting the 2nd round and sectional final games. At that level performance has more of an impact than the number of votes. But there are still a limited number of games and good crews will be excluded no matter what.

He was able to find an apartment in Winamac in the past month. He appreciates your thoughts and prayers.

We should all meet at The Wagon Wheels, I swear to God we should!

When I was at St. Ed’s, it was more like Brothers of the Right Cross. Those guys really packed a punch.

I would also add once lineman put hand on ground for 3 point stance if they move hand off ground it’s a false start