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Welcome to The Gridiron Digest Indiana Football Report. Each week, we spotlight some of the teams and storylines from Indiana high school football. Titans reloading in Class 3A The Gibson Southern Titans are reloading after winning the Class 3A state championship, starting the season with a 2-0 record, defeating two 5A teams. The Titans beat Terre Haute South 27-20 in Week 1, then defeated New Albany 45-7 last week. They open Pocket Athletic Conference play this Friday at home against Washington. But playing two larger schools in the non-conference schedule - and a strong out-of-state team in Week 4 in South Warren (Ky.) - helps prepare the Titans for conference and tournament play. “I think it is so important to play teams like that. It really forces us to prepare and play at a high level,” Titans coach Nick Hart said. “Then, when we see phenomenal athletes in conference or in the tournament it is something we have seen. We play the defending 5A Kentucky champs next week. Last year they whooped us pretty good, but we learned some valuable lessons that game and I don't think we win a state championship without those lessons.” The Titans graduated a number of players from last year’s squad, including quarterback Brady Allen, who is now at Purdue, but had a strong offseason. “I think it is always a fear that when you reach that mountain top that there can be a hangover going into the offseason,” Hart said. “With everyone that graduated you are looking around for leaders. Our kids did a fantastic job this offseason. I could not have been more pleased with what they did from December-July.” Quarterback Tanner Boyd has taken the reins of the offense and completed 39-of-47 passes for 311 yards and five touchdowns, spreading the ball around to multiple receivers. He was 16-of-18 against New Albany. A dual-threat, he also had a 131-yard rushing game against Terre Haute South in the opener. RB Devan Roberts tallied 169 yards and two scores on 13 carries against New Albany. “He has been great,” the Titans’ coach Hart said of Boyd. “He brings a different dynamic with his legs. We put a lot on our quarterbacks from a decision making standpoint and he has made phenomenal decisions so far. He's a great kid and he has done a great job.” Brownsburg returning to glory It’s been nearly four decades since the Brownsburg Bulldogs sat atop the high school football world with back-to-back state titles in 1984 and 1985. This current crop of Bulldogs is seeking to add to that proud tradition. With Nick Hart's father John at the helm, the Bulldogs enter Hoosier Crossroads Conference play this week after a pair of statement wins in their non-conference schedule, punctuated last week with a 42-35 victory over defending 5A champion Indianapolis Cathedral. Brownsburg moved up to No. 2 in the Class 6A poll with the victory, which came on the heels of a 21-16 win over Ben Davis in the opening week. Last season, the Bulldogs went 9-3 and won their first sectional title since 2009. “Our kids love to compete and winning never gets old, but we try to keep everything in perspective,” Bulldogs coach John Hart said. “We try to stay hungry and humble.” Quarterback Jayden Whitaker completed 15-of-23 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown, winning a shootout with Cathedral’s Danny O’Neil, who threw for 317 yards and four scores. Whitaker and Corey Smith have had a strong connection threw two weeks - Whitaker has 430 yards passing and is completing 63 percent of his throws. Smith has seven catches for 196 yards, including a 142-yard game last week. Junior running back Garrett Sherrell added 129 yards and three scores. “Our success throwing the ball has been the accumulation of a lot of hard work from our players,” Hart said. “Their commitment to working in the spring and summer showed up at the Colts and Hoover 7-on-7 tournaments.” Hart has led Evansville Reitz and Warren Central to state championships. He is the father of Gibson Southern’s Nick Hart. When Gibson Southern won the 3A title last year, the Harts became the third father-son duo to coach teams to IHSAA state titles, joining Bud and Kevin Wright, as well as John and Vince Lidy. All four of Hart’s children are head coaches, as is his son-in-law. “Our kids are tremendous coaches & their success coaching has been incredible,” John Hart said. “We all talk often about football, weight training, and program development, but mostly about life and family. I think we are all each other's biggest fans...led by their mom.” Nick Hart echoed those sentiments. “It is really special,” he said. “When I was old enough, I was always at practice. It is a part of who I am. We talk a lot. It is super-busy this time of year but there are always conversations going on.” Mater Dei takes big step with win The Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats have taken a step each of the last three years - sectional champ in 2019, regional in 2020 and semistate champ in 2021. The Wildcats would love nothing more than to climb the last rung this season as they look to make their seventh State Finals appearance since 1994 and seek to win their first title since 2000. They made a significant statement last week, beating then-5A No. 7 Castle 17-14. Mater Dei moved up to No. 1 in the Class 2A polls with the victory. While it is early in the season, last week’s victory was a big one. I “It seems that the MD-Castle game is always so close and such a battle, Friday night was no different. We have the greatest respect for Coach Doug Hurt and his staff and program – actually, the two programs have very similar philosophies,” Mater Dei coach Mike Goebel said. “The outcome could have been different, the lead changed hands four times and we were able to capitalize on a fumble late after our go-ahead score. Either team could have won.” The victory was Goebel’s 250th career win in a 26-year head coaching career - all at Mater Dei. Quarterback Mason Wunderlich threw for 224 yards, including a three-yard TD to Luke McDermon in the final two minutes to put the Wildcats over the top. They then forced two turnovers to seal the game - recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. When the Knights got the ball back, Mater Dei’s Joey Pierre picked off a pass to seal the game. Wunderlich has thrown for more than 459 yards through two games after passing for 2,671 yards a year ago. Pierre has been the leading rusher in both games as well as playing solid defense. “We think we have a good blend of players,” Goebel said. Several seniors have played in many games and they lead the way. Mason Wunderlich is much-improved. Joey Pierre is an outstanding two-way player and our leading scorer. We have great competition among our receivers to actually get on the field--they are all trustworthy. The line on both sides of the ball has been battling and is improving by the day. As to our main players, we really look at it as the team is trying to find itself and improve, that requires excellent effort from everyone.” With the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference being a 10-team league, every week is a league game, and therefore an important one. “Every game in the SIAC is important,” Goebel said. “Parity seems to be the word this season as only two teams remain undefeated after 2 games. We are now locked in on a very much improved Vincennes Lincoln team this weekend. Coach (Levi) Salters could very easily be undefeated at this point.” Roncalli starting strong Roncalli has started the season strong under new head coach Eric Quintana. The Royals are ranked No. 2 in both Class 4A polls and were ranked No. 1 in the IFCA poll for a week. In Week 1, Luke Hansen broke a 21-year-old school record, rushing for 335 yards and five touchdowns against Southport. He ran for 182 yards on 37 carries in a 17-0 Week 2 victory over Franklin Central. Roncalli’s massive offensive line, led by Iowa commit Trevor Lauck, opens the way. “We focus on ourselves every day. Our emphasis every day is fundamentals and physicality. Our offensive line did a great job at doing their jobs at max effort. Luke did the same,” Quintana said of Hansen’s record-breaking day and start to the season. “He has naturally progressed over the summer and early fall at training his eyes and trusting the guys up front. It helps that he is great in the weight room and an all-state wrestler. We have the tools every week to be a leading rushing team in the state. It's easy to talk, we have to work every day. Very proud of our guys' work ethic so far.” A native of Plymouth, Quintana takes over at Roncalli after 11 seasons as an assistant coach at five different Central Indiana schools. He was on the staff for three state championship teams - with Carmel in 2016 and Indianapolis Bishop Chatard in 2019 and 2020. “The last few months have gone by fast,” Quintana said of taking over as the Royals’ head coach. “I personally like to just get involved and get to work. The first thing was to create relationships with my guys and hire the best staff for our guys. Once that was done, we got straight to work program-wide. The summer went well and the school year is off to a great start. Having a supportive administration and alumni group around is great. All hands on deck to continue and raise the standards of such a great traditional program.” Roncalli faces 3A No. 1 Indianapolis Chatard this week. Lions snap streak, start 2-0 Entering the 2022 season, the Rushville Lions had one varsity player who had experienced a victorious Friday night. That number now extends to the entire team, as the Lions have won back-to-back games to start the season for the first time since 2013. The Lions beat Milan 41-35 in Week 1 to snap a 24-game losing streak. It was their first victory since Sept. 20, 2019, when they beat Connersville in overtime. Rushville followed it up with a 41-39 victory over Shelbyville in the resumption of their longstanding rivalry that had been paused for a decade. For the Lions, the victories were a long time in the making. Isaac Sliger, a 2013 Rushville graduate, returned to the head coaching job at his alma mater last year and worked to build the culture. Last season, they went 0-10, but were playing a number of freshmen and sophomores and building. "When we came in, we understood we wanted to start over completely from scratch and rebuild from the ground up," Sliger said. "For us, that started with creating a culture of living in the weight room, creating high standards, holding players and coaches accountable and creating an environment where our athletes support other athletes and each other in their respective sports. As everyone knows, that is not an easy thing to do every single day, let alone when you are trying to build something from the ground up. Our kids have bought in and have done such an amazing job of doing things the right way." The Lions are led by senior quarterback Austin Vance, a four-year starter who missed all but one game last season with an injury. He threw for 217 yards and four touchdowns against Milan and 122 yards last week against Shelbyville. Junior Harper Miller ran for 169 yards in the win over Shelbyville. Sliger described Miller and Jayden Roosa as their "Thunder and Lightning" combo in the running game in their uptempo offense. Rushville hosts its first Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference foe, Franklin County, this week. "We know and understand we have a lot to prove," Sliger said. "We as a program are in uncharted waters. We are learning how to win games and learning how to raise standards daily, in practice, in film and in the classroom. The EIAC has some great programs that weekly are going to present challenges to each other. Our guys love the challenge." Notable Center Grove extended its winning streak to 30 games last week with a 31-27 win over Carmel behind 180 passing yards from QB Tyler Cherry, 129 of which went to Noah Coy. Carmel’s Jackson Kazmierczak was 22-of-34 for 353 yards and two touchdowns, with Reece Ballin on the receiving end of 156 of those yards. … Evansville Reitz’s Ben Davies was 22-of-30 for 317 yards in a 31-28 victory over Vincennes Lincoln. … East Central’s Cole Burton was 10-of-17 for 291 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-7 win over neighboring Harrison (Ohio). … Guerin Catholic’s Ryan Zimmerman topped the 300-yard mark for the second straight game, as he was 16-of-24 for 313 yards in a 47-10 victory over Lafayette Catholic. … North Harrison’s Sawyer Wetzel ran for 239 yards in a 42-6 win over Scottsburg … Perry Central’s Sawyer Guillaume had 269 rushing yards and three TDs in a 42-21 win over Forest Park. … North Knox’s Caleb Bottum ran for 274 yards and four TDs in a 45-14 victory over Eastern Greene. … Heritage Christian’s Luke Valerio had 185 yards receiving and four TDs on five catches in a 52-33 win over Shenandoah. The Raiders’ Mayson Lewis had 238 rushing yards in a losing effort. … Crawfordsville is 2-0 for the first time in eight years under new head coach Brad Clark. The Athenians had won three games total since 2017 prior to this year. Other games to watch this week 6A #1 Center Grove at Louisville Trinity 6A #3 Cathedral at 6A #7 Penn Detroit Cass Tech at 6A #6 Carmel 5A #9 Fort Wayne North at 6A #9 Carroll 6A #10 Homestead at Fort Wayne Luers Crown Point at 5A #1 Merrillville 5A #2 Whiteland at 5A #5 Decatur Central 4A #1 New Palestine at Yorktown 4A #4 East Central at Cincinnati Moeller 4A #8 Greenfield-Central at 4A #10 Mt. Vernon 2A #8 Heritage Christian at 3A #5 Guerin Catholic 2A #2 Eastbrook at Oak Hill 1A #1 Indianapolis Lutheran at 2A #7 Triton Central Covenant Christian at 1A #2 Adams Central 1A #7 North Decatur at 1A #4 Monroe Central

I like where this is headed.

Magistrate Judge Ryan Reed of the Vanderburgh Circuit Court entered an order this morning reversing the decision of the Ind. Dept. of Education's Case Review Panel upholding the IHSAA's decision to only allow limited eligibility at Memorial until Oct. 29. As a result, this young man will be immediately eligible to play tomorrow night for Memorial in their game against, you guessed it, Evansville Central.

The players and coaches at those schools probably aren't there now, so this makes no sense. Two wrongs don't make a right. If they're leaving starters in and not allowing younger players an opportunity they are only hurting themselves in the long run. You don't sharpen kids up by dominating weak competition. You give them a false sense of superiority. But good luck with that strategy as I'm sure it will take them very far.

We look forward to coming on down to Linton for a great Friday Night.

Another "making sense" moment in CA - we want you drive electric cars, but WAIT, we don't have enough energy for you to charge them when you need to......So please "voluntarily" do this so we won't have to force "drastic measures" (ie: laws) Wonder how bad it's gonna get when the gas-powered engines are really outlawed in CA..... http://www.caiso.com/Documents/excessive-heat-starting-tomorrow-will-stress-energy-grid.pdf The power grid operator expects to call on Californians for voluntary energy conservation via Flex alerts over the long weekend. During a Flex Alert, consumers are urged to reduce energy use from 4-9 p.m. when the system is most stressed because demand for electricity remains high and there is less solar energy available. The top three conservation actions are to set thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using large appliances and charging electric vehicles, and turn off unnecessary lights. Lowering electricity use during that time will ease strain on the system, and prevent more drastic measures, including rotating power outages.

I too was at the game Donnie, just like WRC123. The Amish Christians scored on their final two possessions of the 2nd quarter after RP turnovers and again on the first possession of the 3rd quarter to make it a 42-18 game. #24 scored all of his offensive TDs in the first half. The Panthers played a really bad 3rd quarter and couldn't get the running clock until the 9 minute mark of the 4th quarter when #24 took an Amish pass at the goal line 100 yards on an INT return TD. That's when the JV offense and defense came in to finish the game. So, nothing really out of the ordinary for any team in a similar situation. If anything the Panthers should be criticized for not finishing off the Amish early enough and letting them hang around.

First home game for Linton and should be the first test for the Miners to see what kind of a team they have. Linton is playing a lot of young players along with some seasoned veterans returning at key positions, namely at QB, receiver, and running back. Three tall receivers are good targets for senior QB Gennicks. Gennicks is the leading rusher as well, taking one 96 yards last week at North Vermillion. The first two games were running clock games and the varsity offense put up 106 points in the four quarters they played while the varsity D allowed 13 points. Monrovia is much improved so we'll see if the Mines are deserving of the high rankings they have in the polls. On a personal note, I didn't travel to the first two Miner games but I will be in attendance at this week's game, marking the 85th consecutive season I have attended Linton Miner football games.

Welcome to Week 3 in the WIC! I got my record wrong in week 2. I was 8-1, not 9-1. So my overall record is 15-3. Here are the Week 3 games where the WIC really gets into full gear. Friday, Sep. 2 Brown County at Cloverdale ©, 7 pm Greencastle at West Vigo ©, 7 pm Indian Creek at Owen Valley ©, 7 pm North Putnam at South Putnam ©, 7 pm Sullivan at Northview ©, 7 pm Saturday, Sep. 3 Peotone (Ill.) at Edgewood, 2 pm BC @ Cloverdale - Welp. Not sure who to take here. I'll take BC because they've won this game the last few seasons. G'Castle @ West Vigo - Both teams have been solid. G'Castle really put it on Attucks in week 1 but not a great opponent to judge results on. WV beat up on PH and the same should be said about them as the Attucks-G'Castle game. Whoever gets their offense humming a bit should win. I'll be a homer and take WV because it's the home opener. Indian Creek @ OV - This could be game of the week in the conference. Creek is definitely much improved. OV is still OV from last year. OV wins this one though 42-28. NP @ SP - NP hasn't been the same since Barrett and Carnes. SP has been very good under Sorrell. They've been a power in the WIC the last few seasons. I'll take SP 42-14. Sullivan @ Northview - Sullivan didn't have their QB last week, not sure if he's playing this week. Northview looks to be the best team in the WIC so far. This game has always been a grudge match. It's a big game for both teams. Northview wins 31-21. Peotone @ Edgewood - No clue about Peotone. Edgewood hasn't proved much to me yet this year. Beat a struggling Mitchell team and lost big to Monrovia. No clue who to pick. So I'll take Peotone in a close one, 21-14.

nmsu_aggie 41 19 LC_Bears_04 40 20 Ballhawk 39 21 gonzoron 37 23 Donnie Baker 37 23 Mongo 37 23 Fballfan15 37 23 snoot 35 25 CoachSnyder 35 25 WCGrad92 34 26 Mod22 33 27 foxbat 32 28 Muda69 32 28 Skeeterman 29 31 FarmerFran 29 31 dcjjones 27 33 Bears62 22 38 Sailors 21 39 Obi-Wan 19 41 Boilernation 15 45 CoachDurham 15 45

Bar Louie, Villa Macri, Rocky River Tap and Table

No one

Stolzenbach is a life saver, I will post the updated version soon All I need is Central to start posting their stats, since digitalscout only has the Bosse game for them

I tried my best, but these are the main overall conference stats Team PPG Reitz 35.0 PPG Vincennes 34.0 PPG Mater Dei 26.0 PPG Jasper 24.5 PPG Castle 21 PPG North 17.5 PPG Harrison 14.0 PPG Bosse 13.0 PPG Central 6.5 PPG Memorial 5.0 PPG Team Defensive PPG Allowed Mater Dei 7.0 PPG North 14.0 PPG Jasper 15.0 PPG Vincennes 15.5 PPG Reitz 18.0 PPG Castle 19.0 PPG Memorial 24.0 PPG Bosse 26.5 PPG Harrison 27.0 PPG Central 30.5 PPG Team Offensive YPG Reitz 471.5 YPG Mater Dei 384.0 YPG Vincennes 304.5 YPG North 301.0 YPG Castle 274.0 YPG Jasper 247.5 YPG (No available stats for Week 2)* Bosse 214 YPG Central 204 YPG* Memorial 198 YPG Harrison 112.0 YPG Team Passing Defense(allowed) Reitz 40.0 YPG (80 yards) Memorial 49.5 YPG (99 yards) Bosse 59 yards (118 yards)* Mater Dei 130 YPG (130 yards)* Jasper 139.5 YPG (279 yards) Castle 174.0 YPG (348 yards) Central 177.5 YPG (355 yards) Vincennes 199.5 YPG (399 Yards) North 203.0 YPG (406 yards) Harrison 239 YPG (239 yards)* Team Rushing Defense (allowed) Vincennes 56.0 YPG (112 yards) North 61.5 YPG (123 yards) Jasper 72.0 YPG (144 yards) Mater Dei 83.0 YPG (83 yards)* Central 156.5 YPG (313 yards) Bosse 176 YPG (352 yards) Reitz 197.5 YPG (395 yards) Castle 210.5 YPG (421 yards) Harrison 215 YPG (215 yards)* Memorial 263.5 YPG (527 yards) *Missing stats for a game or opponent is

hello friends the mercy rule should not exist, any team 100 points better than another should shoot to win by at least 90. the mercy rule shields teams from the understanding that they are not putting in enough effort. the mercy rule robs hard working teams of valuable playing time. the mercy rule will create weak men of the future. I will provide no evidence to back up any of this. good day.

Knock it off. Stay on topic and save the personal bickering for the DMs.

Speedway Lutheran Scecina Linton (hope to be wrong here)

One's thing for sure...Trinity is being forced to spend time on the Wing T this week in practice. Guessing they don't see it a ton.

I think you're representing the school and the program in an embarrassing way. I'm uncertain about what you're trying to prove, I am certain you are not succeeding, and I wish you would cut it out. It's not like you've come out and said who you are anyway, so what's the difference? This is some real pissant stuff. In my mind a good to great result for the Kingsmen, right now, is something like keeping it to one or two scores. It's hard to know if this team has that, even though they are obviously improved, because the previous four squads make for a low standard to measure by. I might be tempted to go on a limb if this game was being played on old Freed Field in early October in the middle of an unseasonably wet fall, but this one like turns out closer to what Temp has. Which, if you're keeping track through time, is similar to many of Penn's results against Indy area teams.

https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=IN

Don’t understand the big deal. IHSAA has established the point in a game when mercy is appropriate. If the clock’s not running, pedal to the metal. Once the running clock starts, mercy should be shown by the winning team. It’s pretty black and white to me.

Manchester at Wabash Like the Wabash Skilled people here. North Miami at Southwood I believe Southwood bounces back. North Miami a couple of nice wins but a big step up in competition this week. Northfield at Maconaquah Totally different styles of offense. Northfield wins time of possession and game. Peru at Tippecanoe Valley Again tough to judge a team that loses by 44 one week and then wins by 60 the next. As long as Valley does not turn ball over should post double digit win. Whitko at Rochester Ugly game of the night. Glad Zebras will have a backup scoreboard after the big storm this week.

😟 ... now I gotta go.

You can see this with really good/great skills players, especially running backs who, when they score, typically make the line the first guys they celebrate with.

Relax everyone. Just making a joke. I haven’t broken the rules just making an observation.

The past two years, CG and Westfield, both around 2,500 enrollment, no where near the mega enrollments of Carmel, Warren, BD

Yes they have a track. Below is our camera angle from last year.

Speed came in handy back then when opportunities to play on turf were far and few between. The Snider 2004 team was right there with WC in the midst of their dynasty. It's just a shame that Quale Lewis wasn't able to showcase himself that game.

Yet here you are.

So you went to a high school that boasts more than 5 state titles and your not affiliated with it ?????Then you refuse to name it. My guess is that you never participated in any sports in high school . High school sports teach character and respect , something you have neither of.

I haven’t been there yet but Tecumseh got a new field at the high school a few years.

This should be ok to post(if not remove it), but Memorial’s Leo Collins is hinting a possible return soon

Blackford at Alexandria---Blackford still has a ways to go before they become competitive. Alexandria will take the win and gain confidence against a bottom feeder. Elwood at Frankton---Frankton surprised everybody week 1 against Tipton. Elwood, well is still Elwood with another new coach. Frankton wins this one. Eastbrook at Oak Hill---This is the game of the week. Oak Hill is off to a good start. Eastbrook has given up more points in the first two games than they have in several complete seasons. Could this mean that the Eastbrook defense is not as good as past years? Oak Hill beat up on a very good 1A Southwood and an average Eastern in the first 2 weeks. Oak Hill pulls out the win in a barnburner. Mississinewa at Madison-Grant---MG is off to a fast start. Mississinewa lost to a very good Norwell team and beat Marion who is struggling to rebuild. This will be a test for both teams. Mississienwa has depth where MG may not have the depth. In the end Mississinewa wins this one.

Three good receiver targets for QB Gennicks in Freshman Paul Oliver, 6-3, senior, Logan Webb 6-4, and junior, Braden Walters, 6-5. All three are basketball players. Webb and Walters, two year starters and FB Coach Oliver's son, Paul a likely BB starter this season. Walters just joined the team this year after being outstanding in middle school. He is a great addition to the team. 6-3 Lineman, Franklin is also a BB team starter.

Exhibit A: Crown Point Wrestling.

Class of 2023 Luke Burgess (New Palestine): OL. Verbal: Louisville (has more than 20 offers) Isaiah Thacker (New Palestine): WR/DB. Verbal: Ball State Class of 2024 Ian Moore (New Palestine): OL. Offers: Boston College, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Duke, Florida State, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Louisville, Miami, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Tennessee, Toledo, West Virginia, Western Michigan, Wisconsin I'll add a Class of 2025 one Michael Thacker (New Palestine) DT. Offers: Ball State, Tennessee

You seriously don't believe in an open transfer market that the best and highest level athletes won't naturally gravitate to the best one or two area teams? I find that extremely hard to believe. It's not what the IHSAA wants nor is it conducive to high school athletics. This is why club sports and AAU exist outside of IHSAA sanctioned events. There's no need to integrate the two.

A system of rules designed to accomplish a particular result should not be written to address the “one in a million” situation at the expense of the great majority of students wishing to change schools and continue to participate in athletics without suffering eligibility restrictions.

I'm not going to throw out any baseless accusations because there's none of which I have first hand knowledge, but I think you ought to be pretty naïve to not think there is some pretty widespread tampering going on given all the influx of transfers. I think it's more common on the hardwood vs gridiron, but I just don't think kids wake up in droves and decide to transfer without somebody in their ear or their families ear.

One can dream 😆

OL Trevor Lauck 6’6” 285 of Roncalli ‘23 has committed to Iowa.

Ben Decker 6-6 300 OL, Noblesville ‘23 has also committed to Miami (OH).

Thanks for sharing. I can totally understand why the East AD/Admin would ride with Gaddis' staff considering the success they were a part of. Though it sounds like they would have been better off starting fresh with an outside viewpoint. Regarding talent, can kids in the East/North school district choose their HS or is it hard to enroll at East if you live in North's boundaries?

https://inpreps.com/commitment-tracker-23/ Here's a good list to start with. It only shows the commitments, and not the offers. Tracking all of the offers will be a huge task.

This crew...if ya know anything has ALWAYS been of the belief that we will knock on the door of both schools...then usher them onto the field BEFORE the end of the 15 minute mark....set the 3 minute warmup clock and continue with the 2nd half. I am totally offended at your assumption, based upon NOTHING that I would not adhere to the terms of proper officiating procedures. You clearly have me and my crew confused with those who haven't done multiple State Finals! The gun in my mouth was to the belief that ANY crew would NOT do which I espoused in this response!

If that’s what the kid wants to do, why shouldn’t he be able to do that? And it’s only “tampering” if you define it as such. If my kid is a math whiz, why shouldn’t he be able to go to high school A, which has a great math teacher? And if that math teacher switches to another school, why shouldn’t my kid be able to follow him/her? One of the rationales for open enrollment was that schools would end up competing with one another for students. As a result, they would have to step up their game to compete successfully, and the students would benefit. Why do we always think athletics should be immune to that type of reasoning?

With that record they're apparently not recruiting very well either.

My humble opinion on this topic: Alternate days will have to be the norm until the current trend in declining officials population is resolved. Also, "patchwork" crews aren't necessarily sub-par. The Central Officials Assn in Illinois used to assign HS game to officials by position. That organization produced some of the most skilled officials in the nation: Bill Lemonnier, Dan Capron, Jerry Markbreit, Bob (Bobref) Parker - to name just a few. The only reason they started organizing crews is that only crews advance at playoff time in most states and Illinois is no exception. Still though, the current football administration's efforts led by Robert Faulkins could be a good start. Standardized education for all officials seems to be working pretty well lately.The football mechanics manual "Football Officials' Crew 5-person Mechanics and Best Practices" is a living document and is helping to ensure evenly officiated contests. Also as grizzled veterans, we need to help recruit new people. We can help inspire young men and women to become as passionate about the sport as we all are. Maybe stop in on Saturdays & Sundays at pee-wee sites to see who might be an interesting candidate for our avocation. Coaches, dads, high school kids. Let's try to get 'em all involved. It won't happen overnight, but if we can convice the schedulers to use alternate days and bring in one new official each, this can turn around in a few years.