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Sending some thoughts and prayers to the young man that broke his leg Friday night.

I can pretty much guarantee they won’t. 😂

and Chris Jones

Int’s I start heading that way immediately. Blocked FG……are inadvertent whistles really that bad? 😅

It’s a cross between Zimas and Bartles and James. I swear to God it is

In NFHS, the holder must disengage his knee from the ground to do anything other than hold the ball for the kicker. In a sense, he gets a "special allowance" to have his knee touch the ground as long as he's holding the ball for the kick so it isn't considered dead. Anything other than that ... if he passes, laterals, shovels, or even hands the ball off, he must disengage the knee, or knees if he's on both knees, from the ground BEFORE doing it or the play is dead.

I love gimmicks and gadgetry on the field, in large part because such plays often present a real challenge to the officiating crew. So, let’s collect and discuss trick plays here. One of my favorites illustrates a difference between NCAA and high school rules. In this play, the holder’s knee never comes off the ground. Under the NF code, that would make the ball dead as soon as he passes it.

I'm collecting recipts to throw in peoples faces, while being ready to be offended if anyone brings up my wrong predictions.

I’m guessing everyone knows Ben Davies (1064 yds passing) didn’t play against Central or Castle. Vera has played well in his absence, but is not nearly the same threat passing the ball.

Make that 3rd quarter lol

That may be best game this week. Other years would point to the Charger/Sparty tilt as GOTW

6 on the line is a legal formation, so long as you have 5 players numbered 50-79 on the line (assuming none of the numbering exceptions apply).

“Valpo really struggled with crown point which was shocking to one person.” Fixed it for you.

I’m honestly just ready for Princeton next week haha. between 3 5A schools in the first 4 weeks and now going through SR/HH/ and now Mt Vernon, as a fan I just want a week to relax a bit

Brunson had the Panthers memorize the scores for the last two years against Castle before that game. I can see the same thing here.

And there is no such thing in the football rule book as a lateral. It's either a forward pass or backward pass. I know what you mean but lateral means same/sideways and not backward. It's coach/announcer speak and can be like nails on a chalkboard to officials.

There will be some good games along the way in the south side of the bracket: Sect 46 - North Decatur will face Tri at some point. Interested to see that ND defense face the Tri run game. Sect 47 - Covenant/South Putnam/Lutheran should provide two good games. Personally hoping the ping pong balls put South Putnam/Covenant on the other side of the bracket. Sect 48 - Tecumseh/Providence should be a good game. I know so little about this sectional that I was unaware there were any Catholics left in 1A. I thought that was the point of the success factor. South Semistate - Sagarin would have Lutheran facing North Decatur in a battle of two great defenses. Should be a lot of fun to watch!

I think we should put a crown on Reitz now.

Please translate. 8 points or less are you saying the rules committee says be ready to play on both sides? That's my preference. OL - be ready to block, DL - don't be stupid. Had a game a couple years ago where the QB muffed the snap and the defense came out with it, but we thought we saw the QB take the snap and knee it. The game ended on the next kneel. When we got the film we clearly saw the snap had been muffed and recovered by the defense near midfield in a 1-point game with 30 seconds left. I don't like telling the defense they can't do anything. If we are going to tell the teams to not do anything then we should just end the game.

Hopefully Memorial finds a way to be competitive. I know this will be the best team they’ve faced in years including the post season. Hope the moments not to big for the Tigers. Male sure you use pencil on your 4A title game unless the teams in south 4A have changed since the start of the season.

This may be the most competitive week of the season. The big game may be a bit of a let down. Memorial maybe still due to health doesn’t have the dudes to keep up with Reitz. castle wins easy the rest might be closer than the spread. I could see Central winning. North & Vincennes is a toss up. Bosse might cover too. A couple weeks from tournament time. Still feel like it’s Panthers at Lucas Oil, everyone else average

The coaches/media separate classes and it’s boring to me…especially at the 5A/6A level. Is being top ten out of 32 schools really an accomplishment? To me, this is an interesting way to compare teams that will most likely never match up on the same field. It makes for fun conversation and gives the 1A/4A schools an idea (just one man’s opinion) of where they stand. Roncalli and New Pal have legitimate D1 kids on their rosters and their results speak for themselves. They deserve to be recognized as one of the best in Indiana and a 4A poll does them little justice. This is more of a power ranking based on resume and who I think would win were they to match up at that particular time. I had New Pal in the 20’s preseason and Westfield on the edge of the top 5 by the way. I have some 1A-3A schools honorable mention but it will be hard for them to crack the list.

As a Referee, field goal attempts were the scariest things for me, for all those reasons. Plus, I knew if there was a block, I was responsible for the kicker’s goal line. Only thing scarier was an interception runback.

It would not matter … so long as it was complete.

This is my favorite trick play.

So the holder can have his knee on the ground to hold the kick, but knee must be off the ground to pass / lateral?

Might eek out 1, maybe 2 more as neither Rutgers or Purdue is very good, but very well could have seen IU’s final win last week. Last 2 minutes of the first half has been a microcosm of Tom Allen’s career and really IU football in a nutshell for the last century. Down 14 with the ball on 4th and inches and you blink and IU is somehow down 28. It’s incredible how poorly coached IU is.

The coaches I've talked to have said this is a big risk for long field goals. Plus you have a snap to someone mostly immobile on the ground so harder to respond to a poor snap. Plus you add in the complexity of getting the ball placed properly. The risks outweigh the potential benefits in many cases. But it's an entirely possible option that could have positive outcomes if the FG is not successful.

Just making my argument. Like I said I agree with the statement 1-7 could be shuffled around at this point.

Correct. But I wasn't talking about making up 24 pts in a possible sectional rematch. I'm talking about Week 1, Memorial at Jasper and the way that game played out. You felt the outcome would have been different, and Memorial would be 6-0 had they been healthy from the start. My opinion was that regardless of who was playing for Memorial that day in August, Jasper seemed to have an effective game plan that worked and there was more to it than just injured Tiger players. At this point in the season, I would pick Memorial over Jasper. But Week 6 is a long way from Week 1. And again you're right, the 2021 SIAC was very good and may end up being better than the 2022 version. But Reitz was average at best last year and VL was just bad. That is not the case this year and Memorial has yet to play either of them. My point was simply that there is still a lot to sort out in these final 3 weeks as far as the conference standings go. Makes for great discussion!

Not sure Memorial makes up a 24 pt deficit regardless of who was playing/not playing...sometimes Week 1 games are just unpredictable and aren't indicative of how a team's season will go. Not looking to argue on the matter just giving my 2 cents. I would love to see this rematch in the sectional. And if memory serves me right, this is roughly when Memorial started to turn things on last season. So I can understand the growing optimism. But this is not the 2021 SIAC either. The next 3 weeks will tell us a lot about the upper half of the conference.

LC 3-3 NC 0-6 Avon 0-6 Fishers 4-2 Westfield 3-3 Zionsville 4-2 HSE's opponents are 14-22. Only 2 of the are above .500. Meat grinder? Not so sure about that. If you are going by strength of schedule that can only account for a portion of your formula for your ranking. Sangrin has New Pal 2nd and HSE 4th even though HSE has a higher strength of schedule. Problem about it having a high strength of schedule is that typically all Indy 6A schedules will be stronger than the lower classes. Head to head though New Pal's win over Westfield is better quality. Just saying New Pal should be higher than HSE at the very least. I agree with this statement though, "As someone pointed out a couple of weeks back however I think one could toss teams 1-7 into a blender and make a case for any one of them to beat the other on any given night."

Fact. This archive has to be one of the most, if not THE most, comprehensive collection of state HS football data in 'murica. Admittedly, I've not dug into any of the other 49 states... but I will just go ahead and stick with my initial assumption and never look back. Great work @Rudy!!

God's work. You deserve to be inducted into the football and media HoF.

Yeah, I caught it....but seriously, you are going to admit that you are from Illinois? (My dad is from there too--explains all my problems) As for the paver, that is easy. Send a check to Heritage Hills Quarterback Club for $1,000,000. Next to your paver we will place our championship record. Again my man, just screwing with you. We will sell you one for way less than that. 10K? Dude, don't get me started. A buddy asked me last night why we still do that....It has to be right we have done it for 50 years! Geesh. The ref on the chains was 80. Steve Seifert (white hat) told me that last night.

Congratulations Coach Fry

Kudos to you for actually meeting with them. That took balls. Lol

Legends 50 Spartans 49 1:05 4th

It wasn't always puppy dogs and rainbows on the Westside. I don't know the details of what's going on at Warren, but I do know that Mike is reflective enough to do that, yes. I will admit, full disclosure, that I'm a little biased though because I consider Coach Kirschner not only a friend...but a good friend. My biggest compliment to Mike is that his kids still all love to be around him. He's a great father, and I've seen the difference he makes in young people's lives. If it's fixable, he'll fix it.

If I'm only interpreting paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 of the Victory Formation procedures noted above and trying to make sure everyone is on the same page... 1. Verify that the B coach is aware that A is kneeling and check on his intent. 2. If he is conceding, then business as usual ("...U and R will instruct all players that the play will be over immediately after the snap, and that all players should avoid contact, on pain of a foul and potential disqualification. However, if the snap is muffed, all bets are off, and it’s play football."). 3. If the B coach tells his players/officials they are firing out, it doesn't appear to be illegal for the defense to play the snap out. I don't know how I could disallow it (unless I were to invoke the God rule, I suppose). If it is their intent to play the snap, make it known to the A coach and players that it is a live snap, remind the offense to protect themselves, remind the B coach and defense that NO shenanigans will be tolerated (to borrow the phrase above... "...on pain of a foul and potential disqualification.") Have a quick whistle when the snap is clean and the knee touches, and stand behind your warnings re: shenanigans. Is there established commentary for the recommended/required procedures for this situation in the Officials' Manual/elsewhere? (I feel like there is, or you wouldn't have asked 😉) Btw, that's the most I've used "shenanigans" in one sitting. ...shenanigans.

I haven’t really worked many lower level games since 2018. I have worked quite a few this year for a myriad of reasons. It’s been pretty chill honestly, until last night. I’ve never seen 52 points scored in a 7th grade game that I’m aware of. No problems. 8th grade game was a train wreck. A few too many 16 year old 8th graders, a couple of idiot coaches, a 28-0 game, and we’re off to the races. The 28 team, kid on the chains told me “yea he’s really good, he practiced with us (varsity) all summer, he was our best RB.” Throw in two of the four officials hired showed up, and 3 hours later… I’m in Friday mode….good luck to all the stripes tonight, stay safe and be the best team on the field.

I watch crews for many of these things every game. I’m almost 40 now, but officiated from when I got out of the Marine Corps (age 24) until I got a job that prevented it on Fridays (age 30). I still miss it and keep telling myself when my youngest (10) is out of high school I’m getting back in to it.

I'm thinking we need some poetry.

Coach Andy Olson brought his Bulldogs to the Roy on back to back road wins at Ritter (40-12) and Edgewood (42-10). They had done the same in 2021 at home then were handed a 34-8 from Linton in Monrovia. They would finish that season at 7-4, a turn around from Olson’s 1st season at 2-8. Monrovia came into Friday’s contest looking to end a Miner 3 game win streak over the Bulldogs. The yearly series has swayed Linton’s way winning 7 of the last 8 meetings. Monrovia ruled the series early on with 5 straight wins from ’99 to ’01, and in 1989 and 1990. For many people the Miners had simply not been tested yet in 2022. Back to Back running clock wins with Varsity starters sitting both second halves brought up the question of 4-Quarter games and conditioning. Monrovia was clearly an improved club, and featured a huge interior line with three 6’0+ kids ranging 280, 290 and 305. Monrovia relied heavily on their ground game centered around Fullback Brayton Belcher, a 6’2” 195 Junior returning from a year leading the team as a sophomore. Also returning was starting QB Eli Wagner at 6’0 210. Linton would get the ball first, and move the chains on a big early roll of dice converting a 4th and 1 at midfield on a Hunter Gennicks 11 yard run to the Bulldog 37. Jesse Voigtschild nearly broke for 6 on the next play but still rumbled 21 yards to the 16. However the Bulldog defense stiffened, and another 4th and 5 play saw Braden Walter’s make a catch at the 2 and dive into the endzone for a Miner score at 8:14. However as Jose’ Sevilla-Garcia lined up to attempt his 1st PAT kick of the year, the snap was low and Gennicks was tackled leaving the score 6-0 Miners. Monrovia came out as expected. Heavy dose of Belcher, who started with an 11 yard blow up the middle. It appeared the MOnrovia front line was winning the initial battle as both Belcher and Dominic Kindle were able to pick up nearly 5 yards a touch and roll the chains forward. Belcher carried 6 of the first 7 plays to the Miner 30. A false start pushed Monrovia back 5 yards, then a big stuff of Dustin Kostrzewski by Ty Boyd and Wrigley Franklin set up a 3rd and 13. That pass attempt from Wagner was knocked down by freshman Paul Oliver. A huge 4th down saw Wagner drop back to pass, and finding both TE Corbin Byrnes and Kostrzewsky wide open, perhaps too wide open as his pass sailed over Kostrzewsky’s head in the endzone and a sigh of relief from Miner fans as Monrovia came away with nothing after a 10 play drive. As has happened the last 2 games, the Big Play, and the legs of senior Hunter Johns struck quickly; in fact, on the 1st play after the failed 4th down from Monrovia. Johns burst off tackle and down the middle of the field a total 66 yards for a touchdown in the south endzone. The only area giving Miner fans concern was once more showing as the 2 point pass play failed and for the 3rd week in a row Linton was up 12-0. With 2:13 in the opening stanza Monrovia found themselves in unfamiliar turf. The Minder this time stuffed both Belcher and Wagner on 2 running plays, then Wagner pass to Byrnes was broken up by Johns with QB pressure from Wrigley Franklin. Dale Sweet’s only punt of the night was a bad shank that travelled 5 yards to the Bulldog 43. Linton wasted no time with a 7 yard pass to Webb followed by a 14 yard pass play to Walters put Linton at the 22. Next play had Gennicks blast through the final 22 on the 1st play in the 2nd quarter. Again the 2 Point PAT failed, and Linton was up 18-0. It was starting to look like another Miner rout as on the 1st play of Monrovia’s drive, Belcher was hit by Hank Gennicks popping the ball out, where Paul Oliver fell on it at the Bulldog 29. Gennicks then scrambled from pressure for a 19 yard carry to the Bulldog 6, but a holding penalty on the next play pushed the ball back to the 16. It made no difference as Gennicks went the final 16 for the score. Johns was true on the 2 point run, and at the 11:01 of Quarter 2 Linton was up 26-0. Monrovia went back to what worked starting from their own 32. Belcher and Kindle both had physical carries, including a Wagner keeper on 4th and 1 from the Miner 26. On the 11th play of the drive Belcher punched it in from the 5 yard lline. Emery Newlin was perfect on the PAT kick, and Monrovia was on the board albeit down 26-7 with 5:46 left in 1st half. In bad need of a stop, the Monrovia defense could not initially stop the Miner attack. Voigtschild got 7, then Walters 5 up to the Linton 39. Walters then got behind Jackson Faries and Gennicks pass was too long yet Faries had ahold of Walters jersey as well. That 15 yard Pass Interference call gave Linton a 1t down at the Monrovia 46. But that’s where is died out on 2 incompletions and a loss of 2. Paul Oliver booted his 2nd of the year 35 yards setting up Monrovia at their own 22. Needing to put points on the board, the Bulldogs converted a huge 3rd and 8 on a Wagner pass to Byrnes that looked to be a TD except Ashton White tracked Byrnes down at the Miner 48. It was another Wagner to Byrnes connection of 18 yards to the Linton 25 that got Bulldog fans in a tizzy. Linton stood strong but it was yet again another wide open Kostrzewsky that Wagner missed in the endzone. Finally on a 4th and 5 from the Linton 20, Wagner didn’t miss Kostrzewsky this time and Monrovia pulled closer with 1:09 left in half 1, and they’d receive the 2nd half kickoff. Down 26-13 Monrovia felt much better than minutes earlier, and it appeared they would get the big play they needed when Gennicks threw on the run down the middle of the field for Webb. Both he and Kostrzewsky went for the ball but the Bulldog won with the interception at midfield. Alas, among the celebrating green and white jerseys was a yellow penalty flag back at the point of the pass. As Gennicks had thrown ball, and it was well released, Byrnes took a shot at him with a hit from behind that drew the legit roughing the passer call. This was a major blow to Monrovia, as the next play Gennicks took off on a mind blowing expedition of power and yet elusiveness as he ran 42 yards til pushed out of bounds and the Bulldog 19. A short pass to Walter put Linton closer to the 9, then Gennicks himself blew thorugh tacklers for the score with just 0:28 left. Voigtschild ran in for the 2 point conversion giving Linton a 34-13 lead. It almost was worse for Monrovia, and in fact should have been. Wagner went for the home run ball, but Voigtschild drew a bead on it making the pick near midfield. He then carried to the Bulldog 9, where he fumbled forward but still recovered by the Miners. Somehow the officials called an inadvertent whistle, although replay showed nobody stopping or even slowing duing the play. This, along with an earlier overturn on a play where a Bulldog had fumbled and a Miner had recovered being overturned after each team had brought their others units on the field, would be the 2nd call taking away turnovers. Monrovia ran one more play then the clocked hit zeroes ending an exciting half of football. Despite the margin, the statistics were not overly dominating. Linton with 284 yards to Monrovia’s 196. Belcher alreadt had 17 carries for 89 yards at this point, But Linton’s Gennicks has 123 yards on just 7 carries with Johns another 76 on 4 touches. The Bulldogs had the huge advantage in Time Of Possession 16:07 to 7:53, but that didn’t seem to affect the scoring. Monrovia went back to their strongpoint and Belcher opened with 11 yards as he did to start the game. Kindle gained d9 on a 3rd and 4 to Linton 38. Monrovia got a gift on an offside call on a 4th and 1 at the Linton 24, but once more faced a 4th and 6 from Linton’s 20. Again it was a wide open Corbyn Byrnes on the catch in the endzone and with Newlin’s PAT the score tightened 34-20 with 5:51 in 3rd. It was another long drive of 11 plays 64 yards but it ate 6:09 of the clock. Could the Miners match that drive with the same result? From their own 37 Gennicks hit for 13 yards, then Johns converted a 3rd and 3 for 6 yards to the Bulldog 32. Johns once more converted a 3rd and 3 with 10 yards to the M19. Walters carried for 6 to the 1 yard line, another 3rd down conversion. It was Walters who went in from 4 yards to culminate a 12 play 63 yard drive that also chewed up 4:18 of the clock. It was now 40-20 Miners with 1:33 left in 3rd. The Bulldogs needed to answer quickly, but they stuck to the ground with 3 Belcher runs, gaining 20 yards before trying to catch Linton sleeping. However on 2nd 9 Wagner was dropped by lineman Christian Shonk for a sack and loss of 4. #rd and 13 had Wagner looks deep for Kostrzewsky, but the throw was well off target and right into the hands of Hunter Gennicks at the 33 of Linton. He followed his defensive mates, now offensive blockers up the middle and to the right where he looked to be cornered until he hit another gear and zoomed into the endzone from 67 yards. The 1st defensive touchdown of the year. Linton now was up 46-20 with 10:59 in the 4th. Starting from their own 14 after a personal foul on the PAT attempt, the Bulldogs seemed to decide to stick to the ground game which would likely eat valuable time from the clock. Linton stopped Monrovia after Franklin dumped Kostrzewsky for a 3 yard loss on 3rd and 6. However, Monrovia faked the punt as Belcher threw to a wide open Byrnes who rolled 24 yards to the Miner 49, and possibly a bunch more with a great open field tackle from Voigtschild. From there Monrovia emptied the playbook with a double handoff pitch back pass from WR Eli Welch to QB Wagner which is scraped off the ground for a catch at the Miner 36. After an unsportsmanlike conduct pushed the Bulldogs back to the Linton 49, Byrnes slipped behind any defenders to be wide open yet again, and was hit mid stride and the Miner 38. He would have easily scored were it not for Hunter Johns speed catching him at the Miner 13. They would reach the Miner 5 and facing 4th and goal from the 2, Wagner kept the ball up the middle for the score. Newlin was perfect once more on the PAT, and 4:25 left on the clock and a 46 to 27 Miner lead. Linton was not through. Carries from Johns (15) and Walters (21) got Linton to the Bulldog 25. Backup WB soph Eli Scott then scooted around the right side for an apparent score that was brought back by a holding penalty. Facing a 3rd and 13 Hunter Gennicks made his last impressive run of the night breaking 5 tackles on the way to his 4th rushing TD of the night from 27 out. The PAT misadventures continued as another bad snap ended the scoring at 52-27. It was another impressive night for Linton’s offense. They scored on 7 of 8 possessions, racking up 353 yards rushing and 416 total yards. Hunter Gennicks with 164 yards on 11 carries led all, but he also threw for another touchdown on a solid 8 of 13 passing for another 63 yards. Add to that, he had an 67 yard Interception Return for yet another score. He wasn’t alone though as Hunter Johns had his 2nd 100+ yard rushing game with 112 on 9 carries. Braden Walters with 6 for 40 and a TD, Jesse Voigtschild 4 for 31 and Eli Scott with 2 for 6. Walters caught 3 passes for 35 yards and a score, Logan Webb with 4 for 19 and Paul Oliver 1 for 9. Monrovia despite all the work from Brayton Belcher’s 29 carries and 148 yards only finished with 219 on the ground with 52 carries. They did get 166 passing for 385 total yards. Dominic Kindle added 55 yards on 12 carries, Eli Wagner 8-9 and Dustin Kostrzewski 3 for 7. Wagner was 7 of 15 for 124 with 2 TDs and a pick. Belcher threw the fake punt for 24 yards, and Welchhad a throw for 8. That was Wagner’s lone catch, but it was Corbyn Byrnes with a big night with 5 catches for 128 yards a score. Kostrzewski caught 3 for 30 with the other TD. It was also a big night for Junior ILB Ashton White who had 12 tackles. A whole host of Miners had 8 Tackles—Bradyn Cox, Aiden Giles, Hunter Gennicks, Hunter Johns, Russell Goodman, and Hayden Feltner. Christian Shonk had 5 tackles, including a sack and 2 TFL. Paul Oliver and Wrigley Franklin both had TFL. Byrnes led Monrovia with 8 stops, Kindle 7 Asher CLements with 6. Joseph Smiyh, Jozy Hand and Dustin Kostrzewski each with 5. For Linton, it was good to face a physical strong team for 4 quarters. The starters proved they could go the distance, and the offense was nearly unstoppable with their 3rd 50+ scoring game. The defense certainly had a grind with the Bulldog big offensive line and the inside running of Belcher. There were some issue in the pass defense that caused Miner fans concern, and the PAT situation is always a concern when you look ahead at close games. But it was good to see Linton stand toe to toe and answer the blows with blows of their own. It was truly stellar to watch the performance from Senior QB Hunter Gennicks on this night. It was great to see a lot of people at the Roy, and good to see both endzones active. With a huge game coming up with rival Sullivan next week in what means a little more with both of us now in the same class and same sectional. You know Arrow fans will come to Linton with a lot of intensity, especially with Linton now ranked #1 in both AP and Coaches Poll. It’s a dream situation for the Arrows to come in and hand Linton a loss on their home field, and knock down a few pegs. It would be an awesome sight to see Linton fans wrap around the Roy and fill the stands in support of these players and coaches. I hope you agree! 1 8:14 L BRADEN WALTERS 11 YRD PASS FROM HUNTER GENNICKS (BAD SNAP) 1 2:13 L HUNTER JOHNS 66 YARD RUN (GENNICKS TO WALTER NG) 2 11:52 L HUNTER GENNICKSS 22 YARD RUN (JOHNS RUN NG) 2 11:01 L GENNICKS 18 YARD RUN (JOHNS RUN) 2 5:46 M BRAYTON BELCHER 5 YARD RUN (EMERY NEWLIN PAT_ 2 1:09 M DUSTIN KOSTREWSKI 5 YARD PASS FROM ELI WAGNER (WAGNER TO KINDLE INC_ 2 0:28 L HUNTER GENNICKS 8 YARD (JESSE VOIGTSCHILD RUN) 3 5:51 M CORBYN BYRNES 20 YARD PASS FROM ELI WAGNER (EMERY NEWLIN PAT) 3 1:33 L BRADEN WALTERS 4 YARD RUN (GENNICKS TO OLIVER INC) 4 10:59 L HUNTER GENNICKS 70 YARD INTERCEPTION (GENNICKS SACKED) 4 4:25 m ELI WAGNER 2 YARD RUN (EMERY NEWLIN PAT) 4 1:04 L HUNTER GENNICKS 28 YARD RUN (BAD SNAP)