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I'm still alive and well and mostly lurking these days on the GID. I'll be 91 next month. True, I don't post as much as I used to. In fact, I wonder about all the other Miner GIDers that used to post regularly but have seemingly disappeared. I'm still just as passionate about all the Miner sports teams that are doing very well. I think there is a Proverb that says something to the effect that with old age comes wisdom. Maybe that's why anyone else's opinion about my team, good or bad, rarely incites me to respond. But I certainly enjoy reading all your posts. When I feel like I have something meaningful to contribute, I'll jump in. As far as the MD game is concerned, I hope the team is more confident than I am, and I'm pretty sure they are and I know they are looking forward to getting another shot at their nemesis. Linton is very good offensively, led by the running of senior QB Gennicks. I don't know what his total yardage is but it's impressive. But the Miners spread the carries around and three other backs have good totals as well. Less effective is the passing game but it is still a big part of the offense. Run defense is very good but pass defense is suspect, however it has been better through the playoffs even though they have been burned by long passes a few times. It's going to be bitter cold. I don't know how that might impact the play or which team it might favor. My guess it will hurt the passing game more than the run. I won't be there. Too cold for me but I'll be watching on my big TV.

Traditional powers, familiar foes meet in semistate Andrew Smith GridironDigest.com It’s the weekend before Thanksgiving and the Center Grove Trojans are playing football. If it feels like a November rite of passage, it’s because the Trojans are in the semistate for the fifth consecutive year and the 13th time in the last 15 years. At 10-2 and ranked No. 3 in Class 6A, the Trojans face a rematch with No. 2 Cathedral (10-1) at Longshore Stadium at Arsenal Tech High School in Indianapolis, with a trip to the State Finals on the line. It’s a rematch of teams who are both seeking their third straight state championship - CG won the last two years in Class 6A, Cathedral in 5A. Center Grove has used a powerful offense, which is scoring 35.9 ppg, to advance to the semistate. After a narrow 14-10 win over Franklin Central in the sectional opener, the Trojans dispatched Columbus North 49-14 and Warren Central 42-32. Running back Micah Coyle ran for 301 yards and four TDs in last week’s regional victory. That has complemented a passing game led by quarterback Tyler Cherry, who has thrown for 2,081 yards this season. Knowing they had Noah Coy - who has 1,060 receiving yards and 13 TDs on 56 catches - and solid slots Eli Hohlt and Owen Wright - returning, the Trojans expected to have a strong passing game. Moving Jalen Thomeson over to running back to complement Coyle has given the team a solid 1-2 punch in the backfield, as Coyle has 1,723 yards and Thomeson 869. Both are averaging more than six yards per carry. “Well we sort of had to adapt to that system of playing and it has helped us win games,” CG coach Eric Moore said. “We lost our great RB Drew Wheat 8 plays into the 2022 season vs WC and had to totally change our plan of attack. We practice and work on the passing game more than people understand, in fact most people that watch us practice don’t understand why and how we practice passing this much. This year with the loss of Drew, we have used the pass to set up the run.” With playmakers in the passing and running games, CG is averaging 420 yards per game. “With that we have compromised most defenses making them pick the poison, stop pass or slow down the run,” Moore said. Cathedral is no stranger to success, having won big at the Class 5A level before moving up to 6A due to the Tournament Success Factor. They’re seeking their 15th state championship and 18th State Finals appearance. The Irish are led by one of the state’s top passers in junior Danny O’Neil. A multi-year starter, he has thrown for 2,579 yards and 32 touchdowns, with Jaron Tibbs (895 yards), David Ayers (640 yards) and Brennan Wooten (484 yards) his top targets. Add running back Carson Johnson, who needs 10 yards to eclipse 1,000 for the season, and Cathedral is one of 6A’s top-scoring teams at 37 ppg. But Cathedral had to grind out a 14-7 victory over Brownsburg last week in the regional - avenging a regular season loss from Week 2. O’Neil threw for 168 yards and a touchdown to Ayers, who had 93 receiving yards. Cathedral downed Lawrence North 44-35 and Lawrence Central 33-13 in the sectional to get to the regional. The Trojans and Irish are meeting in the state tournament for the first time, but they are no strangers to each other. They’ve met in Week 9 annually since 2014. This year, Cathedral rallied to win 40-29 after trailing 29-13 going into the final quarter. O’Neil threw for 410 yards - 164 to Tibbs and 162 to Wooten - and five TDs in that contest. Cherry threw for 202 yards - 125 to Coy. “The Rematch? We’re not really thinking of it in those terms,” Moore said. “This is the game both teams must win to obtain their goal to be in the state championship. It just happens to be between two teams that play in the regular season. Yes it is a chance to regain our self esteem we lost after such a break down late in the last game. For that we have worked on things that caused problems from the CG standpoint, not merely what Cathedral did to hurt us or beat us.” Lawrenceburg facing surging Bulldogs Four weeks ago, the Monrovia Bulldogs were 2-7 and entering one of the state’s toughest sectionals. The Bulldogs are now just one win away from the State Finals, but they travel to face a 12-1 Lawrenceburg squad that has won 12 consecutive games. Monrovia dispatched previously-unbeaten Owen Valley 26-21 last week after wins over Purdue Poly, Speedway and Danville in the sectional. “Monrovia is very hot right now,” Lawrenceburg coach Ryan Knigga said. “They have found a way to win games in the tournament. They have beat some good football programs on this run and are playing really well. You better be ready to stop the run. They want to run the football. Your backend guys can't fall asleep or they will play-action you and hit the deep ball. You need to make every possession count.” Monrovia’s run-heavy attack is led by junior Brayton Belcher, who has 1,035 yards and 11 touchdowns. Dustin Kostrzewski adds 797 yards and Jozy Hand 517 on the ground. Hand led the running game with 90 yards and a touchdown last week at OV. While the Bulldogs’ record showed struggles, they played stiff competition - three of their regular-season losses were to teams ranked in the top five of their respective classes, and two foes - Linton and Indianapolis Lutheran - are still alive. Lawrenceburg is in the semistate for the second consecutive year. The Tigers have one of the state’s top defense, having allowed just three touchdowns since the tournament began, and that came after closing the regular season with six consecutive shutouts. The Tigers’ lone loss came to county rival East Central - a Class 4A regional champion - in the opening week. “Our defense has been outstanding,” Knigga said. “That unit has gotten better each week. They fly around to the ball and make plays. They are fun to watch. We knew our defense had a chance to be good as we brought seven guys back from that Regional team last year. Going into the season we knew they would need to carry us. They have done just that. I think it starts with our seniors. They have been great leaders. It is a player-led locker room. They handle all the business and take care of things. To have a defense like we have, it is not one person or two. To do what they have done takes multiple guys. We feel we have multiple guys who are performing well on that side of the ball and contributing to our success.” Among those are senior Joey Pierce, who has 106 tackles, 10 for loss, and four interceptions. Sophomore Noah Knigga has 13 tackles for loss. Junior Zavyn Slayback also has four picks for a team that has forced 32 turnovers. Offensively, the Tigers feature two 1,000-yard rushers in junior Teagan Bennett and senior Alex Witte. They have combined for 32 touchdowns. Last week, Witte ran for 252 yards and Bennett 148 as the Tigers combined for 400 yards on the ground to down a solid Southridge squad 31-7 in the regional. “It was a battle,” Knigga said. “Southridge is a very good team. They are coached well and execute very well. It was a huge win for our program. We have been in that game the past few years and it was a bump in the road for us, so it felt great to get over that bump. I am very proud of our kids. They were resilient and just battled for four quarters. I thought all our players performed well. You’ve got to perform well to win that game “Overall, it was a great team win and I am proud of our kids and coaches.” Unbeatens meet up Two games feature unbeaten teams - one in Class 6A, one in Class A. In 6A, Carroll (Fort Wayne) hosts Hamilton Southeastern. HSE is ranked No. 1 in the class and is looking to make its first State Finals appearance in 17 years. Carroll has never been in the State Finals, but advanced by winning a 21-20 matchup with Lafayette Jeff last week. … In Class A, defending state champion Indianapolis Lutheran visits North Decatur. That contest features the state’s leading passer in Lutheran’s Jackson Willis (3,670 yards) against a North Decatur defense that is allowing 6.8 ppg. ND won its first regional in school history last week. … Also in Class A’s northern bracket, unbeaten Adams Central meets 12-1 North Judson, putting the top four teams in the polls in the semistate, with a combined record of 51-1 between them. … A big rematch takes place in Class 4A, where Roncalli and East Central played to a 21-19 game in Week 9, which was won by the Royals. The two teams meet again at EC’s field, where the host Trojans are looking to make their first State Finals appearance since 2017. Roncalli is looking to return for the second time in three seasons after Luke Hansen ran for 195 yards in a 20-7 victory over No. 1 New Palestine last week. … Class 3A features an intriguing matchup as No. 1 West Lafayette puts its 13-0 record on the line at No. 3 Indianapolis Chatard. Both schools have recent state titles - WL in 2017, Chatard in 2020. … A couple of Region-Summit matchups take place between traditional powers, as Valparaiso visits Fort Wayne Snider in 5A. Valpo avenged a loss to Merrillville last week with a 15-14 regional victory. No. 1 Snider, seeking its first State Finals appearance since 2015, defeated Mishawaka 41-27 last week. In 2A, defending state champ Andrean hosts Fort Wayne Luers. Alongside Monrovia, Luers is the other team with a sub-.500 regular season record to advance to the semistate. The Knights went 4-5 before rolling through Prairie Heights, Churubusco, Eastside and Bluffton, with the 35-21 victory over Eastside in the sectional final the closest contest. … In addition to North Decatur and Carroll (Fort Wayne), Whiteland will also be seeking its first-ever State Finals appearance in Class 5A this week. Semistate matchups Class 6A No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern (12-0) at No. 5 Carroll (Fort Wayne) (12-0) No. 3 Center Grove (10-2) at No. 2 Indianapolis Cathedral (10-1) (at Tech HS) Class 5A No. 9 Valparaiso (9-3) at No. 1 Fort Wayne Snider (11-1) No. 2 Whiteland (11-1) at Castle (8-4) Class 4A No. 7 New Prairie (12-1) at No. 6 Kokomo (12-1) No. 2 Roncalli (12-1) at No. 4 East Central (11-2) Class 3A No. 3 Indianapolis Chatard (9-4) at No. 1 West Lafayette (13-0) Monrovia (6-7) at No. 5 Lawrenceburg (12-1) Class 2A No. 8 Fort Wayne Luers (8-5) at No. 3 Andrean (9-3) No. 1 Linton (13-0) at No. 5 Ev. Mater Dei (10-3) Class A No. 2 Adams Central (13-0) at No. 4 North Judson (12-1) No. 1 Indianapolis Lutheran (13-0) at No. 3 North Decatur (13-0)

only irrelevant when your not apart of it. ALL IN!!! #whynotus

EVANSVILLE RIVERFRONT AT 7 PM SATURDAY THERE WILL BE FIGHTS BRING UR TRUCK

You coming to the Reitz Bowl Friday? Or does your freshman team have a game?

I see you lurking

Injuries are expected this time of year. As are excuses from Gibson Southern after a tournament loss.

When I attended St. Edward in the late 60s, we had a live Golden Eagle (at that time, private ownership of bald eagles was illegal, as they were endangered). It had a wingspan > 6 ft. At the start of basketball games it would fly from one end of the gym to the other, an awesome sight!

When you have an experience team like Judson has and have great confidence in your maturity of your team, you as a staff can "work" on future opponents and schemes for game you can expect to play down the road. We did this in 2014, played LCC, week 8, learned a lot from that game, and starting that next day Saturday and every practice forward we worked the "LCC Script" in preparations for the showdown in week 14, and sure enough we got there, sprinted to 14-0 1st Q lead, that does not happen if we do not put in all that extra time, older and mature teams/staffs can do this quite seamlessly, @Bobref I believe its a BELL, which going back 13 weeks ago, has since been given a good workout Great small town community matchup here, Im rooting for the JAYS, Region 4 squad with a friend of mine at the helm. Hope they get it done, but as always a this time a year never is easy. Leave you with this: " Big time players, make big time plays, in big time games".

I can picture it now. Haubstadt Sommerfest 2035, @Titan32 and @Screagle trying to round up the 2021 Titans and Tigers to play the big game that never happened. I can’t wait to see Brady Allen in those white cleats!

If you know the AC community it may take them all day to get there in 2022. just kidding.

My kids often got up and headed outside to play, I’m sure most of what they did was legal. but I really don’t want to know at this point. I remember one time while watching college Football on TV one Saturday afternoon and hearing a commotion in the back yard. I looked out the window to see my son with a deer leg raised over his head chasing one of my daughter’s friends who was hanging out. I went back to watching TV, because it seemed like pretty standard fair at our house…..my daughter’s friend wasn’t allowed to come back lol, her mother was freaked out. FWIW, my daughter sent us pics over the weekend of her helping her BF gut and process the buck he killed Saturday. Dressed out about 160, nice buck!

As an AC fan, I couldn't care less if they fired off a cannon or rang a bell. If that impacted our guys' ability to take care of business then they weren't going to win anyways. As far as fans having noise makers and whatnot, who really cares??? Obviously the IHSAA is, but if they're truly concerned about neutrality in these games, then they need to be played at neutral sites.

2:28 drive according to Google...North Judson by 60.

Football doesn't work well for all star games but like the Powerball it's fun to imagine.

Agreed. EC probably should have won their first game this year but continually shot themselves in the foot with turnovers/penalties. I have to admit though, that winning 4A South this year reminds me of the good, old days of 10-15 years back when you had some great 4A teams fighting in the South like Cathedral, Reitz, Roncalli, EC and Columbus East (New Pal’s rise happened just a little afterwards). Whoever survives the South will be battle tested but the gauntlet Roncalli has run these last 3 games (including this one) is a beast.

Had to dig out the password to come in on this one. Maybe I can stir up some of the old crew to do the same and wake this topic up A rematch of not only a few weeks ago but a revival of one of, if not the best thread ever on this site. I think this is the premier matchup of the week. Trojans are VERY good, i'm going EC 27-Rebels oops royals 14 Sorgi was NOT IN forever rooting for recruiting NEVER

There are some sophomores and freshmen making big contributions fot LuHi this year. Hopefully they'll get a chance to play in the 2A tourney as upperclassmen. Until then, they'll just have to play where they are.

From firsthand knowledge, the ball has to touch the ground first. It is indeed Kick Catch Interference.

This is absolutely the case for almost every high school outside of Guerin, who, by the way, has the nicest grass field I’ve seen. When I played at Enlow Field back in the 1900s, it was shared by three local teams. The middle of the field from the 20 to the 20 was dirt by the time October rolled around.

Coaches/AD’s have the ability to scratch officials. Officials have the ability to scratch schools. I think a phone call to Robert will solve most any conflict. Us and another crew swapped first round games this season for a perceived conflict.

Always good to read your posts and know you are doing well. Happy 91st, even if a bit early. May we all be so lucky to live long enough to gain wisdom.

The 03 and 04 teams were very good. Nowhere near as big as this years team and even more one dimensional if you can believe it, but they were as physical as they came. 4A top to bottom probably tougher back then, Roncalli wasn't playing Shortridge and Attucks in sectionals back then.

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing Irishman.

Not really, just kinda cool to see how that came togather.

I found this interesting. The Chargers have played inspired football this season after suddenly losing a teammate during the off season. Best of luck to both teams, but being in the area, I am rooting for the Chargers. Regardless of the outcome, emotions will be high

Nope. Couldn't beat Crown Point!

This past weekend, while all others were enjoying their Friday night games and the opening day of deer season - we had to play on SATURDAY and it dumped about 2 inches of WET snow from 9-11 am. The forecast wasn't going to help us with any sunshine in time for a 5 pm kickoff. I can't imagine what our playing surface would have been like had we had a grass field - but it would have been a travesty to play a Championship level game in those conditions.

Dang, you still seem a bit raw-assed that the GS Freshman knocked off the LS JV two years back. Let it go, man. LOL

imagine how hard life is for the kids who have to get on the school bus first every morning throughout their schooling.

You stole my snarky ping pong ball comment....well played.

I had my 2nd cataract eye surgery this morning but I'm planning on being at Tech Friday night and I'll be dressed warmly! GO IRISH!!!!!

At some point in time this must have been an issue to make the rule. I would love to hear the story.

Bigfoot and a Cinderella Story are 2 different things though. One people claim to have sightings, the other there is real life statistical and even game footage of it happening that is unedited with no photoshop images. No matter how insignificant you deem it, it is there and is undeniable. It has no comparison to a public health official coming out and saying it is a myth that jumping off the golden gate bridge is dangerous because one person one time survived. It has happened and no matter if it is a rare occurrence or not it is still a possibility which in a contrary position would not be possible. I know there is the steadfast turn the blind eye look of denial because it only happened this year. In all honesty the data is skewed towards an only rather recent study of it. Some of the other data (using sagarin) came only using past data after the fact of the season. There may (or may not) have been more teams outside of the top half with similar outside the top half of sagarin. That is impossible to judge because sagarin changes week by week. When you go pull data after a State Championship it won't be the same as the end of the regular season. Just like this year Monrovia after last week will get a boost in sagarin compared to where they were in week 8 because of their upset wins. You can't however deny and say that "Cinderella is a myth" when a dispute of that is smacking you right in the face.

As I said, Sagarin is an average. Some games, the home field advantage is enormous. Others, not so much. That’s why the best expression of the advantage is a point spread, not a W-L record. And anecdotal evidence is next to useless compared to the law of large numbers. If all you looked at was Ohio State traveling to play IU, you’d conclude there was no home field advantage. If you looked at IU traveling to Columbus, you’d say the advantage was gigantic. There is safety (and greater accuracy) in large numbers of games.

***IF*** Roncalli were to run the table here, where does this team stack up in the Parthenon of Rebel teams? And yes I said Rebel teams, no Royal football titles yet. Lysander you’re one of the more Indy Catholic league in the know than most, what about the Roncalli faithful, what say you?

Glad the cannon is gone. First time I worked at NJ I was a back judge, and didn’t know about the cannon. They scored, and that thing went off behind me. It was traumatizing … and that was back when we wore white knickers. Strange things happen there. Once when I was working Referee there, just as I signaled the ball ready for play, a bat landed on the ground between the QB and me. Then the ball was snapped and, I confess, instead of paying attention to my responsibilities, I watched to see if the bat got stepped on. He didn’t. That was a TV game. As soon as I got home I watched the replay, and the bat showed up clearly.

I've always respected your posts and thoughts. After re-reading it really baffles me with this mindset. You state there is nothing wrong with the thread title "Cinderella is a Myth" yet here we sit with a Cinderella (team outside the top 32 of 64) and you still feel it doesn't exist? Regardless if Monrovia was the only sectional champ to be outside the top half of sagarin, they were still sectional champs and still outside the top half of sagarin. Being an "extreme outlier" is an even STRONGER case that Cinderella is not a myth and does exist no matter how much lipstick you want to put on the pig. You state bottom half sagarin rated teams went 2-76. Those 2 wins are still there. Are they outnumbered? Yes, but they still exist lending that there were 2 Cinderella's proving it is not a "myth". Now if it were 0-78 you would have a better case. Regardless if Monrovia played the worst team in their sectional or 3A, they still knocked off some good teams in Speedway and Danville (both top 25 teams). Then followed it up by beating beating a top team that was undefeated on the road. I will agree the post season tournament is broken. You can't ignore the fact though that Cinderella is not a myth and Monrovia is a prime example of that. Don't take it personal just pointing out it does exist and Monrovia may go no further but they still have a cinderella run.

Personal opinion here (take it for what it is worth). If the East Central Trojans want to have a chance in beating Roncalli, they need to have no turnovers. If they have no turnovers they can come away with the game. One thing that has been a constant over the years at Roncalli (from an outsiders perspective), they play very disciplined and do not beat themselves. They don't give the ball up on a lot of turnovers and play hard. East Central has to match that, the Trojans always play hard so we know that will happen. What they need is to not turn the ball over, if they do that they can win. If they do however turn the ball over it won't end the way they would hope. I have a ton of respect for both Roncalli and East Central, it should be an outstanding game!

New Prairie wins big. 35-7.

You don't really get time to install an offensive or defensive system prior to an all-star game. It's really just some vanilla concepts and you hope everyone knows where the ball is going. Things like blocking schemes and reads don't get developed.

Sagarin comes to the conclusion that the home team has a 1.76 pt advantage. In my opinion, that's not even worth discussing. A slight advantage? Sure. But I'm throwing that figure right out the window when predicting the outcome of a game.

I will guarantee you that Snider will play Warren Central, and Homestead will play Carmel.... Week 1 also at LOS. So YES you are correct. Damn those Saturday games....

NOPE... Week 2 @ Lucas Oil Stadium.... and I KNOW!

What country is growing the fastest? Ireland - Everyday its Dublin......

Coach Salters from Vincennes was the defensive MVP of that game and played on the West squad also. It was a good intense game.

You all make sense in your arguments, but I think it’s time to hear from the true voice of reason… Spanky Harper!