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I have beat this same drum since the split of 5A but I will start this the same way I start any commentary I have made about the “new” 5A since its inception. In the new 5A, with the exception of Snider (and to a much more limited degree – Zionsville…there could be a couple of others…but I doubt it), the “new” 5A was formed of teams that did not exactly define football excellence. I believed it then and I’ve seen nothing but further affirmation since its birth that it is the weakest class pound for pound. It may crank out D1 players by the gross (I don’t know or care) but the teams themselves are generally underachieving as compared to the other classes. So, how did this happen? After much, b*tching and moaning, from most all of the “old” 5A teams against the mega-schools like Carmel, Ben Davis, Warren Central, etc., the IHSAA in its Solomon-like wisdom decided that actually cutting the baby in half was, in fact, the best solution. So, we now have a 32 team 6A which it turns out has largely been dominated by a team that is one of the smallest 6A schools…hardly a “mega-school”. That said, of the 32 remaining teams in 6A, minimally 20 of those teams have no better chance of winning 6A than the split 5A teams had of winning it previously….sucks to be them, I guess. So now, the IHSAA, in its baby-splitting wisdom, forms a new Class 5A composed of the remnants of the old 5A at the same time as it establishes the Success Factor. I didn’t have to be a genius to look at ALL the analytics and the easy evidence of these new 5A teams actually playing good 4A teams (with the exceptions above) to be able to state the obvious – the IHSAA had basically put together a 32 team class of punching bags for bumped up 4A teams. Invariably, by season end, the analytics usually had several 4A (and even 3A) teams that were by all measure better than the best current 5A team. They might not have been bumped up at that time but they were, frankly, better. 5A was an absolute gift to Cathedral those first couple of years versus 4A. So why did these new 5A teams merit an abortive 32 team class? Beats me....just split the baby says the butcher rather than the surgeon....its easier. It seems to me the smallest 1A teams might have a stronger claim to needing that first playoff weekend off. My sense is that some of those schools might well have to struggle to put their best team out there by season end...maybe even a full team. An extra week to heal would likely do them a lot more good. A 64 team 5A would simply be a much better Class. It would be much deeper and more internally competitive in every regard and you wouldn’t ever end up with a 3 team pint-sized Sectional. To be clear, as ridiculous as I consider a 3 team “Sectional” to be, I consider 5A, in its current 32 team format to be entirely ludicrous…and generally not very good comparatively.

How about Springs Valley being ranked in 1A AND getting votes in 2A. That's awesome.

#SeedItAlready

Putting in briefly… Castle has a good offense capable of putting up a lot of points. Their most dangerous threat is a WR/RB hybrid #17…good size and speed. Capable of turning any play into a TD. Their defense is prone to giving up points. North probably has the biggest and strongest OL/DL in the south. But they don’t play as well when they get worn out. They want to run the ball on offense and they have a solid run defense. This is their best team since ‘07 I would say. They look the part but they don’t always play it. If you’re comparing North and Castle, their week 1 game was 21-14 North won, but Castle had opportunities to win it. If you want to compare recent common opponent, North lost to Jasper 35-21 but Castle beat Jasper 39-33. At this point, I think both teams got better and they have the same record, so it’s hard to say who is better. Both teams will provide a tough challenge but are beatable.

If you ain’t first you’re last.

Can't imagine Brownsburg thinks the regular season means much after going undefeated in the hardest conference in the state and drawing the #2 team in the state in the first round while 1-8 Pike and 0-9 Tech play on the opposite side of the bracket. Coaches and players might not come out and say it publicly but every single one of them knows it's total bush league.

At least the 2 best teams will be in the final and supposedly VL will have their QB back by that time.

Well, if you are going to fall, make sure it is a complete shit show. One player played well……the FG kicker. Outplayed and outcoached in every phase of the game Other thoughts Joe Alt’s stock dropped big time. The way he got pushed and tossed around is exactly what NFL DE’s will do. Number 8 Marist Liufau really stands out….and for all the wrong reasons. For 3 weeks I have seen him run into an o line when he blitzes, miss a LOT of tackles, and just does not read well. Several big runs tonight get beyond the 2nd level because he is out of position. The last TD run was a prime example….just ran into the pile and the RB ran right by where he had been. The 15 yard penalty on him was a killer penalty. No adjustments to routes run with the constant pressure L’Ville brought all night. Run the f’ing ball…and downhill. Why they abandoned the run so early is frustrating. 4th and 11 on your own 35? Are you kidding? Finally, the first interception of the game was a clear push off by the DB. You could clearly see Flores’ upper body move back with the push off. If that is called, it does not make a difference in this one Congrats to Coach Brohm and his whole staff. Fantastic game plan and execution.

I don’t want to get too far from the subject of this thread but I think I may need to clarify my statement a bit based on points/questions raised by both @Komets2727 and @BTF. I appreciate both your perspectives. When I was referring to 5A (as it is constituted today), my critique was of the teams that were 5A by actual enrollment not those Success Factored teams like Cathedral, New Pal or Columbus East who were all 4A teams by enrollment. In fact, they bolstered my point as to the overall weakness of the class. In the 10 years this new 5A has existed it has been won 7 times by 4A interlopers. In fact, the year Westfield won they likely were a mid-size 6A school by then. Only Snider and Valpo have won as actual 5A schools by enrollment. The fact this was going to occur was something I stated way back when the new 5A was announced because it was so obvious. As to 4A and potentially 3A in certain years, being superior to 5A teams (by enrollment) it seems pretty clear to me that when 5A is won by a bumped 4A team 7 out of 10 years that the top of 4A is superior. But aside from that, even in years where a certain 4A team (or even the top 3A team or so) might not be Success Factored “up”, they likely are better than the best 5A school by enrollment. Certainly East Central both this year and last year would be the odds on favorite in 5A. Roncalli was much better when it won 4A a couple of years back. It’s hardly been unusual for Chatard to be ranked higher than any 5A by enrollment (I believe it happened in both 2019 and 2020….and is the case currently). Heck, CalPreps has the top 4A, 3A and EVEN 1A Lutheran ranked ahead of every 5A school currently. I know Sags has Bloomington South ranked in the Top 10….man, how I wish South hadn’t bailed on that CI/CCC conference game matchup they would usually have played against Chatard last weekend. My point is that when 70% of the State Championships in your class (5A in this case) are won by teams originally from a class below it seem pretty prima facie evidence of the weakness of the class. I’m not sure there is anything more definitive….and it’s nothing new. It’s always been like that.

VL got a good draw but a bad spot. I can’t think of any combination that would result in GS playing at VL. If that matchup happens it would have to be at the Jewell.

Do away with divisions or you are going to have Luers playing North, Wayne, South and Concordia every year that lessen the options. By the way 2a Luers will or should play Snider and Carroll, East Noble, New Haven, Dwenger, North and Wayne next Year

5A would look a lot more interesting if the 32 largest schools were 6A and 32 smallest schools 1A.

Maybe if we lobby hard enough after Week 9 we can get them ranked in 1A and receiving votes in both 2A and 3A!!

The last week of the regular season is upon us the squirrel can't wait for sectional but now for my week 9 picks Attica @ SV- Congrats to the wildcats not even going to put a score Cov @ RP- Lets see if covington is for real. Its at RP coach sanders and the crew ends the regular season a 3 game winning streak RP over the fakers 28-6 Seeger @ NV- NV had their chances friday and i think they scored down on the goal line but we won't talk about that but the combination of White and Tryon is hard to stop Ill take the Falcons 34-18 FC @ PH- FC pulled it out last friday but I could see them being on upset watch this week with them preparing for Park Tudor next week give me the Woofs 24-20 The squirrel has spoken I Love this weather and football is in full swing enjoy it

I can see arguments on both sides for Carmel or Mishawaka, but I'd keep Valpo and Carmel and cut the Mishawaka game loose. Whatever decision is made, this is a lose-lose proposition for the Kingsmen.

6-2 overall, very heavy run team with 2100 yards and 5 players with 200+ yards on the season. They appear to score around 31 PPG and give up 19.75 PPG. Defensively they have 2 good LBs that have put up some big numbers (80+ tackles each). They got blown out by BTC and lost by 5 to Silver Creek.

Allow Central and Harrison to schedule some more winnable games to build confidence and momentum within their programs. That is how they can build themselves back up. Going 0-10, 1-9, 2-8 every season does not make HS students want to join the team. I understand there are other things that contribute to the success or failures of a program but generating excitement brings more kids out.

I want to say each team gets 1 dollar and the rest goes to IHSAA, so having a home game gets you no more money for gate. Concessions sales could be good though

This sectional reaffirms my thoughts that the SIAC needs to be two divisions to allow the teams to play some non-conference games. So this sectional isn't several repeat of games from the regular season. The entire bottom half and the championship (most likely) game will all be rematches from the regular season.

If I never have to invoke that rule though I'll be happy. It means things have gone sideways in some way. In 20+ years I've never worked with a referee who used it. I think you could probably handle this with a brief conversation with the coach as well. The mercy rules allows teams to still get live snaps against another team so while the outcome of the game is decided, it's still valuable for both teams. I doubt a coach would actually try to burn a half a quarter doing this.

Regardless of class I've never heard a team celebrating sectional runner up. While I get it sucks for fans who may wanna go I don't get why it matters if they play rd 1, 2 or 3. Win sectional. That's all that counts.

And 5A and 6A you could easily do away with sectionals and regionals and seed North and South appropriately.

See I always hear this refrain about the regular season not mattering, but is that actually how coaches/players feel? I don’t remember any coach or player I played under/with ever saying “the regular season doesn’t matter”. That’s literally only something I started hearing when I got on this board. Is it a case of the regular season actually not mattering or does it just not matter to us pundits?

Unpopular opinion: It doesn’t matter what round teams play each other in sectionals. The cream will always rise. This is a semantic issue more than anything.

They won't fully seed the playoffs because the next logical step is a qualifier. The all-in blind draw keeps the mythical "Cinderella" story alive regardless of how much it screws deserving teams along the way. It's also the IHSAA's only way of justifying unnecessary blowouts in a postseason format.

It'll never happen. The IHSAA is to bullheaded to accept another idea that isn't their own. They should be ashamed of themselves and embarrassed. No way should Tipp Valley be playing Chatard in the first round. East Noble vs New Haven in round one has turned Sectional 19 into a joke. Then the winner squared off against Leo. This is lunacy.

5 TO's ain't ever gonna win, especially when you're getting the crap knocked out of you!

Just like last year, 6A Sectional 4 has Westfield making that "long" four mile trip straight south on 31 to play at Carmel. Noblesville travels to Zionsville. If Westfield is in a sectional that also contains Carmel, odds are very good that they draw Carmel.

Cant wait.....ten pages of beating a dead horse !!! https://www.ihsaatv.org/?B=655703

PREACH!

I know of a lot of die- hards ready for a change. It doesn't have anything to do with conference moving . It has to do with internal program changes . A lot of people are fed up with the butt whippings we've taken from Indy area schools along with others .