Indiansreloaded

Alexandria at Elwood--Elwood is improving and showing some heart but Alexandria is just too much for the young Panthers. Alex by as much as they want to win by. Frankton at Eastbrook--Frankton is walking into a jungle full of hungry Panthers. Eastbrook by a bunch. Madison Grant at Blackford--Blackford may have low numbers but they use what they have. MG is improved and getting better. This could be the closest game of the week. In the end MG pulls out the victory. Oak Hill at Mississinewa--Oak Hill is not a bad team just young. Mississinewa is young as well but improving. This one belongs to the Indians.

Eastbrook at Oak Hill--Eastbrook scores early and often. Oak Hill doesn't have the offense to keep up as Eastbrook rolls to the win. Blackford at Alexandria--Blackford doesn't have the numbers this year that they need to be able to give players rest. Alexandria rolls to the win. Elwood at Frankton--This game will decide last place in the CIC. Elwood has a new coach again this year. Frankton though is a little stronger and pulls out the win barely. Mississinewa at MG--First time in 9 years that Ole Miss started the season 0-3. MG made it to the sectional finals last year. Mississinewa has the numbers and size advantage. This one goes to the Indians as they get back on track to start a winning streak.

Rumors are Eastern has an invite to join if and when a school leaves the conference. Also rumors is Frankton does not want Lapel in the CIC so do what it takes to keep them out.

Elwood is a No Mississinewa is a NO. Administration has already said no and they have the support of the Miami Indian Tribe leadership, which approved the nickname back in 1950's and continue to so. CIC Split? that is questionable. I look for a couple of schools to leave in the next 2-3 years. Blackford almost left last year and they want to be in the same conference as Jay County. Eastbrook would leave only if Mississinewa leaves. Mississinewa leaves to go to a conference with 4A and 5A schools but may have to get other schools to help form a new conference with one team being Eastbrook. Tipton coming to the CIC is a No, as they are in a conference that consistently have several teams advance in the State Tournament and ranked. Lapel makes good fit, but with Frankton will fight them coming in because they are the same school system. Now if Lapel and Frankton would go to 1 high school, watch out in all sports as they would be a powerhouse and either a 4A or 5A school. Marion could be a possible school to add but won't because of the NCC history in Basketball but the 2 hour bus rides for away games may play a factor in a few years. Eastbrook wins the Conference again. Mississinewa will get things rolling. They have talent but young and with a new coach learning a new system. MG could be the sleeper in the Conference this year and sneak into that 2nd or 3rd place. Remember they went to Sectional Championship last year. Oak Hill another young team but improving and could surprise everybody and also finish 2nd or 3rd. Frankton, well they don't finish last but only win 1 game. Elwood goes winless and will search for another new coach for next year. Hey Elwood admin, notice a trend? Perhaps give your Varsity coach's money to pay for assistants and they might stay longer. Blackford is struggling with numbers but will win 2-3 CIC games. Alexandria will win 3-4 CIC games.

Delta just announced that they had 2 positive COVID cases and have quarantined 79. Wonder if the football game is still a go tonight? Mississinewa players are only allowed 1 parent each to attend in person at New Haven. Good Luck to ALL CIC teams tonight.

Blackford at Eastern--Blackford's numbers are down and almost so low that having a season this year was in question. Eastern is pretty good has some depth. Eastern takes this one by at least 3 TDs Delta at Eastbrook--This is Delta's first game of the season. Delta has a good program and has destroyed Eastbrook in the past. This year Eastbrook has once again reloaded and remembers what Delta has done in the past. Eastbrook destroyed Marion last week, but Marion is down this year but still has talent. Eastbrook wins this one by 3 TDs. Lapel at Frankton--A little preview of what a future CIC team can do. Frankton and Lapel should join and be one school but they won't. If they did they would be a powerhouse. Frankton has improved but not enough to beat Lapel as Lapel wins by 2 TDs. Oak Hill at Southwood--Southwood is a very very good team this year. Oak Hill is still trying to figure out what they have. Southwood wins by 4 TDs Tipton at Elwood--Elwood has another new coach. Unfortunately Elwood still doesn't have much as Tipton plays the JV most of the second half as they win by 5 TDs Wabash at Alexandria--This may be the best game of the week. Both teams appear to be evenly matched. Being at Alexandria advantage goes to Alex. Alex wins by 3. Mississinewa at New Haven--Mississinewa has size and athletes once again. The new coach is trying to get things figured out but with his background it won't take long. All the same assistant coach's but some are in different roles this year. New Haven beat Garrett last week. If Mississnewa can get the offense going then the game will be close. However, New Haven wins by 2 TDs.

I read on another post somewhere that they only had 20 or so players come out and were talking about playing on JV this year because of most players being underclassmen.

Marion has a new coach and lost almost all of their playmakers. Eastbrook is good and will have another good season. Mississinewa has size and some playmakers but have young QB. The QB options are both young and small but are athletic. Mississinewa also has a new coach but he did bring back the entire staff that Funk had but moved some around into different positions. Ole Miss took a thumping this week but they will get things together. They will probably lose 2-3 more games.

The CIC has used Ball State for a full day of Conference games. They were going every 3 years so every player had the opportunity to play on the field at least once during their high school time. Many of the small college football stadiums do not hold any more than high school stadiums. Example Taylor University, Saint Francis, and Indiana Wesleyan stadiums are not bigger than many of the high schools in the area.

Mississinewa has set a capacity of 50% which is estimated at 900. Visiting schools will be given a certain number of tickets to sell in advance. Mississinewa will sell tickets in advance with each player being limited to 4 tickets. The order of selling tickets is players, students, and then public. The public can purchase tickets on Thursday and Friday. Any tickets not sold in advance will be sold at the gate. Here is the link for Mississinewa's plan. https://mcscathletics.com/2020/08/17/mhs-protocols-media-release/?fbclid=IwAR3nmyXjZe3AFPa2VffaLcKCXRdsRnWn0-B59uu6ZBjOhnm981egEVKOeq0 Oak Hill has a similar plan with a capacity of 900. They have a grassy area on each end of the field and have said people can bring lawn chairs to watch the games from there or sit in their cars to watch.

Mississinewa may become the team to watch in 4A. With Curt Funk leaving for Fishers, Mississinewa gets a new coach that has retained all of Funk's staff. The new coach. Kyle Buresh, does not have high school coaching experience but has experience as a coordinator at the College level including running the passing game for Dakota Wesleyan, Indiana Wesleyan, and Wheaton College. At DWU, he helped lead an offense that was #2 in the Nation and averaged 560 yards a game. Mississinewa may be young up front, but may be bigger than previous years. May have multiple 300lb+ kids on the line that are strong and can move. Running backs return, although the leading rusher graduated, still have experience in the backfield. Defensively they will be solid. Mississinewa gets tested early by opening against Pendleton Heights followed by New Haven. This is of course if the season is able to start.

Talked with an Elwood teacher who is also a high school coach in another sport. The coach said that Terry lives in Franklin and plans to continue living there. Some are wondering how long it will be before the 90 minute plus commute each way every day will make him say "I'm done." The other problem with Elwood is they School Board only gives each sport enough money to pay 1 assistant coach. So most of the coach's are volunteer's, which may be the dad's of players. Mississinewa has a new coach this year and he retained the entire staff with the exception of 1, who retired. Kyle Buresh's coaching experience at the high school level is 0. He has been a college coach. He has been passing coordinator and helped lead the #1 ranked offense in the Country with close to 600 yards per game. He did this a couple of times. If he can find a QB that can see over the OL and that can throw watch out. The OL will be just as big if not bigger than previous years.

Based on the numbers at the College level directing offenses, he may just open up a whole new game for Mississinewa. The high power offense may be even more high power. Averaged over 500 yards a game in back to back season's. One season was 560 yards per game. Now if he can find a QB that can run his offense it could be a lot of high scoring games for Ole' Miss. Ole' Miss was one dimensional this past season but didn't need a passing game but had it if needed. Ole' Miss may just have more offensive plays than the last 4 years.

Mississinewa hired Kyle Buresh from Denison University. https://mcscathletics.com/2020/03/23/buresh-to-lead-indians-football/?fbclid=IwAR16hcR1lRrXq6cbOlhn9asd4cavWjiVOilaVgkWmun8qS_J99BVvbQzE1Q

Looks like Mississinewa has hired a College Coach. Here is the link from the school's website. https://mcscathletics.com/2020/03/23/buresh-to-lead-indians-football/?fbclid=IwAR16hcR1lRrXq6cbOlhn9asd4cavWjiVOilaVgkWmun8qS_J99BVvbQzE1Q

Noticed on the Mississinewa's website that the Head Football Coach position is no longer posted. The next board meeting is Monday night. Wonder if there will be an announcement? Once a River Rat Always a River Rat

It was used for Junior High games up until around 2005 I think. It was used for youth league games up until 2012 or 2013. It is still used for practice and the shed down below is used by the 7th and 8th grade teams as a locker room. The old practice fields were used for the 1st and 2nd grade league up until about 2012 or 13 as well. There were no night games for the youth league as the lights quit working or became unrepairable sometime in the 2000's. Yes the skeeters would carry you off the field and on Saturday morning youth games with the dew the skeeters were even worse than in the 80's when I was in Jr High.

Yes Mississinewa Community Schools is a consolidation of Gas City High School and Jonesboro High School. They consolidated in the early 50's. The current R.J. Baskett Middle School is the original Mississinewa High School. It is located on the banks of the Mississinewa River. Gas City was known as the Tigers and Jonesboro was known as the Zebras.

Barnes is not a licensed teacher. Although not required by the IHSAA anymore, but Mississinewa usually prefers a licensed teacher to be head coach of football and basketball. Not sure if he would want to give up his full-time job. Funk and assistant coach Josh Greentree were both named as coaches for the Region 5 All Star Team. So whoever gets the job would have an excellent coaching staff in place if they choose to keep all the assistants.

Kyler Funk of Mississinewa advanced to the next round tonight. He is of course coached by his dad Curt Funk. Curt finished 3rd in High School for Bluffton. Kyler said in the local paper he wants to one up his dad and win State. Kyler's mom was on Bluffton's Girls Basketball Team State Runner-up team. Go KYLER!!!!

In the mid 90's Mississinewa had a head coach that commuted from Indy area by the name of Vince Lorenzono. Mississinewa likes coach's that live in the district or less than 40 minute drive. Mississinewa likes to see the Head Coach involved in the community. Also the head football coach is involved with the youth sports program. So being willing to reside close to the Mississinewa Community would be to the advantage of the applicants.

No they do not. When the school was built in the 70's there was plans for a pool and auditorium, but both were axed due to budget. In the late 80's there was a discussion by the board to add the pool and it was again decided not to build it because of the humidity issues that other schools were having locally. The pool was to go where the auxiliary gym was built in 2016. The one inside would be his first head coaching job and under 30 years old. He has a good relationship with the players and knows the system that Funk set in place. Yes it was his first head coach position. When he first arrived he looked like a Senior in high school. Many have thought that since Mississinewa moved up to 4A in 2015. Then they were the smallest in 4A based on enrollment. I think Andrean was 4A due to success factor. The next realignment Mississinewa was the 3rd or 4th smallest school based on enrollment in 4A. The most recent realignment they were still around the 3rd or 4th smallest school in 4A. Depending on how many schools drop football and how the enrollment numbers are they are a bubble school for 3A and 4A. Moving down to 3A may not last long due to enrollment.

There are many football coach's that what a pool for training purposes. When Coach Funk was hired that was a common question that many coach's asked about the facilities. A pool helps in rehab and recovery of injuries.

I know of 1 current assistant that is applying for the position. The administration is going to have a tough decision to make as I am sure the pool of applicants will be high. Some positive things that the new coach will have to work with: 1. Turf field that is only 2 years old 2. Weight Room that is outstanding and better than many high schools around the state. 3. Returns some key offensive and defensive players. 4. Last season's JV players got a lot of Varsity level experience as they played against other schools Varsity in blowouts. 5. Lineman returning next year are just as big and strong as what graduated. 6. Remainder of coaching staff has not resigned so they would be available to stay on staff. 7. Great fan support as well as well as a great parent group for support. The biggest drawback for the position is that there is no swimming pool at the school and having to share the turf field with the soccer teams and youth leagues. But there is a natural grass practice field to use that is pretty decent shape. When Coach Funk was hired the administration set up a committee that included school board members, returning players, teachers, and a couple of community members. Not sure if this what will happen this time or not. Replacing Coach Funk is going to be difficult but he has left a good foundation that the new coach will continue to build. Promoting from within may be the best option. But then again with the football mentality that Coach Funk installed in the players all the way down into the beginning of the youth programs will attract a lot of coach's from not just in Indiana but possibly around the country.

Congrats to Coach Funk and Fishers has hired a very good coach. Sad for Mississinewa and hopefully the next coach is just as good if not better.