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Really? Very quiet around here compared to many seasons at this point.

I think this is the most intriguing year in football since the HNAC began. For the first time Pioneer is not the overwhelming favorite to win the conference title. And there should be some very solid teams when it comes to tourney time in October. I agree that Judson and LaVille should be at the top. But Triton and Pioneer won't be far back. I'm not sure what Knox returns, but I'm guessing Radke will have them playing good football as well. Someone earlier in this thread suggested that Pioneer could actually finish in the bottom half of the conference this year. Now that would be a shock! I think in the eyes of other HNAC teams, the loss to LaVille in the sectional last year instantly brought the Panthers back to being "beatable". I suspect the loss didn't sit well with the returning Pioneer players and they likely worked their backsides off this summer so that doesn't happen again! So it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. I'm excited to get things going.

Wow! Nice hire for the Falcons!

Triton is the only common opponent for these two. I did not see Triton play either team in person, but I think AC is definitely the heavy favorite. The Jets speed and athleticism will be hard for North Judson to slow down. Judson relies a lot on Allen and I would guess AC will find a way to limit his effectiveness. I'm going with the Jets, 42-14.

I believe this is true and a significant reason why Triton moved to the HNAC in the first place. Triton never beat Jimtown in all the NSC years. I think there were only 3-4 wins over Bremen. Glenn had up and down years, so there was some success with them at times. But not much in the last 10 or so years of the NSC. Same for New Prairie. They got a lot better as they grew in enrollment and the last few years of games were a waste of time for both teams. Honestly losing to Pioneer by 50 is an easier pill to swallow than losing to NP or Jimtown by the same scores. Pioneer is a similar sized school and you know they've gotten where they are by hard work and commitment. You respect that from a school your own size. But losing to schools twice your size all the time just gets old over time. The HNAC definitely provides a platform to compete with similar-sized schools on a more level playing field. And the quality of play is outstanding for a small school conference. I'm very happy we made the move.

Triton has no chance against AC, obviously. But this team will learn a lot by playing a championship caliber team. The Trojans are young this year and have asperations of making runs in the next two years. This game will show them what it takes to play at that level. I have LaVille over Pioneer by a score. Knox will fall to Hanover. Judson takes care of Culver by 2 scores.

I think '22 should be even better. Winamac loses 20 some seniors, but most other teams have a lot coming back! I think I saw that LaVille only has 1 senior on this year's team. Triton has no senior starters on offense and just a couple on D. Knox will be better. Culver will have plenty back. Judson has Allen and some others returning. Pioneer will reload as they always do. Let's hope we have COVID behind us and teams can settle things on the field next year!

Might want to look at the date of my post. They won the game I was speaking about. Geesh

HNAC to have 6 teams playing for sectional titles next week. Gotta admit that’s turned into a nice little football conference.

Triton 22 Northfield 13 Final LaVille 14 Bremen 6 Final

Triton 22, Northfield 13 5:39 4th

I think Triton has a legit shot in this one. They have definitely played the better schedule. But they are young and have played like young guys - too many mistakes and not enough confidence. If Triton plays to their talent level, it should be a really good game.

Playoff home away from home for the Panthers! 🙂 It's nice that the Berries are willing to host like they are. It's a great venue for these big games!

What happened to Caston? I thought they would give SCUM a little bit more than that! But 470 rushing yards for Culver! Wow. A little disappointed in their defense though. Should be a couple of pretty good games next week.

Caston Culver Winamac North Judson Call me a HNAC homer, but I really think these are the best teams in each matchup.

Great writeup as always @NLCTigerFan07! A couple of notes on this contest. Technically this won't be for the conference title as no title will be awarded this year. As was the case in 2020, since all conference games were not played, the league will choose not to declare a conference champ. If Judson wins, they will finish the season 6-0 in conference play, but will not have played Winamac, who is likely to finish league play at 5-0 (if they beat Triton tonight) after having to cancel two conference matchups earlier in the season. Last year Pioneer finished conference play 5-0, but did not play Winamac or LaVille. They were unquestionably the best team in the conference but were not awarded the trophy. It's unfortunate that in 2021 we have 2 teams that could give the Panthers a run for their money, but - even if unbeaten in conference play - won't really get a chance to declare themselves the best due to this danged COVID thing.

Not much being said this week. I guess there's only one game that looks to be competitive. North Judson @ Pioneer - Definitely the best matchup on paper this week. I think the weather will favor the Panthers, and playing at home will help as well. I think the Jays would win this matchup 60% of the time in different settings, but tonight I'm going with Pioneer. Panthers 22-14 Culver @ LaVille - It'll be over before 9:00. Lancers will score enough to hold off the Cavs. Lancers 13-0 Knox @ Caston - Knox big in this one. Their offense was clicking last week and they will again this week. Redskins 42-7 Triton @ Winamac - Too much senior experience for the Warriors. Triton is young and hasn't really learned how to win yet. They're a year away. I don't think this is a blowout, but the outcome won't be in doubt after the 1st quarter. Winamac 35-14

Again, that would be up to the folks who assign officials. There is no reason crews could not be limited to one game per weekend which wouldn't change anything from what we have now. But it would lend to some flexibility in that respect. Now I could see a legitimate issue with officials if we have a lot of high school officials who also do college games on Saturday. That could be an issue.

That would be completely up to the folks who assign the officiating crews. But that is not a significant factor in whether or not an idea like this could be adopted, is it?

I don't know what happened. I expected a close game, but I certainly didn't expect Triton to give up 37 points!

On another thread about seeding the sectionals, one of the arguments for seeding is that football fans don't get to see the best games because their own teams are playing at the same time. That got me thinking about sectionals for other team sports and how those are run. In every other team sport, we have a host school and no two sectional games are played at the same time. We don't do that with football. I assume we don't because games have always been played on Friday night. But why does it have to be that way? How about this: For eight team sectionals, play one game Thursday night, one game Friday night, and two games on Saturday - one at 3:00 and the other at 7:30. On week two, play Friday night and Saturday night. Championship games for teams in the same regional are altered between Friday and Saturday so fans could see both games. That would allow football fans to see every game in their sectional and get a preview of regional opponents. This would allow great opportunities for football fans to see big games from other sectionals as well. Plan your games well, and you could see 4 fantastic games on the opening weekend of the sectional! Just think how this would boost game revenues. AND it addresses the shortage of officials by allowing good officiating crews to work two games in a weekend.

I didn't see it, but it appears the Triton managers forgot to load the defense on the bus last night! 😃

If the ultimate goal is to increase revenues, then stagger the games so everyone could attend all sectional games. Play one on Thursday night, one on Friday night and two on Saturday (afternoon and evening). Then people could attend ALL the sectional games and the revenue would increase significantly. Right? And you also solve the officiating shortage by making it possible for crews to work multiple games. There you go. Revenue problem solved!

Kind of difficult not to get excited about this kid and the Triton offense in general for the next couple of years. QB and running back are both sophomores. Offensively, seniors make up only 7% of total offensive production with no seniors on the O-line. Schuh is 3rd in the state in rushing in 1A. We've had a key junior 2-way lineman out with an injury for a few weeks now. I realize several other HNAC teams are young this year, but I anticipate the Trojans being pretty competitive the next couple of years.

You can't use polls to seed a tournament anyway. Polls only rank the top teams, not all 8 from a sectional. Unless you're seeding only 1 & 2. Then the IHSAA should let us (GID posters) pick the top two from each sectional! 😃 And let's limit that to only GID financial boosters! I see this being a huge WIN for GID in the long run!! Ha!