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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!

If you seed all 8 teams, the worst two would always play a 1 and 2 seed, making for ridiculously lopsided games in round one. Not so if you seed the top 2 and draw the remaining teams. A zero win team would have a 71% chance of NOT playing a 1 or 2 seed in round one. Best of both worlds.

Seed one and two. Draw the rest. It's the best of both worlds. We set the stage for a great championship game, and we allow the worst teams a chance to draw an opponent they can compete with in round one. And if we can seed a 12 person wrestling weight class then surely we can figure out how to identify the two best in an 8 team sectional.

I've got it finishing this way... Judson 6-0 - They still have LaVille and Pioneer, so it's not a given by any means. But from what I saw in games against Triton, I think Judson is better than both. Their speed is a problem and their defense is good enough. Winamac 5-0 - I haven't seen them yet, but they shouldn't lose to Caston or Triton. (Although I could see Triton giving them a game if we have everyone back.) But if you haven't beaten any other team in the top half of the conference (when at full or near-full strength), then it's hard to declare you're the best team. Pioneer 5-2 - A strange year in Royal Center. This team isn't nearly as solid as Pioneer teams the last 10+ years have been. But Pioneer losing a step just brings them back down closer to the rest of the field. Still among the best, just not head-and-shoulders above everyone else. I don't think Pioneer's D is good enough to stop the Blue Jays. Triton ran for 134 against them. NJ will go for 200+. LaVille 4-2 - I really have no idea how good LaVille would be at full strength. Have they even had all their starters play a game together yet? This week's game with Judson should be a good one! LaVille D is probably the best in the conference, but I don't think they can score enough to beat the Jays. It's a shame we had to deal with this COVID stuff this year. I would have enjoyed seeing these four teams battle it out at full strength for the conference title. This is without a doubt the most balanced year we've had in the HNAC since its inception. Judson and Winamac should meet in the sectional and that will determine the best team, though I realize they likely won't name a conference champion. If I recall correctly, last year Pioneer and LaVille were both unbeaten in conference after the regular season and they met in the sectional as well, Pioneer coming away the undisputed better team.

After 6 weeks, it feels like their isn't as big a gap from top to bottom in the conference this year. Of course Pioneer has always been head-and-shoulders better than everyone else. But I felt like the second tier teams were always a lot better than the bottom dwellers. It feels a little different this year. Last Friday Pioneer and Winamac - two of the conference's best - only put up 26 & 28 points against what most would say are a couple of the conference's bottom dwellers. The largest margin of victory in any conference game all year has been 36 points. Not exactly what we're used to seeing. I don't think there will be any conference blow outs this week. Knox will play Pioneer tough. And I think Triton has a chance to beat Judson. I expect a close game on the Triton Tundra this week. Culver and Caston should be a good one. It's really too bad we haven't had a chance to see everyone playing at full strength this year. Could have been a really exciting year.

Pioneer scores right before the half to take a 14-0 lead over Triton into halftime.

Great use for my Capital One rewards points!! Ready for my adds to take a hike!

Those are nice words. But no one wins a game when they turn it over that much. Anthony Schuh is the running back you're talking about. He's a sophomore, but runs like a senior. He's big, fast, and has a great straight-arm in the open field. Very hard to bring down by one guy. Triton also has a soph quarterback and a young line. They obviously have a lot of stuff to clean up, but the future looks bright.

Was LaVille short some players tonight?

Six HNAC teams getting some votes in pre-season polls. This young conference is getting a reputation for playing some pretty good football, and not just by the top couple teams.

I feel like there are some coaches (or ADs, not sure which) in this league who have bought into the "participation trophy" mentality. They've messed up the MVP award more than once - see 2018 - and hand out all-conference based on each coach's list of favorites. Let's give the MVP to players who actually make a difference in game outcomes. And let's award all conference to the best players at each position - 1st and 2nd team like @Mayo77 said. Make the awards mean something! I don't care of you're the best player on your team, if you aren't one of the best at your position you should not be all-conference! (BTW - Sam Smith is a very good player and would definitely be on my 1st team all-conference at LB.)

Bremen chewed up yards and used up clock, which is what you have to do to have a chance against Pioneer. But they couldn’t finish drives. The Panthers were efficient on offense as they always are. Congrats on the 2A sectional title! What in the world happened to NJ? Wow great win for Winamac!

Me too! Wanted that from day 1!! They belong in the HNAC not the NIC.

Coachspeak for sure! 😁 But Bremen is a proud football program and they won't back down from anyone! (Unlike many of the HNAC teams who are beaten before they walk on the field against Pioneer.) I expect them to be extremely well prepared and excited for the chance to make a statement. My head tells me Pioneer should win handily. My hunch says it will be a great game into the 4th.