MHSTigerFan

While I expect Jasper to beat Northview, I wouldn’t consider a Northview victory to be a “crazy” upset. Northview is ranked #10 in the AP 4A poll. They’ve beaten the two 5A TH teams. Beat a good Sullivan team. Only loss is to 3A #14 Owen Valley, and it was a competitive game. If sectionals were seeded, they’d probably be 3rd seed.

LOL, indeed. Sagarin needs to figure out a way to deal with closed conferences. I wouldn’t say Reitz is a lock to win that game. But they certainly shouldn’t be 21 point dogs.

Well, I don’t know about that. But I do know that Hurley has always liked mixing things up in the post-season. A couple years ago, Brock Combs went from barely touching the ball during the regular season to ending up as the team’s leading rusher primarily from carries in the post-season. Obviously, if you can successfully pull previously unused weapons out of the arsenal, it’s hard on opposing defenses.

I’m hearing that Hurley is considering at least one possible interesting curveball, but may be saving it for the post-season.

A common refrain around Memorial circles about Brodie is “Where did this kid come from and why hasn’t he touched the ball until this year?” He played DB last year and was good, if unremarkable. And since he didn’t come up through Memorial’s feeder system, people didn’t know much about him. The plan since practice began was to have the dual threat running game. Coming into the season, most people figured it would be Tyler and Russell. Unfortunately, RB got hurt early in week 1 against Jasper and he didn’t really get a chance to shine until the Central game in week 3. And (not coincidentally, IMO) we’ve been a different team than we were those first couple games. It’s really a great story. He’s gone from virtual unknown to probably the most potent offensive threat in the conference in the course of just a few weeks. Yeah, he’s fast. But he’s also elusive, runs great off blocks, and packs a power punch too.

I’m curious what was so bad about the visitor accommodations at the Reitz Bowl. I’ve never been to a cooler HS football stadium in the state. To me, it’s like the Lambeau Field of Indiana HS football. Granted, parking can be a problem with all the houses and streets (and hills!). But the Bowl itself is iconic (I think this is its 100th anniversary). I loved playing there back in my playing days.

He looked fantastic tonight. I’ve been hard on him. But he was nearly flawless. Throws were on target and to the right receivers. He tucked and ran when nobody was open. Showed poise and patience. That drop by a wide-open Shea robbed him of about 35 extra yards, too. It was perfectly thrown.

Somebody tell me who deserves SIAC POY more than Ray Brodie.

It’s our school community’s answer to the success factor…and a big, bony bird to the IHSAA.

Sad SIAC news… Evansville football legend Bill Krietemeyer passed away last week at age 87. After starring at Central, Bill went on to become an All-American at Vanderbilt and was drafted by the Bears before seeing his career cut short by injuries. RIP

No offense to MV. They’re having a fine season and Messmer is a good coach. But this game will not be competitive. GS just has too much firepower. In fact, I don’t see GS having trouble with any potential opponent until at least Regionals, if not SS.

I’m glad they’re pressing charges. That is inexcusable.

You will never see that happen. Heck, even the public schools often have to raise funds to support their athletic programs. I think too much education funding goes into their capital fund for building and grounds improvements…and not enough goes towards paying teachers (which, let’s face it, ought to be their highest priority). But that’s a whole other debate.

IU’s O-Line coach will be at Memorial on Friday to meet with Edward.

That’s awful. God, bless this young man that he may heal and serve.

Zirkelbach with the big stones!

He does run tough (or at least quick and elusive). I like it when he runs and part of me would love to see him run more. I'm sure the reason they don't run him more is the fear of injury. But, let's face it, his passing hasn't been stellar. It's not just that he's had accuracy issues, his passes tend to be a bit on the rainbow side. And, again, I just think that limits this team's ceiling. But I'm just a fan yapping on a message board. I agree with you that this isn't going to happen.

I think we’re going to need a more potent passing game than what we have shown to date to realize this team’s full potential. Too many weapons are being left under-utilized out there. And a better defense than what we’ll face in the SIAC will be able to snuff out our running game if there isn’t a more credible threat of airing it out. Just FTR, I’m not saying we should change horses. I get that Fisher is a freshman and that’s obviously a limiting factor. But it could pay dividends in the post-season if he got some snaps with (and against) first stringers in the regular season…if for no other reason than the prospect of Caleb getting hurt.

I don’t see it happening either. I’m just throwing it out there because it may become an elephant in the room as the season goes on.

I’m just thinking it possible that Fisher gets more snaps in this game. It would be a bonus if he could get at least some of them while the rest of the starters are still in. Hurley had him punting the other night. Obviously, that went really badly. But I’m told that Fisher is a better punter than what he showed there. As we all know, he loves having his QBs punt.

I’m not stating it. In fact, I strongly doubt we’ll see it. I’m just wondering if it might be a possibility later in the season if Fisher keeps progressing and Ellspermann keeps struggling with passing the ball. This team has a chance to make some noise. We’ve got a good receiving corps to go along with two very good backs and a solid OL. We need to be able to pass the ball. If we can get that figured out, we’d be hard to beat.

I’m curious to see how Matthew Fisher does at QB against a varsity defense. If he does well enough….

While my money would be on Jasper, I think MD has a chance at beating them. They need to get more out of their defensive line than they did against us. James Ralph is a 2x all-state DT. He’s usually very effective at both stopping the run and getting TFLs/sacks. But he didn’t do much on Friday. Boots is a solid performer, too. They’ll have to bring their A games against Jasper’s formidable offense.

One other thing: Ray Brodie has really emerged as a surprise threat offensively. The last two games, he’s been a game-changer.

I felt like we dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. But Ellspermann has to work on his accuracy and decision-making. For the life of me, I don’t know why he doesn’t run it more when the targets aren’t there. And, obviously, the long-snapping. That has to be fixed.