I don't necessarily disagree that it should take at least a state championship and then another season of regional or SS championship to advance, but these are the rules that we play by. The IHSAA clearly wanted to provide other teams opportunities to get to LOS, like it or not. AC has gone from 1A in 2023 to 3A in 2026 and I would tell our fans, as I'd tell Luers fans, to embrace the challenge. The Luers program will have to improve to meet the new competition level and I'm sure there will be some new names on the roster to help out. Fort Wayne has a big pool of talent.
Our journey is a bit different because our enrollment shifted to bottom half of 2A when we were going to bump up due to SF, so we were moving to 2A no matter what. Regardless, AC went on to win state the next year and they were a TD away from making it back to LOS this year.
Considering Andrean beat Luers last season in week 2, I think it's more than a maybe as to whether or not they could beat them. I'd argue that Andrean, AC and Eastbrook all would've competed with Luers last season in the playoffs. Different year, different teams. Who knows what would happen this coming season? AC gets their shot week 1 to open up the 2026 season.