TheDoctor22

I heard from a credible source that Chatard is electing to stay in 4A despite not earning enough points. I didn’t realize that was an option but fully support as a selfish fan.

What @fenderbender and @temptation said. This will without a doubt be a much different game than week 3. Roncalli’s offense has become a juggernaut, and I’m not sure Chatard can slow them down this time around. It’s been an odd year for Chatard. Lots of guys in and out of the lineup week to week in both sides of the ball. 4A has a lot of interesting story lines, parity. Should be a fun class to watch from here on. Yes, Brebeuf added one late score after Chatard cleared the benches, but it was most definitely a shootout in the first half. Brebeuf’s starting QB was back after missing most of the season, and he was very impressive. Made Brebeuf’s offense look much similar to last years version than what I saw week 5 vs Chatard.

It really is comical. The good news is you’ll get to hear it all over again next year when you play Cathedral in the playoffs (already looking forward to this and will be a New Pal fan that night). Congrats again on a perfect season and a perfect, state championship-caliber schedule!

Congrats Patriots! I knew you’d find your way back here after seeing this team up close. Hell of a team and well deserved!

My understanding is teams that are bumped/dropped to a new class are in the new class for a minimum of two years, regardless of the points they accumulate. After year 2, the points earned (and natural enrollment) over those two years would dictate if they bump, stay, drop. So in your example, Snider would stay in 5A through the ‘27 cycle even if they won state in ‘26. Not 100% sure on that though.

Congrats to New Pal. They were as good as advertised. Good luck the rest of the season! Chatard has nothing to be ashamed of, fell just a few plays short. That sophomore class is going to be fun to watch the next couple of years.

Well said! That’s a better Chatard write up than I could have managed. From what I’ve learned, it sounds like this Chatard team is similar to New Pal last year. Starting A LOT of sophomores, but they definitely feel that inexperience at times. Hoping 13 weeks into season some of those young guys have grown up and are up for the tall task of taking on this New Pal team. If New Pal were to win state this year, do they get bumped up to 5A next year? I’m still not 100% clear on the new rolling success factor.

I’d like to get in on that action. I’ll hit the Heritage Hills money line all the way through Thanksgiving weekend. I also know nothing about Luers (other than their obvious storied history), but I know how good HH was last year, I know they returned almost that entire team, and I know how good the Memorial team they just beat was. Barring injuries, I think HH brings home a long overdue title back to Lincoln City. I’ll be rooting for the Patriots all along the way!

I’m not saying this team is the 2019 team, but I do think Ralph has built a program that CAN replace talent and reload as a top team in the state year after year. This team has loads of talent: they returned most of the team who reached semi state last year and they have multiple players with D1 offers. I hope you’re right, I’d love to see this young Chatard team win (if only to guarantee their spot in 4A for a little longer). But just saying New Pal is at worst a very good team, and very likely a top 10-15 team in my opinion.

New Pal has consistently proven that the strength of schedule and number of two-way starters does not matter. They are the best 4A team I've watched this season. I think Chatard will come ready to play so hoping for another entertaining game. But I think 4A is New Pal's to lose.

6a: Westfield over Cathedral 5a: Lafayette Jeff over Plainfield 4a: New Pal over Mishawaka 3a: Heritage Hills over Luers 2a: Lutheran over LCC 1a: North Judson over South Putnam

Not so sure it’ll be Chatard they face. Sectional 22 is loaded. I’ve got New Pal regardless: New Pal 21, Chatard 14 New Pal 28, Roncalli 17 New Pal 52, Brebeuf 49 New Pal 35, Danville 14 I tend to agree with New Pal in the top 10, but I admittedly do have an Indy bias.

Thanks for the detailed recap. I was there as a spectator for all of these games except the 1997 game. Despite the 7-1 Chatard series lead, almost all of these games could have had a different outcome if the ball bounced the other way on one or two plays. This series could easily be 4-4. Always had tons of respect for the HH program and how they are seemingly always in the mix in November. Looking forward to another great game! I haven't seen the Patriots play this year, but it sounds like they spread it out a little more than the old wishbone/option days? Must be pretty good defensively too with how they were able to slow down the GS offense last night?

No. Chatard has advantages of being a private school that have been discussed ad nauseam on this forum. I won't argue that (although I would argue against anyone saying Chatard "recruits" it's athletes from across the city). I, like many of the public school posters on here, pray Chatard at least wins a regional title, bumps up to 4A, and never comes back down. But Chatard does not have 6A talent. I don't think Chatard has had more than 1 or 2 players with division 1 offers in the last decade. I don't think this current team has any either, although the Chatard posters that are closer to the current team would have to confirm that. Chatard has very good football players, and they have more of them than most 3A schools (see: private school advantages). But they do not have any multiple star athletes that will take over a game like your top tier 6A schools. I watched one of TV's games online, and they look like a very good football team. I expect a good game Friday night. Safe travels down to Indy to all Tippy fans making the trip.

Lawrenceburg's coaches know how to coach to their team's strengths. That's good coaching. I respect the hell out of Vince Lorenzano, but he took the opposite approach. His stubborn offensive play calling was always very frustrating for me. I personally think coach Doyle does a better job of tailoring his offense to his positional talent, but everyone has different methods for running a successful program. Sounds like you guys have a lot of pieces coming back next year. Coach Knigga's son #10 was also very impressive on both sides of the ball. I would not be surprised at all to see Lawrenceburg playing in Lucas Oil again next year! Congrats again on a great season!

2nd this. Hats off to Lawrenceburg. Really good football team that laid it all out there. Absolutely nothing to hang your heads about. That was a state championship caliber team. I hope Chatard wins regional next year, bumps to 4A, and stays there for good.

I personally put very little weight on game 1 of the season for a team that lost the major pieces that Lawrenceburg lost from last year's team. It takes time for new starters to get experience and a team to gel together. I think Chatard was in the same position this year. To your point, it looks like Lawrenceburg has been firing on all cylinders lately. I'm not sure who will win this game, but I would be shocked if this was a blow out by either team. Safe travels to all Lawrenceburg fans coming to Indy!

Glad he chose football! He was a lot of fun to watch during GS's run last year. How is he doing at Purdue? I know he's redshirting, but what's the QB room look like outside of the current starter? I always love seeing Indiana kids to have success at the next level.

@Just a dadI know you're new, don't take the bait... One of the best high school football games I've ever seen live! 3A should be a lot of fun to watch over the next couple of weeks. A lot of teams that have legitimate shot at making it to Lucas Oil on both sides of the bracket.

Agree with everything you said. I think higher strength of schedule is definitely a benefit in a vacuum. Playing better competition and having to win tough games will help you when you get in that situation during the playoffs, all else equal. But I think you also run the risk of more injuries and you may come out of it worse than when you started, especially for 3A schools who don't have the same depth as 5/6A schools. I know Chatard has several starters out right now, although not sure for how long, but that could prove to be a negative of playing the schedule they did. But at the end of the day, it's about the dudes, like you said. If you've got the dudes, it doesn't really matter who you've played. 2015 GS team is a perfect example. They had the dudes and Chatard's strength of schedule would have made no difference. The only thing that could have stopped that team from beating Chatard was an act of God, which is why I'm grateful we are a Catholic school (only kidding, tons of respect of GS and know that outcome would have been different).

I agree, this is one of those games that I think everyone has had circled almost all year. Hope it lives up to the hype! I may have to go see this one in person, even if my Trojans are still in the playoffs at that point.

I haven't seen Warren play this year so hard for me to say, sounds like they've had some issues. I would think they fare better than Chatard just because they're more capable of matching speed. Chatard is slow this year, and when those boys got to the perimeter, no one was catching them. Maybe Warren can keep it close in a shoot out? I'd be shocked if CBC scored less than 40 points. Or maybe Chatard is just that bad this year...

I'm not going to argue that Chatard would beat Merrillville this year, but to be fair, the speed from Christian Brothers would be way too much for most teams in the state to handle. I thought Cathedral's skill players were phenomenal (and they are), but CBC's cats blew them out of the water. They have multiple players on offense with SEC offers. Most impressive high school offense I've ever seen live.

Congrats Irish, that was about as thorough of an ass beating as I've seen in awhile. You've got a great team. Those skill players were as good as advertised. @Footballking16 hate to say I told you so but... I'm kidding, good luck the rest of the year. You are going to be a dangerous team come playoffs.

I'm sure we'll see a few posts from IP addresses at 56th street and keystone/Kessler tomorrow afternoon. Obviously have a lot of respect for the Irish, hoping for a good, injury-free game. Atmosphere should be electric as always. Are you going to make it out to Alumni Field PHJ? Maybe. Better than 47-10. 😉