TheDoctor22

Cathedral loses some very talented players, but they return the bulk of their team and have several capable playmakers in waiting. They will be at least as good, and likely better, than they were this year. They are a lock in 5A. Same can be said for Roncalli. This year was just the start for Roncalli. They have had (and continue to have) a ton of talent coming up through the south deanery CYO schools recently. They get a much larger majority of their CYO kids than the other deanery catholic schools. I would throw Memorial in the mix as well, I hear they have a lot coming back next year too. Unfortunately, Chatard won't even be in the conversation in 4A next year. I think 3A goes to a public school next year. Danville should be tough again, Lawrenceburg, Heritage Hills, West Lafayette are all solid contenders, but I think Gibson Southern makes the trip and takes home the crown with their stud QB leading the way. I don't know enough about 1A or 2A to make an informed opinion, so I'm going to guess only 1 of those goes PP. I'll take the under. 3 PP champs next year.

I know Cam Jordan (one of their many great receivers) has D1 football offers. Sounds like he's an even better baseball player though. As Stax said, they will have close to double digit D1 kids by spring. OL has several D1 prospects, couple linebackers, one of the DL, the sophomore TE will go high-level power 5. Tons and tons of talent on that Cathedral team. And they may not have been recruiting Marion county 15 years ago but they certainly are now. Their QB attended Center Grove before Cathedral. And he was a St. Roch kid prior to that, so you're backyard.

Don't have exact measurements but from watching their game with Chatard, every lineman looked to be above 6'4" and at least 270-280. Couple of them pushing 3 bills. I also haven't seen Danville mentioned yet. If they beat Chatard tomorrow (which is probably at least 50/50 chance), they will bump up to 4A. Sounds like they may be close on enrollment as well.

This year's Chatard team is definitely good, which I think is backed up by the results of their schedule. We'll find out how good this Saturday when they face their toughest challenge yet (in 3A). Having watched almost every game in 2019 and 2020 (albeit several on web broadcasts this year), I would say this year's team isn't even in the same ballpark as the 2019 team, especially offensively. Depth has also been an issue this year. Our injuries right now hurt (no pun intended) a lot more than they did last year, which will be on full display next year when these senior graduate. Next year will be about as down as Chatard has been in recent memory, unless some of these underclassmen really step up in the off season. How is the future at Heritage Hills looking? I figured this year might be a rebuilding year after you graduated that awesome senior class last year.

There you go @superjay, you are finally coming around on my Trojans! I jest, I jest... I know you'd rather eat nails than see a Chatard victory. I also understood the sarcasm and agree with you. The past will have zero outcome on this game.

If Danville wins, they will be in 4A due to success factor I believe. They won regionals last year, so a state championship would give them the points to bump up. Someone from Danville would have to comment on their enrollment. Not sure if they would have seen enough growth the last 2 years to bump regardless? I'm sure it would depend on who else is moving class to class.

Just my opinion having watched both teams. Take a look at some of their games and let me know what you think. They have a 6'4" 230 lb WR/TE that can run, a 230 lb RB that can run, a tall, athletic QB who has a cannon, and plenty of other skill players that can hurt you. I'm not saying Chatard isn't talented, because they have some really good football players. I just mean more from a measurable or "on paper" point of view. To my knowledge (and I'm several years away from being "in the know"), Chatard doesn't have a single player with D1 or D2 offers on their team. We saw in the Merrillville game that talent isn't everything, but Chatard definitely doesn't have a huge speed/size advantage like they did in some of the 2000s games. Either way two very good football teams. Very excited to watch this weekend! 100% agree with this.

Curious what you saw that makes you think they are one dimensional? I wish that were true, but in the games I've watched online they appear to be extremely multiple. They have a monster running back and physical offensive line, they have size and speed at receiver, they have a tall QB who can sling it, they spread you out, they bring everyone in with a power run game. I don't think they are one-dimensional at all. I don't have a prediction, other than I hope it will be a great game. I do think Danville has more talent all around than Chatard, strictly speaking from size, speed, and athleticism.

Yeah I'm in agreement with you. It's the state championship game. If any additional motivation is required, then there's something wrong. I don't think what happened between Chatard and Danville in the last 20 years has any impact on this game. Two great teams competing for a state championship, and it should be a great game to watch.

I'd like to second this - great game Marian, you guys played your hearts out. Chatard better figure out a way to clean up some of the sloppy play or it will be a rough game next week. Danville is a VERY good team.

I remember going to watch that game after Danville put a beatdown on my Trojans the week before, absolutely brutal weather. Took me a full day to get warm after that one. But as you said, they had a hell of a team (so did you guys), and from what I've seen in the few games I watched earlier in the year, they have a hell of a team again this year. Wish I could watch this one live, sounds like it should be a great game! Good luck to both teams and stay healthy!

Love to hear it! We'll take any admirers that we can. But I agree completely, a big reason I'm always thankful that my kid had an opportunity to be part of the program. I agree but they were also put into a tough position last year. They gave Chatard's offense fits for the first quarter, but I believe Chatard's defense forced three and outs (or close to it) on Marian's first 4-5 drives last year. Really difficult for a defense, even a really good one, to stop an explosive offense when they are on the field the whole game. And this year's version of Chatard is not nearly as potent as last year. For all of those reasons, I think we'll see a much closer and more entertaining game this year.

Yeah not a chance this ends up being reality. I'm thinking a 28-24 type game. I watched Marian play Jimtown online a few weeks ago, and they have some major firepower on offense. Defense looks just as tough as they were last year as well. Throw in that Chatard has to travel long distance for the first time all year, and I could see either team pulling this out. 3A is shaping up to be the most exciting class this post-season. I think any of the four teams remaining could end up taking the crown at Lucas Oil.

Agreed, Chatard is moving up to 4A just in time for what is expected to be a very down two years. Should make for a more interesting sectional for roncalli, but I think Chatard will have a tough time in the post season for the next two. Good news is their freshman class is the best they've had in a long time.

I hadn't checked Sagarin but was just thinking the same thing reading through this. Concordia plays in one of the better conferences in the state, so strength of schedule is not going to be a factor. Both teams have played a tough schedule and both of won and lost some of those games. I don't know enough about Concordia to really comment on how good they are, but I'm pretty certain its not going to be a 20+ win for either team.

Its one of the scrimmages that teams are allowed during the summer, not the scrimmage right before the first game. That popped out on their schedule for me as well - Concordia was competitive in almost every game in the SAC, which means they are a very good 3A school. We are not too far removed from the Concordia juggernaut that blew everyone out on their way to a state championship a few years ago. If I remember correctly from last year's game, Concordia's starting lineup was mostly underclassmen, so they should have a bunch of experience as well. Expecting a great game.

Yeah sort of where I was going with that. I think there have been years recently where 3A was probably stronger than 4A top to bottom. I'm no expert on the rules either, but I believe if Chatard wins their regional game this Friday, they are going up to 4A for '21-22 seasons regardless of whether they win state again. I obviously want them to win every game, but I have been really hoping they make it far enough to make the jump to 4A. I tend to agree with DT here, at least in Chatard's case, that I'd like to see them up a class. We can argue all day about who belongs in which class, but I think there's nothing more impressive than teams like Memorial, New Pal, Columbus East, and Cathedral that have bumped up a class and still been very successful.

Not disagreeing with the premise of your argument, but I believe Cathedral is guaranteed 5A the next two years after this season regardless. This is year two of the "cycle", and even with a state championship this year, they will not have accumulated enough points to move up to 6A next year. They would have to win state next year and then win at least regionals in 2022 to bump up to 6A. Would be curious if anyone know the answer to this? If a school shares DT's competitive ambitions and wishes to play up in class, would the IHSAA even allow that?

I'm assuming a Chatard poster must have defended the losses with that excuse? Second or third time I've seen someone make reference to that. I don't know about those being "down years". Chatard had some pretty good players on those teams. Danville was just flat out better both years. I thought Danville was going to win the whole thing in 2017, they just happened to run into another fantastic team in Evansville Memorial. I think there's wayyyy more parity in 3A this year than in previous years. There are legitimately 8-10 teams that have a realistic shot at making it to Lucas Oil. Should be a fun couple weeks to watch!

To echo @Lysander's earlier comments, this is not the same Chatard team as last year's team. I think they are more than capable of making another run, but there are a number of really good 3A teams with the talent to beat them. Beating an improving Guerin and a very dangerous Brebeuf twice in the same season won't be a walk in the park, let alone Concordia, Marian, and one of several good teams from the South. Definitely don't agree with the "give Chatard the trophy already" comments, and I wouldn't suspect the players or coaches do either.

I'd like to volunteer myself as an impartial judge, since as you pointed out earlier this year, we only have ugly moms at Chatard! And a late congrats to the Irish on another big win. Sagarin currently has your schedule as the hardest in the state, and to my knowledge, that doesn't include your GCL games. Very impressive what your team has been able to do so far. Beat the Braves by 1000 next week.

No, you're right. Competitive was the wrong word choice. "Chatard didn't get mercy ruled and Cathedral kept the first team on the field the whole game" is a more accurate description, which might be as close as anyone gets to Cathedral this year, save Center Grove. Dwenger and Valpo might have something to say about that though. Point I'm trying to make though is if I'm Merrillville, it's not time to completely panic. Obviously have some things to improve and clean up, but they have as much talent as anyone in the north IMO. I'd rather learn that week 7 with time to fix some of those issue rather than not finding out until the sectional finals vs. Jeff. Correct on this as well. I actually take this away as a positive for Chatard. You didn't play your best game, and you still beat a quality 6A team. If they can clean up some of those mistakes and continue to improve, they will be a very tough out in the playoffs.

Definitely agree with you here. '02, '03, '04, '06 were probably the best/most talented. Talent doesn't always mean the best teams though, as evidenced by your Patriots knocking off a loaded '04 Chatard team.

I wouldn't say this team is among the all-time best...yet. If they can run the gauntlet through a very tough 3A, then I might change my answer in November. The talent level isn't close to some of the best Chatard teams in terms of raw athletic ability - there are no D1 players on this team. I'm not sure there are any players even getting D2 looks, although I would hope/expect this to change by the end of the season. I do think last year's Chatard team was one of the best in school history, and I don't think this year's team is there yet. But I will say this year's team seems to get better every week. The defense is very undersized, but they really fly to the ball. As fast as Merrillville was, I thought Chatard's speed on defense really gave them fits. Offensively, they don't have the big time play maker at RB that's been here historically, but this isn't the Chatard offense most teams are used to seeing. I think they threw for over 300 yards last night. The ability to be multi-dimensional has reduced the need to rely on a big time RB, and I think they are better offensively for it.

Congrats Trojans! What a fun game to watch! It wasn't always pretty, but Chatard showed up ready to play. They played tough, physical football all four quarters, which I think was the difference in the game. A lot of people quick to dismiss Merrillville after that game, but I'm not so sure. Merrillville was every bit as big and as athletic as advertised. They have some VERY good players on both sides of the ball. As others have mentioned, I think the travel definitely had an impact. Merrillville was also down a few starters. Lastly, Chatard is a pretty darn good football team. They played a competitive game with Cathedral (who is historically good by their standards), which no other Indiana team can say so far this year, including Merrillville's potential semi-state opponent Westfield. I wouldn't count Merrillville out just yet. If they get healthy and clean up some mistakes, they could be a very dangerous team in November. Keep your heads up pirates and good luck the rest of the year!