Indiana Fan

9 hours ago, IndianaWrestlingGuy said:

Only returning starter on defense is 4 Star DT Kendrick Gilbert. Kyuss Garrett played some key snaps, but he prob couldn't be called a starter at cornerback. 
 

That said, the incoming batch of linebackers is pretty nasty. Weingart, Kirsch, Bragg, McCormick. And fhe DL w Gilbert and Patrick Kendall will be a sick front 7. Look for some talented sophomores from the undefeated team last year to push for playing time (I.e. Aidan Hughes). 
 

My biggest question is the replacing the entire O-line. I think this year's line will be bigger than last years with WNeale, BBeasley, and Eli Albers. However, they'll need to get battled tested in a hurry. A 1 loss JV campaign last year to Cincy St. X is a good start, but some early season Ws will help them gel. The thunder and lightning attack of Carson Johnson and Hosia Smith will be fun to watch with our aerial game weapons (Tibbs, Wooten, Ayres, Bridges, etc). Need to find a good slot to replace the virtually irreplaceable Michael Page as well. 
 

Our schedule lightens up quite a bit with Cincy GCL playoff requirements shifting and vacating our schedule. 

Saw where Cathedral is still missing a week 5 opponent. Any news on who they have lined up for this?

4 hours ago, temptation said:

Some truth, sure.  But not with the high level of confidence he displayed.

Westfield and Brownsburg aren’t going anywhere.

I don’t think they are going anywhere. But I do think HSE will join them and be the top team this year in that conference.

12 hours ago, Bears62 said:

Take with these with a grain of salt as it is pretty difficult to find information on teams in the off season. Any insight is appreciated

6A favorites: Cathedral

Can win it all: Ben Davis, Carmel, CG, Westfield, Warren Central

Longshots: HSE

5A favorites: Decatur Central, Merrillville

Can win it all: Michigan City, Valpo, FW Dwenger, FW Snider

Longshots: Harrison WL

4A favorites: Roncalli

Can win it all: Mount Vernon, East Central, Evansville Memorial, Leo

Longshots: Kokomo, Brebeuf, Northridge, New Pal, New Prairie, Lowell

3A favorites: Chatard

Can win it all: West Lafayette, Mishawaka Marian, Lawrenceburg

Longshots: Western Boone, Danville, Tri-West

2A favorites: Andrean

Can win it all: Evansville Mater Dei, Eastside, Fort Wayne Luers, Eastbrook

Longshots: LCC, Indy Scecina, Linton-Stockton

1A favorites: Adams Central, Indy Lutheran

Can win it all: Pioneer, Park Tudor, Covenant Christian

Longshots: North Judson, Churubusco, Parke Heritage

HSE will be the team to beat this year in the HCC. Westfield will be down a bit.

1 hour ago, temptation said:

Gotta challenge yourselves if you want to be the best and prepare yourself for the state tournament.

Approximately 15 of the 20 sports are an absolute walkover for CG and/or Carmel.

Gotta prepare for the future while winning in the present.

Carmel wins now. Do they need to win by more?

2 hours ago, Grover said:

Shut their mouths?  What were they saying?

Figure of speech meaning complaining about the conference. I understand and get where they are coming from but if they were winning and had schedules I don’t see anything wrong with continuing that.

1 hour ago, Grover said:

I don't agree.  When it was first suggested that CG & Carmel were interested in a new conference due in part to the lack of competition in most sports it was pooh poohed by many.  Then when the MIC voted to throw CG & Carmel out they made some very serious, albeit thinly veiled, accusations about the motivation.  Pointing out the scores of CG/Carmel vs the MIC is little more than reiterating the competitive imbalance and the real motivation for moving on. 

 

I agree with you and temptation. However my thing is this, why didn't they just shut their mouths and stay in the conference and keep winning? Or at least wait until they knew they could for sure reach the HCC. There is nothing wrong with winning. I mean from a football standpoint, CG and Carmel (mainly CG) will have a very difficult time finding a schedule. The teams they will have to play are far drives and probably very talented. CG won't be this dominant every single year. I think it would have been better to keep winning and know you will win.

I am not saying CG will be bad, I just am simply stating that it now becomes a scheduling nightmare.

I saw where CG and Carroll had future plans. I believe starting in 2024.

Starting to see some previews of conferences for the upcoming season. As we get closer to August, what is the word on how CI looks this year? Is Columbus North the team to beat again? Any breakout teams or players? Any state final potential runs? This has been an under the radar conference lately, but still provides some great competition?

3 hours ago, BTF said:

"Lol" was my reaction as well. It just kind of left me speechless. 

Giving credit where credit is due, his list included some really good programs. I just don't know how you can include the likes of Bloomington South and Center Grove, but not Luers, Dwenger, and Snider. At the end of the day, I think there are approximately 25 programs that could make a case for Blue Blood status. The best post I've seen so far is the spreadsheet that was derived from a point system. 

1. Chatard

2. Cathedral

3. Luers

4. Carmel

5. Ben Davis

6. Roncalli

7. Dwenger

8. Penn

9. Sheridan

10. Hobart

11. Warren Central

12. Ritter

13. Snider

14. LLC

15. Center Grove

16. Jimtown

17. Andrean

18. Mater Dei

19. Tri-West Hendricks

20. Northwood

21. Evansville Memorial

22. Adams Central

23. West Layfayette

24. Franklin Central

25. Columbus East

That's a pretty good Top 25 if you ask me. Some will ask where Bloomington South, Pioneer, and New Pal reside. All three would be included in a Top 30. Zionsville comes in at 32, Lowell at 35, and Heritage Hills at 36. I guess we can all look at the ranking and come up with our own conclusion as to who is a Blue Blood and who isn't. 

I deeply apologize. I didn’t realize this was the end all list of the blue blood programs of Indiana high school football. I need to do better.

1 hour ago, BTF said:

I'm still curious as to why Luers doesn't come to mind. 

Luers: 25 sectional titles, 20 Regional titles, 16 semi-state titles, and 11 state championships. 

Alright I will put them in there

38 minutes ago, NLCTigerFan07 said:

I think it was said earlier - but it would have been interesting to see this list 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and who would have been included then and who isn't now. Two "smaller" schools from Michiana that I personally have always viewed as "blue blood" programs that I don't think have been mentioned yet are Jimtown and NorthWood.

The Jimmies have 22 Sectional, 12 Regional, 6 Semi-State and 4 State Championships. However, the last of each of those titles respectively are 2014, 2009, 2005 and 2005. Since the school has grown into a 3A enrollment, they have not seen the same level of postseason success that they did for the better part of 3 decades.

The Panthers have 18 Sectional, 11 Regional, 6 Semi-State and 1 State Championships. As the case is with the Jimmies, since they moved into class 4A a little over a decade ago, they won a Sectional Championship in 2011 and were State Runner-Ups (14-1 record) in 2016. It has been tougher sledding for NorthWood since moving to 4A.

I still consider both of these programs to be "blue blood" status. However, that is just my opinion.

Jimtown would’ve been next on my list. Just haven’t heard much of them lately, but then again I could be wrong. NorthWood has always been a good program as well

34 minutes ago, temptation said:

No Warren huh?  Wow.  They need a NINTH state championship to make the cut, lol?

Honest mistake on that one lol. Yes. Warren central in the top 5 of course.

Certain names come to mind when I think of the traditional teams of Indiana High School Football. Some may be on their way in and some may be on their way out. Either way you look at it, here are the ones that come to my mind:

Carmel

Ben Davis

Cathedral

Chatard

Center Grove

Penn 

Roncalli

Bloomington South

Sheridan

LCC

Hobart

58 minutes ago, Footballking16 said:

Be interesting to see the new 6A South sectional alignment. Cathedral in a sectional with LC, LN, and North Central likely ensures the Irish will remain in 6A on an almost permanent basis (nothing wrong with that either). 

4A would have been a good barometer for Chatard. New Pal (I believe) will be loaded the next year or two and Kokomo bumping down strengthens 4A which in my opinion has been one of the weaker classes for sometime. 

6A South very simple:

Pike, Brownsburg, Ben Davis, Avon

North Central, Cathedral, Lawrence North, Lawrence Central

Warren Central, Tech, Southport, Perry Meridian

Franklin Central, Center Grove, Columbus North, Jeffersonville

22 minutes ago, crimsonace1 said:

That's *possible*, but there's really no great way to get from Lafayette to Terre Haute (231 to 74 to 63/41? 231 an hour south to Cloverdale and then another half-hour west on 70?).

In terms of drive time, McCutcheon/Harrison are both closer to Plainfield/DC than they are to Terre Haute (because of I-65), and the Terre Hautes are closer to Bloomington than they are to Lafayette. 

Those two are pretty obvious sectional pairings when you look at the overall map. The rest of the state is a royal pain to figure out in 3A. 

I’m with ya. Just find it hard to believe and see that you could have a potential Whiteland sectional winner driving south to Evansville for regional. And a potential Bloomington sectional winner driving north up to Decatur or even up to Lafayette for regional. I know there are multiple routes but you could have the Whiteland bus driving south on I-69 passing a Bloomington bus coming north on.

2 hours ago, crimsonace1 said:

5A is interesting because of the "pairs" in the south that are largely interchangeable. 

9/10/11 are extremely cut-and-dried and obvious: 

9: Hammond Central, Hammond Morton, Merrillville, Munster
10: Chesterton, Valpo, Michigan City, LaPorte
11: SB Adams, Mishawaka, Concord, Goshen

Then it gets dicey. You have three Fort Wayne schools, two Lafayette-area schools and Anderson sitting on an island. While it will be ridiculous travel, it makes sense to keep the Tippecanoe County schools together and make Anderson travel. That also makes the rest of the map fit together. 

12: FW Dwenger, FW North, FW Snider, Anderson
13: Harrison, McCutcheon, Decatur Central, Plainfield
(Another option would be Dwenger/North/Snider/Harrison and McCutcheon/Anderson/DC/Plainfield, but this makes less sense)

The rest of the state is a bunch of pairs. 
Option 1 (most likely)
14: TH North/TH South, Bloomington North/Bloomington South
15: Franklin, Whiteland, Columbus East, Seymour
16: Ev. North, Castle, Floyd Central, New Albany

Logic: SR 46 connects Terre Haute & Bloomington, they're about an hour apart. 
The Sectional 15 teams are connected via I-65 and are in adjoining counties
Sectional 16 - I-64 connects the Evansville & Falls City areas. It's easier/quicker for the EVV teams to get to the Falls City area than it is to make the drive up U.S. 41 to Terre Haute. 

Option 2 
14: Franklin, Whiteland, Bloomington North, Bloomington South
15: Columbus East, Seymour, Floyd Central, New Albany
16: TH North, TH South, Ev. North, Castle

Option 3 (highly unlikely)
14: TH North, TH South, Franklin, Whiteland
15: Columbus East, Seymour, Floyd Central, New Albany
16: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Ev. North, Castle
(this would've been unthinkable prior to I-69)

How about a potential of Harrison and Mccutcheon with the terre hautes? 
 

If they went true north and south for the most southern schools you would get Bloomington N, Bloomington S, Columbus East, Seymour. And then Evansville N, Castle, Floyd, New Albany. 

Just curious. Quite a few ways to cut this up in my opinion. I think you are pretty spot on though.

Comical really. I heard the schools would play this year but after this things would change. Obviously some will keep them on schedule and some won’t. 

9 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

It’s definitely possible.  I think Ohio has a rule that requires a school to be willing to host any round of the tournament to be eligible to host any games.  I doubt that the executive committee would push for that here.

I prefer the 2 games at 1 site on Saturday format like we have for basketball.  I’ll just use this past season as an example.  Here’s what it could have looked like.

@Elkhart

New Prairie/Northridge

Andrean/Eastside

 

@Warsaw

Brebeuf/Marian

North Judson/Adams Central

 

@Lafayette Jeff

Merrillville/Westfield

Michigan City/Zionsville

 

@Franklin Central

Center Grove/Ben Davis

Indy Lutheran/Tri

 

@Bloomington South

Mount Vernon/Evansville Memorial

Scecina/Mater Dei

 

@Bloomington North

Cathedral/New Albany

Tri-West/Gibson Southern

I like this model a lot!

I understand that there are challenges. There are challenges to everything. But these things can be done. Have certain schools apply for the year on hosting. Make the application deadline be August. Choose the host school for different semi state games based off of which teams are playing. Simple way to have a neutral site. Not that difficult of a science.

Just now, Indiana Fan said:

I understand that there are challenges. There are challenges to everything. But these things can be done. Have certain schools apply for the year on hosting. Make the application deadline be August. Choose the host school for different semi state games based off of which teams are playing. Simple way to have a neutral site. Not that difficult of a science.

There can be multiple hosts. This will give different stadiums for different classes and provide locations that would not be too far of a drive for one school compared to the other.

2 hours ago, Staxawax said:

Sending Noblesville, HSE and Fishers up 69?  So Homestead will be hosting all 3?  There is a chance Homestead would not even have a home game.  A very good chance.  So it's not 3 teams going north, it's Homestead going south.

I wasn’t talking about who plays who and where. I was simply stating which teams will be together in the sectionals. Which I stated I agreed with the post I replied too. Come on now

On 3/11/2022 at 9:38 PM, crimsonace1 said:

IHSAA isn't going to send 3 different outlier schools north into 3 different sectionals. 

Here's the likely map for the north. 

1: Lake Central, Portage, Crown Point, Lafayette Jeff
2: Elkhart, Penn, Warsaw, Carroll
3: Homestead, FW Northrop, Westfield, Noblesville
4: Carmel, Zionsville, HSE, Fishers

or

1: Lake Central, Portage, Crown Point, Elkhart
2: Penn, Warsaw, FW Northrop, Carroll
3: Homestead, Noblesville, HSE, Fishers
4: Westfield, Carmel, Zionsville, Lafayette Jeff

I expect the first option to carry. 

The south is almost set in stone: 

5: NC/LC/LN/Cathedral
6: Pike/BD/Brownsburg/Avon
7: Southport/Perry/Tech/WC
8: Jeff/CN/CG/FC

You're pointing out precedents - there is no precedent for sending a Hamilton County school up U.S. 31 to the Michigan border. While there are precedents on pairing Zionsville with Lafayette-area schools in *5A*, in 6A, generally Carmel & Zionsville are tied together, as are HSE/Fishers. Putting those four together makes for a sensible sectional field. The key is going to be, you're likely going to have to split up the three Allen County schools somehow just because there are nine "north" schools north of the U.S. 30 corridor and seven south. Someone is going to have to get tied into the Central Indiana schools. Homestead makes the most sense because it's the farthest southwest and closest to I-69 ... and Noblesville, HSE & Fishers are also a short distance off I-69. 

In my opinion your second option is the best way to sectional the north 6A. There will have to be a divide somewhere. Bringing Jeff down 65 to Zionsville makes the most sense for them. Connect them with Westfield and Carmel. Send Noblesville, HSE, Fishers (further East in Hamilton county) up 69 with Homestead as they are the most south of the Fort Wayne schools.

Just now, Bobref said:

Perhaps they release the enrollment figures first so that all the GID people can then tell them what the classifications, sectionals, etc., should be. Makes their job a lot easier.

Oh got it. I was just confused on this. This is cleared up now.

I have always wondered why the IHSAA does not release the classifications when they release the enrollments. I guess I can understand them waiting on determining the sectional alignments, but not with the classifications. When the enrollments are released, just release the classifications as well.

36 minutes ago, crimsonace1 said:

There was apparently some bad data. Have heard from several people the IHSAA has circulated a memo to the schools stating the enrollments posted have some discrepancies and are in the process of being corrected. 

Ridiculous 

5 hours ago, crimsonace1 said:

With 6A, it's a matter of trying to figure out what they're going to do with Jeff & the Fort Wayne-area schools. There are 9 schools in Northern Indiana, Jeff is on an island, and then six in the Hamilton County/Zionsville cluster. The south is pretty cut-and-dried. 

1: Lake Central, Portage, Crown Point, Lafayette Jeff
2: Elkhart, Penn, Warsaw, Carroll
3. Homestead, Northrop, Westfield, Noblesville
4: Carmel, Zionsville, HSE, Fishers

OR 
1: Lake Central, Portage, Crown Point, Elkhart
2: Penn, Warsaw, Northrop, Carroll
3: Homestead, Noblesville, HSE, Fishers
4: Westfield, Zionsville, Carmel, Lafayette Jeff

 

5: North Central, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, Cathedral
6: Pike, Ben Davis, Brownsburg, Avon
7: Tech, Warren Central, Southport, Perry Meridian
8: Columbus North, Jeffersonville, Center Grove, Franklin Central

I know that the IHSAA does not like to split up schools from the same district, but it could work to provide a change to sectional 7 and 8. Using the google maps and a more North and South approach you could have...

Sectional 7: Warren Central, Tech, Franklin Central, Southport

Sectional 8: Perry Meridian, Center Grove, Columbus North, Jeffersonville

I know this is highly unlikely, but it is a potential.