NLCTigerFan07

A few head scratchers per usual that I do not think many on this forum called out as possibilities 6A Throwing Penn into Sectional 1 as opposed to having Harrison (West Lafayette) just take Lafayette Jeff's place (who moved to 5A), and then leaving Homestead on an island in Fort Wayne with 3 Hamilton County schools is interesting. 5A There was always going to be an oddball in Sectional 12 with Kokomo, Lafayette Jeff, and McCutcheon, but I can't say anyone predicted it would be South Bend Adams. I figured it would be Fort Wayne North Side or even Warsaw. The inclusion of Anderson and East Central as outliers in 5A South was always going to be funky too, but cannot say I saw the IHSAA splitting Whiteland and Franklin. I don't hate it, just a little bit surprised 4A Putting Culver Academies in Sectional 20 had a ripple effect that (unfortunate in my eyes) causes all NLC 4A squads to be placed into Sectional 18.

Definitely will be interesting to see how it impacts NorthWood, Goshen, Plymouth, and Northridge. I miss when it was just Warsaw running the offense when Coach Curtis came over in 2018, then Mishawaka joined the conference in 2020, now Wawasee likely running a variation of the offense means NLC defenses will have plenty of practice time spent preparing against it. Side note - the conference schedule reshuffles this year (and next year) as part of the conference rotation plan through the 2033 season. Definitely some interesting tidbits with that change up. Warsaw - ends the next two seasons with quite the gauntlet of Mishawaka, NorthWood, Northridge in weeks 7-9. For this season, both Warsaw and Concord get a little "screwed", playing their final home game in week 7 while having to go on the road both weeks 8 and 9. With that, Wawasee and NorthWood play 3 of their final 4 games at home, with back-to-back home games weeks 8 and 9. Goshen also gets a little jipped by the schedule change, playing 3 of their final 4 games on the road (weeks 6, 7, and 9). For the first time since the IHSAA went to a 9 game regular season schedule in 1997, US 30 rivals Warsaw and Plymouth will not be playing in Week 3 to open up their conference schedules. Definitely strange! Also, with Labor Day being "early" this year - no NLC team will have to deal with Blueberry Festival parking in Plymouth. Typically a pain in the butt for Warsaw fans every other year, the Rockies will host Columbia City the weekend of Labor Day. Good luck to those Eagles fans finding out about that parking situation! Another first since the IHSAA went to a 9 game regular season schedule in 1997, Kosciusko County rivals Warsaw and Wawasee will face off prior to week 7 for the "W" Trophy game. The Tigers and Warriors will battle in week 4 each of the next two seasons, which will be the earliest they match up until meeting in week 3 in the 2030 and 2031 seasons. Concord has a heck of a schedule the next two years with Elkhart County rivals Elkhart and Jimtown weeks 1 and 2, then start the NLC schedule with Mishawaka, Northridge, Warsaw, and NorthWood. They will play those 4 NLC foes in a consectutive manner over the next 4 seasons, and in 8 of the next 10 seasons.

Free Agent: Harrison Mevis, K > Warsaw Community > Missouri > Carolina Panthers

To answer the title of this topic, and I say this seriously and sincerely - what is there to be excited about when it comes to the NIC these days? I promise I am not asking that facetiously. Penn - conference/division champs/co-champs in 12 of last 15 season. Only lost 7 conference games in 15 years, and even in down years for them should be the class of the conference. There are no teams (okay - MAYBE an argument for New Prairie and Elkhart) in the NIC that are doing anything to make the Kingsmen better or prepared for 6A football. Zero excitement from my perspective. Elkhart - after an historic 2020 season in their first season back as a consolidated high school, they have dominated the "South Bend" schools, but have gone 2-7 against Penn, Mishawaka Marian, and New Prairie. The gap between them and Penn dose not appear to have closed whatsoever. Will only qualify for excitement if they can get to the level of New Prairie/Penn sustained success. Adams - the largest of the "South Bend" schools has been sputtering. 1 sectional win in the last 8 seasons, and lost all momentum built during the Coach Redman tenure. With Riley's resurgance under Coach Lee, I am unconvinced the Eagles will see progress anytime soon. Zero excitement. New Prairie - probably the best program in the NIC, and their only flaw being that they are a 4A school having to punch above their weightclass when taking on the behemouth known as Penn. Even then, they have gone a respectable 2-4 against the Kingsmen. So far, the only team I would deem worthy of any "excitement" for this upcoming season, only because they are always a threat to win the conference and have a deep tournament run. Riley - a feel good story last year, but can they sustain it and become the "it" program for South Bend schools? Their schedule will be significantly tougher adding Penn, Elkhart and Marian. To me, that makes things less exciting, unless they can prove "staying power" as a mid-tier NIC school that can sometimes hang with the larger/better schools. Slight level of excitement to see how they stack up and continue improving as a program. Washington - will be a perrenial doormat in the current NIC set up and struggle to have winning seasons. That is what will be considered an accomplishment for the Panthers moving forward. Finding a way to 5 wins in the regular season each year is the goal, and that does not sound very exciting. St. Joseph and Marian - I am lumping these 2 programs together. They are shells of their former selves. Unlike Riley, at least they have already been playing the larger/stronger teams in the NIC. If these programs can get back on track, they can potentially have a few seasons competeing for the "best record excluding Penn" in the NIC. Until then... not much excitement for either.

Oh well in that case - yes we can carry on and talk about how good the Tigers are 😄

Why are we talking about 6A schools in a 5A thread? 😛

I'm not sure if I am confident in saying Warsaw will represent 5A North this year, but they should be solid candidate. They are the favorite for their prospective sectional with Concord, Goshen and SB Adams, and then would likely face Lafayette Jeff, Kokomo, McCutcheon, or FW North in a Regional matchup. I like the Tigers in a matchup with any of those teams. None are pushovers, but none are at the caliber of FW Carroll, Homestead, or Penn (who the Tigers are used to facing in the postseason). Facing a Region team (Merrillville, Valparaiso, Hammond Morton) would be a much higher degree of competition/difficulty, but I'd give Warsaw a puncher's chance in a game against any of those teams.

It's comical to call Warsaw's (or any other teams that run a style of Flexbone/Wishbone/Triple Option) boring. Big plays happen all the time, and the Tigers have averaged 30 points per game since Bart Ball made it's way to the Lake City. As well - the Tiger Defense has been especially stout the last 2 seasons. Last year, they gave up 15 points per game, including 6 games holding opponents to fewer than 14 points. Warsaw also has 2 defensive players representing the North in this year's North/South All-Start Game. Last 2 years when comparing Warsaw's Scoring O/D compared to Valparaiso's Scoring O/D... are basically the same. Scoring O Scoring D Warsaw 27 ppg 15 ppg Valpo 29 ppg 16 ppg

It will be interesting to see how the 4A sectionals end up getting assigned. One reason the NLC went to the rotating conference schedule, with a "set" Week 9 opponent, was to prevent the chances of teams playing in Week 9, and then again the next week in the first round of sectionals. With Mishawaka dropping to 4A this next cylce, and their Week 9 opponent being Wawasee (also class 4A), that could cause an issue there. However, when looking at the teams that are in 4A, I think there is a good chance Mishawaka and Wawasee will end up in different sectionals. My best guess as to how things will shake out in 4A North: Sectional 17: East Chicago Central, Gary West, Hanover Central, Highland, Hobart, Kankakee Valley, Lowell, New Prairie Sectional 18: Culver Academies, Mishawaka, Northridge, NorthWood, Plymouth, SB Riley, SB St Joseph, SB Washington Sectional 19: Columbia City, DeKalb, East Noble, FW Dwenger, FW South, Leo, New Haven, Wawasee Sectional 20: FW Wayne, Frankfort, Huntington North, Lebanon, Logansport, Marion, Muncie Central, Yorktown Where it could get weird is if for some reason the IHSAA decides to put Wawasee in Sectional 18 over Culver Academies (who could go to Sectional 20 and FW Wayne go to Sectional 19). I think that's truly where the decision lies. Where do they put Culver Academies and Wawasee? The rest of Sectional 17 and 18 are set.

Agreed completely - slot Harrison into Lafayette Jeff (moved to 5A) spot in Sectional 1 and Snider into Warsaw (moved to 5A) spot in Sectional 2 and then everything else stays the same. I see 5A shaking out like this Sectional 9 - no change - Hammond Central, Hammond Morton, Merrillville, Munster Sectional 10 - no change - Chesterton, LaPorte, Michigan City, Valparaiso Sectional 11 - put Warsaw in place of Mishawaka (who moved to 4A) - Concord, Goshen, SB Adams, Warsaw Sectional 12 - many changes - FW North, Kokomo, Lafayette Jeff, McCutcheon 5A South can go a number of different ways. There are 2 outliers that need to be dealt with (Anderson and East Central) and then 6 other pairs that will definitely be together, and they can be combined into a variety of 4-team sectionals. I agree with the way @Indiana Fan has it broken out and imagine Franklin and Whiteland will get combined with Anderson and East Central to make a sectional. Then with the other 12 teams, you could literally do it a number of ways: Option 1: Decatur Central, Plainfield, TH North, TH South / Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Columbus East, Seymour / Castle, Evansville North, Floyd Central, New Albany (as seen on @Indiana Fan map) Option 2: Bloomginton North, Bloomington South, Decatur Central, Plainfield / Castle, Evansville North, TH North, TH South / Columbus East, Floyd Central, New Albany, Seymour Option 3: Decatur Central, Plainfield, TH North, TH South / Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Castle, Evansville North / Columbus East, Floyd Central, New Albany, Seymour

Warsaw as well! The Tigers travel down to face the Warren Central Warriors in Week 2 on August 30th. That's a huge pickup for them. I am pretty sure after this home and home with Warren Central, the Tigers then have a home and home with Ben Davis and FW Snider on the books in coming years.

FWIW - Mishawaka has been to championship. They went in 2012, losing to Cathedral 56-29 in the 4A State Championship game. That was smack dab in the middle of the Irish's 5-year championship run between 2010-2014.

MACtion baby!

Per the JGSC Superintendent and reported by Angelo Di Carlo (WHME-TV 46 Sports) - John Barron has resigned from all positions at John Glenn High School, including the head football coach position.

Why does it need to be closed? If/when any additional information comes out about the situation (as reported by a news source and not a rumor), could/would that not be able to be discussed here?