JustRules

I've officiated several MIC freshman and JV games over my career. I would say many of them would beat a lot of 3A and 4A varsity teams. We like to have newer officials help at these games because they get more prepared for the varsity games they will eventually work. This year was one of the best I've seen. Teams like LC and Warren were very sophomore/junior heavy on varsity. They mostly kept their freshmen on the freshman team so the JV were the sophomores and juniors that didn't get to play varsity. If the freshmen at those schools played the JV the freshmen could probably win.

I would say both had excellent seasons/careers, both were very deserving of the honor, and you couldn't go wrong with either choice. Picking one over the other is not a slight on the other. I wouldn't have been shocked with either choice.

Covenant did play and beat Heritage Christian this year who was 8-3 and ranked #8 in the last poll. HC lost to WeBo in the regional final by a similar score. I think CC-WeBo could be a very good game. There often isn't a huge difference between the top teams of one class and the top teams of the next class. It depends entirely on the year of course because sometimes there are dominating teams regardless of class.

Unsportsmanlike conduct fouls in NFHS are treated as dead ball fouls even if they are live. So the result is the same. In NCAA you would be correct though. They changed that several years ago to cut down on the number of high stepping or taunting plays that were happening on TDs. They made it a live ball foul so it would take the TD off the board and enforce from the spot. It seems to have worked because you don't see that very often any more. It isn't a major problem in HS football so the rules committee hasn't felt a need to change the rule.

He would have to sell it to the entire rules committee. And the last thing they like to approve is something based on "it works in NCAA." That usually is a kiss of death for a rules change proposal.

I don't see as much justification in high school. With NCAA rosters often having more than 100 players double numbers are very common. The addition of 0 is more justified. I don't expect to see it in NFHS rules.

One third of the crews in the state are in the Indy metro area. 75% of the teams are from Central Indiana. That's going to happen. Lots of schools in Indy metro and most crews have no more connection to them than they do a Fort Wayne or region school.

Agreed. There are 6 categories of DPI when we make that judgement. A cut off is one of them. When I saw it live I didn't there was much there. Then they showed the field level view from the end zone and it was the epitome of a cut off. That category applies when a defender is running down field with the receiver and contacts him in a way that pushes him away from the ball especially out of bounds. It's fair to argue judgement here if that's what happened, but that's what it looked like to me with the benefit of replay. As Bob has mentioned the official who made the call was in perfect position to make the call and because of that I trust his judgement. Rule hasn't changed in a long time. The only way this is illegal participation is if he is knocked out and doesn't come back in at his earliest convenience. He isn't able to do that because he's being ridden out of bounds as the ball is arriving. He would only commit IP here if he goes out on his own and doesn't return or is knocked out by the defender and then runs down the sideline on his own and comes in much later. This crew is from central Indiana and works big games every week in the regular season. They work a heavy dose of MIC, HCC, Cathedral, and Chatard. The BJ worked a D2 national championship game a couple years ago and was available to work with this crew (his original HS crew) because his college season was postponed to Spring. They are an excellent crew and showed it today. They were in total control in a crazy game and made big calls when they needed. There were several crazy things from an officiating standpoint that happened in the last 3 minutes and they nailed all of them. Anybody complaining about the officiating in the game show they know every little about officiating quality. And trust me...the people most critical about the officiating in the finals are usually other officials usually because they are jealous they aren't working.

His goal isn't to be right or wrong. His goal is to generate post counts by throwing things out there he knows will generate opposition because they are so off base people will reply. The internet is filled with people like him and some people think they are the reason sites are interesting. They don't have to believe anything they post, but they get a thrill off the constant banter.

1. I've enjoyed the up and down nature of it. It creates some new and interesting sectional matchups including teams at the bottom of a class that bump down because somebody bumps up. 2. You have a pretty good idea in November what class you'll be in. The only uncertainty is for enrollment splits which happen with or without SF or a multiplier. You know for sure in March/April what class you'll be in and what sectional you'll be in. Your regular season schedule doesn't change at all regardless of your class designation. How much planning are you doing before March/April for your sectional opponent?

If you think he took 2 steps before the snap then you must consider the snap to be when the QB receives it and starts moving. The snap begins when the snapper starts to move it. That is so close to when the guy in motion moves forward you don't want to be that technical. It can be misleading when you see the back move before anyone else. That's not a false start. Early in my career I would have a false start when I would see the receiver move before the line or the T move before the G. Then I would watch video and realize the ball and player moved at the same time, but the rest of the players were slightly delayed. We often get coaches screaming a guy is moving/leaving early, but when you review it on video he's leaving the same time the ball is moving so so close you don't want to be that technical. Even a half second looks like a huge gap.

I often see people say a school shouldn't be "punished" for having a good class by having to bump up for the following class. First, it has no affect whatsoever on the regular season. If we had a system where you play the regular season in your class/sectional then I see this argument. Second, it does affect what sectional you start in, but how much harder that is depends entirely on your location. Some areas may have a tougher 2A sectional than a 3A sectional for example. Related to that. the competitive teams in one class are often competitive with the top teams of the class above them. If you have a down year and don't do well in the tournament a class above you, you probably wouldn't have done great in your regular class either. The luck of the section assignment and draw does play a factor in that though. I think the 2-year cycle makes a lot of sense and I think it's been a success overall. Don't expect it to be perfect. The beauty of if it is is affects public schools the same as private schools. It has changed up some of the teams in each class and created some fun, new match-ups. Look at the profiles of New Pal and Columbus East through these processes. They both have done very well regardless of class. The IHSAA doesn't do much right, but this is one I think they did get right.

If you want officials to be this technical you will not be happy with the 30-40 flags you 'll see in a game. No formation would ever be legal because there is always a "back" who is breaking the waist of the nearest lineman (usually a slot or wing). Every jersey tug would be a hold. Most kickoffs would be stopped because one player is breaking the plane of the neutral zone before kicked. Look at what happened in the NFL a few years ago when the officials were instructed to get more technical on calling holding. It was a disaster and everyone hated watching the games. It led to the famous change at halftime of a MNF game when Tom Brady tweeted blasting the league for this philosophy. This play meets the criteria of too technical to call illegal motion or false start.

The part you are missing though and I've mentioned several times as the core of my point is those districts don't use neighborhood school. Amy Beverland is located near Geist, but it has students from all over the east side of the district. Brook Park is near 56th Street so while not in the middle of the economically challenged areas of the district it is the closest one. If there was a school centered near 38th and Pendleton Pike and only had students from that area and you compared it to an Amy Beverland that only has Geist-area students, I have no doubt the gap would be in the 79% range. It's already 60% with an attempt to spread students throughout the district.

Based on the video and the photo I definitely have this as a correct call. I disagree with Bob to let the runner off the hook if the defender's feet happen to be off the ground the moment he hurdles. You can hurdle someone lying on the ground but that's not what's happening here. This is a safety foul and very dangerous for the runner. The fact it wasn't called previously means nothing. Either those crews missed it or the defender was actually contacting the ground with an elbow/knee/hand when the hurdle took place. These announcers obviously don't know or understand the rule.

All 3. The numbers though will show by school, and I don't believe any of the districts only use neighborhood schools. For example, if there was a school in the Geist area that only took kids from the neighborhood around Geist, the F&R number would be very low. It appears Amy Beverland Elementary is close to the Geist area, and it has a 28% F&R number. Brook Park is one of the elementary schools closer to the south edge of the district, and it has a an 85% R&R number. Both schools will pull students from around the district beyond their local neighborhoods and they area already have a nearly 60 percentage point gap. If both schools only pulled from their neighborhoods I imagine the gap would be closer to that 79 percentage points. You could do similar analysis in Pike and Washington Townships. You have less affluence in the other township districts, but it's still possible to have wide disparities the closer you get to the edges of each district.

I live in one of those districts and I can tell you it's very possible. If there was a school that was based in the neighborhood of the most affluent areas of the district, the F&R numbers would be extremely low. If there was a school that based in the neighborhoods closer to 38th Street (all 3 reach down that far) the F&R numbers would be 80%+. I believe all 3 districts though distribute all students through all schools so the demographics are closer to the make-up of the district with some home school preference.

It's possible some of the Marion County township districts have it. Although I think they try to spread out each school to represent the district and not just serve as neighborhood schools. Many of them are centrally located. But I would think in Pike, Washington and Lawrence Township the disparity from one side of the district to the other is similar. They all have some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Indy and also some of the poorest neighborhoods.

I went to college with people who had graduating classes of less than 15! My freshman roommate had a class of 14 and I think I met most of them that year. 7 of them went to college in the same city we did.

It's close but if you go frame by frame the ball starts moving one frame after he starts moving forward. You don't want officials to be that technical.

I'm not an expert, but I don't believe that's the case. In most states it's just treated as another class of football. There could be participation numbers that come into play, but it's not adding another sport.

Where I grew up we often had 2-3 hour drives for all our conference games! For basketball they would play the sophomore game at 4p, the JV game at 5:30p and the varsity game at 7:30. The sophomores would get out of school at noon, eat lunch together and then hit the road. JV and varsity road together in a charter bus (players, coaches, managers, and cheerleaders) and would usually leave around 2:00 arriving around halftime of the sophomore game. I missed a lot of classes in those years, but we always made up the work. Great memories too from those road trips.

I've been to several swim meets where the swimmer had to be there at 6:30a. And it was for 2 or 3 days. Sometimes you drive back and forth. Sometimes you get a hotel and spend the weekend. Those were some of my favorite memories as my kids were growing up.

I look at it like people who hunt or golf or fish or fly airplanes. I have a side gig that I spend a lot of time doing, but at the end of the day best case i break even and it doesn't cost me money. That's hard to beat. And I get to meet some of the best people out there and be a part of the game we all love.

Indiana thinks they have small schools. There aren't any really small schools. Some of those upper midwest states have enrollments of less than 50 for all 4 grades.