JustRules

If you had the pick of all the 1A-3A teams and the opportunity for them to work together for several weeks to put in a full offense and defense, absolutely. It's a little different comparison, but many of the D3 schools are loaded with 4A and blow kids and they would easily beat the top high school teams in the state.

If both schools sign off on it then it's generally approved. A large percentage of all transfers every year are approved with no sitting out. It's very rare for the IHSAA to step in when both schools sign off, but it does happen. The Gordon situation at North Central a couple years ago was an example. They must have had compelling inside information on that one. They may be aware of WHY these transfers are actually happening but chose to not interfere since both schools signed off. If I understand how the process generally works, this is really no different.

The system is intended to have the worst team in one class to be better than the best team from the next class. That's a flaw in your expectation. There will always be teams in a lower class that can beat teams in a higher class. Just because you have a larger number of students doesn't mean you will always better. In a macro sense it will be true but not in a micro sense. Sagarin isn't the best measure and may be skewed a little because of their win Friday, but Pioneer would be the 18th ranked team out of 32 in 6A.

As Bobref said there are no restrictions on kicking team players go downfield. But if the lineman released like a normal punt they are likely downfield too far for the punter to legally throw a pass beyond the neutral zone. I believe most rugby punts are done to give the kicking team more time to get downfield for coverage. The punter may decide to run it, but he's likely not going to throw it unless they keep all interior linemen at the LOS.

I expect we'll see things like this all year. Games getting scheduled or cancelled the day before or day of is crazy!

What you don't realize is those teams they are beating are very good. It's just that the MIC is really good. And they prove it every year in the tournament. There is a reason LN, LC, Pike, NC on down years still rank high in Sagarin. BD and WC may struggle in the MIC this year, but I expect they are still really good teams. Brownsburg, Avon, Fishers, and HSE are getting better and can beat a MIC team on any given Friday.

Most will probably play a similar number of games. If someone only plays 2 games and finishes 2-0 you probably wouldn't crown them over a team that was 7-1, but I don't expect to see too many of those situations. As eschnur66 says play it out. If one team finishes 4-1 and another finishes 4-2 and the latter team won head to head they still didn't win the conference based on record.

The lack of college football helps a little with officials but not significant. There are approximately 800 licensed high school officials needed on a regular Friday night. Most of the D3 officials in Indiana also work high school games Friday night so there is minimal impact there. The HCAC has 42 officials and 25-30 of them also work Indiana HS football. There are probably about 10-12 D2 college and 12-15 D1 college officials and some of them are working HS this year which helps. The number of cancellations though is the biggest help with the shortage. A few crews and individual officials chose not to work, but there are still several crews sitting out each week.

It depends on the timing of the quarantine for the players impacted. Depending on how many they lose and when they may have a very limited roster with enough practices for week 1, but they are fine for week 2. "Key" players is one thing (i.e. starting QB), but missing an entire varsity position group is another. I have no idea the circumstance at NP, but I know that situation exists at other places.

We have been doing some car shopping this summer and every dealership we've been in has been busy.

Could Warren Central and Center Grove reschedule for week 2?

I believe the school can't host an event on their campus, but I believe the schools are allowed to rent/lease the facility to host their own events. It's some kind of distinction like that.

Because it's like a condom. It helps to greatly reduce the likelihood of contraction, but it will never completely prevent it. That's why I've said you have to go into this (students in school and athletes participating) knowing there will be some spread. If you are going to shut down if there is any spread then don't bother starting because that's not realistic even with everyone doing what they can. Masks and distancing and avoiding large groups for long periods of time seem to be the most common and consistent things to do to greatly reduce your risk. But they don't 100% prevent it.

This is where I've heard some inconsistency. The contact tracing side is being applied liberally in some cases and very conservatively in others. I know one school who sat down 10 players for 2 weeks because one in the group had symptoms but he tested negative. Other schools are isolating the player(s) who tested positive, but if no other players are showing symptoms or test negative they don't quarantine anyone else. Those programs have been doing it since July 6 with no outbreaks so it seems to be working so far.

I'm not aware of any limitations to cross state lines to play. I haven't been keeping track but a lot of states have canceled or postponed football so maybe Ohio and Kentucky are two of them. Or maybe those schools chose to not play any out of state teams. But there is nothing forcing them to cancel.

Just because someone has been tested doesn't mean they are symptomatic. I know a lot of people young and old who are getting tested for a variety of reasons. I agree if someone was highly exposed or symptomatic and that's why they are taking a test they should probably quarantine until they get a result.

I was told only 40 of the 80 players on their roster were at their intersquad scrimmage last Saturday. That's a lot more than a dozen.

Yes. There was an all-conference offensive lineman from Franklin College who officiated the past 2 years. He would work a HS game on Friday night and play his college game the next day. I talked with a friend who worked a scrimmage last night with a guy who will be a senior player at Marian. The travel for D1/D2 would normally make it hard for them to work Friday nights, and I don't know what limitations they would have to earn money like this while under scholarship. I"m thinking it could be OK. But D3/NAIA doesn't appear to be a problem.

My guess is they would keep classifications and sectionals with byes as necessary to account for teams missing. Obviously some sectionals would have more than others. Very possible there are no games in week 1 of a sectional.

I would guess if you are in a high risk group you probably don't want to on the chain crew. You don't really talk to anyone but each other, but you would be near the coaches and players on the sideline much of the game. One alternative they could consider is using extra pylons to mark the line to gain so everyone can see it. Two people on the chain crew could place the pylons and then get away from the team box. This would reduce the amount of time they are in close proximity to others and also reduce the number of people required to do the job. Most crews use a mechanic where every new series starts on the back of a line. That way we can use the lines on the field rather than an arbitrary placement of a stake on the sideline. The stakes mostly serve as reminders of where the line to gain is located. This doesn't help on fields where they don't mark every yard line or if a series has to start between the yard lines.

Just volume. It wasn't nearly as loud. For some reason the sound doesn't carry as much.

From what I've heard there is a huge demand for electric whistles so getting one may be difficult. From what I've heard they sound similar, but they aren't as loud from a distance.

A D1 friend of mine in North Carolina did a sound test with the one he got. When it was close to the camera the standard whistle and electronic whistle were fairly similar. As he moved away from the camera (up to 20 or 30 yards), there was a noticeable difference. It will be interesting to see how they work in reality.

We don't do that very often. I have heard of crews who take that approach, but I don't feel it's very effective. You don't get to know ADs and coaches and get multiple votes because you have worked a lot of different schools over the years. The staff of the school where you worked one time 5 years prior may not even be there any longer. And they are much less likely to remember if you if you only worked there once. The crews who often advance are those who work other sports or coach other sports or played college sports in Indiana with a lot of people who are not athletics directors or coaches and it usually takes a combination of all those things. The crews who commonly advance far because of a broader vote number are getting 80-100 votes or more while most crews only get 20-30. You don't get 80-100 votes because you mix up your schedule every year. As for working with a new AD/school, I personally wouldn't worry about it any more this year than any other year. If it was a new school to us I would be more thorough in my discussion about our locker room situation, assistance to and from the field, assistance with our individual water situations, their plans for ball boy management. I expect most will be fine and if they aren't I would address it with them before we ever set foot on the school grounds. Most do a pretty good job, and I expect they will continue to do a good job.

Robert attended our local association meeting last night and as of Wednesday evening around 8:00pm all scrimmages and games are on scheduled. That could definitely change though. It's very possible we could be mixing and matching crews this year and traveling all over the place. A part of that does sound fun to me for one season.