South Paw

Depending on the size of the crowd, which probably won't be a factor this year, larger visitor sections usually take the bleachers behind the visiting team and then wrap around the south end of the bowl behind the end zone as well. In fact, when we would play there our parents would sit behind the team and the students and some parents take the bowl behind the end zone. Plenty of seating for any high school contest.

From the looks of it, studying Tell City's defensive strategy for stopping the SR ground game would be the way to go. Tell City was also very athletic and hard-nosed this year when they were at full strength. Just a 2 point conversion from tying it up late with SR. Looks like a very evenly matched game according to the stat line. And wasn't Tell City a 2A team?

Saying it once is pointing it out. Saying it in every thread, and sometimes multiple times, a different story. If it was a trailblazing event, then sure it's newsworthy. It's happened many times before by many other schools. School enrollment number is not an all-determining factor for how good your football team is or can be. Just ask Cathedral, New Pal, Memorial, Pioneer to name a few. I'm pretty sure Cathedral was playing up 2 classes for a while. Every year teams go up and down. We get it. You're very proud of your team.

You would've had to win 2A sectional 40 first, and that was not guaranteed.

Congrats to Castle on a nice season. I think 56-0 is a little much. Castle's defense isn't bad, but I still think Cathedral will be on cruise control. The running clock combined with Cathedral's 2nd string will cut down on points. Castle gets a field goal late. Final will be more like 42-3.

Couldn't agree more about their players. You could tell they left it all on the field and displayed grace and sportsmanship at the end. They seemed to be really well coached. I really thought they would wither more after some of the punishment their QB and backs were taking. Towards the end of the 1st half you could see them getting up a little slower, but they kept getting up and kept coming all the way to the end. One of their OLBs (I think #54) was constantly having to cover the slot or shorter routes on pass plays. He had to be gassed. He was a big, physical kid, but he actually did a decent job in coverage and never quit. #20 was a player. Some of their cheering section were a little salty after the game, and there were some questionable calls that went against/for both teams. It happens in every game. It was a good, old-fashioned, hard hitting game. Congrats to Triton Central on a great season.

Ok. I will also concede Reitz. They started 2-0, but by the time they played Memorial the silver shine was already gone from their helmets and season...

Memorial started the season 0-3. They lost a ton from last year. They played MD in week 4. They weren't "favorites" against anyone. They just seemed to get better every week. Later in the season, they lost their QB (Pence) for a bit and suffered a couple of other big injuries, but scrapped and found a way to compete. To answer your question, the MD, Reitz (at that time), Lincoln and Northview were toss ups. They were favorites against Harrison and Bosse.

Sagarin ratings are a nice metric, but they are flawed. They're dependent on having some out-of-conference games to inject a comparison and get a result. If no regular season out-of-conference games, like the SIAC is now, the Sagarin is basically worthless. Since post-season started, and SIAC teams continue to move on, the Sagarin ratings for teams in the SIAC will continue to climb. I hope Mooresville, Lawrenceburg, and Triton Central are preparing their teams based off of the Sagarin ratings... I would bet the farm on Castle on a Southridge -1 line, and I definitely think you would struggle with Central. I doubt if Southridge -1 would be the Vegas line. In the past 20 years you are like 4-16 against Jasper. There's a lot of Jaspers in the SIAC. Usually anywhere from 3 to 6 depending on the year. During the same time, I think you are basically .500 versus MD, which is respectable, but not dominant. Under Coach Buening, you guys are averaging 9.5 wins a season which is also very respectable. As I said before, I think everyone respects Southridge and what you guys have achieved, especially recently. No doubt you guys would compete. You definitely have some athletes, solid coaching, and the kids play hard. No one would take you lightly. You have a talented team this year and best of luck this weekend.

Memorial wasn't "favored" over several teams they beat this year. I also don't think most people thought their last game against Central would be that close.

I understood very well that TC was shorthanded against L-S. If you go back and read my post, that's not what I was comparing. I was comparing Southridge vs L-S and MD vs. L-S results. That was the only common opponent. You're entitled to your opinion about which sectional 40 team would be at the regional, but it's only your opinion. I'm sure for your sake you would like to believe that Tell City would've been there since they gave you a scare, and it would make you feel better about your chances of beating MD. I know several of the kids on the Tell City team and was looking forward to a Tell City/MD battle. Unfortunately it didn't happen.

I've started thinking the same thing. Half of the posts I see someone is commenting that they are actually a 2A school. It's almost like they think since they were bumped to 3A that they own 2A football in southern Indiana. I think there is respect for their program and what they've accomplished, but I don't think anyone, especially Mater Dei, is scared of them. Their game with Tell City this year is a prime example. Maybe they should play a game with MD after the postseason is over...or Jasper, Central, Castle, Memorial, or North. If you look at common opponents, and I hate to bring L-S into this, but Southridge beat L-S 28-0. MD was up 37-0 early in the 3rd when they called off the dogs...

For what it's worth...based on box scores, L-S was up on Providence 7-0 at the half and went on to win 27-7. L-S scored 14 points in the 4th qtr. to pull away. Triton Central was up 27-0 against Providence at the half before coasting to a 35-7 win. TC would appear to be stronger than L-S based just on that comparison, but each game is different. No idea what the actual situations were. Were teams missing players for injuries or COVID? Who knows?

According to MaxPreps it looks like their D is the strong suit. They had only given up 108 points as of 10/30. Leading rusher is a freshman (#28 Crawford 5'9 165). 145 carries for 975 yds. Next leading rusher is a senior Kermode (#23 5'11 200). 76 carries for 438 yds. Senior QB Hebauf (#6) will keep a little also. Top two receivers are sophomores (#20 & #24) with like 12 catches each. Hebauf had about 50% completion percentage and more INTs than PaTDs (3 PaTD/4 INTs) as of 10/30.

The first quarter was fairly even. I think the difference was when Mater Dei found the L-S Achilles heel and started throwing the ball to the deeper middle of the field. L-S could hold their own against the run early on, but when MD started airing it out, the game changed quickly. MD's balance on offense was the difference, and the defense did what they do. There was one particular play early where it looked like an L-S DB might have a pick 6 and dropped it. MD went on to score on the drive and the game changed from there. Congratulations to L-S on a good season. I'm sure you guys will be back next year.