South Paw

I think this has the makings of a really good game and completely agree with 1 and 2 above. If Jasper can play disciplined defense and avoid giving up too many big plays, they will have a fighting chance. The game I saw them play makes me believe they can do that. I was impressed with how they flock to the ball and their secondary tackled well. Another thing that could impact the game is how often or early the officials flag Jasper for false starts. In the game I watched, Jasper looked to false start several times that were not called. In the 4th quarter of that game, the officials finally called a couple of false starts for the same thing they had been doing for the first 3 quarters. If they had been flagged earlier, it could have had an impact on multiple Jasper drives. There's a big difference between 2nd and 5 or 1st and 15, or 3rd and 3 or 3rd and 8.

I was impressed with Jasper's defense, although Mater Dei actually had more success running than I expected. Castle and Central are the two best running attacks in the SIAC that Jasper will face. Both have 3 running backs that can hurt you in different ways. They have size, speed, and power in different combinations and a couple of those backs have strength and speed. It will be interesting to see how the Jasper D holds up in those games.

You may be right. We'll find out over the next 3-4 weeks. Castle should beat Reitz. Castle's defense has the edge over Reitz's offense, and Castle's run game should be enough to power past Reitz's defense. Jasper and Central will be good tests. I'd give the Knights a slight edge over Jasper because I think Castle may be able to slow Jasper's run game down. Expect an old-fashioned ground-based slugfest. The 2nd half of that game will tell the tale. Which defense will fold against the run first? MD did have some success running the ball in the 2nd half at Jasper. Castle struggled to slow Central's offense down last year. Central's passing game has dropped a notch, but their running game has improved a notch. It will be interesting.

I think Jasper can compete very well with Castle and North. If they play fairly mistake free and not turn the ball over, they can also compete with Central. Jasper's grinding running game should help keep Central's offense off the field. Their defense is also disciplined, quick to the ball and tackle well. Jasper will have a more difficult time running the ball consistently against Castle's defense, so Mann will be forced to air it out a little more. How well Jasper can throw when the run is getting stuffed may be the deciding factor in all of those games. It's a lot easier to throw when you're having a lot of success running the ball. That and players staying injury free may decide how Jasper finishes the 2nd half of the season.

Just to make sure there's not more confusion, the freshman game I'm talking about was 3 years ago. MD was up late like 28-14. Castle's starting QB had thrown 3 INTs, and they finally changed QBs. Castle scored quickly on the next series, but ran out of time. I think the final was 28-21. MD may have relaxed on defense with the lead and allowed Castle back in the game, idk. Again, I'm not knocking MD. I love the way they play. I wish Castle could do the same. I'm just saying on paper that night MD was outmanned and Castle underperformed. Hats off to MD.

No, I was talking about middle school. Castle South played Memorial in both 7th and 8th grade.

The JV game that I was talking about was two year's ago, not last year. MD's now varsity QB was still in middle school then. The 2021 kids are seniors now. The late barrage in the freshman game came when Castle switched QB's to the kid that was the QB at Castle South that for some reason didn't start that year except for the last game of the year. In that game, Castle beat North by 30 something. Same at the JV level. I think he started the last 4 or 5 games games at JV the next year and the offense improved when he took over. They played Central, Mater Dei, North, and Memorial, so it wasn't against the lesser teams. In the MD game his sophomore year he had like three passing TDs in the first half. I heard that Castle was undefeated in all of his starts from middle school to JV, but he never got the shot at varsity even as Castle struggled with consistent QB play. He left the team his junior year. He was not the only kid to leave the program over the past several years.

Possibly. Don't forget in addition to Princeton and Washington, they also played Jasper twice, Memorial twice and Ev. North once and Castle North twice. Combined score of those 7 games was 260-38 and in most of those Castle South stopped passing and had reserves in after halftime. The numbers could have been much worse. Castle and Central were definitely the cream of the crop in the area talent wise that year. That game was expected to be a battle. Taking nothing away from MD, as they obviously played well enough to win, but Castle should never have lost that game. Castle was definitely deeper and had superior overall talent pound for pound. Mater Dei out-prepared, out-coached, and out-executed Castle. A few changes here and there and the outcome may have been much different, maybe in both games for that matter. The following year Castle's JV, without some of the sophomores that were now playing varsity, were up 21-0 or 21-7 against MD at the half until coaching went conservative and allowed MD back in the game late. It doesn't really matter now and we'll never know.

2021 WR Herrmann dropped football to focus on baseball. I believe he has plans to play baseball at UE.

Class of 21 from Castle South went undefeated both years of middle school. They were only challenged in one game their 7th grade year. In 8th grade, they were a highlight reel and were never challenged. Their freshman year after joining the middle schools together, some suspect personnel decisions and brutal coaching resulted in them losing two games. Some of the best kids from that group are no longer at Castle or no longer play football.

I'm sure COVID had some impact on this year, but the decision in Paradise to combine the middle schools to make one team was made long before COVID. The numbers had been dwindling over the past 3-4 years. Last year was particularly bad. One of the teams only had like 14 kids after a couple of injuries. There really wasn't a choice. As I said before, there's several factors. Concussion hysteria has had an impact. Little Johnny's mom is scared to death he's going to have brain trauma or CTE from football, but has no issue with little Susie doing gymnastics, travel cheer, and soccer which also have high concussion rates. Of course this still doesn't explain how many other schools steadily improve from middle school to varsity while Castle seems to decline or stagnate during that same time. Maybe the kids just peak too early? Yes, a few kids decide to "specialize", but that typically takes place around 6th grade in Paradise. The number that decide to specialize after they get to the high school level is fairly low unless they are D1 prospects, which isn't frequent. Were there maybe other underlying reasons for "specializing"? Every program has decisions to make. Sometimes they're tough, and sometimes they have consequences.

Wow! Castle by 4 scores. Is that 4 field goals? They're having a hard time finding the end zone, and VL isn't bad against the run. Castle has struggled to throw consistently with their young QB. Castle might wear them down eventually and open it up a little late, but 4 scores is a big margin. I can see a 17-7 or 20-7 type of final, but it could be closer than that.

I'm not sure of numbers. I attended one middle school game, and my guess would be in the 25-35 range for each grade. In comparison, 3 or 4 years ago there would have been 25-35 in each grade at each middle school. I would guess there are multiple factors at play.

It's based on low numbers. The middle schools have always played a schedule with Big 8 schools and 2 Evansville schools.

This is exactly what happens to Castle. I've witnessed it for a while. There's high expectations in August and then disappointment by October. None of the Castle faithful are happy with a 6-4 or 7-3 record and not getting out of regionals after having tremendous success the years leading up to varsity ball. Starting the freshman year there seems to be a slow decline and peculiar decision making. They have the talent in the system to be at the top, or very near the top, of the SIAC and competitive in 5A most years. It just doesn't materialize for some reason.

This year they only have 1 middle school 7th grade team and 1 8th grade team.

CP's wrestling team might have something to say about that. Wrestling is probably the least "soft" sport of all.

First of all, in the interest of all that is good and sane, I hope Roncalli does not change their nickname. If they do, Roncalli Rapture might be appropriate for the times.