BLACKGOLD2007

I am sorry, we could have had 15 players on the field and would still found ourselves out of position on almost every play. That games was a nightmare, that we got to live over three different times...One day I think we will have redemption...maybe.

Sure

Well it doesn't matter, now one was getting beat 57-7....unless Penn was playing in the game.

Yes, when you live in the city in which the school resides you will typically just use the name of the school. In media and when talking to people who are not always familiar with the schools around the state, using Indianapolis, South Bend or Fort Wayne helps the lay person know where in the state we are talking about. I believe there is a South Bend Washington and a Washington HS.... If someone just posted a topic saying....OMG did you see what happened at Washington over the weekend? most people will probably think uh oh something happened in South Bend...but the thread could be about the 4A school in southern Indiana. Plus Harrell's website lists the schools from those towns above with the city name in it.

I think Elkhart may see the writing on the wall, the NLC is a better overall fit for them, and I think Elkhart would be a bit more competitive? maybe. Not so much with the top tier of the NLC right now, but they could be a middle of the pack team unless this new coach is able to change the culture over there.

If my memory serves me correctly we played two tight games in a row against Valpo in regionals back to back years that saw us go down. Gees had the ball on the 1 with 4 downs to punch it in and we ran Tony West our speed back rather than Bruce Ore who was our big back that may have been able to use his size to push the pile. Give the credit to Valpo they didn't break on those four plays. But, dang that was a let down as well.

I agree there are reasons to be excited about the progression of the best teams in 6A North, but right now I am putting money down on the House. Betting odds are in their favor, it is up to the other schools to go and take it. It is like the BIG10 and the SEC. It took a generational team in Michigan to finally beat Bama and a hot team in OSU to win in 2014. Sometimes lightening in a bottle can win you a title, sometimes you finally have to horses to do it, but no one has sustained success like the SEC... I mean Metro Indy.

I know, I just find it comical how people will go after him all the time.

I was just looking over the upcoming schedules for our resident NIC teams. Some interesting pick ups for a few schools, and some pick ups that I think were made out of desperation and lack of availability for others. Penn: Starts with Valpo (possibly the last game in this series) and Mishawaka...(Penn dumps 6A rival Carmel for 4A crosstown rival) Elkhart: Making a plea to the NLC?? Please NLC save us from the sinking NIC. Elkhart continues crosstown rivalry with Concord and makes it three years in a row vs Northridge. (since the inception of Elkhart, they have played 1 or 2 NLC teams during the regular season) Marian: Makes it 5 years in a row against Mishawaka and 4 years in a row vs Culver Academy. New Prairie: Continues their Historic battle against Evil, LaPorte, dating back to the beginning of time. They also have Goshen for the third year in a row. Adams: Gets a rematch with Culver Academy and Logansport. Riley: Is looking to continue their success this season and adding winnable games against Hammond Noll and Fort Wayne Wayne (I think the people naming schools got lazy on that one). We will really get to see how far this program has come with a looming week 3 matchup at Home against Penn. St. Joe: Is in year 4 with Lakeland and year 2 with Fort Wayne South Washington: Is also in year 4 with Hammond Central and adds New Albany to their schedule. No one really went out and grabbed a team that I think is going to prep them for a future run in the Playoffs. Smaller schools playing up a class I think helps them regardless of how good that team is, but still nothing that is going to make you turn your head or be excited about.

Oh boy, a feel a firestorm brewing.... you mentioned one of those buzzwords that lands in a heated debate...Thoughts and prayers.

The school allowed fans on the field area....Fans started pouring in as the game wound down, so me and a couple friends ran out there. It was wild. The kick goes up and by, the Penn fans go nuts because it went left, then he walks out and calls it good, and then Valpo fans go crazy because they were just given the biggest win of the year. correct, coaching and talent always helps. Penn was able to overcome some talent issues in the 90's and early 00s with Hall of Fame coaching from top to bottom.

Penn does not give out information well. They keep everyone in the dark, until they are forced to make a big decision and then they try to be cute and make bad PR videos. I wish I knew, but we likely wont know unless a booster gets the deets and shares with us. Sorry.

cough Penn v Valpo 2002. I was under the upright, that ball went left and the stupid ref (Sorry @Bobref) called it good. Penn was the best team in the state that year, and they played an awful game and got hosed in the end.

This may be true, but do you think Westfield would have put up a better game than CP did in total?

Well lets be perfectly honest, since the inception of 6A, only 4 teams have won 6A state titles out of the possible 11 chances. The teams they played in those 11 games from the true North are Penn, Carroll and CP. that is 4 of the 11 games. Metro Indy has represented the North by either Carmel or Westfield. Out of those 4 games Penn, believe it or not, has been the closest to winning the actual game. Now that was a different era of Penn football. But, looking at the results since 6A has started the North has not performed well against Metro area teams. Snider last year has been, I think the best team to come out of the North, that is including runner up CP last year. I think Snider would have performed better against Ben Davis than CP had. But, last years Snider Team may have been the best North team in 10 or so years. We don't stack up with them, because they see the ringer week in and week out regardless of recent success against the HCC. Until the 6A North actually changes how they schedule, we will continue to come up short against them. Even then, History has not been in our favor since 2000. (that was the last North title with all the best teams in the same class)