BLACKGOLD2007

Penn TD 7-0

Penn shooting themselves in the foot on O. Cannot convert on 4th. 0-0 still

Penn misses FG 0-0

Most South Bend teams in years past who have had good teams were still mentally soft. Force a turnover, block a punt or house a kickoff and they fall apart. Idk if this Riley team breaks that mold, but if NP can score fast or force a turnover and score fast, we will see what Riley is made of. Look forward to hearing score updates over the insanely loud pa system at Freed Field tonight.

Right now, as I just mentioned in the AP poll thread, until Penn beats Carroll, Carroll is the best team in our sectional. Penn's toughest game this year was Cathedral, and Penn looked like they have over the past 5 years+ against Indy teams. Penn has the horses to beat a good Valpo (first game of the season) and a good Mishawaka team...But, I don't think we win our sectional right now. If the Lord wills it and we do win the sectional, and come up against CP, I am taking CP in that game. I think this year is CP's best chance at getting to the Semi-state. I just don't think it matters who comes out of sectionals 1 or 2, we aren't beating HSE, Fishers, Carmel or Westfield. If anyone has a chance right now it is Carroll. A hard fought game at HSE and a tough loss to a VERY GOOD Snider team.

I assume that the NP coaches will have the boys focused on the game at hand, but kids are kids and it is easy to write off a team that is historically bad and think you will cruise through to the win. With the Penn game looming at home next week for NP, this Riley game could become a trap game.

Thank you for that info.

Simple and honest answer I don't know. I have not heard any news or grumblings coming from the Athletic department. Penn's best two options are the DAC or Independence in Football only. If the South Bend Schools and the Catholic Schools want to stay a conference, Penn can stick with them for all other sports. I think an Independent schedule will either see Penn broker a deal with local schools to keep them on the schedule or for them to fall off completely. If the South Bend schools don't want to play Penn on a rotational basis, we could either see Adams full time or not at all. The same could be said about Marian and St. Joe, Penn should play them either on a rotational basis or both if the South Bend Schools opt out. Keep Elkhart on the schedule. Valpo does not seem to be going anywhere and Mishawaka needs to go back to being the last game of the season. There is more hype when both teams are 7-1 or 8-0. Snider, Carroll and Homestead could be a rotational thing. Add one of the Blue Bloods of Indy (Carmel, BD, Cathedral, Center Grove), and add one of the teams from the HCC. Lastly add a team from out of state. Valpo Indy School Out of state school South Bend team Elkhart HCC team or filler Fort Wayne Team Marian/St. Joe Mishawaka This would be a loosing season for us based on the last 5ish years. But, a Penn team that can have a winning season or beat one or two of the "out of conference" games people will pay more attention.

Warsaw is similar to Penn, they are a 6A team on an island. It wasn't until the unification of Elkhart we got another 6A team inside a 1hr drive. With the problems that the NIC is about to have with three teams leaving the "small school" division, Penn is going back to playing Riley, Washington and Adams each year. Elkhart has the luxury of being tight with NLC schools, Penn will never be invited to play in that conference, and it does not make much sense for them to move that direction. Penn should move to the DAC, but that is a lot of travel week in and week out especially for JV and freshman games. (I looked at the other sports, Penn is consistently playing teams from the DAC and Summit during their seasons, this move would not affect them as much). There just aren't many options in the north central part of our state for bigger schools.

Until Penn can prove it, they should be ranked behind Carroll. They have two good wins over Mishawaka and Valpo, but the turd they laid against Cathedral gives me typical Penn vibes. Carroll is still the best team in our sectional until proven otherwise.

In the past 10 football seasons, including the short season, Riley has gone 36-64. During this time they have had 4 different coaches. They have had: 5 losing seasons: 2014: 1-9, 2015: 1-10, 2016: 2-8, 2020: 3-7, 2021: 1-6 3 .500 seasons: 2013: 5-5, 2019: 5-5, 2022: 5-5 2 winning seasons: 2017: 7-4, 2018: 6-5 To me a program that has a lot of turn over at the HC position and has a big history of losing, should be recognized for their historic achievement. Riley ends the season with two of the three games are winnable games. The NP game is their best test as of yet, and if they can notch this win, this will likely be the best Riley team to ever take a football field. Since 1994 Riley has not started a season 6-0. The closest they got was a 4-0 in 95 when they lost a close game to Mishawaka. If they had beat Mishawaka they would have gone undefeated into the Penn game in week 8.

The benefit of winning.

As a Penn fan, the play the schedule given moto is very real. There have been years where we have been a great team that played a weak schedule and years we have been really bad and played very tough schedules. I think that the Riley coach deserves to be considered the front runner for Coach of the Year, even if there isn't an actual award.

Go Giants!

I would have put Penn at 15, only because I don't trust them. That loss to Cathedral in typical Penn fashion only makes me think that, Carroll 2.0 will happen again in the sectionals. I can't believe in CP until they actually perform in the playoffs.

Sadly, Clay could not overcome the Jimtown JV team in a close battle on last Saturday. I feel for those kids.

WHAT?!?!

I personally think there is a lot of angst towards Penn built up over the years. Maybe more so with long term fans, more so than parents. I think that the turn over in coaching helps reduce the likely hood of this, but we wont know until we see it.

Interesting question I would like to pose to fans of the other schools (not Penn). In your opinion, if your school had Penn down by 21 in the 4th qt and your team is on Penn's 2 yard line under 1 minute left, would your team score? Would you be upset if Penn scored? (who likely at that point in the game has their backups in under the same situation)

A lot of away teams should win this weekend.

Thanks AI, that is perfect.

I think Mishawaka paved their football field last year. then allowed the elements to eat away at it....so massive pot holes all over the field. So, if Mishawaka gets homefield advantage look out.

Who do you think will be in the final four for 5A? As of right now I would say: North: Valpo v Snider South: Bloomington North v Plainfield. (I know nothing about either school)

On grass or on turf. All jokes folks all jokes.

So, if Clay does win, does this count towards a conference win?