BLACKGOLD2007

Looks like most of the NIC schedules are set... Riley and St. Joe look to have one opening each in the NC and their game against one another is not set in stone yet. Penn v Riley week 3, we will get to see how much the Cats have actually improved since their last meeting...70-0. Penn ends the year with Elkhart, NP and then St. Joe. Maybe the Penn St. Joe rivalry can heat up. Come on St. Joe get better....please. NP will be undefeated rolling into the Penn game. I see Elkhart getting 3 maybe 4 wins this year....South Bend 3 and maybe Marian

Not including teams from surrounding states, is there an increase in top programs wanting to play Indiana based schools? I think the AZ game vs CP is interesting, but how many schools are getting these type of requests to play National games? Center Grove and Ben Davis... I don't see Bosco calling any Indiana school to set up a game. Maybe I am missing the point.

Center Grove Freshmen should be competitive against a small school JV squad. I think this not only benefits your Freshmen but also that small school as well. A program like Center Grove has that pipeline humming, it is well oiled and producing solid class after solid class. Your Freshmen probably execute the base offense of the Varsity team better than most 6A JV squads.

The Elkhart schools have never lacked for talent. From my perspective it seems to be the coaching staffs that let the programs down. Similar to Penn in regards to 6A tournament football. Penn, prior to this past season, did not seem to be physically or mentally prepared to compete at the 6A level.

I think if they wanted to keep it Native themed Bison would be the route to go. Rams are found throughout the old testament, so for a Catholic school that makes sense.

Change buffalo to Bison....that sounds good. Here come the St. Joseph Bison!...Touchdown Bison.... Kingsmen slay the Bison. Kingsmen slay the Huskies....sounds like pet abuse.

Since Elkhart's inception, they went: 2020: 9-1 beat Penn by 1, 20-19 2021: 5-5 lost to Penn twice by a combined 42. 2022: 7-3 lost to Penn by 1, 20-21 2023: 3-7 lost to Penn twice by a combined 56. They are going on their third coach in 5 years.

Elkhart has been trending backwards faster than Penn. Maybe this new coach can turn this trend around. Right now, Michiana is Penn's to win. Next year, I think Penn will be undefeated going into the playoffs. They will be over ranked and will either get beat by Carroll or drop in Regionals. But, I don't think Penn is relevant until they win a state title and then proceed to compete for state on a yearly basis as they did in the late 5A and early 6A years.

The 90's were a time to be alive as a Kingsmen....A bygone era

Per this previous post Penn played (in state) two of the states best teams Nationally in 2011 and 2017... and Penn wasn't even ranked in the top 100 either season...no wonder they got smoked.... I mean set aside that those teams were just lightyears better than Penn....but we will just overlook that at the moment. lol

Of the 17 signed players to IU's upcoming freshmen class 5 come from Indiana. Purdue managed to do worse, by signing 4 out of 25. Theses are two of the larger schools in this state, and we cannot even manage to keep some of the best talent at home? These young men grow up typically routing for IU, Purdue or Notre Dame... I know Indiana is not a recruiting hot bed in Football, but these schools need to find a way to keep the better talent in state if they want to be competitive. Congrats to every Hoosier football player that signed with a program at any level today! Your hard work has paid off.

If you look back at some of the games, a good handful came down to final drives. There was the heartbreaker at Penn, I think 4th and goal BD punched it in for the win. My Senior year at BD we were down by 21 or so, came back and forced overtime. IDK if you still do it, but you guys would line up shoulder to shoulder along your sideline for the coin toss. I think it was supposed to intimidate us, but the guys always seemed ready for the challenge. 11 of the games played were 1 score games. 15 games were played from 1996 - 2010. Penn only won 4 of those games. but each game was memorable in some way.

Yes, Penn Cathedral series is over, however Penn was to pick up Carmel...but the Conference has imploded forcing 7 conference games and Penn is going along with it...making Penn pick between an upcoming series with Carmel or cross town rival Mishawaka. The Valpo game was not considered to be dropped to keep Carmel on the schedule.

For the most part yes. The big sports, Basketball, Baseball/softball and Soccer they are top of the conference, don't always win it.

It has been since 2010 since Penn has played BD yearly. Idc if we got walked, won or lost close. BD was always the game on our schedule. Also, the respect between the two programs, sharing meals after the game was an awesome sign of respect. I loved that rivalry....well it was lopsided but still a Rivalry to us.

I think Penn needs to have Mishawaka on their schedule. It is good for our area. What threw me into a frenzy, is the fact that we (the school) are so worried about hurting conference schools feelings that we are sacrificing our competitiveness in the 6A tourney for a conference championship. I would rather have Mishawaka on the schedule and send the JV to play most of our conference schedule. That gives us 3 or 4 games we could play Carmel and other 6A schools. But, we care more about feelings than we do about winning.

If you remember the animated movie Hercules, when Hades erupts in flames...that is how I felt in that moment.... Sorry everyone, I know...I will leave my grown up and man cards at the table on my way out.

That is what I thought was your sentiment, but just wanted to be sure. lol Keep the Vendetta strong. Elkhart's schedule cannot be any better. at least we have that going for us.

Agree. It just boils down to the lack of ability with the current conference schedule. We should have two Region teams (Valpo, the Ville, or CP) each year, a top Fort Wayne school each year and two Indy schools yearly. That leaves 4 games for local rival games. That is a lot of travel, but at this point it is what is needed to be considered competitive. Heck even if Penn could join the DAC it would be an upgrade in competition. Ville, Valpo and CP all on the schedule yearly, NC can have Mishawaka still and go to Fort Wayne and pick up Carroll or Snider. If they aren't available you can swing for the fences and go Center Grove, @Grover is saying they have openings they need to fill. Pipe dreams.

If you look back into the 90's Penn's schedules were not that strong, but they had two top 5A teams on them. Valpo and BD followed by Mishawaka. The rest of the schedule was not that good. This could have at least mirrored closely those schedules with at least having Carmel an Indy school on the schedule. But, I am just an alum that rants on the internet.

Do you think Mishawaka is better than Carmel, even after the tough year Carmel just had? My beef with the decision to drop Carmel, isn't directly about Mishawaka, it actually is more about how the administration allows these decisions to be made over doing what is actually best for the program. Scheduling St. X and Cathedral were awesome pick ups...but we have been uncompetitive for like 5 years now....Carmel being on the schedule would have kept the schedule palatable. Penn is about to play one of the weakest schedules in 6A next year.

I would gladly take that thumping yearly over playing our schedule next year. However, there has been an article locally that quoted our coach as to looking forward to the new challenges of the NIC... Penn v Center Grove wont happen.

Because Corey cares so much about conference titles, he wont do this, but you want to give your underclassmen good experiences...Have your JV play most of your NIC games....Send the Freshmen to play the rest....who cares about winning the game at this point. We want these young men to get better....well have them play the NIC varsity teams their Freshmen and Sophomore years....Keep the JV playing the JV's of Valpo and Mishawaka but, send them to play Marian and St. Joe...those are good games. Send the JV to play Riley and the Freshmen to play Washington and Adams. I am torn on sending the JV to play Elkhart as well as NP, but if the Elkhart program continues to slide, then screw it. pipe dreams. At that point I see the NIC kicking Penn out.

Dikos should send the JV to play these schools then.... Dikos wants a three peat....do what is best for your team, don't worry about hurting feelings. Dikos gets it, Corey does not.

I understand that having a 3A school that you roll over is not helpful, but play a team like Morton or Portage that is the same thing. Just a bigger classification of school. You need to play games in which your back ups will see playing time against Varsity level players. Also, gives you an opportunity to rest and recover. It cannot be a murderer's row, where your team will be dinged up going into the playoffs. Keeping a local "rival" on the schedule does more for the community than, an outside pushover. Marian and St. Joe benefit from us coming in to their place. But, I admit, I am arguing out both sides of my mouth, complain about the softness of the schedule and then advocate for having softer teams on the schedule to give your team a blow.