temptation

15 minutes ago, Ballhawk said:

Please compare apples to apples.  

Also, are teams in quarantine allowed to practice or assemble?  What advantage would be had from kids sitting around at home doing absolutely nothing?

LCC had to quarantine recently?  We are talking specific to the tournament.  Let's stick to facts.

LCC advanced to the regional because another team had to forefit.  They, then get to HOST a semi-state game despite having played one fewer game.  Nothing more, nothing less.

There is no exact science and perfect answer to either side.  Some will believe that teams benefit from one fewer game and others don't.  It's not a one size fits all approach.  I tend to fall on the side that LCC benefited.  That's all.

Good luck to both teams on Friday night.

9 minutes ago, Staxawax said:

27-7. CG grinds it out.

48-13

9 minutes ago, scarab527 said:

Agreed, I was surprised by this prediction, especially after how tough Concordia played Chatard last week. 

Complete speculation on my part, but I would venture to say that Sagarin is probably the least accurate I can remember in 2020 for obvious reasons.

A lot of unpredictability week in and week out in relation to team health.

42-14 prediction?  Wow.  I'd say Chatard is a favorite, no doubt.  But 28 points?  Whoa.

1 hour ago, LCCAlum said:

So you're comparing a 1A football team to a an NFL team. You're clueless.

Having seen what happens with high school teams and bye weeks constantly this season. It is a hinderance for high school players, they don't have a paycheck coming in based on their weekly performance so it is difficult to keep 14-18 years wholly focused on the season. Especially when you aren't allowed to practice for two weeks. LCC will make a lot of mid season mistakes like they have every Friday this season because they have about half the amount of reps during practice this season than SA. That can come into play in a big way. Having scouted SA last season when they lose to AC. They are the real deal and going into this season I've though they were the favorite since they returned just about everyone. Their QB, top WR, and TE are all fantastic athletes who you can tell have put in a lot of work to master their craft. LCC is not the same team they were last year. There is so much inexperience out there and the lack of practice time has hurt that youth's development throughout the season. 

Harrels predicts SA 52 LCC 10. I don't know that it'll be that bad, but LCC has a lot of work to do this week to make a game of it. 

 

South Adams (12-0) at Lafayette Central Catholic (5-3)
GAME TIME: 7 pm ET, LaRocca Field.
COACHES: Grant Moser, 47-21 in 6th year at South Adams. Brian Nay, 22-13 in 3rd year at Central Catholic.
SAGARIN RATINGS: South Adams, 74.83, 42nd overall, 1st in 1A. Central Catholic, 41.84, 180th overall, 15th in 1A.
LAST OUTING: South Adams defeated Southwood, 48-35. Central Catholic defeated Winamac, 37-32.
OPPONENTS' RECORDS: South Adams 57-60. Central Catholic 44-37.
SERIES LAST 35 YEARS: No meetings.
jh PREDICTION: South Adams, 52-10.

High school example:

6A Warren quarantines in week 1 and gets two weeks to prepare for CG.  Loses 20-0 but plays CG arguably tougher than anyone else this season.

Same Warren team gets two weeks off prior to the start of the sectional...avenges regular season losses to North Central and Lawrence North, while playing its best football of the season in winning its sectional.

For every example you cite, I can find an opposing one.  You'll certainly now move the goal posts from "You can't compare the NFL, to you can't compare 6A to 1A."

NO ONE is feeling sorry for poor LCC for having had to sit a week at home...trust me.

2 hours ago, MHSTigerFan said:

I think that’s both reasonable and fair.

Techies:

Is there a way to get more than one window going simultaneously on the same device?

If so, the $19.95 is a steal.  If not, it’s not so great.

Not much for watching games of which I already know the result and am not patient enough to avoid the result and watch on Saturday morning.

3 hours ago, region said:

Westfield @ Merrillville

Merrillville struggled to beat Elkhart. Gimme the Rocks.

Valpo @ Zionsville

Burbee is a beast RB for Valpo, but they’re probably too 1 dimensional to beat Zionsville. Hope I’m wrong. No matter who wins, they’re sacrificial lambs for Cathedral.

Marion @ Hobart

Honestly, feel like the Region can very easily go 0-3 this Friday. Hobart was not overly impressive beating Lowell or Logan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for the Bricks and I’ll pick them to win, but I really would not be shocked to see the Giants playing at LOS. Hobart has to fight the demons of post-Coach Howell dissapointments and choking away last year’s semi-state loss to East Noble. It’d be cool to see this historically great program get back to the mountaintop.

I like Hobart by 7-10, Valpo is in a pick em with Zionsville and Westfield by 17-21.

1 hour ago, oldunclemark said:

I'd be curious if anyone who has actually seen Westfield thinks they'll beat Merrillville by 21.

Yes.

9 minutes ago, Gipper said:

This game is my biggest question mark.  Although they absolutely dominated Lafayette Jeff (who played a relatively weak schedule), the game with Elkhart (whose schedule was a little tougher) was a nail-biter.  Now comes Westfield whose schedule was probably even tougher.

There is no comparison between Elkhart and Westfield’s schedule.  Night and day.

31 minutes ago, Footballking16 said:

Pick Central is LOADED with D1 talent. Flabbergasted at the result.

I’m not.  It’s 2020.  Indiana University is leading the Big Ten...

Seriously though, this is an awesome testament to Indiana high school football, pandemic or not.

33 minutes ago, Ballhawk said:

If you truly think that not playing is an advantage, you don't know what you're talking about.  You can have injuries in practice, so resting doesn't make a bit of a difference.  Give any coach or player the option of playing a game or resting and taking a week off, and I'd bet no one would want to give up a game.

Guess NFL teams should just start shooting for 9-7 and trying to squeeze into the playoffs then huh?

21 minutes ago, Thor77 said:

I think this discussion went away from what the initial question was, and how the bye is beneficial to LCC because now they have semi state at home. If they play that game, then semi state is at South Adams. Now, they get handed a sectional title without having to play, and get to host a semi state because of it. In that sense, you can see LCC having a greater benefit from the forfeit. 

Yep.  Spot on.  Yet calling someone who disagrees with you and has a differing opinion than you names is much more fun.

Ah, 2020.

23 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

Extra rest equates to a loss of game level conditioning and is a hindrance, rather than a benefit.

LOL...”game level conditioning.”

Guess I’m gonna have to break out my exercise science degree on you fellas here soon.

You are embarrassing yourself...again.

49 minutes ago, foxbat said:

Are you serious?  These are all teams 1A teams, the ones that supposedly benefit the most from byes, that had byes in the post-season, and lost.

The data which, by your own admission you were too lazy to look up, does not support the statement ... especially as it applies to 1A which you specifically claimed it heavily applied to.

 

Some were heavy underdogs regardless...once again it’s not all or none.

Maybe the games were closer than anticipated and part of that can be attributed to the rest involved?

23 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

Unproven statements are not facts.

Data (which I’m too lazy to look up at this point in time) supports this statement.  Why else would NFL teams battle for the coveted byes annually?

16 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

Just looking at 1A alone, you feel playing 1 fewer game is an advantage for LCC, but not Winamac, Parke Heritage, Park Tudor, Indiana Lutheran, Madison-Grant and North Central(Farmersburg)? Your theory doesn't hold water.

Were threads created about those six schools?  Are they playing this weekend?

Would you feel better if I retroactively created threads about those teams?
 

12 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

It wasn't the same Carmel team

 

fixed it

Oh, I agree, in name only.  Because they played a converted WR at QB due to their starter getting hurt in the sectional against Brownsburg.

Its not a shot at historically great programs like LCC/Ben Davis by saying they were fortunate due to a forfeiture (in LCC’s case) and a JV sectional (in BD’s case).  It’s an honest fact.

Playing one fewer game is an advantage at any level and does not take away from the accomplishment of making the final four but facts are facts.  

It doesn’t have to be all or none. They can have grit, experience and a little luck.

30 minutes ago, foxbat said:

LCC has played FIVE fewer games ... and I can't imagine anyone, especially LCC, considering that a benefit.  Maybe if you were talking about one single game, it might warrant consideration, but I'm pretty sure that there are very few, if any, competitive football teams that would consider not playing in a sectional championship, after having delayed a season and then having a break in the middle of the season, to be any kind of help at all.

I just watched Wisconsin come out hungry and on fire after a three week layoff...

In 6A, I just watched a Ben Davis team that lost to Carmel by 22 in the regular season play their JV in the second half of two sectional blowouts and then handle that same Carmel team.

Same in 5A with Zionsville.  Had two weeks to prepare for the regional.

Will LCC be rusty?  Sure, it’s possible.  But it didn’t look that way the other night.  

Health, hunger and freshness is paramount, especially at the 1A level.

I still clearly think South Adams is the superior team but if you don’t think that LCC has an advantage coming into this one based on their sectional folding, you are kidding yourself.

24 minutes ago, foxbat said:

LCC played their very first game of post-season at home and has been on the road for the other/last two.  They've played 1 of 3 at home; one-third.  SA has played 2 of 4 at home; half.  The bye from the week before, in conjunction with Winamac's schedule CAUSED LCC to be on the road against Winamac this past weekend as LCC was considered home team in a game that they didn't even get to play.  Even tossing in the bye/forfeit as a win, both teams played half of their games at home.  Based on IHSAA rules even at half, which is actually being applied, LCC would still be home team ... unless it was last year or next year because the idea of lower/upper bracket alternates each year.

I get the rule clearly and completely but it still does not change my opinion that the rules should revert to the same criteria used when a team earns a bye (CAUSED by ping pong balls) in the sectional draw.

I think, especially in a sport like football, ESPECIALLY during a Covid year, that the benefit of playing one fewer game FAR outweighs any home field advantage.

Bloomington North would clean house in the non revenue sports were they to join the HHC.

Be careful what you ask for.  All 20 sports must be considered, even though they usually aren’t.

1 minute ago, IndianaWrestlingGuy said:

@temptation I was interring that this is the identical twin of Whiteland. 5 passing touchdowns on the season. Run heavy offense. One dimensional. Etc. 

WITHOUT the strength of schedule component.

Irish by 42.

1 minute ago, Bobref said:

So 4 teams in each class have "earned" the right to host a semistate, but only two will get to host one? Doesn't that "take away community pride and accomplishment," too? What if a team gets a regional championship because the opponent got "Covided" out? Have they earned it then? The reality is that with the total randomness involved in the draw and the determination of home field, nobody earns anything in our tournament except the right to play another game and, if you're the last man standing in your class, that trophy. But this is the lamest argument against neutral semistate sites that I can imagine.

Yep.  Posted this in another thread but Zionsville should have had to travel last week and LCC should this week.

Side note:  Even though it was out of their control, I think it’s a bit ridiculous that LCC (said the same thing about Zionsville last week) gets to host the semi-state after receiving a bye the previous week.

I think it should be treated as first/second round matchups are when the pairings are released and they should have to travel.

Just now, foxbat said:

That's likely to be the case too in many of the big high schools; especially in one-high-school districts.

I’ve NEVER seen a 79 percent difference in free/reduced lunch percentage within a district.

Any more examples?

14 minutes ago, oldtimeqb said:

I would guess most of them. There is additionally McCutchanville elementary, which was built just a few years ago when Scott outgrew its walls and was split into two.

McCutchanville elementary was literally built next to a golf course. (Or maybe on the golf course as I think the golf course has gone bankrupt and the land has been sold to a developer.)

The lives of Evans kids and McCutchanville kids are drastically different. 

McCutchanville = 17 percent

1 hour ago, hhpatriot04 said:

Evansville North is a very socioeconmically mixed school ... very urban, low-income families mixed with CG-like Evansville sprawl on the northside. You can guess which side of the tracks the girls' golf team comes from.

Some quick research yields that this is a true (and fascinating) statement as I’m not sure I’ve EVER seen this wide of a discrepancy WITHIN a particular school district.

Taking a quick glance at the five elementary schools that feed into North:

Delaware:  93 percent 

Evans:  89 percent

Vogel:  62 percent

Oak Hill: 88 percent 

Scott:  14 percent

How many of those golfers were Scott Elementary kids?

44 minutes ago, IndianaWrestlingGuy said:

Pick the stat line: Whiteland or Castle?

A quick search reveals that these are Castle’s team stats but I’m not sure what you are inferring here.

Perhaps you think that Castle’s superior offensive stats prove that they are more of a worthy opponent to Cathedral than Whiteland was?  Has more of a passing attack?

If so, I’ll point to schedule strength as Whiteland played Decatur Central AND Mooresville (two top 5 teams in their respective classes) in the regular season.

Castle’s schedule is respectable as the SIAC is no joke but Sagarin has it at #66 whereas Whiteland is #22.

That being said, I’ll stick with a running clock after halftime and a comfortable 5-6 TD win for the Irish.

Covenant Christian has a chance to make the state finals in just its SIXTH year as a program.  Any other examples of such immediate success?

Fishers (2010) comes to mind as of late.  

Anyone?

This one made me do a double take.  Not THAT Southridge won, but HOW EASILY they won.

Looks like a couple of great matchups possibly left in 3A.

4 minutes ago, Footballking16 said:

Whiteland had a decent resume, but lost by double digits to the the only team that had a semblance of the skill position players Cathedral had. Whiteland attempted three forward passes the entire game and the only one completed was to the other team. Recipe for disaster.

True.  I said “fighting chance.”  Thought they could keep it within 3 possessions.