First_Backer_Inside

14 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

It would be a tough sell trying to convince Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley to leave the Three Rivers Conference.  The enrollment gap between the largest schools and smallest schools in the TRC seems to be increasing, but the top 7 schools (including Rochester and Valley) would have basically the same enrollments as the 7 schools that would form a new conference with them (not including Winamac).  The average travel time for Rochester in the TRC is 28.5 miles, and Valley’s average is 27 miles.  In the resurrected Northern State Conference, Rochester’s average travel distance would be 33 miles and Valley would be 32 miles.  And that’s if Winamac is included since they are not far from Rochester.  Here’s the enrollment comparison:

TRC
Peru	608
Maconaquah	594
Tippecanoe Valley	545
Rochester	485
Wabash	478
Manchester	463
Whitko	382
North Miami	278
Northfield	266
Southwood	253

 

New NSC
Glenn	625
Knox	570
Tippecanoe Valley	545
Jimtown	541
Rochester	485
Bremen	472
LaVille	387
Winamac	374

While from a competition standpoint it would be great for both teams, I don't see it happening either. Valley enjoys beating up on the conference way too much in football. The deal breaker for Rochester would be travel time. The traveling for the TRC for Rochester is already bad enough, adding on even more in a tougher conference. Not gonna happen. 

Let Rochester play every conference game at home and they are in! 

16 hours ago, FarmerFran said:

Completely agree from a football standpoint. When you factor in all of the other sports being played I don't see the small schools wanting them to join.

I was just talking about this with someone that football overshadows all other sports it feels like when talking about a restructure in conferences. Allowed myself to be blinded by the same thing. You bring up an excellent point there with the other sports.

16 hours ago, FinePrint said:

In order to build a sustained football program that can compete with the best in the class, the first thing you need is a winning culture.  When you consistently get beat up by larger programs, you won't build a winning culture.  I've seen it first hand.  My oldest son played football at Triton in the NSC.  They had some decent athletes but consistently lost by 40-50 points to the larger schools.  (New Prairie was ahead 63-0 at halftime one year.)  While they gave it their best efforts, they couldn't compete and never gained the confidence needed to be successful, even when playing other 1A schools.

I then had 2 sons play in the HNAC.  And even though they lost huge to Pioneer every year, they gained great confidence by competing with and beating teams from similar sized schools.  They played for 2 sectional titles and won in a year that had 4 HNAC teams likely among the top 10 teams in all of 1A.  (2018 - Pioneer, LaVille, North Judson, Triton)

Yes, the competition you play matters.  But it has to be balanced.  Playing bigger schools doesn't automatically result in a more competitive team.

And you think by adding two middle of their class schools will tip that balance too much for the 1A teams to handle? Glenn is a lot larger in enrollment than I thought and could cause problems down the road and with other sports. But Bremen is a large 2a/small 3a maybe eventually. The only problem I see with Bremen is location. Just my opinion. Become a better coach. Become a better player and rise up to your competition. The hoosier conference is a prime example with teams like LCC, Cass, and Tipton trying to compete with the juggernaut that is West Lafayette. It can be done. Maybe won't happen every year but can be done.

1 hour ago, FinePrint said:

That's what those schools should be saying.  Pioneer should be next.  Why would the small 1A schools want to bring in two additional schools with double their enrollments?

To become more tournament ready. Not one school in the HNAC(from the 1A schools) is close to matching the physicality of Adams Central and possibly even South Adams. Adding these two schools is only going to make you tougher when it comes to tournament time. It's going to be a while before any of those teams are able to compete for a conference title regardless of the other two teams joining or not so I don't see what it's going to hurt. Just going to make you better.

I agree, the coach definitely should receive some form of punishment. He could've easily escalated this to Malace at the Palace 2.0

20 hours ago, BTF said:

Most of them would probably answer "yes." Half those guys would be working a job that pays 60k per year versus the millions that they earned. 

Bingo, you don't want CTE, don't go to the league and make millions of dollars. Get a 9-5 job. The answer to this question is that easy.

1 hour ago, Hornetcoach said:

This is a post I made a couple weeks ago and I feel it's appropriate here.  There is a huge difference between getting excited and celebrating with your teammates and trying to show up an opponent.  There is too much of the "hey look at me, look what I did" attitude instead of the focus being on the success of the team.  I know I'm "old school" and I am good with that.

Gritty, not pretty.  There are far too many people worrying about how cool they look and getting style points instead of getting gritty and doing whatever it takes to accomplish the task at hand without worrying one bit about what that looks like.  We have people spending more time and energy practicing their new celebration dances and hand shakes instead of using that time and energy refining their craft.  The best celebration and one of the best things about all of sports is turning and celebrating with the people you’ve put in the blood, sweat, and tears with.  Once people figure out it’s not about YOU as an individual, it’s about US as a team, they just improved immensely at any sport and as a part of any team they are a part of.  WE B4 ME!  I hope everyone has a great day!

At Rochester, we have a drill we run called "Touchdown drill". Players get divided up into groups and each player starts 15 yards from the end zone and runs the ball in for a touchdown. The group has to then go and congratulate them and find a teammate to celebrate with. If you want kids to do it, you have to practice it. Like you said team success is the whole point, not tearing down the other team with a celebration. If you are that good of a team, let the scoreboard speak for itself.

The QB from last year was a fantastic leader and was just limited to size(5'7" on a good day) and ability but was well respected by his teammates. The QB for next year will probably be a sophomore who's probably up to 6'2" and a lot more athletic and can sling it. Had a great freshman year as the JV QB so it will be interesting to see next year how the coaching staff looks to utilize him.

2 hours ago, foxbat said:

Correct.  A sectional title this season leaves LCC up in 2A for another cycle.  Anyone know what Rochester has coming back?

8 starters on offense. 8 on defense. 

On 12/22/2022 at 11:31 AM, Basementbias said:

Could be a good 1A rival for South Adams in the future as I hope they stay in 1A for enrollment with an eventual short bump to 2A for success factor & bumping back down. AC will more than likely stay 2A in the future due to enrollment. Hopefully Bellmont stays 3A so all 3 are in separate classes from here on out. Will LCC go down to 1A with Pioneer & Sheridan? North in the future could be LCC, Pioneer, Sheridan,  South Adams, and Blackhawk Christian depending on SF bumps. Maybe AC if their enrollment would take a hit for some reason. 

LCC would have to be eliminated in Sectional play next year to go back down into 1A again if I'm not mistaken. Tall task for everyone else in Sectional 34.

15 hours ago, Tippy said:

All the names I put on here were Catholic and played or coached at public schools, mostly at Lafayette Jeff.  The only one that got a blue ring and medal was the Jeff baseball coach when Jeff won state in 1969 and 1973.  Many Catholics don't go to LCC, they go to Jeff.  Jeff must have really had an advantage before 1958 when all the Catholic boys in Lafayette had to go to Jeff.

I'd imagine if this were still the case, Jeff would have a lot more seasons like the one they had this year. 

On 12/4/2022 at 5:32 PM, Tippy said:

All the names I have put on here were Catholic at one time.  I don't know if they still are Catholic.  A lot of people leave the Church.

Right after they get that blue ring and medal? lol 

23 hours ago, GroundSquirrel said:

I have been thinking about this for awhile but the regular season in Indiana means absolutely nothing unless your going for a conference title. From classes A-4! There is roughly 8 teams per sectional what’s wrong with saying the playoffs will be the top 4 teams from each sectionals. That way we avoid having matchups like Lutheran vs Cloverdale. I just think it would make the regular season mean a little more maybe there’s a better to it. Also i think they should flip the class like how the set 32 teams for 6A make 1A set first then trickle down to 6A maybe Whiteland could have competed at the 6A level. Just my two cents gain this maybe isn’t a good idea but the IHSAA does need to rethink its structure for football.

The problem with a four team playoff for those classes is determining what four make it in. You have to base it on something whether it is a point system, sagarin rating, wins, losses, point differential, etc...the list could go on and on. It's too much work for the IHSAA to come up with. It's a lot easier to just let everyone in, bounce around some ping pong balls, and list the names of the schools as they fall. Your idea isn't a bad one, just never gonna happen or at least not any time soon.

As for starting with 1A and moving up rather than 6A and moving down, you have an excellent point there. I forget where I heard it but someone mathematically(numbers don't lie) explained to me that it would make a lot more sense for classification and enrollment to do the classes this way. 

3 minutes ago, Cappy said:

A look at the numbers in 2A this year (feel free to correct me if these are inaccurate,) 62 teams and by my quick count 8 P/P schools. 6 of those P/P schools advanced to the sectional title game, 4 of them won a sectional, 3 of them won a regional, and obviously 2 of them are playing for the title. So 13% of the schools won 50% of the sectionals, 75% of the regionals, and 100% of the Semi-states.

The private schools just worked harder and wanted it more

3 minutes ago, tango said:

What about freakin' 2016-2018 when it was Pioneer? Or freakin' 2018-2020 when it was WeBo? 

It was only 3 years in a row so doesn't equate to my example lol, also like I said above they were public schools so it was cool because it never happens anymore in the lower classes.

20 minutes ago, oldtimeqb said:

 

Western Boone 2018-2020 has entered the chat.

(To clarify) I have no issues with this. But if it were Bishop Western or St. Boone, they would be talked about completely different. 

You're completely right people wouldn't have been as impressed. The fact that a public school did it makes it very impressive because it never happens these days in the lower classes. I'm not saying it isn't impressive for a private school because it is. Its hard no matter who you are to reload and have a state team multiple years in a row, but it happens so much with private schools so everyone sees it just as another boring couple years that a private was able to dominate again.

29 minutes ago, Tippy said:

It's only boring to some people because their team didn't win.  Nobody ever says anything about Center Grove going for their 3rd in a row.

That's because Center Grove is in 6A. The only way to stop them from winning another state championship would be to tell them they can't be in the tournament. These other teams can be bumped up and werent this last reclassification so its a little annoying is all. 

Splitting up the sectionals isn't working for moving privates either. If you look at 2A, not a single private was in the same sectional to my knowledge(one sectional might actually have one but for the most part they are pretty split up). It seems to me like all of those privates are just getting bottled up in 2A because they are winning their sectional, and then beating each other in the regional causing them to stay in 2A rather than move up or down. The place to be right now is 1A. After next year your going to have 2 private schools left in the reclassification, Park Tudor in the North possibly and Covenant Christian in the South more than likely(who knows how the IHSAA will form Sectionals). 

On 11/21/2022 at 12:48 AM, slice60 said:

2021 Andrean vs Mater Dei

2022 Andrean vs Mater Dei

2023 Andrean vs Mater Dei???

Yawn.

Gotta love the success factor really doing its jo....oh nevermind.

Feels like I'm back in the years 09-12 watching LCC and Luers win the 1A and 2A title every freakin year only now its Lutheran and Andrean instead.

31 minutes ago, hick said:

How "big" are the Luers receivers? 

6'3" 195, 6'3" 185, 6'2" 175

Andrean has two DB's listed right at 6'. I'd say that is an advantage.

I think last year Luers had a better team than they do this year. Andrean also had a better team last year than they do this year but...they have #34 back. I think it will be a good game. I don't think either team will just run away with this. I think if Luers is going to have a fighting chance they have to have their wide receivers make plays down field. Bowen can cover a lot of ground in the middle of the field as we saw against LCC, but I think with the big receivers they have Luers can attack them from hash to sidelines. However, Andrean will have the best player on the field tonight, so I'm going with the 59ers. 

13 hours ago, 07_statechamp54 said:

Does this term apply to the all Catholic schools or just Luers?? 

It could be the explanation for why 3 of the 4 teams left in 2A are Catholic schools if I'm not mistaken. Could just be a coincidence tho.

17 minutes ago, BendNotBreak said:

Yep.... IF Lcc can get some strikes n keep em pinned deep... this game is a nail biter.....

I think regardless, it will be a nailbiter. As far as 2A goes other than Eastside and Luers, this might be the game to watch. Calpreps has LCC winning 35-34. Indiana predictor has Rochester by 1 with homefield, losing by 1 without the homefield factor. Might just come down to those ole intangibles you like to remind us about Mr. BendNotBreak 😉 

1 hour ago, BendNotBreak said:

I dont think its unreasonable to think  Lcc cant get a few stops vrs the 3 headed monster on a long field..... In a possession game... field position is huge.... who has better kicking game??  

Fantastic point! Making a high school team drive 80+ yards is extremely difficult for an offense(not impossible) and increases the chance for error. 

18 minutes ago, foxbat said:

Anyone have insights on those Cass fumbles?  There tend to be about three types of fumbles that happen in games 1) loaf of bread handling, 2) right hit, right time, right place, and 3) active defense.  There are some offenses where if the defense sneezes, that ball's coming loose.  There are some defenses that just swarm folks and that ball's coming out ... it's just a question of if the whistle blows first.  Other times, it's just a situational fumble of the right hit at the right time.  Any insights?

Cass had six fumbles for the whole season and then ended up with four just in the LCC game.  Rochester, similarly, has five fumbles in the season so far.  Is it LCC that cause the difference in fumbles or just Cass not concentrating?

I'd say 50/50. I think LCC does a great job creating turnovers as we saw in the Cass game, but if you also look at their regular season games they do a great job of it as well. One of the fumbles came on a kick return where I think the guy was trying to run as fast as he could and didn't have it high and tight like he should. I think two of the fumbles LCC had their players helmet right where Cass ball carriers had the ball tucked and made a good hit where the ball was coming out regardless. The other one I'd have to go back and find.

I think the point you're trying to make is LCC will force you to turn the ball over, and you are exactly correct. If there is one thing I'd say the LCC defense has excelled at this year from watching their games its that they will force you to turn the ball over whether its a fumble or an interception. I think they are better at using ball skills to pick it, but probably not gonna get too many opportunities to do so this Friday. Rochester is going to have to hold the ball tight and really concentrate when carrying the rock. I'm sure it will be a point of emphasis in practice this week.

I'm going to give the advantage to Rochester offensively in this game over LCC and heres why: Rochester offensively is going to run the ball. Even a bad play for Rochester usually results in a gain of 2 to 3 yards. As long as you are doing that every down, you are going to be in good shape for a first down. LCC has possessions where the defense might not cover them well on three straight plays, but they still have to punt the ball due to three straight incompletions. LCC is very elite at throwing the football, but at the end of the day they are still high school kids. They aren't going to play a complete perfect game, although the qb for LCC against Cass got pretty close. For this reason, if the trend continues from other games this season LCC will have two possessions where they give the ball back to the Zebras without the Zebras doing anything. Possessions are going to be super important this game and I think the Zebras will have a greater chance at possessing the ball and controlling the clock. Of course Cass probably thought the same thing before they put it on the ground 4 times 🙂