First_Backer_Inside

Yes, it was Marian. Probably could have played at a higher level than that too. The 2019 team was good for Cass that made the 2A list, but hard to believe they were better than the '05 and '08 teams. A case could be made for the '06 team too. Got bounced by Heritage in a mud pit game second round of sectionals. Had some great battles with Heritage and Harding back in the 2000's.

Lewis Cass would have liked another crack at that Jimtown team as well. Game was back and forth for the most of the first half. Cass picked Jimtown off in the end zone early in the game. Instead of taking a knee in the end zone, kid thinks he's going 100 yards for a pick 6. Didn't make it 5 yards out of the end zone before he was stripped from behind and Jimtown recovered with a fresh set of downs inside the 10. Flipped the game completely, and Cass never recovered. That Cass team had some studs too. Garrett Seagraves was a Prime Time 26 player in the state. I believe he was only a junior at the time. Cass head football coach Clay Mannering was a senior on that semistate team.

Not a bad place to start with track and field records. Might have to ask not how much better, but rather is the average team in 2024 actually better than that of 1999. I would say one could make the argument that the difference in the top level teams of today and bottom level is a wider gap than it was in 1999. I have nothing statistically to back it up but it felt like the classes were more competitive throughout at least in sectional play those earlier years being measured here. Of course there wasn't any success factor, so you had a lot of the same teams winning state every year, but it felt harder to find a favorite for the majority of the sectionals. No matter what you find, this is an interesting and cool thing you've done here. Kind of reminds me of the debates people have about the different great college teams that people try to predict as being the best such as the '01 Hurricanes, '04 Trojans, '19 LSU Tigers, and '08 Gators. I'm sure there are some wiser minds on here that know of great teams further back, but those are kind of the few that I grew up getting to watch.

Agreed, my guess is since based off of Sagarin point differential and faster paced offense is going to benefit the more recent teams in this than teams in the past. Reasoning for a lot of those late 90's to early 2000's really good teams not making lists.

Andrean will be very good this year. LCC lost a lot of studs from last years team if I'm not mistaken. They always do reload very well. Still great senior class they graduated. I think three of them made the region team. If not definitely two.

Had to play 2015 Pioneer and LCC in the same year. Those teams made playing football not fun. Both had dudes that made fast people look...not fast.

Excellent point, that would be a good way of avoiding the situation I'm trying to explain. With your last sentence, I feel like that happens already with the rule we have. I would agree should be enough, but a rule change would be needed for that. I guess going for two would be a lot better than sending out your ones for yet another drive to score another touchdown and make it even uglier. I understand your point though and agree with you. We had a situation like this during the season. We used our 2's offense to drive down the field, and it was pretty obvious they weren't going to be stopped. Instead of scoring another touchdown we used the opportunity at about the 15 yard line to run our field goal team on late in the play clock to simulate a late game field goal. The long snapper snapped it way over the place holders head and it was a disaster, but it was a good opportunity to practice something in a game you might need later down the road. We never did get to a running clock that game. Our 2's and 3's just duked it out with there 1's the rest of the game.

It's rare, but something I think they should change is taking away the running clock when a team is no longer winning by 35 pts. Again it is rare, but I have seen times when a team gets down 35 pts, and they start to make a push back into the game but the time continues to run regardless of how close the other team gets. Good teams have had absolutely awful halves where nothing goes right, and they are down. They quickly score two touchdowns in the second half and it's a game again. However, the clock continues to run and makes it nearly impossible to come back from. Again doesn't happen often, but there have been rare cases.

I've been impressed with Valpo's physicality last couple of years. Wouldn't be surprised if they do beat Merrillville. I just like to troll Merrillville fans.

Yes sir, another winning season is a given. Another sectional too! Another regional as well! And then another exit in the semi-state...but they only lose by 16 pts this time!

Appreciate you finding the data to back me up!

Same could be said for kids that don't do anything in the winter. If you don't do anything, go wrestle. Most times a tackle in football is a double leg takedown. Kids think football coaches want to hear "I'm a football guy all year round, that's all I do and focus on". The fact is it's darn near impossible to practice football all year round. If you want to be a football guy all year round, you wrestle and run track. Or basketball and Baseball. Or swim and golf(yikes). But hey at least you are doing something. I have a hunch any guy playing in the NFL today, wasn't just a football player in high school. Just a guess.

Being the type of program that they usually are, I'm sure there are still assistants there that are making sure things are getting done and progress is being made. The longer it takes the less time the kids will have to learn a new system tho.

My guess is this isn't allowed on GID threads. If anything, they could PM you the answer to your question is my guess.

I understand where you are coming from, but this isn't as easy to recognize as the knee pads and if I had to guess there are a lot of players that don't have one in during games. I know I hardly played with a mouthpiece in. It is a similar issue you are right because it is just like the knee pads. How many college and NFL players play with a mouthpiece in or all their buckles buckled? Just to be clear because I wasn't before, I think that players should be wearing knee pads over their knees. Just playing a little devils advocate. I didn't see temptation post anywhere on the thread, so I figured I'd assume the role. I don't think a helmet and knee pads are in the same category. One is making contact with someone just about every single play, one is not.

But why keep it as a penalty? Put it on the coaches to make sure if they want their players to be more durable for the season they will make sure their knee pad covers their whole knee. After that, be done with it. Don't put it on the refs to then also make a decision and possibly call a penalty on top of it. If a coach allows a player to play without the knee pad covering their knee, and the player gets beat up over time or has a season ending injury I feel like that is punishment enough, it's on the player and ultimately the coach. Take it off the refs plate and away from them having to make a call that could determine a game.

Don't know much about Greenwood Christian, but I don't think there at the caliber that South Adams is. Easier first game for the new head coach? Just a thought. Could be going in the complete wrong direction with this though.

Natural talent can make up for a lot of things and as bad as they have sometimes been, Plymouth has never lacked talent. Time will tell if Plymouth can build off of last year or go back to their losing ways.

Unfortunately no one is beating down the doors of schools with great academics, and if they are, I doubt they are making a difference on Friday Nights. I've said it for a couple years now, students aren't going to schools for the academic purposes, they are going there for the athletic facilities and culture. Not that it doesn't help, but for most I don't think it's the number one selling point. Now, have a few more seasons like you had last year along with that pitch and you might see more numbers coming into your school.

Dad was the QB for the state team back in '94 if I'm not mistaken was a heck of a wrestler too. I think you could double dad's weight and he still wouldn't have weighed 215 lol. Great guy and no surprise he has his son doing the right things for his own athletic career.

Carmel should be back to the top in 6A in no time.

Probably happening, but we probably won't see the impact of it for a year or two. The rule I believe was mainly to benefit underclassmen transferring, not necessarily upperclassmen so until those kids start to move into their junior and senior year I doubt we see much of an impact unless you have those Freshman and Sophomore that can make an impact early on teams that they are transferring to.

I am against the shot clock as well. Like stated already, it's all apart of strategy. I understand it can be boring for the fans. But when did high school basketball become about the fans, or coaches, or officials, or anyone but the athletes on the court. The coach might use this because its the only way for his/her athletes to be successful. Let's be honest, if teams are using this they probably aren't rolling out four or five star recruits to play at the next level. Does it make them better basketball players, i don't know. I think there are still skills and an art to being able to drain minutes off a clock in basketball without turning the ball over, so some might say the coach is doing his players a disservice by teaching them this because they aren't learning basketball but I disagree. If teams are doing this other teams have to adjust. Find a way to speed them up and turn them over. It's no different than high school football teams that run triple or wing-t. Everybody wants to be able to go four wide and sling the rock around the yard, but when you don't have the jimmy's and joe's year in and year out to do that you have to find other ways for your athletes to be as successful as possible. Stall ball gives teams that equalizer by limiting possessions just like the football team that limits possessions grinding out 3 and a third yard gains over and over and over.

Never heard of that. Is this sarcasm or does it have something to do with the pictures thing going on at the school?

260AC didn't think there were any transfers that played football from what he knew. Also brought up the good point about AC's success before all the state runner ups. Still can't ignore the enrollment going up. Maybe other sports? Maybe AC's academics are just that good lol? You bring up a good point for most kids going from a large school to a smaller one for playing time, but with AC's athletes they might not still get the job there either. But like you said just suspicion, either way the school knows how to win. To get back on the topic at hand(I apologize for kind of derailing it), they are my favorites for the North in 2A until someone proves otherwise.