First_Backer_Inside

Quick question on Pioneer. Saw their offensive and defensive line is very young, made up of a lot of sophomores and a junior or two if I'm correct. Do they have any good young skilled position guys tho? QB is a sophomore too I think, but from what I've seen the two work horses in the backfield are both seniors. Do they have some young guys that will be ready to go when those young lineman start to really dominate as seniors?

Central Catholic @ Hamilton Heights Northwestern @ Benton Central Rensselaer @ Western Twin Lakes @ Tippecanoe Valley West Lafayette @ Tipton North Newton @ Lake Station Merrillville @ Crown Point Pioneer @ LaVille Louisville Trinity @ Center Grove Lewis Cass @ Peru

I like the confidence but this is a one score game that could go either way. Hope the Zebras are on the winning end.

Benton Centrals at Seegers - Only game of interest to me because of sectional reasons. Seeger has a non-existent offense from what I watched. The front line has to make major improvements if they want to look close to as good as the team from last year. Defense showed some heart against LCC but Benton Central is much improved from last year. Give me the Bison by a touchdown or two.

Benton Central @ Seeger Eastern @ Northwestern Elwood @ Tipton Central Catholic @ Guerin McCutcheon @ West Lafayette North Montgomery @ Hamilton Heights Rensselaer @ North Newton Twin Lakes @ Delphi Western Boone @ Western Scecina @ Speedway

Glad to see this game will stay on the schedule for both teams after Valley decided to leave the conference. Incredible atmosphere for two small school teams.

Week 2 games, gonna be some good ones this week. Strong showing by the conference last week with Whitko snapping a 15 game losing streak versus a non conference opponent and Peru beating Logansport as well. Two conference games this week with a lot of non conference to go with it. I'll take a shot at the winners and losers of this week. Alexandria at Wabash - Wabash might have the best receiver in the conference in Daughtry. Kid can go and get it. Problem is the defense is not there at all for the Apaches. Alexandria wins this one. Knox at Maconaquah - Knox's style is not the type of game Mac wants to play at all. Mac will put some points on the board with their athleticism, but Knox will overpower them and take this game. Manchester at Bluffton - Bluffton has some dudes on both sides of the ball. Strong showing by Manchester picking up the win, but I think they drop this one. North Miami at Sheridan - Surprised by the North Miami score last week. It isn't going to get any easier this week for them. North Miami starts the year off 0-2. Northfield at Cass - Cass lost a tight one last week to Pioneer. Northfield struggled against Bluffton. They just don't quite have the athletes they have in years past. Cass wins this one by a touchdown or two. Southwood at Oak Hill - Not sure what to think for this game. Both teams graduated a lot of talent from last years teams. I think Oak Hill will be able to reload a little better than the 1A Southwood can so I'll take Oak Hill in this one. Tippecanoe Valley at Rochester - The game of the week in the TRC, The Bell Game. Both teams have skill at every position. This one will be won in the trenches. Rochester has to limit the big play and control the clock. Valley has to get their playmakers out in space. Because I'm bias I'm taking Rochester but this one will be close and could go either way. Whitko at Peru - Whitko getting their first win in two years for the kids is awesome. Grabbing a second win this week is going to be difficult. Peru takes this one to start the year 2-0.

Not to take anything away from Pioneer because the future does look very bright for them, but I don't think Cass is going to be that great this year. I think Pioneer is kind of stuck right in the middle of the conference behind Triton, Knox, and North Judson. Might be able to beat Laville this year. Another year or two, and they will be back at the top of the conference. I could be wrong, just my humble opinion.

Got to see Winamac when we scrimmaged them last week. Still trying to figure it out on offense, but the defense is solid. Very physical with good size up front. They have a skilled position guy or two that can make people miss and enough speed to find the end zone. I think this one will be closer than people think it will be. From what I heard Knox didn't look great in their scrimmage. Not sure if they had some guys banged up or what. I know they lost more than people thought they did to graduation last year, especially some really good lineman.

The recruits comment was complete sarcasm. I compared the roster from last year on maxpreps to this year and its a lot of the same names other than obviously freshman. Not a lot of players coming in or out of LCC compared to what I've heard about some of the other 2A north privates like Andrean and Luers. Although both of those two schools sound like they are losing players when it comes to transfers rather than gaining them. A little off topic, but I saw LCC was broadcasting their first game this year on IHSAA network. Any idea on whether or not that will be for every game or just the first one?

They didn't look great in some of the scrimmages from what I saw, but also looked like they had a lot of studs on the sidelines dealing with some injuries over the summer. They are well coached so not surprised they have made big improvements from summer just to the scrimmage. Maybe they got a bunch of stud recruits that came through after the 11 on 11 summer to the scrimmage! 😉

Benton Central @ Delphi Kankakee Valley @ Rensselaer Lapel @ Hamilton Heights Northwestern @ Twin Lakes Seeger @ Central Catholic South Adams vs Tipton West Lafayette @ Harrison Western @ Tri-West West Central @ Caston Frontier @ Clinton Prairie

First (official) week of High School Football games are here. A couple in-conference games and a few out of conference games. Who ya got for this week? I'll take a stab at it, but first week picks are sometimes the hardest. Bluffton at Northfield, 7 pm - I'll take Bluffton here though I don't know much about them. Coming off of a sectional championship last year and I think Northfield graduated quite a bit of talent. Can't count that option offense out though. Cass at Pioneer, 7 pm - Cass graduated a lot of key seniors last year. Still, they bring back quite a bit of experience with a senior quarterback and some skilled guys who got good playing time last year. From what I hear Pioneer is still very young. I'll take Cass in this one. Maconaquah at Southwood ©, 7 pm - Southwood graduated arguably its three best players last year. Gonna need a lot of guys to step up this year. I think Mac brings back too much talent at the skilled positions for Southwood to handle. I'll take Mac here. Manchester at North Miami ©, 7 pm - From what I hear, it's gonna be a process getting Manchester where they want to be. North Miami took a huge step in the right direction last year winning a few ball games. North Miami wins this one. Peru at Logansport, 7 pm - Logansport wins. Rochester at Wabash ©, 7 pm - Wabash has a stud quarterback. Dude can make plays happen when they aren't there. Defense looks to be the struggle for the Apaches. I don't think they can stop the backfield of Rochester. Zebras win this one. Whitko at Prairie Heights, 7 pm - I'm not sure about either team. I'll take Prairie Heights, but pulling for Whitko and their kids to get a win.

4 out of 6 at the most. 1A and 2A will be different I think, and 5A is an absolute toss up.

Rochester will be at Winamac and in the past Knox has scrimmaged Tippy Valley

I like Knox to win the conference. However, that quarterback for the Lancers is a stud. Judson is always going to be tough. I still think Triton will be competitive even tho they lost their best player. I think the team that will surprise a lot of people in the conference will be Caston. Wont be bottom of the conference this year I can promise you that.

I just find it hard to believe a team that lost to a very below average Tipton team in the first round of sectionals last year could possibly be the #7 team in 2A the following year. I find it odd that after having the season they had last year that Eastbrook is up there at #4, but its just preseason after all. I'm sure by October it will look very different.

Unfortunately in a lot of 1A and 2A programs around the state, football is becoming a dying breed. Its too easy for kids to say they just want to focus on basketball or baseball all through the year, or quite simply just not play sports. Thats fine if you are going to the gym and getting 1,000 shots up a day and living in the weight room 365 days a year. Kids aren't actually doing it tho. What's even worse are the coaches in different sports are encouraging kids to be 1 sport athletes. Just an absolute shame.

The Zebras are excited about the season and they're looking to accomplish a lot of big things this year, but still a lot of work to be done just to be ready for week 1. Mac is going to make everyone work up a sweat this year for sure. Might have the best skilled players in the conference. Those cats can straight move. I know they had a lot of football guys on the track team do very well this last year. I hope the Kings can make a little bit of noise this year. I'll be pulling for the 'ole alma mater every week except 5 and hopefully one of the rounds of sectionals haha.

After a three-team tie for first place last year, the TRC is gonna look a little different this year. Valley is out. Cass is in. Interested to hear what teams are returning and what they lost. Southwood and Northfield graduated quite a bit of talent at the skill positions if I'm not mistaken. Mac has speed all over the place. Wabash a three year starter at quarterback. North Miami is always tough to defend running the triple. I don't know much about Manchester other than they will have a new coach running the show. Not sure about Peru or Whitko either. I know Cass had a pretty good team last year, had a few key guys graduate but they got a three year starter at qb as well running the show so that always helps. Rochester returns a lot of experience, but are gonna need some guys to step up in order to have a good season. Who do you have this year as the champion? Any news or predictions on some of the teams as a lot of talent graduated from the conference last year.

So what was the reasoning for scheduling South Bend Washington if they aren't in the conference either?

LC doesn't leave the conference if Valley doesn't choose to do so first. Everything Valley has had to do for a schedule is their own doing. As for the Hoosier conference, all the teams that had Cass on the schedule had to do was call up Valley and book them for the week they were supposed to play Cass. Instead they complained and pulled the "woah is me" card because they lost a lower tier team in the conference and didn't get right to scheduling Valley. West Lafayette to Cass and vice versa wasn't exactly next door.

You also wrestle about 35 matches before Sectionals in wrestling. Probably gonna see every kid you're gonna wrestle in the sectional before it gets there to help with seeding. I'm all for playing 35 games before the sectionals starts for football, I just don't think a high schoolers body can make it that many games.

But what is a good regular season? Fort Wayne Luers went 4-5 in the regular season, not a good regular season. They won the sectional and a regional. How do you factor in a 2A or 1A team with a schedule full of 4A and 5A schools. (I agree with you on seeding and think it should happen, just trying to show the problem the IHSAA probably has with it) The problem is with a lot of the conferences in Indiana, especially for smaller private schools, is they play a lot of bigger schools and their record doesn't look great heading into the playoffs. There are just too many factors for the IHSAA to take into account that my guess is they don't want to mess with because its so much easier to just draw ping pong balls out and write down names of schools. For that reason, I don't see the seeding of sectionals ever happening. I would love for it to happen. What we have right now is just too easy for the IHSAA to do to change it. Also like previously stated, if they change it for football, they have to change it for all the other sports throughout the year, and if football alone was too much work, all those other sports would be even more work. Everyone within the IHSAA would need an even bigger raise.

You are completely right. They get grouped into it because they are a private school that won four straight state championships around the time of determining the success factor. I guess I group them in with the rest because of what LCC also was three or four years after the SF. If the SF doesn't happen in 2012, LCC wins 7 straight state titles, and then we are definitely grouping them with the other schools mentioned previously. Instead they got bumped up and still managed to have success in 2A only losing to the 2A state runner up and the 2A state champion the next year before going back down and winning another state championship. So they might not have had the success the other schools did previous to the SF, but they were starting to become a problem for 1A.