Bonecrusher

Our team didn't care who they were playing that Friday, strong or weak opponent, they just wanted to keep playing. Period. I see it as a great way to get your backups some valuable, and coveted, playoff experience . Also possibly giving your starters a little extra rest, and keeping them out of harms way for just a little longer to get ready for when they hit serious competition. As for a #8 seeded team, that's why Texas and probably most other states only take the upper percentage of districts/conferences.etc. An 8 seed that is 0-9, 1-8, whatever has no business in the playoffs. Want to go into post season? Get better. Aside from a couple outliers (very weak districts) there are hardly any teams below .500 in the post season down here. That part of the season is for the winners. If the system works properly, it should result in increasing the chance that the BEST teams play each other later in post season. The winner of a game with two top teams could find themselves up against the winner of two weak teams in round 2. Then you still have the potential for a blowout in that round.

Wonder what the players answer to this question would be? Seriously. 1st round exit for one of them, or play a game against another elite team in epic conditions? It somewhat depends on how you, or the players, look at it. Can't answer for these kids now obviously, but I know my boys preferred to play good teams late rounds in any kind of weather, they just wanted to go as deep as possible and didn't care what they had to play in to do it - and they did a couple times at neutral sites in North TX with temp in low 30's, windchill mid-upper 20's, wintry mix coming down, and they loved it. They (the team) saw it as a way to prove how tough they were. The sting of winter weather was temporary, the pride of going deeper than any other team in their schools history lasted a long time. On the other hand us fans were miserable (DT, you are spot on regarding the fans). Regarding the field, by the time you get a few rounds in wouldn't there be enough turf fields available to eliminate the muddy/wet/sloppy conditions?

I understand the difference in late fall weather between here & there. Spent the first 39 years of my life in northern Indiana. Late October can be pretty cold sometimes, but besides the occasional early storm, I would definitely not call the weather brutal. Bad weather is football weather, that's what our coaches told us when we whined about crap weather. HTFU Preparing for winter sports, for multi-sport athletes, I can understand. Especially if a particular school is much more competitive in b-ball/wrestling/etc than in football.

We have playoff qualifications in TX. In the 13 years I've lived here I cannot recall hearing of one team in the central TX area, who knew ahead of time they wouldn't make the playoffs, forfeiting a game. Not to say it has never happened but it would be the exception, not the rule, and by a very wide margin. Reading the article, I understand it that teams not qualifying for the playoffs would play their final regular season games. IMHO this would be ideal for non-qualifiers since there would be a much better chance of facing a team they match up well with. A final chance for one of the schools to end the season on a positive note. My $0.02

The saying down here is there's a lot of 4A-6A stadiums that are quite a bit nicer than a fair amount of D2 & D3 colleges. We have two very nice high school stadiums in the Waco area. Not at the level of Allen, but still pretty impressive. One of them is shared by two schools.

I see your point. Disrespectful to fellow conference schools. That continued low attendance does no one any good.

Looks like a few things could be in play for this particular game. First, Pike was 1-5 going into that one. The record could be the reason for the low turn out and, conversely IMHO, I think low turnouts do have some (albeit a small percentage) effect on if or how quickly a losing program can turn around. The OP gives the impression that the CG stands were full, so maybe it's a function of the "football culture" at these schools. The commute could very well factor in, as well. I Google mapped these schools, and yeah, a drive basically across Indy during rush hour could be a problem and not everyone has flexible work hours. I'd bet a good 1/3 of our crowds didn't arrive at games until mid-way 1st quarter. Whatever the reason, some schools just don't travel well. Down here, it's typically the schools with teams that are struggling. There's a few teams where we put more of our people in the stands at JV games than the opponent does for varsity games. Heck, the turnout in the picture would be considered borderline unacceptable for a jr. high game at our school! Could just be a general apathetic attitude for the people that could attend but choose not to. I do know that while the players shouldn't be focusing on the bleachers, they know if the crowd is big/small and if they're into the game or not. My sons would always take a quick glance before the game just to make sure the wife and I were there. Don't think that attendance doesn't factor into the motivation of a team.

South Adams Adams Central Heritage Lapel Leo Norwell DeKalb East Noble (I finally get to vote for Heritage! Makes it even better that they're playing the school my wife attended)

At a loss for words on this one.... SMH https://www.foxnews.com/sports/football-coach-resigns-running-up-score

Bluffton Adams Central South Adams Lima Central Catholic New Haven DeKalb Leo East Noble

A co-worker used to umpire select baseball games and his college-aged son at the time did some softball. Both had several instances where they threw parents out and even ejected a few coaches. Pathetic.

This is what I find most troubling. It would appear parents and coaches have officially lowered the bar for their kids and/or players, and at a time when these young minds are still very impressionable. My only coaching frame of reference is youth ball. We never yelled at the refs, and only questioned them in an adult-like manner if the call or no-call was just unbelievable - and there were a handful of those. Our intent was not to berate the refs or try to get more calls going our way to influence the outcome of the game but in several cases it was purposeful, repeated illegal hits or behavior by opposing players - and from the same two teams most of the time. Just wanted to bring their attention to what was happening and then left it there. Other than that as long as they called most of the major stuff we weren't going to make life difficult for them. Did have to address this with parents a couple times at practice, tho..... As a parent when the boys played jh/hs ball, yeah sometimes I would comment on something to my wife or the guy sitting next to me, but that's it. I have been to games where the abuse got pretty bad, usually by the fans. In fact, after one game the law had to escort the refs to their vehicles. Not of of the better called games IMHO, but no excuse for that kind of behavior from the fans. For the most part during my kids playing "careers", I kept my mouth shut and let the refs and coaches do their thing.

Woodlan South Adams Bluffton Tri County Dekalb East Noble Columbia City Leo

Based on the little I know it does indeed look to be a very good game. I'm thinking SA by 2 scores. No friends/relatives at either school so if I was there I would want to see a close game. Weather Channel has temp in mid-high 60's and 40% chance of showers. I would hate to see a good game like this get ruined by a soaked field, so hopefully no rain. Oh, and back when I played we always referred to them as the Adams Central "Jets". Maybe it was just us that did that?

Dwenger Concordia Luers Snider Wayne

Adams Central South Adams Bluffton Woodlan Huntington North Leo Norwell DeKalb

Unfortunately lots of stage parents either living vicariously through their kids and/or believing that little Johnny is going to be the next Peyton Manning, transform themselves into bleacher/sideline coaches or referees who can't shut their yaps and spoil the game for the rest of us. As a parent who has watched two sons play football and also coached at the youth level, it was very difficult, at times, to keep my mouth shut. You have to look at the bigger picture: the refs are people too and most are doing the best they can, what kind of example are you setting for your children, how are you representing your school in the community...... I typically only questioned calls/non-calls that we thought were blatantly obvious. Even then, there's a way to question a call without insulting the official. If you treat them with respect they will usually return the favor. No joke, there have been several instances down here in TX where the law has had to escort the refs to their cars after the game; that is inexcusable. Then we wonder why there are shortages of officials.

Adams Central Woodlan South Adams Monroe Central Norwell Columbia City DeKalb (in a close one) Leo

No prob.

Jay County @ Southern Wells Monroe Central @ Adams Central South Adams @ Bluffton Woodlan @ Heritage Columbia City @ Bellmont Dekalb @ New Haven Huntington North @ East Noble Leo @ Norwell

Carroll by 28 Dwenger by as many as they want Homestead by 21 Snider by 21 Wayne by 7

Snider by 21 Homestead by 21 Dwenger by 35 Northrop by 28 Wayne by 14

Adams Central South Adams Huntington North Bluffton Norwell Blackford Marion Local (OH) Leo Central Noble DeKalb Mishawaka New Haven

I see these types of threads on the forums here in TX, as well. I concede that in general participation has decreased somewhat, it's pretty obvious, even in this state where football is or at least has been THE sport. Some of it due to fear of head injuries or just injury in general. Some also due to the rise in popularity of other sports. I don't believe the sport is dying. At least down here, and from what I read and am told, in IN as well, folk in general are pretty pumped about the season. A lot has to do with community support/buy-in, and also the coaching staff. FWIW, at the school my kids attended participation is actually up slightly this year. I've heard the same from a couple other schools in our area. Small sample size, but still.......

Adams Central Bluffton Eastside Woodlan Jay County South Adams Fremont Angola Hammond Gavit East Noble Warsaw New Haven