MacAttack53

Manchester shocks the world on Friday night! Last TRC team left in the tournament!

Unfortunately it’s not just a football issue. Their basketball program is equally undisciplined.

I think Rochester wins, but my hope is that they not only win, but humiliate that program who thought they were all of a sudden too good for the TRC.

Lol no, we aren’t. I was pretty impressed with Triton. We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do at Manchester.

Oak Hill had a caveat that the entire Grant 4 get an invite. Sort of a tough ask, but totally get them wanting to stick with their county cohort. Eastern was a name I’d also heard. Not sure how far down the road that went, but certainly would be desirable if you’re one of the southern TRC schools. Maybe adding Eastern is enough to entice Oak Hill?? Eastern left the MIC due to wanting to be a big fish. I think their athletic programs would compete in the TRC, but maybe not at the championship caliber they’ve become accustomed to in the HHC.

As a player, I got to witness them ring it twice…

Do you mean professional educators like the Valley administrators who were intent on not upholding the bylaws to which they had signed and agreed? Should the Valley professional educators have handled this in a way that didn’t have any negative implications on their student athletes? Or is it the job of the rest of the schools in the conference to do what is best for the Valley student athletes?

I'll look into your first question, but in regard to your second I think that answer would be a resounding NO. The RRC (the middle level version of the TRC, in which all schools participate) does a really good job in terms of scheduling. There may be a few programs with low numbers...but for the most part teams are fielding full teams in all of the main sports.

Unless you’re Tippy Valley. They made this decision solely on what they believe is best for their football program. It’s high times right now in Death Valley, but only 5-8 years ago, they were stringing together 2-4 win campaigns. They just view themselves (for some reason) as a class above the TRC schools. Valley arrogance.

Dang. I would’ve liked to see that come to fruition.

I’ve heard Manchester has 15 applicants. Quite a bit of interest. Whitko hired Brad Sprunger—the third Sprunger to coach the Cats. I have heard a name at Southwood. Can’t officially confirm it, but it would be an absolutely sick hire, Mark my words.

I would see the TRC poaching teams from the HNAC before I see the HNAC taking teams from the TRC.

Does the TRC look to add one? I would think so. Some fits: Cass? Pioneer? Winamac? Caston? I think Cass is definitely the most attractive, followed by Pioneer.

Rochester seems like a logical fit. Honestly, I'm shocked that Valley is leaving the TRC. Fairfield to Knox is probably at least an hour and a half or so and a time change. Wawasee probably at least as far as Fairfield.

MSD (Southwood and Northfield) don’t want to take on Wabash City’s debt. And legally I don’t think they can due to the structure of the Wabash City Schools.

It was a computer lab and more recently a Study Hall room.

Why would the ACAC want to add Blackhawk? Sure, it’s a fit from Blackhawk’s perspective, but I don’t see the benefit for the other conference schools in sports besides football.

I always liked Howard Kellman on WHMB.

The Columbia City-Leo game was an absolute classic. Everything you’d want in a title game. Hats off to Leo and Doerffler for their halftime adjustments. You could tell CC was a bit out of sorts when they went into more of a spread and zone/read attack in the second half. They came to play and really, really played well enough to win had CC not made a couple miraculous plays. But what else can you say about these CC kids? They don’t wilt. They don’t quit. They just believe that they can and will get it done in the end. Stratton Fuller is THAT DUDE and this team just embodies everything that Brett has poured into this program for nine years. He’s as genuine as it gets and the guy you see in interviews on tv is the same guy you see walking the halls at school or at the grocery store. Just really, really happy right now for the kids, the coaches, and the community. It’s been a fun ride.

It's going to fail by at least a 70-30 margin. No way it's going to go. Even a lot of people in the northern part of the MSD district are ardently opposed. There's a few people running for board seats on an "anti-merger" platform.

Maconaquah Southwood Peru Rochester NM Valley Alex Manchester I think the biggest upset of the week is probably Mac over Cass. Historically the rivalry has been pretty one-sided, but I think the Braves are really playing well under their new coach. I also think Northfield has the potential to give Valley all they can handle down in Speicherville.

North Miami @ Manchester had an official go down with an apparent concussion. Reduced the crew to four and overall I didn’t think they did a bad job. Some clock issues, but in terms of calling the game I thought they did well.

North Miami at Manchester Late 4th quarter, first down gained by offense. Play clock reset and run. Chains set. Clock winds. NM milking clock, play clock goes to zero. Side judge throws a flag for delay. Officials confer. Outcome of play is to waive the flag, down remains first. White hat starts playclock and winds the game clock AGAIN. There was some lag in the play clock, where it would occasionally skip 1-2 seconds (run from 18–pause-16-pause-12) occasionally, but does that justify the adjudication on that play? I’m a basketball official, so I generally try and back the officials, but that call or decision has me confounded. What the heck happened? Game was being observed by an IHSAA observer. I asked him what happened and he also wasn’t sure. I’d never seen that before and don’t really have a good explanation.

MacAttack is back from a long hiatus on The Digest! While I yearn for the days when my Braves domina…er coexisted in the real MIC Conference, I guess I now turn our attention to the TRC. My allegiances took me out of TRC land for a while, but having been back in the area for a few years, let’s get the TRC Talk going. After a week, here are my thoughts: TOP TIER Rochester: Coach Shaffer has the boys from Manitou playing at such a high level. A multiple score victory over Southwood to open the season shows that the Zebras may be, officially, back. Valley: Hard not to have the Vikes in the top two. They lost quite a bit in graduation, but have some great talent returning. Beating Wawasee doesn’t show a whole lot, but expect TV to contend. Southwood: They might’ve lost to Rochester, but that was a battle right off the bat of two of the TRCs top squads. Mo Lloyd can sling it and Cole Winer can scoot. Do the Knights have the depth to contend? We’ll see. Maconaquah: Homer pick for sure, and I’ll always want to see the Braves in the Wing-T as opposed to slinging the ball around, but there’s some talent there in southern Miami County. MID TIER Northfield: Baker’s Bunch just grinds. Good win over Bluffton to kick things off. North Miami: They had great numbers last night—18 freshmen I think. Hoover runs their triple option attack pretty well for a freshman. Warriors are much improved. Manchester: With only 35ish players on the roster, depth is an issue, but the Squires have some solid players in Casper, Sites, and a solid corps of receivers. They’ll compete for 48 and could definitely give some top teams some problems. BOTTOM TIER Wabash: Apax have some talent, but not the same team they’ve been the last few years. Peru: The bottom has fallen out in P-Town. They’ll miss St. Louis more than anything. That dude could coach. Whitko: Times are tough in South Whitley. Should be a fun year in a great small-school conference!

Austin Colby of Maconaquah to take over at Kokomo, his alma mater.