XStar

Who was your favorite teacher at Western Boone?

While we're adding up the things you're wrong about (and the RC game is still one of them whether you want to admit it or not), the PI call was not on "4th and forever", as you said. It was on 1st and 10.

1. As for Coach Nowlin in 2017, Eastbrook went into that game against RC ranked #1 in the state as I recall. RC was not a favorite in that game, quite the opposite. But if that makes you feel better about choking away the championship in a season you actually were the best team, have at it. 2. As for the championship game, this is all well and good except Eastbrook never led 14-0 last season and at no point was "steem" rolling anyone so your memory seems to be pretty faulty. If you want to deal in facts, here's a link to a box score: https://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/boys sports/boys football/2018-19/2018 2A State Final - Football.pdf 1st Downs: Western Boone 30. Eastbrook 13. Rushing: Western Boone 195. Eastbrook 174. Average per rush: Western Boone 5.0. Eastbrook 3.3. Passing Yards: Western Boone 317. Eastbrook 113. Penalties: Western Boone 7. Eastbrook 3. (2 of those penalties were for late hits out of bounds so if you actually remembered the PI you're complaining about, it was the only penalty of the game called on Eastbrook on the field of play all game long) Turnovers: Western Boone 1. Eastbrook 0. The stats are pretty conclusive. And that PI that you're complaining about did not result in a touchdown for Western Boone. But why am I not surprised that someone from Eastbrook is complaining about the only penalty called on them in the field of play all game long? Probably because some these fans can't acknowledge that other teams are sometimes better and that their team can actually do wrong sometimes. All programs have these types but man the Eastbrook contingent appears to be one of the worst I've encountered in my time following high school football and basketball. That's why I had one of their fans wanting to "meet" me in the parking lot after they lost to Woodlan in 2017. By the way, I like both teams for different reasons and will actually be cheering for Eastbrook on Saturday so I'm not some blind homer talking about situations that never happened to try to justify why his team lost last year. The fact of the matter is, the #1 reason Eastbrook lost last year, in my opinion, is because your coach overestimated his opponent and underestimated his own team. The onside kick at the start of the 2nd half totally gave away the momentum and he never got back to passing the ball in the 2nd half except when Eastbrook found themselves in obvious passing downs. He was shocked he was in the lead going into halftime and didn't know how to react.

I realize it's a different standard than required to overturn a call in most replay systems, but if you were to make that call based on replay and ignore "the call on the field" I would bet that you, and most people, would say it went the required distance before Andrean touched it. Which brings me to another point regarding replay. If the goal is to get it right, why does the call on the field hold so much weight that it takes 100% evidence of it being wrong to be overturned? If you view the replay and you conclude that you probably would've made a different call but only are 75-80% sure based on several replay reviews, isn't that still a better call than an official who made the call in real time based on one angle? I guess I'd rather go with the call I'm 80% sure is right based on the best available evidence than a call I'm 80% sure is wrong just because that's what the on field official ruled first based on, usually, worse evidence than a replay would provide.

It was one of the first few plays of the 2nd quarter. Andrean would've just started going right to left on the broadcast.

I've seen no good video on the defensive touchdown. It's sufficient to determine the pass was certainly a forward pass. So if that was the justification for it, replay certainly proves it's a bad call. If the justification is that it was a catch and fumble (a notion I didn't even consider watching the play live), the replay I've seen offers almost no evidence either way on that. I was standing along the fence at the end of the field on which that play occurred so I had a good view of it.

Not to mention the defensive touchdown early in the second quarter was neither a lateral nor a catch/fumble. Should not have been ruled a live ball. But it's the same field that I saw my first and only roughing the holder penalty just a year earlier so I am not surprised.

Hole has absolutely become the playmaker on offense (already was on defense) that it seemed this team was waiting for someone to step forward to be that guy early in the year for Wright to throw to who could make something happen after the catch. On the Eastbrook side of things, sophomore Isaiah Dalton has been really impressive in the playoffs. I think he had 3 interceptions in the sectional championship and he scored all the touchdowns (including 1 defensive) against Andrean. The light has really come on for him. He's going to be a terror the next 2 seasons.

Well 16 never started at QB for them last year so if your other counts are right then that's only 2 returning starters on each side of the ball.

That's more than I thought. How many of those spots were filled with new starters as opposed to a player who was a starter on the other side of the ball only last year and is going both ways now?

I know this is a rematch but I think viewing it as such obscures at least one pretty good story here. The fact that Western Boone has returned shouldn't really surprise anyone. Certainly, nothing is guaranteed and they had to earn their way back. And while they lost some good players from last season, they returned a good number of starters. This is an entirely different Eastbrook team than what we saw last year in terms of key players returning. The number of senior starters they lost from last season is crazy. They started the year dropping 2 tough non-conference games including a blowout at Delta. But instead of quitting on the season, these players rallied around one another and committed to learning the roles they were being asked to play and executing those at a high level. Just as importantly, they continued to believe in themselves and have confidence in their teammates to win big games. That was apparent to me on Friday against Andrean. Andrean looked the part. They were much bigger than Eastbrook on both lines and coming off a dominant win over a Lewis Cass team that everyone had penciled in the finals just a couple weeks ago. Guess who didn't give a damn about any of that? The Eastbrook players came out confident and believing they were the better team that night, then proved they were just that. What could easily have been written off as a rebuilding year in this program has turned into one of it's best, with the potential to be THE best still there headed into Thanksgiving weekend. So while this is a rematch of the same two programs as last season, I think looking at it as such ignores all the best parts about Eastbrook getting back there.

You think many people north of Bloomington knew anything about Southridge before 2017? Honestly, as someone else noted, the success of schools from your area on the state level isn't exactly noteworthy of late yet you have these Linton-Stockton clowns running around claiming their game against MD is for a spot in the 2A title game. I was leaning towards it being a case of 1A arrogance/ignorance just like Pioneer fans who thought they would run through 2A like they did 1A and then thought the only reason they didn't was because they drew the eventual champ. But the more I hear from these Southridge fans the more I think it's just a case of these fans from SW IN not knowing what goes on in other parts of the state. Southridge should probably just be thankful they got their moment in the sun in 2017 (I'd explain how lucky that was but you would have to have knowledge of good football programs in other parts of the state to understand.) and navigate 3A as best they can for another season.

I haven't seen a video replay system yet which would've awarded Eastbrook a touchdown for that. Just saying.

I've been to many games there. It's typical small-town-with-a-good-football-program stuff. The community is proud of it just like anywhere else.

Why play the state finals under different rules than everything else? Do we not care about the teams that suffer from bad/missed calls in a regional or semistate loss?

Well God bless the fine people that run Lucas Oil Stadium then.

But it is not legal for the state finals for some reason? Don't get me wrong. The cowbells are annoying and I'm for anything that gets rid of them, but why allow them up to semistate and then disallow them for state? Seems like the rules should stay consistent.

Maybe you can agree to disagree because you are wrong. I'm not going to. I'm sorry you think the coach tried to throw the game by limiting the touches of his playmakers. I'd guess he probably knew his team better than you and was absolutely focused on winning. And even if he made the wrong choice, coaches make the wrong choices all the time. It's part of the game and part of the team they are a part of. It's not part of "luck" if the coach makes bad decisions. If you want to talk about Woodlan being unlucky, I think they were unlucky in 1988. I think Eastbrook was very lucky to beat Bremen last year. And I'm sorry, but Woodlan was lucky in 2017.

It appears you are right regarding the kicker having kicked 2 FG's on the season. I read something that was wrong that said otherwise. My apologies on that. However, that doesn't change the facts about the game itself. Otherwise, you're throwing out meaningless stats. More first downs? Who cares? Probably because I'm seeing they ran 52 times for 172 yards. Congrats on the 3.3 ypc. Really speaks to how dominant they were. Eastbrook ran 31 times for 160 yards. Would much rather be Eastbrook there. And it's supposed to matter what a player did against a lesser opponent the week before. Just because a player ran for a bunch of yards against North Newton doesn't mean anything in the next game. He's not entitled to repeat that performance. My guess is the coach saw him getting bottled up. I'm not an Eastbrook fan and, in fact, I was cheering very heavily for Woodlan in this game. But that doesn't change the fact they were very lucky to win with how this played out. Anytime your opponent has the lead, the ball, and a fresh set of downs on your side of the field with under 4 minutes left, you are fortunate to have an opportunity to win. Yet that's exactly what happened. But this is 2019, not 2017 anymore. It really has nothing to do with the Eastbrook/Andrean game or whatever Woodlan's plans are this weekend.

LOL. If you were actually at the game, you have a very faulty memory. Woodlan winning that game was one of the more miraculous endings I can remember. Eastbrook had the ball with a fresh set of downs in Woodlan territory with 4 minutes left and a 2 point lead. Miraculously, I think Eastbrook fumbles on 3 running plays in a row, recovering the first 2 but losing the 3rd. Still, Woodlan had the ball on their side of the field with under 3 minutes remaining and had not kicked a field goal all season and was able to kick one that was almost blocked by 2 Eastbrook players as time expires. Eastbrook was the best team in 2A that season. Give credit to Woodlan for finding a way to hang in and pull out a W but Eastbrook screwed up just about everything to give that game away.

Have you seen Eastbrook play much this year? It's been a very long time since I've seen a 2A team that Eastbrook couldn't compete with in the trenches. Even in the games they lost the past 3 years in the playoffs, I wouldn't say they lost those game at the line of scrimmage. If Andrean dominates them at the line of scrimmage, I'll be very surprised.

And nobody from Alexandria should be talking about regional or semi-state play since they've never won a sectional. Sorry!

I don't believe so. Winning a state title, followed by a regional only moves you up if you do it in the right 2 years.

I will say that I saw this possibility (see #2 above) since the sectional draw. I actually thought it would be Tri-West instead of Danville since they won the regular season matchup and Danville didn't really come into the playoffs on a high note either but I thought the winner of their game was probably the favorite to win the sectional and regional.

They have looked particularly impressive in the playoffs. As good or better than last season if you just look at sectionals through regional. I'm still struggling with the Week 2 Western loss. How did that happen?