XStar

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?

Crooked Ewe Brewery, Hensell's Oaken Bucket, and CJ's Pub are the bars I'd hit up if you're staying on the South Bend side of things. Crooked Ewe Brewery opened in the past few years and seems to have gathered quite the following. It's just west of Miami on Lincolnway. Not my cup of tea but lots of people I know love it. CJ's (downtown South Bend) and Oaken Bucket (just north of the river on Ironwood) are great places to just grab a burger and a beer. For my money, CJ's has the best burgers around.

I don't think the conference has ever had 2 teams in the state finals in the same year. North Montgomery and Tri-West both made it in 1995 and 1996 but that was prior to Tri-West joining I believe.

And WeBo turned in a very strong performance to win the game, did they not?

That is what I thought. Someone should let Coach Smith know!

I was watching the Western Boone broadcast of this game on YouTube last night. They were saying that last night's win puts Western Boone in 3A next year. Is that right? I always thought they counted the success factor points in specific 2-year cycles and that 2017 and 2018 made one specific cycle and 2019 and 2020 make another. The person doing the broadcast seemed to think it was any 2 consecutive years, 2017 - 1 point 2018 - 4 points 2019 - at least 2 points So they were a point short of moving up after last season. The way I understood the rule was that 2018 doesn't matter anymore and teams won't move again based on success factor until the completion of 2020 when those points are added with 2019. Does anyone know for sure?

Triton Central impressed me today. It will take a really strong performance to knock them off. That touchdown drive that lasted the entire 3rd quarter is something you don't see very often.

MD seems to be imploding.

At least for 2A, there's a line of counties that span the state for which there are no current 2A teams. The line starts with Vigo county on the Illinois border and stretches to Franklin county on the Ohio border. Monroe County is in the middle of that line and Bloomington is probably the most notable city of any in that line (Vigo-Clay-Owen-Monroe-Brown-Bartholomew-Decatur-Franklin) so perhaps that is why it is used as the mythical dividing line. There are only 15 2A schools below that line, so one school had to be sent from above that line to below that line to play in sectionals and that happened to be Triton Central this cycle. In fairness, even 10 years ago it used to be kind of tough to live in one part of the state and follow programs in another. But the truth is that in the era we live in now with some teams broadcasting their entire season on YouTube, streaming radio all over the place, and the use of Twitter and message boards to spread scores and information, there is no good excuse to not be aware of other programs across the state if you want to be aware of them. I was sitting in my house on November 1 watching 3 different 2A games on YouTube (MD vs Linton-Stockton, Western Boone vs North Putnam, and Eastside vs FW Luers) while listening to Eastbrook and Tipton play through a radio stream and occasionally checking Twitter to monitor a number of other games from different areas and classes. If you want to follow programs from anywhere in the state, it's not hard. If you want to only focus on the few good teams in your area, that's even easier.

There's a couple of Linton-Stockton fans (they are reminding me so much of Pioneer fans) around here that apparently don't think anyone north of Bloomington can play football so they may have prematurely written in MD as the 2A finalist but they certainly look capable of doing that. I'm a little surprised when teams like Triton Central, Western Boone, and Heritage Christian are so easily dismissed though. That may be where the "hype" statement originated from, I'm not sure. But MD is certainly a threat and I think most everyone here would agree with that.

If I knew the answer to that, I'd probably be coaching somewhere, or out in Vegas handicapping games. I'm just going by current Sagarin for an objective view of things. And I said Andrean had played teams better than Cass, not West Lafayette. Howerver, here's where these teams are ranked state-wide currently: 16. Merrillville 22. New Prairie 23. West Lafayette 30. Hobart 33. Lewis Cass 62. Pioneer 72. Andrean Obviously you can only take so much from the rankings because we've seen both West Lafayette and Lewis Cass beat one another this year. The main point is that Andrean has played 3 teams ranked around/above Lewis Cass and West Lafayette and I believe they are the only 2A team left that can say that.

I think you're trying to read what I said as a slight to your team and it is actually exactly the opposite. I'm just saying that Cass is #1 and I think that in itself is an intimidation to other programs. I'm not sure anyone left in the 2A tourney besides Andrean can claim that they've played a game against a team better than Cass. Maybe Mater Dei but I don't think Sagarin would agree with that. If Cass should beat Andrean, I think they'll have a big psychological edge to whoever they face in semistate because neither of those teams have faced a team I think is on a similar level. Nobody would expect Cass to be intimidated by anyone the rest of the way. They are certainly the team with the most "swagger" to them right now.

The one thing with Andrean is that they have played against better teams than Lewis Cass this year. They may not have beaten any of them, but they have played against a Merrillville, a New Prairie, and a Hobart. They aren't going to be intimidated or surprised by whatever Lewis Cass brings to the field against them.

Who do you think wins between Cass and Andrean?

If they're scoring on your defense from 40 yards consistently, the choice is irrelevant and results cosmetic.

Yes, I figured they did when someone said they started it earlier in the year. So is this something your team does? If not, why not?

Because everyone loves their playbook against Elwood, Frankfort, and Northwestern. As the opposition gets progressively better, you love that playbook a little bit less. What works against South Newton is probably going to be less effective against Bishop Chatard. If Lewis Cass was going for 2 against West Lafayette, then they probably aren't going to change for anyone they face in the 2A tournament. And they may well be just that much better than what's left out there to where it's a sound strategy. We'll see the next 3 weekends. My take: It's a strategy that will help you win games you were already going to win by more. In a tight game against an evenly-matched competitor, it could easily backfire. IMO it's Lewis Cass betting on themselves that they're going to dominate every opponent. If they're right, they beat Laville by 35 instead of 28. If they're wrong, however, and they underestimate someone, maybe they lose 21-20 somewhere down the line to an evenly-matched opponent who was good enough defensively to stop them on 2 of 3 conversion attempts.

Not sure it mattered where that game was played last year. Mud, grass, turf, the moon....... Plus, as someone else noted, it's an entirely different field than last season.

Your success rate in going for 2 is very dependent on your opponent is it not?

How long has Lewis Cass been going for 2 on every touchdown? Did that just start this year? Is that done based entirely on philosophy or do they lack a good kicker which makes it a better solution for them than if they had a kicker that made an xp almost a sure thing?

I'd certainly open the job up. You never know who might be interested. No reason not to see what all the options are. As long as the process isn't too drawn out, you're probably not going to lose candidates.

I can't say what the right thing to do is in awarding the coaching job, but this area has been looking for a powerhouse program at the top level ever since Geesman retired at Penn. Elkhart High School has a chance if they do it right.

IMO, Mater Dei is the best team left in the south. I think they win this one.

Heritage Christian really shut down Scecina last night. Going to take a great game for anyone to beat them.