XStar

Thank you! If everyone was a good, stand-up person like you, we'd meet that goal in no time.

Adults can understand that the condition a school system is a direct reflection of how it is run which runs into the type of stuff you're afraid to discuss. It's also the underlying problem related to why the football programs, along with everything else in SBCSC, are failing. That's not political opinion. That's a matter of fact whether we're looking at results on the football field or in the classroom. Please make use of the link below. https://gridirondigest.net/clients/donations/3-2021-22-budget/ Don't disagree.

If that's the case, they (Luers) probably wouldn't be mad when they see public schools getting it.

Yeah. I also watched them beat Western Boone who is currently 89th. Like I said, something seems funky with the Hoosier Conference rankings for some reason. I tend to think they are undervalued currently.

My understanding is that most schools fund their turf privately but I admittedly don't know the details on many of them. Penn has had turf for a long time now but I recall them soliciting private donations for it. Still surprising to me that Luers can't find a way to fund it. Off the top of my head, I know they have professional football and baseball players that have made pretty good money and I'm sure there are some other wealthy families in the fold.

This is true whether it is the cause of St. Joe's problems or the result of them. I tend to think the latter. I don't think many people outside the area understand the alternatives to the South Bend schools. Marian and St. Joe are only separated by 4 miles. Only 5 between St. Joe and Mishawaka. There are plenty of reasonable, viable options to the east, west, and south also if your kid wants to play on a winning football team other than schools with "South Bend" in their name. I think when St. Joe shows some promise, they'll start getting more of those players from the area. Until then, they'll probably flock to Marian if they want the Catholic education and perhaps one the closer public schools outside of South Bend if they don't care about going Catholic. I have a friend that coaches girl's basketball and the last time the St. Joe job was open I asked him if he'd be interested in it and, to my surprise given their success in that program historically, he said no and cited uncompetitive pay as the reason. Maybe that's an issue in other sports as well. I'm not sure. I'd really be surprised if Marian can afford better coaches than St. Joe but perhaps that's the case?

I have a hard time with the SOS for both. Eastbrook hasn't played a team this season with a Sagarin in the top 120. Sounds like they had an opportunity to pick one up a few weeks ago (Harrison) and passed on it. I just don't think that sets you up to beat Luers or Andrean. Likewise, Tipton hasn't played a game against a top 100 team. I do think the Hoosier Conference is a bit undervalued in the rankings for whatever reason right now because I think both Western and LCC are top 100 teams (they have them just outside of the top 100 right now) and Tipton has played those 2 teams three times. Anyway, the SOS for both is in the mid 200's. I could be wrong, but I don't like either of those two to knock off Luers this season. I'd love to be wrong about Tipton though. You could be right about Scecina though. They've played a top-100 schedule and appear to have improved as the season progressed. Have a hard time processing the loss to Speedway but those don't always mean alot. I mean, Western Boone lost their first game to Sheridan last year and Luers started the tournament with a losing record. Most of the time, competitive games, even losses, to good teams tell you more about yourself than routing terrible teams 50-0.

For St. Joe, I think it's just as simple as they haven't been the same since the Downey's left. The problems with the public South Bend schools I've been told we can't talk about here.

I never said anything about free loading. My suggestion was that if you want to run around here and pretend like you run the site and tell people to take their conversation elsewhere, perhaps you should at least contribute $30 a year to support the site. If you can't afford it, that's fine. Not everyone can. I'd just be a little less militant about telling others what to talk about.

See these possibilities. North: Luers, Andrean, Eastside South: Linton-Stockton, Mater Dei Would not be shocked by any of those 5. Anyone outside of that group would be somewhere between surprising and shocking depending on who it is.

First, I haven't gone beyond the football part of this. Second, maybe you should consider supporting this site financially before you go running around trying to dictate what everyone discusses?

In this case, the two are tied together. If you lived here, you'd know that. I'm fine if people here are afraid to discuss such things but it's not possible to appropriately address the question asked without going down that road. It's like trying to explain why the radio in a car won't work without discussing the fact that the car was totaled in an accident. Football is the least of the problems of South Bend schools and not any sort of priority whatsoever of those running things. Nor should it be. I won't go any further down that road than that because that's where the football stops and the stuff you're afraid to talk about begins.

I haven't seen enough of GS to know exactly what their offense looks like. Obviously they have quite the passing game with Allen at QB. I'll throw the same question here as I do for Luers in 2A. If weather negates that passing game some weekend, could that create issues trying to beat a good team or is their running game and defense good enough to get it done should it not be able to move the ball through the air in a regional or semi-state game?

Eh. I'm sure he's good and he'll get his stats because other teams will go into that matchup trying to stop the passing game. Lots of running backs would run wild in that offense. Clark and Glenn drive that bus though.

Still think Luers could be vulnerable if the weather neutralizes their passing game in the wrong week. Otherwise, it's theirs to lose.

Who cares? If you put 8 of the worst teams in the class in one sectional and they all have exactly 12.5% chance to win it, that doesn't make the sectional relevant. Competitive, perhaps, but not relevant. The other sectionals have at least one top-ten ranked team, if not two. As I stated earlier, it would be a tremendous upset for whoever wins 34 to advance further which is what makes it irrelevant.

No Lebanon-Western Boone discussion this week? Has the Norman run surfaced on social media yet?

I think there are plenty of reasons for Tipton to stay in the Hoosier Conference, but they've only won 1 sectional in the last 7 seasons so I'm not sure that is the strongest argument. It has more to do with the two terrible non-conference games they usually schedule though. Elwood and Madison-Grant (or Frankton) don't do anything for them at all.

I've discussed this sectional and how poor the field is this season. Not much more to be said about that. If someone else wants to discuss public/privates, I'll engage that as well.

Yes. Certainly we want to stay focused on the least relevant sectional in 2A North!!

Your statement regarding Marian may be true but also ignores the fact they were almost inarguably the second best team in 3A just last season and was the only team to come within 10 points of Chatard in the tournament. They aren't the same team as last season, but they have been one of the better programs in the class over the last six seasons. 6 straight sectionals and 4 regionals in that stretch. Their 4 semi-state losses were to West Lafayette, Brebeuf, and Chatard twice. Two of those losses were by less than a touchdown. They haven't reached the summit but they're knocking on the door. I'm not sure they are better than Brebeuf this season but I've certainly seen bigger upsets happen. It's not like we're talking about Crawfordsville or something.

I certainly wouldn't rule out a run by Marian. They've played a tough schedule and a bunch of larger schools and appear to have improved from when I saw them play earlier in the year. They also have one of the top playmakers in 3A in Greg Atkinson. I wouldn't be that surprised if they beat Brebeuf or West Lafayette. I'm certainly expecting them to play one of those two and I don't think they'll be in over their heads in that matchup. In the south, I'm going with Danville. I hope Gibson Southern plays up to their lofty ranking but want to see them go to state sometime before I predict it to happen. At the end of the day, most are probably expecting a matchup of 2 future Boilermakers with Strickland chasing Allen around on Thanksgiving weekend.

Love this point. Exactly the way I would be thinking if I played or coaches for one of those small-school power programs. Why do I want to end my season with a walk-through of the playoffs that represent worse competition than I've been facing all season long. I would want winning to mean something, even if that means you risk losing at a competitive level rather than winning at a lower level you'd dominate. Schools have an opportunity to opt up to play in a higher class, and props to the couple of schools that have voluntarily chosen to do that in the past. I'm pretty sure Mishawaka opted to play in 5A for a cycle when they would've been 4A otherwise. I think I remember a 2nd program did so as well but the school escapes me at the moment.

Hear there is still alot of bad blood from those meetings.

Not meant to shock anyone but it does represent a change from the past number of seasons where there were teams from this sectional who could and did compete with those teams. Pioneer did all but knock out Luers last season and very well might have if not for a key injury in that game. Luers were quite fortunate to come out on top there. Lewis Cass was top ranked going into the 2019 playoffs if I'm not mistaken. As for whether those private schools should be in 2A, I guess I don't see a huge problem with it. A private school hasn't actually won the class the past 4 years and only got to the title game last year in that stretch. Yeah, Luers could rip off a 5-year stretch of titles at any given point in time but SF will elevate them above 2A if that is the case now. I don't know if they are subject to SF rules after this year or next year but if it's this season then they might be in 3A next year if they go deep again as expected at this point.