Just a dad

Catholics have more “athletes per capita” due to all of the calisthenics they do in mass. Stand, sit, kneel, sit, stand, walk to the alter, genuflect, walk back, turn and shake hands, sit, stand…Did I miss any? Now we know the real secret to their success.

@BTF I agree. One of the things that people miss in this entire discussion is that there is a difference between public school education in the city vs rural public schools. There are a lot of parents within the city that choose private school, and make the financial sacrifices, because they want to be free of the agendas of the public school system school boards and also give their kids the best education. If the experience was similar between public vs private in the city I know I would have chosen to send my kid to public school. Unfortunately, given the level of academic performance of most of the local public schools, sending a kid with college aspirations there would be akin to child neglect. I attended a rural public school and my wife attended an urban public school (Both 40 years ago). Our choice, all things being equal, would have been to send our kids to public school. The education, though, has no comparison. With education being the primary driver of parental decision, extracurricular activities become a bonus. If parents are already choosing to put their kids into a new school should they be faulted for choosing the one that will also give their kid the best athletic experience as well? i would propose that private schools don’t recruit but they do benefit greatly from such a poor private school experience that drives some parents/kids to the private system. Maybe, if public schools should be bumped up a classification, city schools should be bumped down one. After all, they are losing the talent so maybe it would allow them to also be competitive. Maybe there should be a component that also takes into consideration kids that transfer into or out of a school district. A big problem with this issue, and one that limits creative solutions is that private school parents are made out to be championship trophy chasers. Acknowledging that both sides have valid issues would go a long way toward resolving this issue. That being said, the whole system stinks. There is no good solution. Someone will always be unhappy. Competitive balance will never exist. My opinion is worthless. I hope this whole issue is a minor one in everyone’s life and that the kids all grow up to be happy, healthy adults who get to make these choices and participate in these discussions for their own children. Until then lets revisit it every year. We can make it a holiday tradition. After all, tradition never graduates.

Since all of the good players are recruited to Private schools does that mean that the All-State teams are full of Private School kids? Should there be a Mr. Private Football and a Mr. Public Football?

@Moonpie29I hope I didn’t come across as trying to out coach a very successful coach. I was just really curious and your explanation makes perfect sense. Thanks and, as @TheDoctor22 said, congrats on a great season. Now, how about a scouting report on Lawrenceburg for next season?

@gonzoronJust trying to help those people that apparently weren’t even ready for this year.

So back to talk about the game. Are there any Lawrenceburg fans that can tell me if there was ever a real attempt by the team to develop a passing side of the playbook during their season? I realize they are a running team and that served them very well during the year. Winning games 47=0 is great when you have a strong defense and can run teams into submission but at some point every team has to throw the ball. I just don’t understand why they didn’t give their QB chances during the season (they threw about 6 passes a game) to work on some short to intermediate passing concepts. Even against subpar competition it helps develop rhythm and confidence. That seems to be the real flaw in their preparation and it likely cost them the state title. They have some really good players and will likely continue to make long runs in the playoffs (at least in the near future) but I wouldn’t be surprised if being one dimensional continued to cost them in some big games.

@Donnie BakerUs Chatard fans aren’t permitted to support anyone’s “anal budget”. Not judging.

@foxbat So maybe they throw in a “Dynasty Factor”. For example, If you play in the state championship game 3 out of 5 years you get moved up permanently?

@foxbat I’m trying to get my brain wrapped around the SF thing so I hope you don’t mind me asking a few questions. Why don’t they treat it like British soccer leagues? Every year move up the two teams that play for the state title (or all 4 semi-state participants if you like) and move down the same corresponding number of teams. At some point all of the teams will trickle up or down to where their program belongs. They could recognize the teams in each class that punched highest above their weight and give them some sort of an award. It would allow them to brag about their program evenn if they don’t win a state title. Also, why is it such a big deal to reseed the teams each year? It seems like something that a few people could do over a weekend. Thanks

@RingLeader#12 for BC is Colin Guy. He played his best game of the year. If he doesn’t make 3 big plays then Lawrenceburg’s offensive line would have deserved to be who everyone is talking about today. Those boys were just road graders.

@Titan32You call me “Cover Zero” then say you won’t resort to name calling. LOL. I’m done with you.

Congrats to all that survived the grind. Special memories for a lot of boys.

@Titan32Like a spurned 5 year old that has a crush on his babysitter. You want to be welcomed and embraced but you keep screwing it up by trying to be tough. Come here, big guy, you can sit next to me and cry. I won’t judge you. PS: They did play man with some Cover Zero. It didn’t work out too well. So call me whatever you like but you are going to have to call BC State Champions for another year.

@PeakedinHighscoolHe actually has a crush on BC and is just lashing out because the love isn’t returned so he blames “the system”. He probably cries himself to sleep at night while clinging to his favorite BC tshirt.

The first half was a slug fest. Lawrenceburg has a really nice running game. You can tell that those kids rep those plays a lot. They are very well coached and did not make may mistakes. Each team converted some big plays and the momentum swung back and forth a few times. It was a fun game to watch. Chatard’s passing game was the difference, though. When Lawrenceburg got behind by 10 it made for a very steep hill for them to climb. Throwing the ball just isn’t their game. It led to turnovers and that was the game. 3 second half INT’s (two of them on back to back possessions) really looked like it took the wind out of Lawrenceburg. No shame in having your only two losses of the year be to the 3A and 4A state champs. Much respect to those kids. PS: Some radio station in the Lawrenceburg area said BC players were like 9th graders and shouldn’t even bother showing up. That made it to the team during the week and really fueled their fire. Thanks for the bulletin board material.

I’m really curious how Lawrenceburg will choose to play defense. It looks like they like to play man-to-man with some cover zero. BC has 4 kids with 49+ catches and the QB has completed 68% of his passes. Guerin tried to play this way in the playoffs and that score was very lopsided. Has Lawrenceburg faced a team that can throw the ball this well?

@Lburg3Peat you are correct.

So I had to go to Calpreps to get a projection tool that works on the ipad so here is some worthless info that I dug up to fill my time between now and Saturday. Lawrenceburg 10 vs East Central 28 Lawrenceburg 21 vs New Prairie 22 Lawrenceburg 14 vs Roncalli 27 Chatard 20 vs East Central 24 Chatard 27 vs New Prairie 20 Chatard 19 vs Roncalli 21 Lawrenceburg 17 vs Chatard 24 Looks like either of these teams could be competitive in 4A

Since there are no direct head to head opponents take this for what it is worth. (National rankings from Calpreps are in parenthesis): East Central 38 (#226) vs Lawrenceburg 3 (#845) East Central 24 (#226) vs Roncallli 21 (#221) (OT) Roncalli 17 (#221) vs Chatard 14 (#525) (on a FG with 8 seconds left) Chatard 16 (#525) vs Cincinnati Elder 21 (#112) Roncalli 23 (#221) vs Cincinnati Elder 24 (#112) Chatard's losses have come against the #65 (Christian Brothers), #110 (Cathedral), #112 (Cincinnati Elder) and #221 (Roncalli) ranked teams in the nation. Lawrenceburg has lost to #226 (East Central) Lawrenceburg’s highest ranked win is against #2324 Southridge Chatard has beaten #645 (Brebeuf), #1001 (West Laf), and #1885 (Guerin 2x) I hope it is a good game because that would be fun to watch but I’m not so sure I’d wager money on Lawrenceburg being within 2 touchdowns when the final horn sounds. I wanted to say 4 TD’s but that might cause a fight.

Went over to MaxPreps and looked at the rosters for both teams. WL only has 2 players listed above 230lbs (one is a massive 290+). Their DL look to be under 200 lbs and their safety's are about 150 lbs. How did they hold up in their first game (can’t find the film on yout*be)? Have they played anyone who has more size and has had success running on them? I’m sure that Roncalli’s line (or Cathedral’s or Elder’s) isn’t an even comparison and I know how BC did against those teams. Jut curious as to how well they handle thee running game. Thanks

It’s tough to compare these two teams based solely on the “”eyeball” test. After all, quality of opponent during the time you put eyeballs on the team is really important. Some kids look big and fast against their competition but then, when they play bigger faster teams, they just seem average. With no common opponent how do you judge? From looking at Calpreps it is clear that WL scores a lot and gives up very little. They have some impressive offensive numbers. But then Calpreps shows that BC has played 7 games against opponents that are higher rated nationally (take this for what it’s worth) than WL’s toughest opponent. BC is 3-4 in those 7 games but the 4 losses are against teams ranked in the top 200 in the country. Sure, they got blown out by Cathedral and Christian Brothers scored a ton of points on them as well but those are 6A schools that are likely to play for their state championships. On any day any kid can have the best or worst game of their life. Cold can be a factor as some QB’s can’t throw as well in it and some kids don’t like to hit hard or be hit hard when they are cold. What I do see is that WL seems to have a very talented kid playing QB. BC has no “stars”. Can BC stop Mullins? If so, who does WL have to carry the load? They seem to have a good RB but can he be “the guy”? BC’s QB has thrown for nearly 3,000 yards and 30 TDs (similar numbers to Mullins) but no receiver has over 800 yards or more than 10 TDs. Four kids have over 30 catches. They typically play 3 RBs during the course of a game. This weeks leading rusher had 150 yards on 19 carries and 4 TD’s. It seems that there is more for WL to worry about shutting down but, again, I only see what is on film for WL. What I do know is that few teams are able to sustain multiple drives against BC in any game. Their weakness is in giving up the big play. If they (and the weather) force WL to sustain drives to win this game then I do’t see WL achieving their goals. If they can pop 1-2 big plays then it’s a whole different ball game. If Temp knows what he is talking about, he has WL ranked just behind Brebeuf and Chatard beat Brebeuf pretty handily in the first game of the season at LOS (at least according to my eye test). My guess is that it will be decided by less than a TD. Either way, the winner will deserve their shot at the state title and likely be the favorite to win it. Good luck to both teams and lets all get home with great memories and no injuries. And a BC victory would be nice.

@Bobref I’ve watched all of Chatard’s games this year and have seen exactly zero snaps of cover zero or cover one. Those two coverages require some very skilled DDB’s. Guerin tried to do that in the playoff game against Chatard (sell out to stop the run) and got bombed repeatedly. I can’t see either team disrespecting the QB’s arms in this game. Should be a fun one to watch.

@dazed and confusedGotta love a good 28 story. Just shows that anything can happen. As an outsider, that’s what makes Indiana postseason so interesting. I’d love to see them continue the Cinderrella story for one more week.

The weather might be both teams toughest opponent today. Good luck to all the participants.

As a Chatard fan, it was a lot of fun watching Kolton Nanko (Yorktown) play his heart out last night. What a tough kid who absolutely played his tail off. Not really sure how he kept dragging himself back up off of the turf but it showed a lot of heart. In a dog fight I’d put my money on him as a “last dog standing” every time. I’m sure their entire team gave their all as they played penalty free football (which shows discipline and focus) but he really stands out. That kid has a future in football for sure. Good luck to him and the rest of their seniors and thanks for a fun game.