GrayingPanther

The SIAC Scallion - Serious scores. Satirical sendups. 5A - SECTIONAL 16 North 17 at Castle 14 - An unnamed Courier and Press staff member comes off a nine week suspension for suggesting the headline “Huskies Rook Knights” after the Huskies win in week-one. Same staff member is put immediately back on suspension for recommending “Knights Lanced By Huskies” when North pulls ahead in their sectional championship rematch. 4A - SECTIONAL 24 Reitz 24 at Memorial 17 - Luke Ellspermann and Roland Vera Jr. continue their versatility/virtuosity contest by selling concessions at halftime and helping the elderly cross streets after the game. Ellspermann claims victory by collecting more in tips at the concession stand. 3A - SECTIONAL 30 Vincennes 27 at Gibson Southern 35 - The Alice’s and Titans play for the newly minted “Old Oaken Tundra.” The trophy is the brainchild of Toyota Motor North America’s marketing team and represents the first vehicle produced at their Gibson County facility. It will be presented to the winner of this and any future matchups between the two schools. Both programs react with a confused shrug. Posting today, I might not have time tomorrow.

I wonder if I can get a refund? It’s also, unsurprisingly, moved to IHSAATV.

I decided to bite the bullet any pay the $10+ - ugh.

The SIAC Scallion - Serious scores. Satirical sendups. 5A - SECTIONAL 16 North 23 at Floyd Central 28 - Coach Bragg meets Coach Peridaen before the game and the two exchanged pleasantries. The conversation turns to a discussion on how hard it is to convey to other Indiana coaches that Evansville and Floyd’s Knob are in Indiana and not KY - in fact southern Indiana is still part of Indiana. Castle 42 at New Albany 12 - Coach Hurt takes his team to the Romeo Langford Court at the Kevin Hammersmith Memorial Park and gives the team an inspirational speech about actualizing your potential. 4A - SECTIONAL 24 Reitz 24 at Bedford NL 15 - Panthers arrive early planning to visit a mural in Bedford commemorating the first meeting between Damon Bailey and Bobby Knight at Heltonville Elementary School - only to learn that the mural is an urban legend. Memorial 29 at Jasper 35- Big Ten expansion runs amuck when Tony Petitti offers both Memorial and Jasper a place in their new BigTenJr. initiative. Petitti explains the move by enthusiastically chortling, “it’s never too early to teach these kids the value of $7 Billion bucks!” Games are to be shown on the new BigTenJr And BigTenJr+ platforms. Mr. Petitti unsurprisingly notes that he expects further brand expansion in the future. 3A - SECTIONAL 30 Pike Central 0 at Vincennes 62 - The Chargers, knowing that Vincennes sports a 54% winning record all-time and the Chargers win at a 16% clip, turn to AI for five keys on how an underdog can beat a heavy favorite. AI helpfully suggests: “Five keys for an underdog high school football team: Study the opponent, develop a balanced game plan, maintain readiness, minimize mistakes, and capitalize on opportunities.” 2A - SECTIONAL 40 North Posey 33 at Mater Dei 16 - Coach Goebel looks to upset the Vikings at home, in his ongoing effort to prevent Mater Dei from hiring a fifth head football coach. Oddly, if form holds the next coach would have the surname “Will.”

That’s good news. Some much better than watching North or Memorial streaming, and flipping through the Evansville Courier & Press for a score update - lol.

Found this write-up for Reitz at BNL on WBIW. There is an outside chance they might stream the audio here. https://www.wbiw.com/2023/10/25/bnl-to-face-second-ranked-reitzs-defensive-demons-in-sectional-24-semifinal/

I noticed that the North and Memorial games are on IHSAATV. Does anyone know if someone is broadcasting (radio or streaming) the other SIAC games?

Sectional 24 Bedford NL 42 Harrison 7 - Warriors fail to wake up the echos of Ryan Hales and CJ Hedgepeth, the authors of the last Harrison team to win a sectional in 2015. Boonville 14 Reitz 35 - Panthers make up for the close loss last year. However, a Reitz assistant coach is forced to run the stairs of Reitz Bowl every day next week after exclaiming, “Hey Pioneers, have you had Benough?”, after Ben Davies throws his second TD. Memorial 48 Central 7 - Coach Hurley cancels his membership in the Coach Prime fan club after the Buffalos embarrassing loss to the Stanford Cardinal . Bryan Harsin reaches out to the the Central Bears about the prospect of an unpaid assistant coaching position. Jasper 35 at Bosse 32 - Coach Lewis instructs staff to deflate all of the practice balls and shows a nonstop highlight loop of Herschel Walker, Red Grange, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, and other great running backs to emphasize the Wildcats run first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth…identity. Sectional 30 Vincennes 26 Owen Valley 13 - Coach Salters arranges a FaceTime between Luke Lindsey and Curtis Painter to get Painter’s insights into playoff football (Somewhere Jim Mora has a heart palpitation at the mere mention of playoffs). Sectional 40 Mater Dei 28 Tell City 26 - After a narrow win, Coach Goebel, recalling a chance meeting he had with Abe Lincoln in his first year at Mater Dei, awkwardly shares with a befuddled Coach Webb his favorite Lincoln quote, “I will prepare and some day my chance will come.” Coach Webb shakes his head as he thanks Goebel.

Sorry, the copy and paste from my phone made the font too large. Take 2: Harrison 14 Bosse 45 - Daily screenings of “Rudy” fail to propel the Warriors to victory. Elijah Wagner, Royal Elliott, and Arron Finnot give the visitors a guided tour of every yard mark and end zone at Enlow. Mater Dei 7 Reitz 35 - Both offenses sluggish in their first series as they shake off the after-effects of excessive consumption of Kuchens, Pork Chop on a Stick, and Ski at last week’s West Side Nut Club Fall Festival. The panthers eventually come to life to easily handle the wildcats, prompting Coach Goebel to quip, paraphrasing Al McGuire, “The best thing about underclassman is that they become upperclassmen.” Memorial 6 Castle 27 - The Knights take advantage the Tigers absences and win comfortably at home. Coach Hurley nixes his plan to tell reporter the following in response to critics of his coaching this year,“In sixteen years of coaching, I’ve come up with two hard, incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and, I’m not him.” Jasper 28 Vincennes 26 - Jasper staff meets with Dr. Rick to discuss their fear of the forward pass. He notes that may teams have had success with the new-fangled innovation since its introduction in 1906. Further stating that it will add a wrinkle to your offense since your opponents know you run the ball nearly 93% of the time. 49-7 Central 0 North 42 - Cainen Northington channels former Huskies great Cornell Garrett and runs for 200+ yards. Central boosters seeking IHSAA approval to give free dinners at Wolfs to the first 20 new players who come out next year. Hopefully Coach Artis can start turning things around with a little more time and a few more athletes coming out.

I agreed Jasper and Castle likely take care of business, and Reitz wins the SiAC by three again. Hard to imagine that but…

Is it usually Friday when everyone adds their predictions?

Any chance this ends by midnight?

Lindsey has 2 field goals and at least 10 yards passing. Is that close enough to 2 TDS and 100+ yards?

Those some difficult choices indeed. I’ll go with: 1. Central scores twice on Castle. Castle gives up about 25 points a game, so it’s possible. As FootballFan2000 correctly notes, Harrison has scored 0, 7 and 12 all their games except at Central. 2. Reitz shuts out Bosse (I guess). No one has held Bosse under 16 this year. Bosse gives up 37 points a game, so Reitz will top that. So even if Bosse scores 28 it won’t be close - so 28 and close is less likely to happen. I picked Reitz 42 Bosse 28 - still not close. 3. Ben Davies throws 200+ yards and 2 TDs. He threw for 2 TDs against a stout Memorial defense, and Bosse’s defense is as stout as a Buckler. Wagner running for 200+ yards a 2 TDs is every bit as likely. Nobody seems to stop him. But if “more likely” is the measure, it goes to Davies. 4. Jasper beats North. Memorial’s D is solid. I don’t see Vincennes being up to the challenge without Hunt. If the Jasper OL can block effectively, and run like they like to do, they could beat North. Again “more likely.” 5. Porter Rose plays and rushes for 100+ yards and 2 TDs. Lindsey has only thrown for 82 yards and 1 TD if MaxPreps is to be believed…so good luck and God bless trying to get 100+ yards and 2 TDS versus Memorial I give Porter Rode on crutches a better chance.

I like your analysis. You’re more bullish on the Panthers than I am, but my score depends how well Reitz can defend Wagner. Otherwise we are in the same ballpark, more or less, for the other games. I gave Castle the 49 based on a running clock, and no defensive scores. Unrelated note: Memorial’s third string QB (Bryant?) looked good in the 4th QTR. Seems like he earned a chance to be the starter (unless/until Fisher is back).

One can kind of guess a range for one or two score games. But can you give us a better idea of what three or four scores means? Hypothetically three scores could mean anywhere from 6 to 24 points, and four scores could be anywhere from 8 to 32 points (i.e., three or four safeties is 6 to 8 points and three to four TDs with 2-point conversion is 24 to 32 points). A 2 to 8 point range for one score is a minimal difference. A 4 to 16 point difference for two scores starts to get troublesome. However ranges of 6 to 24 and 8 to 32 present a marked decrease in utility.

Since stats don't interest anyone, I'll stick with the game notes. I tried harder on the score predictions this week. Castle 49 Central 6 - The Central sideline does a facepalm in unison when an unidentified Sophomore excitedly yelps, “He took it to the mojo dojo casa house!!!!,” after Maximus McCool reels off a 36 yard touchdown run. In an unrelated note, the IHSAA anoints Maximus to the top spot of its “Top 100 Best Names” list. Bosse 28 Reitz 42 - In a quest to burnish his offensive legacy Cory Brunson has his charges practice a fumblerooski, double reverse, flea flicker, halfback pass. He scuttles the play when nobody can pronounce its moniker without laughing: The FuRooDoReFleaHaPa. Mater Dei 28 Harrison 6 - After pointing out to his team that they have scored more than twice as many points as Harrison, Coach Goebel enthusiastically exhorts his troops to carpe bellator! The ol’ ball coach seemly forgets that he is the only native Latin speaker in the room. North 23 Jasper 17 - Jasper staff member finds lost MaxPreps password and promptly enters 141 yards rushing and 80 yards passing for every game since 2004 - In honor of both Jerry Brewer and Jasper’s inceptive MaxPreps entry for the Memorial game on 08/23/2019. Vincennes 6 Memorial 32 - Vincennes nabs Michael Penix Jr. and Memorial snags Sam Hartman in the IHSSA’s newly implemented mid-season Transfer Portal…at least in parallel recurring dreams that Coach Salters and Coach Hurley have been having for the last eight days. Neither QB materials in time to stop the Tigers from taking out their lone-loss frustrations on the Alices.

Agreed, this is a stellar week for close games. I’ll go Courier & Press style and pick scores. Ok I'm serious with the scores, but not the write-ups. Harrison 7 Central 8 - Central wins on a two point conversion (Jacob Tenbarge to Jamontre Johnson) with 52 seconds left. Harrison takes the ensuing kickoff to the Central 5 yard line. Harrison QB then inexplicably takes a knee to preserve the narrow one-point loss. MD 14 Bosse 27 - Coach Mullen rebuffs coach Goebel's halftime offer to trade his entire Sophomore class for Elijah Wagner. Wagner responds with a boffo second half performance Castle 28 Jasper 30 - Coach Lewis sets school record for most running plays in a game by instructing his team to fair-catch all punts and kickoffs. Vincennes 17 North 26 - North gambles twice on offense by running a reverse and a halfback pass. In the same game. Huskies survive this offensive devilry and fend off the Xander Hunt-less Alices. Memorial 7 Reitz 24 - Keifer Sanderson, not to be outdone by Matt Gay, kicks eight field goals for the win. Panthers achieve their preferred score in close games.

The complexion of the Reitz and Memorial game has changed now that Memorial is without QB1 and RB1. The teams are statistically similar - based on data from Maxpreps and Hudl. One primary difference is the percentage of run versus pass yards. For the season, running accounts for 46% of Reitz's total yards, and passing is 54% of their total. For the season, Memorial gets 37% or their yardage from running and 63% for passing. However, Memorial's run/pass percentages have changed dramatically in the last two games (w/o QB1 and RB1). For the first four games Memorial's run/pass percentages were 26 and 74% respectively. But in the last two games Memorial's run/pass percentages are 59% and 41%. The defenses are nearly identical giving up 168.8 yards/game and 188.8 yards/game respectively. (The site would not let me edit the original post to add this).

Fun fact - Reitz and Memorial have allowed 45 points this year, and East Central has allowed 42. Likely the top three 4A teams next week.

Can you cite the source for these estimates?

The 2-way players could be an issue for MD. Brunson has been good at 2nd half adjustments (i.e., Castle and Memorial). Especially in the running game in both cases. Mason Wunderlich is huge and Pierre is talented. MD has some weapons. It will be a tussle for sure.

Looks like Castle at Memorial: Oct 14 — Castle @ Memorial https://www.tristatehomepage.com/home-team-friday/live-stream/

I was able to see the Memorial game (I live in VA now). He didn’t look good early - before he got pulled. And the highlight of an interception vs Bosse looked badly under thrown. They can get it done with Davies or Vera, which is good to know. The only feed for the game I see is: Reitz (8-0) at Mater Dei (6-2), 7 p.m. | WREF-97.7FM I guess no hope for streaming.

Must have dropped in on the week 10 thread - lol. Any thoughts on Reitz “at” MD? MD on a four game streak and looking good. By the way, did Davies injure his throwing or non-throwing shoulder? He doesn’t seem 100% yet (based only on highlights).