Footballmomma

Just now, WCHS Tiger Fan said:

Warsaw has 35 seniors this coming school year and a lot of players coming back this year, they are loaded this year 

Um that’s great not sure how many Valpo or merrillville have. 
 

but I know articles state something about Merrillville and Decauter are senior heavy after being mostly juniors last year. 
 

fact check: merrillville graduated 27 seniors. But only 4 starters

LG, QB, 2DEs. They return everything else unless they lost transfers out. 
 

Valpo graduated 13 starters. Don’t return a whole lot of people that got great playing time 

3 hours ago, Bullhorn99 said:

I agree. I think Jeff might possibly be on a bit of a slow downward trend. Their enrollment is shrinking, and they’re not going to improve much playing what’s left of the NCC.

Are they playing the ncc? Thought they were voted out and are independent now? 

12 minutes ago, BTF said:

Inside the donut: .750

     - I think they would beat the publics and Lutheran, but they'd struggle with Cathedral. Chatard would be a handful most years. Roncalli would be a crapshoot. 

Outside the donut: .250

     -Suburban Indy schools are getting so big it's becoming an unlevel playing field for everyone else. Until Valpo and Merrillville somehow grow by 500-700 students, they would struggle to put together a winning record unfortunately. 

There's a reason we have six classes. Merrillville and Valpo, finally playing within their weight class, will have an opportunity to add to their trophy cases. And that's a compliment. Pound for pound, those two programs are among the best in the state. 

Nice to hear someone give respect to the DAC. I personally think they are a top 3 conference but it’s debatable. I know crown point and merrillville are growing there surrounding area so wouldn’t suprise me to see it. Lake county is supposedly the fastest growing county in Indiana. 
 

if i remember in the paper correctly. Merrillville is in process of building like 700 family homes and have something like 4,000 apartments coming in.. plus a lot of company’s moving corporate warehouses to merrillville/crown point. Crown point is also building a few thousand family homes. Crown point I hear is in process of looking to build a 2nd school. Just looking and merrillville is in the process of getting ready for expansion. Supposedly merrillville is thinking by 2029-2032 they will be around 3500… and crown point will be a little over 4,000 but I mean we gotta see what type of people move in and if they have kids lol. Hard to believe this area up here is changing so much. Lived here all my life. Little side note. Town of merrillville is going to pay andreans school renovations too. 
 

im so ready for football. Gonna be a great year. Go 219!! 

1 hour ago, BTF said:

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I looked a few months ago at who Merrillville and DC were returning for the next season. I feel like both teams return enough to be considered the teams to beat for 2024. Merrillville just seems to reload every year and are always on the cusp. I think the Pirate's program is playing at a higher level than Jeff and Warsaw right now. I like DC's coach, couple that with some returning starters, and I think they are the team out of the south. But East Central seems to reload every year too, so we'll see. 

I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what Warsaw brings back other than a good coach and a stout offensive game plan. The style of ball they play is dangerous, Carroll will tell you. So will Snider for that matter............they had to endure Mishawaka, who plays that same style of offense,  two years in a row. 

I will never understand how snider or Warren struggle with Mishawaka or warsaw when most of the DAC blows them out the water it’s been a while but just don’t see them competing with much of DAC. 

1 hour ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Crown Point winning the North will boil down to who comes out of sectional 2. If Penn does, I expect to see CP back in Semi-state, if Carroll does then that is a toss up. Carroll is a better program top to bottom right now, and I expect them to be more prepared for what CP has to offer than Penn will. I think it also depends what 16 teams end up in the North and how the sectionals shake out how hard of a road CP will end up having. 

Right now I say the winner of the North will come down to Westfield, HSE or Fishers. CP is not far behind, but I will always put my money on 6A indy before 6A north. 

I like Snider in sectional 3, but depending who they are grouped with, will dictate how far I think they will make it. 

I can say crown point hit that transfer portal hard. Saw them in “spring” practice. They seem to have gotten a lot darker and a lot more athletic. They were running a full fledge scrimmage basically! 

1 hour ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Crown Point winning the North will boil down to who comes out of sectional 2. If Penn does, I expect to see CP back in Semi-state, if Carroll does then that is a toss up. Carroll is a better program top to bottom right now, and I expect them to be more prepared for what CP has to offer than Penn will. I think it also depends what 16 teams end up in the North and how the sectionals shake out how hard of a road CP will end up having. 

Right now I say the winner of the North will come down to Westfield, HSE or Fishers. CP is not far behind, but I will always put my money on 6A indy before 6A north. 

I like Snider in sectional 3, but depending who they are grouped with, will dictate how far I think they will make it. 

Not to disagree but I think merrillville/Valpo are better than about half the Indy schools. I think if they had a weekly schedule with them people would be suprised to see them come out above .500. 

32 minutes ago, BTF said:

My early prediction is a state title matchup between Merrillville and Decatur Central in a game that will go to the wire. I think East Central will be the biggest challenge to DC. Valpo and Warsaw will challenge Merrillville. 

You really think Merrillville will go this year? Heard they have a lot of depth this year but not as many skill players. But the have a QB that has a cannon for an arm. So it could work out. 

11 minutes ago, BTF said:

Warsaw waxed one of 6A's better teams last year. The potential is there. I personally don't see Jeff "steamrolling" them. They're a lot like Mishawaka. Bring your A game, or you're done. 

Won’t disagree I just hate there style of offense it’s just so boring. And the defense isn’t always great for warsaw! Didn’t they graduate most there team?

22 minutes ago, oldtimeqb said:

I think Castle will be improved and should crack the top 10.  Maybe slotted in for Bloomington North around 9.  

East Central really intrigues me too.  I think they could have won 5A last year, but they will have to replace almost every offensive skill player, including Mr. Football.  Weeks 1-3 and 9 are the only games where you could judge their relative strength until playoffs. 

Castle I have just outside just feel they have a small shot to win sectionals 

13 minutes ago, BTF said:

My early prediction is a state title matchup between Merrillville and Decatur Central in a game that will go to the wire. I think East Central will be the biggest challenge to DC. Valpo and Warsaw will challenge Merrillville. 

You think Warsaw? I truthfully think laffyette will steamroll Warsaw. They see the triple option and Warsaw doesn’t play anyone with speed. 

57 minutes ago, Bobref said:

He was on the GID … briefly. It didn’t work out. 😂

So yall kicked him out because of that? 99% of the stuff he says turns out to be truth just takes time lol 😂 

hate to say it but I think someone in DAC wins 5A this years and I think crown point gets back to state again this year in 6A but still gets stomped 

8 minutes ago, Bobref said:

That never stopped him before. 🤣😂😅

So I have seen. 😂 he seems to be very popular and he leans into the role of getting the page going on Facebook! Is he on here at all? If so what’s his name? I need to see the controversy he creates🤣

I have been around region football since I was 5. Watching my brothers and now my sons grow up and play. We have always be fascinated with the talent level in the area. But I wanted to attempt to take a stab at 5A and see what you guys are 💭.

1. Decatur central (was state runner up)

2. Merrillville (north semis runner up)

3. Valpo (regional runner up to #2)

4. Bloomington south (semi runner up)

5. Whiteland (regional runner up) 

6. Lafayette Jefferson (down from 6A) 

7. East central (back to back state titles 4A)

8. Warsaw( down from 6A)

9. Bloomington north

10. Hammond Morton (multiple D1s back)

feel like some of these can be switched but I think the top 2 are perfect? What do you guys think. (Doing one for 3A shortly) 

13 hours ago, BTF said:

The Valpo/Penn series was a good one, I'm surprised they are letting it go. I think Valpo/Homestead is a hell of a matchup. They won't back down from HSE one iota if it happens to be them. Stout program Valpo is. 

Like I said I’m. It sure if it was homestead or Hamilton southeastern. But I get that. Actually heard Penn was dropping Valpo due to the fact they wanted to play the pirates and get that classic rivalry back. But I could be wrong. I asked Merrillville Superfan on Facebook but he said for once he has no answers 😂 he said they have a week 2 opening after dropping Hobart following this year. And they were rumored to move Andrean to week 2 and take Penn week 1 but there hasn’t been any confirmation. They apparently have multiple options. He said something about the following schools have reached out to them (Penn, Lafayette jeff, Warsaw, fw snider, Hanover central, Westfield, Zionsville) also said they are exploring opportunities out of state.
-took that from his message back to me. But he said to sit back and wait and find out.

but yes call and Penn ending is odd. I wish Hobart would go schedule a bigger school outside region. Andrean is trying to get cathedral on there schedule also. 

6 hours ago, CoachMack219 said:

Cannot confirm, however I am in the same 99% group as yourself. I believe all of the above is true. But like you, I'm also SLIGHTLY unsure. If anyone knows better, happy to hear!

It’s just kids with hearsay I guess. But at one point and time Valpo gave Hamilton southeastern on there MaxPreps schedule for this upcoming season. And now it seems to be that it’s the year after. As I said anyone correct me if I’m wrong. Please. My son right now is homeschooled but he loves Hobart football. We are trying to find the right fit for him. I don’t necessarily like the coach staff at Hobart. Nothing against the as role models just the game planning aspect. We are leaning in enrolling him at Andrean or merrillville. 
 

Andrean is top notch academics. And solid athletics! But word is merrillville is returning everything they had plus some and are 100% on par for that state championship game. Plus they have a lot more diversity. I think I’m gonna end up letting my son decide but I’ll be here all year. I graduated from Griffith so I know all about region football 

On 4/9/2024 at 1:49 PM, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Unless Penn convinces the NIC to find schools to add or drops the 7 game conference schedule, Penn will likely be playing Valpo and Mishawaka weeks one and two for the foreseeable future.

Maybe Coach Pete, will not care about upsetting people and send the JV to play the SB schools. 

If I’m not mistaken. And please correct me if I’m false but I’m 99% sure that this is the last year for Valpo and Penn. my son that has friends at Valpo said they are playing Hamilton southeastern or homestead after this upcoming season ? And that Penn was supposed to be putting Merrillville back on schedule for week 2? I could be wrong. I’ll have to ask. Just heard from others that Valpo was playing someone new week 1 after next season and Penn was gonna take merrillville back on the schedule? 
 

Hobart dropped merrillville after this upcoming season.