crimsonace1

Here's the record-breaking run. https://twitter.com/NPHSDragons/status/1170124551411425281

I'm not sure it still exists, but when I worked at the Greencastle newspaper in 1997, the four county schools had a traveling trophy called the "Putnam County Bucket." It was a wooden bucket that was painted in each of the four schools' colors, and would be held by the winning school until it was beaten by another county team. The trophy was unique in that it was both a football and basketball trophy - the holder of the bucket at the end of football season would then pass it over to the county champion in basketball (the county tourney starts the year), and then whoever held it after the regular season ended in basketball would be the holder at the start of football.

New Palestine & Mt. Vernon play for the Boundary Rail, a piece of the old interurban track that ran along U.S. 40, along the rough boundary between the two school districts (the actual township line is a couple few hundred feet north of U.S. 40). That trophy came about because of the GID. Tim Adams was MV's DC at the time, former MV player Josh Short had the rail, restored it and donated it, and I was the sports editor of the local newspaper and helped publicize it. Between us, the idea came about and some new traditions have developed (such as the winning team painting the rail in school colors when it changes hands ... now that both teams have turf, they'll have to be a bit more careful). Next week will be the 15th meeting for the Rail. Not long after, Eastern Hancock and Knightstown developed the Plow Share & Anvil Trophy for their rivalry.

If something went seriously wrong, it could come crashing down on the players and cause a significant injury (or worse if it fails over the stands). Better to simply prevent them, just as a safety issue. I'm not sure they give a significantly better angle than a high endzone camera and the existing sideline cam.

Charlie Spegal is 11 yards away from breaking Sammy Mireles' state rushing record of 8,110 yards, and so he's likely to break it Friday night vs. Yorktown. Mireles is going to be in attendance to honor Charlie during the game. Really first-class for him to be there and be a part of this occasion. They're the only two backs in IHSAA football history to rush for more than 8,000 yards.

John is a great guy. Very quiet, very reserved, very much a behind-the-scenes person when he was running the incredible Bloomington Herald-Times sports section. And he's done more for HS football (and hoops) than just about any.

Thanks. I needed the polls to finish the game notes I send out to local media each week.

Greg Rakestraw just posted the AP polls on his Twitter feed 1A AP FB poll: #1 Lutheran, #2 North Vermillion, #3 Adams Central, #4 South Adams, #5 Monroe Central, #6 Churubusco, #7 Parke Heritage, #8 Southwood, #9 West Washington, #10 Attica 2A AP FB poll: #1 Scecina, #2 Ev. Mater Dei, #3 Lewis Cass, #4 Triton Central, #5 Rensselaer Central, #6 Western Boone, #7 LaVille, #8 Pioneer, #9 Andrean, #10 Heritage Christian. 3A AP FB poll: #1 Chatard, #2 Gibson Southern, #3 Heritage Hills, #4 West Lafayette, #5 Guerin Catholic, #6 Mishawaka Marian, #7 Brownstown, #8 Brebeuf, #9 Southridge, T10 Knox/Yorktown. 4A AP FB poll: T1st East Central/Mooresville, #3 New Prairie, #4 Martinsville, #5 Mississinewa, #6 Marion, #7 Ev. Memorial, #8 East Noble, #9 NorthWood, #10 Delta 5A AP FB poll: #1 New Palestine, #2 Cathedral, T3 FW Dwenger/Valpo, #5 Concord, #6 TH South, #7 Elkhart Central, #8 Michigan City, #9 Plainfield, #10 TH North. AP 6A FB poll: #1 Avon, #2 Warren Central, #3 Carmel, #4 Lafayette Jeff, #5 Brownsburg, #6 FW Snider, #7 Fishers, #8 Lawrence North, #9 Center Grove, #10 Westfield.

Has anyone see the IFCA Week 3 poll as of yet? I haven't been able to find it.

Coach Gaddis was a teacher of mine at Pike. I didn't play football, but he saw talent and passion in me for this sport (and for sports) and encouraged me to pursue a path of sports journalism. I was considering it anyway, but that helped validate that career choice. We've had the chance to catch up when New Pal plays Columbus East, and he's absolutely a first-class coach and person. Those are both guys I'd run through a wall for. Two coaches who do things the right way. There's a TON of mutual respect between these two programs.

He runs the 100 meters for NP's track team. He combines speed with difficulty to take down and is a real treat to watch in the open field (his run at the end of the first half in last year's title game was one of the most impressive runs I've ever seen). I'd take Charlie Spegal on my team in a heartbeat.

It has been a long time since I'd been at CG for a game. Atmosphere is incredible. They make games a community event and put on a party.

I heard the same things from fans of other MIC schools, one in particular. One other thing I'd add is that not only is this team incredibly well-coached, getting it done in the weight room, has complete buy-in from throughout the program, and it's got a special senior class that's incredibly talented (with three players with D1 offers) ... the program is sound. There's a well-run youth league where players are getting good coaching and lots of reps starting in the first grade. There's a commitment to football throughout the community ... and that's likely to keep growing as the community grows. New Palestine is about to see a population explosion, as more than 1,000 houses are under construction or approved in the community right now.

And a guy you didn't mention, Kyle King, is headed to Michigan State. He could easily be the Mr. Football position award winner at DL.

If this were 1985, every major college program in the country would be lined up at the door. But he's projected as a fullback - a position few college teams use anymore. Charlie is faster than he looks. If he goes to West Point (which is one of the FCS schools where he has an offer), he'll thrive in their offense (and set himself up for life with a great education and a career as an officer in the military). Wherever he goes, he'll be a critical player for them.

Having witnessed many of his games, tonight might have been the most impressive. CG's defense is big, stout and fundamentally-sound. Charlie ran for 218 tonight - but of that, it was 128 on 15 carries in the second half. I wasn't expecting him to get anywhere near the record tonight, but I'm glad he'll have the opportunity to break it on his home field.

I wasn't suggesting rural areas can't compete. I was noting the demographic changes a number of rural county seats have dealt with. Marion has lost about 30% of its population since its peak and is now a 3A-sized basketball school. Frankfort has lost population. Anderson and Muncie have gone from three high schools to one. Martinsville, Blackford, Jennings County, et al, have seen significant changes. Greensburg & Princeton have been bolstered by Honda & Toyota. That doesn't always translate to "struggle to be successful on the field," but simply noting they're losing population and dealing with economic change, which can change the participation numbers and affect the competitiveness level in sports. East Central is exurban Cincinnati. New Prairie sits right between South Bend & Michigan City. NorthWood is a suburb of Elkhart. Mississinewa has absorbed a lot of the people moving from Marion and also serves the biggest employer of highly-educated people in Grant County in IWU. And none are rural county seat schools, which was the original point I made. Places perceived as suburban or exurban are likely going to not deal with the significant socioeconomic changes as county seat schools deal with factory closures and economic change. That's especially because county seats tend to have developed earlier and thus have older housing stock, which isn't as attractive to higher-income residents (who might be more likely to build a newer house in Pendleton or Yorktown than live in Anderson or Muncie), and those higher-income residents have more access to specialized training and programs (and this isn't an issue with football, but with many other sports - travel teams) that can impact a high school team's success.

I prefer to use the word "growth" rather than sprawl. The majority of Americans prefer to live in suburbs for a reason. We get the benefits of community - the feeling of being a part of a small town - while also being close to jobs. Indianapolis and Central Indiana's growth will certainly affect the donut county schools, and it should. New Palestine is actually the smallest public high school bordering Marion County (with the exception of Triton Central, but that is because Shelby County refuses to approve any new housing developments). New Palestine "benefits" by having good schools, a good community and, most of all, a great location. Our community's makeup, socioeconomics and development are similar to Center Grove (although CG is about 15 years ahead of us on the development arc) ... which is likely why there is so much mutual respect between the two communities and the two football programs. Property values are significantly higher here than in every school district that borders us *and* there's a building boom that will likely push NP into 5A by enrollment within the next few years.

New Pal scored 854 points in 2015. That had been the state record.

Also time for a generation of community change. Over the last 18 years, we've seen a generation of graduates leave smaller rural towns & rural county seats for larger cities/suburbs. Frankfort has seen about 5 percent population decline in that time. It also has a growing immigrant population (where football isn't as likely to be part of the culture). It's a big issue not just in Frankfort, but in a *lot* of rural county seats.

It's socioeconomics. Frankfort has a high transient and high lower-income population. Sports really aren't on the priority list for a lot of parents, so the kids are not as likely to participate (and those who do aren't as likely to play on high-level travel teams from the moment they start walking like kids in suburban communities do).

Charlie Spegal was at 7,699 rushing yards and 722 points at the end of last season (now at 7,880 and 746). Also, New Palestine had 54 consecutive regular season wins at the end of last season (now 55). There are a couple of other omissions for NP (10 sectional titles, 6 regional titles, 4 State Finals appearances). That 2015 New Pal team put up 7,701 yards in just 14 games, too ... they were in 5A and drew a bye in the first round of the tourney.

Post game broadcasts for the 2019 season. All New Palestine games will be on NewPalRadio.com, with coverage starting one hour before kickoff.

IMO, the main reason is because the football class alignments had already been announced before the bylaw change was proposed and voted on (the sectional alignments had likely also been put together). I don't know if it would have affected any other fall sports (volleyball the most likely), but those schools did not move up, either. Only the winter & spring. Bobby Cox hinted at this when the "stay up" threshold was lowered from 4 to 3. In an interview with Bob Lovell several years ago, he said quite a few members considered winning a sectional in the higher class to be enough evidence of success to stay up. I'm not surprised at all it was lowered again to 2.

Why has the MIC, arguably the best conference in the Midwest, stayed at eight ... as have most other leagues? Even when the MIC added Pike & LC, it did so by shedding THN/THS. The SAC is basically a municipal conference. The SIAC is geographically isolated and have all of the big schools AND the p/ps who play at a big school level in that corner of the state. Once Jasper & Vincennes got hung out to dry with Mt. Carmel being forced to leave the Big 8 (thus leaving the league at five teams), those two schools were essentially left without a league. Adding them keeps travel headaches at a minimum since those are essentially the only large schools in the area. Of the two leagues you mention, the HCC is at eight schools and doesn't really have a need to expand at the moment. Who would it pick up? Terre Haute North/South, possibly, but they are geographic outliers. Unless the HCC splits up and the western schools (Brownsburg/Avon/Zionsville) decide to join the Terre Haute schools. Bloomington N/S & Columbus North would make sense for the Hoosier Hills for a lot of reasons, and that's something I could see happening IF the BCSC board would allow North & East in the same league. Right now, CI is six schools who really have no place else to go after losing Martinsville, Decatur Central & Perry Meridian to the Mid-State. If one finds a landing spot, that could cause some dominoes to fall.