crimsonace1

I didn't say it was Chatard people ... it was a few folks that week. They come out of the woodwork every time NP faces a "tough" team and conveniently forget New Pal's non-conference opponents during the Ralph era have pretty much all been to LOS in the last decade (Danville, Lawrenceburg, Whiteland, Center Grove, Westfield, Decatur Central, Kokomo). Only Richmond - who NP dropped after the 2017 season - hasn't been downtown. Much respect for Chatard. That was the game of the tournament this year (and the 2013 game was a great one, as well). Great program that does things the right way and is a measuring stick for the 3A-4A programs in Central Indiana.

A bunch of people on here during the week of the Chatard game. I mean, NP played a decent Kokomo team in Week 1 and then played the 5A state champs in Week 2 (and, thanks to an official spotting lightning bouncing around in the clouds from a storm two counties away, was never completed). Their conference is an above-average 4A conference, and they hammered a ranked Greenfield-Central team in conference play. So they didn't play Westfield this year ... or Center Grove (both teams NP has played recently). Next year, NP's schedule will be the exact same as it is now - Kokomo, Decatur Central and then the HHC schedule.

Kyle reported both sides of the story because he's a professional reporter. Doyel is a pot-stirrer who is notorious for reporting only one side - the one that delivers the most clicks - and not telling the whole truth. It's people like him - and their "ombudsman" - who prevent me from subscribing even though I'd like to support Kyle's work.

The two teams are almost mirror images of each other offensively. Both have an outstanding RB who also plays LB (Dylan Krehl for EN, Josh Ranes for NP), a solid #2 running back that rotates in, a QB who can hurt you with both arm and legs, a very big offensive line, and they both run spread with a lot of the same concepts (power running with a vertical passing game), both feast on forcing turnovers ... EN has 41 takeaways this season, New Pal has 28, but has only committed five. NP had an impressive win over Chatard in the regional in OT, East Noble had an impressive win over Mishawaka that saw multiple lead changes and wasn't decided until the final possession. Otherwise, both have rolled through the postseason. I see what should be a very, very even matchup between two very good teams.

Way back in the day, TA and I did a game from the old RCA Dome involving Shelbyville. Gold numbers, white jerseys, ran the Wing-T and the two running backs who carried the ball were #28 and #29 and they switched sides almost every play. We were guessing as to who actually had the ball.

There are channels available (WNDY & the digital subchannels) who don't have network commitments, *but* the way things work these days is a little different than in the past. In the 1980s, there were true independent stations, like WTTV, who had a lot of time and there was a major sponsor in Farm Bureau who would pay for it. Back then, the station paid the IHSAA for the rights, produced the broadcasts and kept the advertising revenue. The basketball tournament was so popular and drew such large ratings into the 1980s, it was lucrative. By the 1990s, interest in basketball began to fall off. In football, only the large-school game was televised. Even then, the only things that were televised statewide on the network were the boys & girls basketball State Finals, the large-school football title game (only the largest class was televised for many, many years) and, sometimes, the baseball championship game. WTTV would independently produce the Hinkle sectional and regional title games, and then broadcast the Hinkle semistate. But again, that was an era before the NCAA Tournament sucked all the air out of the room and the IHSAA basketball tournament was a *big* ratings driver and moneymaker for stations. Today, such deals are typically time-buys. The producer or the league (in this case, the IHSAA) buys the airtime and then sells all of the advertising. That protects the TV station from risk, but buying airtime on *multiple* stations for six games on Thanksgiving weekend is extremely expensive. Obviously, you limit your reach - studies show that about 10% of the people who want to watch will actually buy a PPV - but even with that 10%, it raises revenue, and probably more revenue than one can make selling advertising and buying airtime. Whenever we get to the semistate round where the video broadcasts are 100% PPV, our radio audience at NewPalRadio.com (which is usually very large as it is) skyrockets.

The AAD is Derek Moyers. That's two *really* good football coaches in athletic administration.

Kickoff is closing in. Free audio broadcasts at NewPalRadio.com (New Pal) & WCBK-102.3's website (Martinsville). Video at IHSAAtv.org. Weather looks to be 40F, with 15-25mph winds blowing diagonally across the field. Wonder how much that will play into the game.

Had that reversed. It was red over white in 2015. Snider wore white jerseys that night. Whatever the case, they've never worn that combo in a tournament game since. Black is OK as long as the numbers are white or a *very* light color (not purple, green, et al). Gray is bad, because almost no number is legible on it. Use your school colors. If black and gray aren't your school colors, don't use them for a uniform.

New Pal occasionally wears white pants with red jerseys, but it's usually for one early regular-season game. Other than that, it's usually all red or all white. New Pal wore red pants with white jerseys in the 2015 State Finals, lost a crazy game and, to my recollection, has never worn that combo since (they *definitely* have not worn that combo in a tournament game since).

I'm in favor of anyone who has DARK NUMBERS on a WHITE JERSEY or WHITE/LIGHT numbers on a DARK jersey. This should not be hard, but some teams make it very difficult. So, the Westfield black/green sets, Center Grove's red-on-black, Mishawaka's maroon-on-gray and Decatur Central's gold-on-white uniforms need to be taken out back and used as bonfire kindling. The NFHS requires "clearly contrasting numbers," but some teams still try to skirt the rule.

Kirschner is staying on as AD. He's not a young guy, so I could see him retiring from coaching and sticking with administration.

There is one big reason for Jeff to stick around ... and its season starts next Wednesday. The other is tradition. The NCC schools love to hang their hat on what the conference *was* 50 years ago, before suburbanization and the decline of the factories that kept places like Marion, Richmond, Muncie and Anderson going. Let's be honest. The NCC is - and has been for a couple of decades - not a very good football conference (and, outside of boys basketball, it's a struggling conference in anything). You can usually scroll to the bottom of 4A in Sagarin (or, a few years ago, 5A) and find at least 2-3 NCC teams in the bottom 10. If Jeff wanted to leave the conference for football reasons, it would've done so already. It did once, but then came running back after it got the boot from the HCC.

Martinsville reminds me a lot of the Kevin Wilson-era IU teams. Incredible offense led by a very talented QB, with a defense that plays very aggressively and is high-risk, high-reward. Every game they play is a shootout. They're never out of a game. They've had some huge swings - in both directions - in games this season.

New Palestine's Kelso Stadium will be the venue for the 4A South Semistate, as the No. 1/1 Dragons (12-0) face the No. 4/3 Artesians (12-1). This matchup features one of the state's best offenses - a Martinsville attack that's scored 35+ points 11 times this season - against a New Palestine defense that's been very stout. That's going to be a fun, fun matchup to watch. A.J. Reynolds has been putting up eye-popping numbers, throwing for 230 yards per game, leading an offense that's been averaging 400+ yards per game. Hunter Stroud is a 1,300-yard receiver and the Artesians have two backs who have combined for 1,500 yards. Last week, it was the running game that came up big - Lucas Dewey ran for 239 yards, while Reynolds threw for 113 and two TDs. Because of that, the Artesians are never out of a game - as they proved when they were down 35 against Decatur Central and rallied to win 39-38. In the regional, Martinsville's special teams came up big, scoring on a blocked punt in the final 90 seconds to beat Evansville Reitz 35-28. NP's defense - with two FBS recruits in Michael Thacker and Brock Brownfield on the defensive line and a big, athletic LB corps led by Garrett and Josh Ranes - has not allowed much on the ground this year and has generally forced teams to become one-dimensional. After Chatard hit some big pass plays and was able to get something going in the running game to tie the game at 21-21 in the regional, NP's defense bowed up and got four straight stops - including two three-and-outs and an interception - before holding the Trojans out of the end zone in overtime. NP's offense has become increasingly run-heavy as the year has gone on, with Josh Ranes knocking on the door of 2,000 rushing yards. He had 122 and two TDs against Chatard, while QB Jacob Davis ran for 108 and a TD. Davis, however, is a very accurate passer who throws a great deep ball, and has a homerun threat in Austin McMahan, who has 6 TDs of 35+ yards. But the Dragons are very good, tallying 370+ yards per game and scoring 35+ points in 10 of their 12 games this season. This is NP's second straight semistate and seventh in the last 12 years. Martinsville is in the semistate for the first time since 1996. Expect a shootout with a trip Lucas Oil Stadium on the line. Also, with the IHSAAtv broadcasts being PPV for the semistate, free audio available at NewPalRadio.com (which I will have) or WCBK-102.3 (Martinsville broadcast).

Jim Brown is one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time. He was pretty good at football, too.

The New Pal perspective (and full stats) on tonight's game: https://newpalestineathletics.com/Article/46645

Ralph must be reading the board (the guy is *always* looking for some bulletin board material). He referenced that in our postgame radio interview ... "I know people say we don't play a tough schedule, but people don't realize how much our conference really prepares us well for tournament time. They've played a lot of good teams, but they hadn't played New Pal." The HHC has some really good, well-coached teams. We just don't see it come to fruition much in November because 6 of the 8 are in the same sectional, but it's produced four state champs in the last decade.

That was an incredible game. Chatard's QB dotted two throws on must-score drives to keep them in it in the first half, then the defenses bowed up in the second half after the game was tied. Ranes scores on the first play of OT, then a third-string LB comes in and makes a huge TFL in OT to set the tone for Chatard's last possession.

Does Cathedral do some recruiting? Probably, but it's not like Nick Saban going into someone's house and saying "you should play for me," and really, it's fully within the rules. The "recruiting" is more having coaches/friends/alumni at independent training academies or youth travel programs like Team Indiana (not saying Cathedral does that, but it is how some of the "recruiting" can be done) and building relationships with younger athletes. It's also parents reaching out to other parents (honestly, most of the "recruiting" is done by parents, not by coaches), or an alumnus talking to a work colleague and encouraging them to check out the school. It's also relationships with the local parochial grade schools (but even then, you're competing with Chatard, Brebeuf and Roncalli for those kids). In baseball, every time we play Cathedral, half the plates in the parking lot are from Hamilton County. They have a *very* strong connection with some of the big travel baseball programs in the state (and that's not necessarily coaches, but alumni and parents), and people who are willing to fork over thousands to put their kid on a high-level travel baseball team are not going to bat an eyelash at forking over tuition money for a private school. Obviously, a different sport, but the point holds. Their baseball coaches aren't going out and "recruiting," but the network of alumni, parents, et al, do talk to each other. But mostly, the program recruits itself. People see success and they want to be a part of it. Parents, rightly or wrongly, believe their kids have a better shot at being noticed by college coaches if they play on a team that makes deep tournament runs, and also, that indicates there's some pretty good coaching taking place. And, honestly, they may feel their kid will have a better high school experience being on a good team. Would you rather be playing for a team that has a shot at playing on Thanksgiving weekend, or a team that goes 3-7? And, honestly, that's not just uncommon to private/parochial schools. Successful public school programs also tend to have a number of good players move in and don't do any "recruiting." Families come because they see success on the field, they see players getting college offers and they want to be a part of it. Some families move into the community, but with open enrollment, you don't have to in most school districts. But with 30+ high schools within a half-hour's drive of downtown Indy, it's not difficult to find a situation to your liking, call a Realtor and find a new home.

I used to call it the Cathedral Factor, because every time it looked like Cathedral was going to drop out of 5A/6A, the IHSAA changed the thresholds to keep them up (from 4 points to 3, then 2 ... now back to 3) ... and New Pal would always seem to get caught in the net.

Exactly. It's hockey on grass, with full bodychecking allowed. It's not a sport for wimps.

At this point, those schools are *way* too small for this realignment. This is a bunch of 6A schools and, right now, Whiteland is the only one of the Mid-State/Hancock County schools even close to 6A. Both the MIC and HCC have only one school below 2,500 students right now. Mt. Vernon (1,450ish) may get there in about 10 years if it continues its current rate of growth, but they're still about 700 students shy of being 6A. They'll be 5A next cycle. New Pal's growth is a little bit behind MV's, but I wouldn't be shocked if they're 6A in 15 years. They're at about 1,300. Greenfield-Central and Pendleton Heights are growing much, much more slowly as they're farther away from Indy/jobs/et al. What I could see happening is some reshuffling between the Hancock County, Conference Indiana and Mid-State schools.

Possible, from a competitive and travel standpoint (heck, it's a lot easier for Avon to travel to Ben Davis than to Noblesville), but the other issue is this. The HCC schools are *very* good in non-football/basketball sports. It's the best baseball conference in the state, and one could argue, also the best in soccer, softball and one of the best in volleyball. It's probably a slight cut above the MIC in girls hoops, and even/slightly behind the MIC in football and boys hoops. However, in the other sports - baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, soccer, individual sports except track & field and wrestling - the MIC schools would struggle to be competitive with the HCC ones. You also have an issue where the MIC schools are somewhat notorious for not bringing much of a road crowd, whereas the HCC schools typically have decent support. I've heard that stated by ADs as a reason to *not* invite a team into a conference that would otherwise be a good geographical and competitive fit. If you have to have 3/4 home games in multiple sports against teams that aren't going to bring a crowd, that can cost you a *lot* of money. That's another reason why you might not see such a merger.

The issues I was referencing earlier - at least in other sports - tends to involve parents getting involved in the youth feeder system not to help the community's kids, but to elevate their own kids over others. Because Carmel is so large and varsity spots are so scarce, it's extremely competitive, and you'll have a few who will try to work the system to their advantage (and then cry foul when it doesn't happen). Those people are in *every* community, but it can be a bit more prevalent in a community where there's enough talent to field 3-4 quality varsity teams and only 1 team's worth of spots.