23andCounting

I can only imagine 🙄

1. Carroll - The Chargers looked really really really good on Friday. Good enough that I started comparing them to great SAC teams of the past. But I'll pump the breaks a little bit until after I see what happens down at Center Grove on Friday. 2. Dwenger - They beat Roncalli. Enough said. If you think you're better than Dwenger, then prove it on the field. 3. East Noble - No one really knows how good their Week 1 opponent was on Friday, other than they're loaded with D1 talent. That being said.........19-0? One hell of a showing by the Kendallville kids. 4. Homestead - I'm not going to pull the plug on the Spartans just yet. They lost big to Westfield 49-21, but they were gritty enough to make it 35-21 at one point in the game. Losing big to Westfield doesn't mean you're not good, it just means that Homestead's chances of making a deep playoff run this year isn't looking that good. 5. Adams Central - These guys just continue to win. They reload better than any team in Northeast Indiana. Kudos to the coaching staff over there. They've built a machine that doesn't stop. 6. Snider - Warsaw returned several starters from last season, and some thought this team would be pretty good. Snider had them down 30-18 midway through the 4th, which tells me that Snider isn't so bad themselves. I'll take that game with a grain of salt............they always struggle against "Bart Ball" (Warsaw & Mishawaka). 7. Columbia City - Last Friday's impressive win over Northwood was an eye opener. I'm not sure how good Northwood is, but...............they're Northwood. Massive test this Friday against Northridge. 8. Leo - Nice win against Wayne, but we need to see more. We'll find out how tough this teams when they drive down to Indy this Friday to take on Chatard. 9. Dekalb - Impressive win against the Railroaders on Friday. Probably looking at 3-0 before getting into the meat of their schedule. 10. Northrop - Unfortunately the Bruins didn't get an opportunity to showcase themselves on Friday. That being said. They were good last year and return some serious talent. The drawback is the new head coach. We're not sure what he's capable of yet. I think this is a fair spot to put the Bruins.......................for now. On the outside looking in? Bishop Luers, Bluffton, North Side, South Side

Hmmmmm.............from NE 1. Dwenger over Roncalli - The Saints lost a LOT of starters 2. Carroll going up 40-0 over Hamilton Southeastern 3. East Noble shutting down the North Side All Start team 19-0 4. Concordia taking care of business against Scecina 5. South Side hammering Marion 49-6 after going 0-3 the previous three years

Good win for Warren Central, for sure. Congratulations to them. I have no doubt that WC beat a very good CG team, not a team having a "down" year. The top three is going to be tough to crack though.

I'd like to see a few more weeks first. Warsaw was down 30-18 in the 4th and we don't really know how good Snider is yet. We know both teams struggled last season. It's hard to jump to a conclusion until we see them face someone other than themselves. Still throwing darts this time of the year when it comes to polls. I'll give them HM if they beat Northrop next week. But I'd do so reluctantly. We don't know anything about Northrop right now other than they are loaded with talent. New coach, lots of questions. The Tigers need to earn their way back, last season was bad.

Nope, just a wait and see.

Carroll at Center Grove this Friday will be interesting.

DT would be more appropriate for this topic. But no, I march to the beat of my own drum. Thanks for your insight.

You think HSE and Fishers will end up 3-6 or 2-7 because they got waxed by Carmel and Carroll. One could actually argue that those are the two best teams in the state. I'm not ready to throw those two teams under the bus just yet.

I'm not sure the teams in "teams to watch" would be either of those programs head to head. Carmel and Carroll are THAT good. Do you think teams being rewarded for wins trumps who you think would win head to head? I'm just trying to come up with the best 25 teams, and historically, HSE and Fishers are top fifteen programs. Carroll and Carmel will punish some pretty good teams this year.

To say the least. I got bored after the first quarter (28-0) and left. From what I heard it went to 40-0 before HSE got on the scoreboard. Carroll is legit. Should be a good game next week down at Center Grove. Community support at Carroll is second to none. It was standing room only, probably 4000 fans. HSE added maybe 500, not bad for a two hour drive.

1. Brownsburg 2. Westfield 3. Carmel 4. Carroll 5. New Pal 6. Warren Central 7. Center Grove 8. Lawrence North 9. Ben Davis 10. Cathedral 11. Penn 12. Chatard 13. Crown Point 14. Avon 15. East Central 16. Dwenger 17. Roncalli 18. Franklin Central 19. Merrillville 20. Bloomington South 21. East Noble 22. Lawrence Central 23. Zionsville 24. Hamilton Southeastern 25. Fishers Teams to Watch: Adams Central, Cascade, Concord, Decatur Central, Elkhart, Evansville Reitz, Evansville Memorial, Heritage Hills, Lafayette Jeff, Mishawaka Missing: Who looked good in Week 1 who weren't mentioned in "Teams to Watch."

North Side struggles against well run programs. I just don't know how you lose with 6-8 D1 players. Maybe East Noble is just THAT good? Not surprised. Good luck and God speed to Snider next week.

Does FC return 19 starters? If they're no better than they were last year, I could see them going 0-3.

Understood. I think Franklin Central and Penn are about even if we're looking at current state of affairs.

If you lived in Fort Wayne, which game would you go to? Everyone of these games could come down to the last play. Thirty five minutes to the north: North Side at East Noble Fifty minutes to the west: Snider at Warsaw Or stay right here at home: Hamilton Southeastern at Carroll, Roncalli at Dwenger, or Adams Central at Luers?

Good grief. I asked myself if I even wanted to do this one. It's a weekly commitment. Maybe you should do a small school Top 25. Just promise that Luers and Adams Central will be in the Top 10. Give the south the other eight spots.

I would argue 4A. You have East Central, but I think NE Indiana can make a claim with teams like Dwenger and East Noble. I think it's hard to argue 2A and 3A. It seems that the south has owned those classes as of late. It's just hard for a 2A or 3A program to crack the Top 25. Avon is #25, and I would think they'd take the 2A or 3A state title. Nothing against smaller programs, I think Adams Central and Bishop Luers are the two best programs in NE Indiana. They just don't have the resources to compete with schools that are 2000+ in enrollment.

The Top 25 is a vicious list. I know less about the SW area of the state, so feedback is appreciated. Bloomington South seems to be getting a lot of love statewide. Southwest is more dominant in the lower classes, no?

No shame in Chatard being #13, there are some damn good teams in front of them. I'll believe the WC hype train when I see it. It's burnt them in the past. Good feedback though, that's what these polls are about.

Actually, if you look at that list, everyone of those teams is a pretty darn good program. Looking at some of the teams that were left off makes you realize how strong football in Indiana really is. The Carroll vs Hamilton Southeastern game really intrigues me. It will go a long way in determining whether the north will be a contender or a pretender in 6A. The Week 1 slate is off the charts throughout the state. I'm not sure I can ever remember a week where there were so many marquee matchups on tap.

This is the kind of feedback I need. It's difficult to keep track of of all teams around the state. If the talent is there, Todd Wilkerson seems to know how to get the most of it. But in small town, run on talent can by cyclical.

I've got them at #13.............ahead of some pretty darn good programs. Think they should be higher? I think my big miss might have been Heritage Hills..............probably Honorable Mention consideration. The Top 25 is brutal. Lots of great programs in Indiana.

They fell off the radar last season. More of a "wait and see" kind of a team.

High school pre-season polls aren't easy. I imagine there will be a lot of movement in the next couple of weeks. I give a lot of credit to last seasons performance. I believe you're at the top until someone knocks you off. I took the coaches poll into consideration. And a little bit of gut based one what I'm hearing in social media. Trying to give an unbiased opinion. If @temptation ever shows up, he can have the poll back. I didn't want to see the Top 25 go away in his absence.