AG

In no particular order, for Pioneer I will go with LaVille, NJ, Cass, and either Triton or 5A Hammond Central. Cass has struggled W-L wise lately, but they do play a tough schedule and are very well coached. HC isn't any good, but I can't pick a decent 1A team in Triton over a bad 5A team. For LaVille, I'm going with Bremen, Glenn, Pioneer, and NJ.

The HNAC has quite a few interesting storylines for this season! It will be interesting to see if Pioneer can continue to be a state power. If they do struggle, or relatively struggle this season, will they be able to rebound in the future? Going back to 2002, Pioneer hasn't lost less than 3 games in a seasons, and they also haven't won less than 8 in a season as well. Pioneer's overall record since 1997 is 266-48, good for the best in Indiana during that time, which is 16 wins more than the second place team, Brownstown. Even a 5-5 or 6-4 season will be uncharted territory for many Pioneer fans, especially those under the age of 30. If the Pioneer dynasty does come to an end, will another HNAC team, such as North Judson or LaVille, become the premier HNAC team? Both LaVille and North Judson are primed to have strong teams this season and both are seen as contenders in their respective classes, with NJ in 1A and LV in 2A. LV and NJ are both on a collision course for what many expect to be the unofficial HNAC title game in week 8, although a lot can happen in two months. Will another team, such as Knox, Triton, Culver, or even the reloaded Panthers play spoiler for one of those teams? Winamac saw beloved Coach John Hendryx retire after a surprisingly short run with the Warriors, although he did win a sectional and conference title in two years. Winamac also lost a total of 20 starters from last years team and is expected to struggle under first year head coach Josh Burgess, although they do retain their entire coaching staff outside of former HC Hendryx. Will the Warriors be surprisingly competitive this season? Also in the HNAC, former long time head coach Chris Ulerick returns to man the Comets. Although Caston wasn't a power under Coach Ulerick, they did field some very tough squads in the 2000s and early 2010s that gave Pioneer a few close games. The Comets might have won a conference title or two, even a sectional, if it hadn't been for them needing to run through the Pioneer, Seeger, and LCC buzz saws on a yearly basis. Coach Ulerick left the program following the 2014 season and Caston's best team finished a with a meager record of 3-8. Can Knox become a contender again following a mediocre start for legendary Coach Russ Radtke as the skipper for the Redskins? Many in the HNAC were shocked that Knox declined so much, as many of us expected Knox to instantly become a state power, but instead they were merely average and competitive. Knox had an overall record of 11-12 the past two seasons, although they didn't lose a single game by more than roughly three touchdowns in that period, either. Can Triton be a contender? I have seen Triton mentioned as a dark horse HNAC championship contender by several posters. They return a lot of talent and lost to LaVille last season by only a TD. Finally, I'm not sure what Culver returns, although they seemed to be competitive last season in 6 of their 7 losses, judging by the final scores.

PH is one of the worst programs in the state. They haven't had a winning season since before 1994, which is as far back as John Harrell's site goes. They also haven't even had a .500 season since 2007. They were 4-7 last season, which was their best record since 2013. I wouldn't start making predictions based solely on a scrimmage against a struggling program. Does anyone know if the large Amish population in that area has effected the PH program?

Any word on how Pioneer looked last night? How about Judson and Winamac?

She's upset according to the script, or "kayfabe" as us wrestling nerds refer to it as. Rudy's been a wrestling ref since the 90's. He was the senior referee for TNA in the 2000s as well and has been in WWE for the past 9 years. I remember him telling me that he had taken finishers from Booker T, Scott Steiner, and others probably 12 years ago or so on here. Dan Engler - Wikipedia He's even famous enough to have a Wikipedia page!

The only thing that I'll be scouting for at Mickie D's is one of those returning steak, egg, and cheese bagels for my wife.

I hate to say it, but I haven't been this intrigued by a Pioneer season in quite some time. At least this year the majority of it won't be a foregone conclusion. Rival HNAC fans won't be treated by any D1 prospects this season. However, The PIT has been renovated with a new set of home bleachers, as well as a press box that is actually bigger than a janitor's closet. I haven't been able to visit it up close yet, but it does look nice from SRs 16 and 35. This is great news for assistant coaches, as they won't have to sit with the fans anymore.

I've been mostly lurking for a while now. I'm curious to see if Pioneer can reload this year. When I last talked to Coach Lambert's dad, he was very excited about this NJ squad. The NJ/LV game will be a dandy.

I never met TA in person, but I have fond memories of his presence on this forum. He often chimed in on topics, from 1A all the way to 5A/6A. When he commented everyone else noticed. It was kind of a big deal to me to have him comment on my posts, as I was just a teen when I joined the GID in the mid 2000s. That all seems like a lifetime ago. TA had a tight grip on this forum and you couldn't swear on here. Even though the board was heavily moderated, the mid to late 2000s were probably the prime of the forum. I remember when the 2008 tournament selection show had a guest amount in the thousands and certain game threads would be dozens of pages long, especially LCC and Roncalli threads. TA was insanely passionate about football, this forum, and it was an absolute blast back then.

Safety crossed my mind, although I can't advocate taking away a sport, especially one that a "husky" kid can specialize in.

It's about providing students an opportunity to learn through participating in athletics, win, lose, or draw. At many small schools, cross country is the only option for fall sport athletes, as many smaller schools don't field a soccer team. It's arguable that more soccer programs will pop up if football is contracted at many schools, although many small schools might decide not to go in that direction.

I figured it was caused by the free concession stand pop that I always received after little league games. Who else ordered a "suicide?"

Sounds to me like this law wasn't even needed. If anything it will potentially drive businesses from coming here.

From what I've read, there's only one transgender athlete in the entire state.

Not as important as allowing discrimination is. It's too slippery of a slope.

Apparently first place medals are more important than LGBTQ discrimination. Conservatives love saying "F your feelings" until it's their feelings being hurt. I'm absolutely appalled at how this country has been stepping away from progress so much lately. I've always felt that participation is more important than winning when you truly enjoy the sport that you're playing. At this point it's obvious to me that conservatives and liberals are wired differently. I just want all of the hatred and fighting to stop.

This reminds me of some of the old Scott Mannering coached Lewis Cass teams that Pioneer always played in week 1. Cass, a 2A school with a larger roster than Pioneer, would often have 10+ guys carry the ball throughout the game. There were several games in which Cass simply wore down Pioneer by rotating fresh ball carriers in and out, and the difference could be seen in the 3rd and 4th quarters, especially in the August heat. AC players might not put up the prettiest stats with this method, but if the players can put aside their egos, it will probably lead to something really special. 1A teams with elite talent and depth will often run roughshod over the rest of 1A. Will AC have very many one way starters?

I assumed that there aren't any Kiser or Lewellen type talents walking the halls right now. I was asking about maybe a tier or two below that, i.e. potential all-state players. It sounds like we return most of our lines though. Hopefully everyone will take their new role with pride and work hard.

Will Pioneer have any studs in your opinion?

I agree with you actually. I brought it up because I've been told this before by non-Pioneer fans. The only seasons that I've questioned whether Pioneer was actually really good or not were the 2010-2012 seasons, in which Pioneer was smashed by LCC all three seasons after cruising through their MWC schedule.

I have NJ as the favorite in their sectional. Pioneer should challenge them, but they've lost a ton of talent in the past few years. The X-factor is Pioneer coach Adam Berry. Can he do the same thing that previous coach Mike Johnson did and continue to reload, even in years when they lacked amazing athletes? Will he return to the bread and butter of the Wing-T, making sure that his team is a machine running a small but effective playbook? Or will he do something different and continue to succeed? Or was Pioneer's success in the Johnson days mostly due to the weaker MWC conference?

We will see if last year was an outlier for Purdue or if last year's success will continue.

I'm a Purdue guy through and through who has paid very close attention to recruiting in the past five years. With that being said, Purdue benefitted from two of the most important factors in recruiting - location and timing. Yes, it took some effort from Brohm and his staff to land Bell and Karlaftis, but they have been outliers. Purdue hasn't landed a player ranked as highly as either player since both committed. Yes, they've signed Milton Wright who is from Louisville and is an outlier, Maliq Carr, who has left the program for Michigan St, and Brady Allen, who has yet to play and is in Purdue's backyard, and a dozen or so of other low 4 star recruits. The only other former 4* players that have played at a high level, in the Brohm era, have been Marvin Grant, Gus Hartwig, and Rondale Moore, with Hartwig and Grant being debatable. Purdue only landed Moore because he went to the same high school as Brohm and is from the Louisville pipeline, which makes him another outlier. Hartwig also seems to be yet another outlier, as he is the highest OL recruit that Purdue has signed, by far, in the Brohm era, and was essentially in Purdue's backyard. I've read a few mock drafts for next season and I've only seen one player mocked to be drafted, and it's Jalen Graham in the 5th round. Obviously a lot can happen between now and then. I think that AOC and Wright have good chances to be drafted, as long as Wright can stay eligible. Purdue was very lucky to have signed two top 100 players in their own backyard. Outside of those two, Purdue had one other player drafted this year, a former walk-on in the seventh round, and had several UDFA free agents signed. Take away Bell and Karlaftis and Purdue goes back to their norm, which is normally one player being drafted on day 3 and a slew of UDFA being signed after the draft. Recruiting has improved quite a bit in the Brohm era, as he has been adept at recruiting Indiana, but the drafting really hasn't outside of three outliers. It's not like 5-10 players are being drafted every year now. Brohm hasn't shown that he is capable of signing highly coveted players outside of the Indiana and Louisville pipelines, which tells me that his classes would have been mediocre without those pipelines producing highly coveted players.

Minor correction. It wasn't the group that posted the reaction, it was a member of the program who commented. It tells me that even those inside of the program had little to no idea what was going on. This is a bad look by the IHSAA, but I honestly doubt that they care.

According to the rosters posted on Maxpreps, North Judson only lost 6 seniors from last years squad. I've been told very good things about this upcoming team and it will be very interesting to see if Pioneer and North Judson will end up playing one another in back to back weeks, as they are scheduled to play in week 9. Hopefully they'll be able to meet in the sectional final for a real dandy. Triton only lost 4 players from last years squad and has 53 players listed on the roster! They have a big freshman class of 16 players coming in.