slice60

Does anyone know how this will work?

Due to enrollment, North Daviess (2022 boys 1A basketball champion) was going to move up to 2A in boys basketball. However, they opted to play up in 3A for the 2023/2024 2-year cycle. In the just finished 2023 season, North Daviess was a Regional Champion in 3A. So with that 2 points already earned during this cycle, will North Daviess have to continue to play up in 3A boys basketball for the 2025/2026 cycle?

10 Sectional titles & 1 Regional since 2010.

Will be shooting for the 1A boys sweep this spring.

12 minutes ago, scarab527 said:

Ok. So the baseball sectional alignments  in the original link are incorrect? 

IHSAA Baseball Sectional Assignments for 2022-23, 2023-24

Class 3A 17. (8): Andrean, Boone Grove, Calumet, Griffith, Hanover Central, Highland, Rensselaer Central, River Forest

https://legacy.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/quick resources/Enrollments & Classifications/2022-23 2023-24/2022-23 2023-24 Baseball Assignments.pdf

Maybe they should amend the Success Factor for powerhouses who dominate a certain class-- Chatard 3A football, Andrean 3A baseball. Something like this -- If you have more than 6 (or 8? or 10?) state titles in a certain sport, you always play at least 1 class up.

3 hours ago, scarab527 said:

Sidenote - and I know this is a football forum - but I was shocked to see Andrean is now in 2A in baseball. They've won 3A the past 5 times (I believe) they've been in that class. They 10-runned the 2A state champ (Illiana Christian) last year. Talk about a bull in a china shop.  

That statement highlighted above is incorrect. I just looked it up. Andrean (2A enrollment) is staying up in 3A baseball due to success factor. But you are correct-- Andrean has won 5 straight state titles when playing in 3A.

HCC 6th place Franklin Central (2-5 in conference) gave Center Grove a heck of a game in the Sectional opener-- lost 14-10 after FC took a 10-7 lead early 4th.

2021 Adams Central vs Lutheran

2022 Adams Central vs Lutheran

2023 Adams Central vs Lutheran???

Yawn.

2021 Andrean vs Mater Dei

2022 Andrean vs Mater Dei

2023 Andrean vs Mater Dei???

Yawn.

On 11/19/2022 at 11:31 AM, Esso Ayche said:

I think there was a very real concern that Chatard might run into it's second string of three consecutive non-state champ seasons in eight years and the IHSAA wanted to nip it in the bud. The embarrassment that this kind of perceived downturn in a program as storied as Chatard might lead to the utter collapse of the team, the Chatard community, and, more broadly, the entire 3A class. How would the IHSAA move forward with only five classes of postseason football being viable, while 64 3A teams wander aimlessly from one gridiron to another for a month, sometimes three schools on the same field, occasionally a team stumbling into a different state's playoffs entirely. Something like this could ultimately be the downfall of Indiana football as well know it.

/s

Meanwhile, I believe Dwenger and LCC both stayed up this season, if I'm not mistaken.

With the off-cycle realignment due to Covid/uncertain enrollment figures, Chatard only spent 1 year back up in 4A after losing in the 4A Sectional to Roncalli. If I understand this correctly, LCC (2A Sectional Champion in 2021 & 2022) should stay up in 2A while FW Dwenger (5A Sectional Champion only in 2021) may drop back down to 4A next year.

From the April 11 IHSAA Media Release:

Additionally, with the pandemic delaying reclassification for a year but the Tournament Success Factor still being applied, discussion continued on what to do with schools playing in a higher classification. The IHSAA Executive Committee has determined that the eight schools who earned at least one point this school year (2021-22) to continue playing in a higher classification due to the Tournament Success Factor, will be reevaluated after the 2022-23 school year and adjusted accordingly. Schools who failed to earn a point during the 2021-22 school year while playing in a higher class were returned to the next lower class for the next two years. This was to prevent schools from playing three consecutive years in a higher classification when their tournament results do not merit that placement. Those eight schools include Fort Wayne Canterbury in boys soccer; South Bend St. Joseph in girls soccer; Barr-Reeve and Yorktown in volleyball; Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger and Lafayette Central Catholic in football and Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian in boys basketball.

4 minutes ago, scarab527 said:

My first thought was John Elway in the super bowl. What a play on 4th and goal by that kid. 

I think I woke the neighbors screaming at the laptop when the Valpo QB made that incredible play.

Just 3 weeks ago in the Sectional opener, Franklin Central scored early 4th to take a 10-7 lead on Center Grove. The 2-time champs had to dig deep to win 14-10. Since then, CG has put up 49, 42, 33. 

FC finished just 3-7 but they had an excellent top 10 defense.

I only saw the OT but the Valpo QB made a SportsCenter 9-yard TD run on 4th down. Then they spread 'em out & RB waltzed in for 2pt conv & the win. Congrats to the Valparaiso Vikings!!! Way to represent for the DAC.

Great, gutsy 4th qtr comeback on the road by the New Prairie Cougars!!! Smart to kick FG & then execute a BEEEYOUTEEEFUL onside kick with 4:30 left which led to the game-winning TD. Way to go, Cougars!!!

On 11/14/2022 at 11:17 AM, Boilernation said:

Valpo doesn't have Charles Salary (great RB at LaPorte and Marian U) or a long time HC eyeing his final shot at a State Final's appearance. The stars aligned for the Slicers in 2014. Snider is fine this year if they just show up and play their game. Valpo doesn't have enough offensive talent to win a shootout. The fact Valpo is still alive is a testament to how well Marshall is coaching them and they were fortunate enough to only have Duneland opponens on their playoff schedule up to this point. I think the run ends Friday night at Northrop.

Yes, the stars aligned for the Slicers, especially that night. I drove from Indy to FW to meet my Dad (retired Slicer AD who hired Bob Schellinger). Temps were right around 0 degrees & those frozen conditions favored LP for sure. Best night ever to be a Slicer.

Here's a proposal to the IHSAA.

In today's wonderful world of technology which allows every Semi-State game to be broadcast on IHSAATV, why not play half of the games (2A,4A,6A) on Friday night & half of the games (1A,3A,5A) on Saturday? It seems like a win-win for all fans. More tickets would probably be sold (passionate HS football fans could attend multiple Semi-State games instead of having to choose one) along with more PPV purchases. Every state finalist would still have a full 7 days between their Semi-State game & the State championship game.

Last time Snider faced a DAC opponent back in 2014, it did not go so well for the Panthers.

Cinderella is alive!!! After 7 straight losses, MONROVIA RIPS OFF 4 STRAIGHT POSTSEASON WINS.

Let's finally put this topic to bed. The IHSAA will NEVER, EVER, EVER go back to an invite-only football tournament. 

And for all of those geniuses who say the IHSAA can simply use Sagarin/computers/committee/whatever to determine who gets in, I ask this question. How do you factor in games vs out-of-state opponents? Chatard went 5-4 with 2 out-of-state losses. Do they get qualify because you make the ASSUMPTION that those teams must be really good since they beat Chatard?

Or how about 4-5 FW Luers? They play all conference, all much bigger foes. So would 4-5 Luers qualify due to strength of schedule while some 8-1 team sits at home?

So congratulations to 2-7, now 6-7 MONROVIA. And 8-4 Castle too. 

7 minutes ago, 812FB said:

OK, I'm hearing a complete lack of faith in a committee of coaches seeding IHSAA's football tournament but are cool with 15 coaches seeding the entire IHSAA's wrestling tournament? That just doesn't make sense to me but whatever.

 

Wrestling sectionals are seeded based upon a set of previously agreed-upon criteria. There is no seeding after the sectional level-- the Regional brackets are based on Sectional placement, the Semistate brackets are based on Regional placement, the State brackets are based on Semistate placement.

Every team sport knockout tournament sanctioned by the IHSAA in an all-in tournament. If football is changed to a qualify-only tournament, then the IHSAA SHOULD do the same for all sports. So if you limit postseason play for hundreds of football teams, you SHOULD do the same to THOUSANDS of other teams in those sports-- including the sacred cow of boys basketball.

That's never going to happen. 

So you guys can keep telling each other why your ideas are great & should be incorporated but it will NEVER happen.

p.s. You obviously forgot about the old Cluster system & the older Points system. Every year, some very good teams did NOT make the tournament because those systems were flawed. Every qualifying system you come up with will be flawed in some way. And then you guys would be the first to scream that the IHSAA f'd up your great ideas.

10 hours ago, Footballking16 said:

Serious question, do you really think a school like Andrean or Cathedral or Chatard really gives a sh*t when public school zealots try and diminish a state title because it was won in a lower enrollment class? Will assure you nobody from Andrean is losing sleep over what some blowhards on a message board think. 

Serious answer-- no, they do not give a sh*t. However, I would bet that Coach Pishkur would privately acknowledge to his coaching peers that Andrean's 8 3A titles do not equal 8 one-class/4A titles. Same with Coach Bordenet at LCC. 

Don't get me wrong-- those 2 coaches have built fantastic programs & deserve tons of credit. I attended the LP Semistate a week ago & watched LCC beat South Central in extra innings. LCC does not win that game without Coach Bordenet's masterful moves in the bottom of the 7th inning to slow the game momentum & make perfect strategical decisions in order to keep the winning run from scoring the game-ending run after a SC leadoff triple. And, in my opinion, Coach Pishkur & Andrean have arguably had the best team in any class during several of their championship seasons, including '22.

You can call me a jealous & petty Slicer fan living in the past (guilty as charged) but I believe that LP's 8 baseball titles (7 in single class, 1 in 4A) is greater than Andrean's 8 titles in 3A & LCC's 8 titles in 1A. While Andrean can compete with anybody in any season, they won just 1 Sectional while bumped up to 4A in '16, '17, 21. And during the one-class system, they had a great run in the late-80s & 90s but never broke through with a trip to the Final Four.

In terms of record-book accomplishments, I would place Jasper's 6 baseball titles (2 in one-class, 3 in 3A & the 4A title in '21) & Penn's 5 baseball titles (1 in one-class, 4 in 4A) above Andrean & LCC.

I think my Dad has a good idea. The IHSAA should hand out 6 championship trophies in football-- 1A Champion, 2A Champion, 3A Champion, 4A Champion, 5A Champion and THE STATE CHAMPION. In the 4-class sports, the IHSAA will award a 1A Champion, 2A Champion, 3A Champion and THE STATE CHAMPION. Don't call it 4A (or 6A football) anymore-- maybe you call it Open Class because any school in any sport can choose to compete for THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP during the next 2 year cycle.

Granted, the smaller schools & privates would surely feel insulted by this change. But maybe it would entice some big-time programs (Andrean baseball, Cathedral football) to always compete in the Open Class for the biggest trophy of all instead of only being up in the top class after Success Factor bump-ups.

4 hours ago, LCKfan4life said:

State baseball tourney just concluded - 3 of the 4 state championships won by private schools...ridiculous. 6 of the 8 teams in the state finals were privates, yet private schools compose a little less than 20% of the TOTAL high schools in Indiana. Privates are playing with a different deck of cards. If you think otherwise, please continue to keep your heads buried. 

Slight correction-- 5 of the 8 baseball state finalists were private schools. The public schools went 1-2 (Tecumseh lost to LCC 4-1, Centerville lost to Illiana Christian 10-1, Penn beat Cathedral 3-0.) But I agree that the current Success Factor is not doing enough & the IHSAA willingly gave some big-time programs a huge break by dropping them down after just 1 season in a higher class. Some examples:

Chatard-- football. 15 state titles, including 11 3A titles this century alone. After winning 3A in '19 & '20, Chatard bumped up to 4A for just 1 season. Now back in 3A for the next 2 years.

Andrean-- baseball. 8 state titles, all in 3A from 2005-2022. When playing in 3A, Andrean has won state 5 straight 3A baseball titles-- 22,19,18,15,14. While bumped up to 4A, they lost in Sect (16), lost in Reg (17), Covid (20), lost in Sect (21). Since they earned 0 pts in 1 season '21+the Covid year '20, the IHSAA dropped them to 3A for this season. Mark my words-- Andrean will win at least one, maybe two 3A baseball state titles in '23 & '24 too. And they can thank the IHSAA for the head-scratching decision to drop them down for the '22 season. (All that said, this very-talented Andrean team may have won 4A this year.)

Lafayette Central Catholic-- baseball. 8 state titles, all in 1A from 2004-2022. When playing in 1A, LCC has won state 6 straight 1A baseball titles-- 22,13,12,11,10,09. In this case, I think the SF has gotten things right. During LCC's first 5 years up in 2A, they won 2 Semistates, 4 Regionals & all 5 Sectionals which says to me that LCC is VERY competitive in 2A baseball & should always be playing up there. But then the IHSAA foolishly dropped them back down to 1A in '22 after a Sectional loss in '21+Covid '20. This year, LCC outscored 5 Sect/Reg opponents 53-3, including 2 Top 10 teams. So LCC should send a thank you note to the IHSAA for that 8th 1A trophy. I think Illiana Christian would have beaten them in 2A.

Tecumseh-- softball. 4 state titles, all in 1A from 2009-2022. In this case, my only beef is that IHSAA decision to drop them back down to 1A in '22 after a Sectional loss in '21+Covid '20. Playing up in 2A for the 1st time due to the SF, Tecumseh won 2A Regional in '18 & State runner-up in '19. Again, the IHSAA dropped this perennial power back down to 1A in '22 after a Sectional loss in '21+Covid '20. Even though Tecumseh faced 5 ranked opponents, they still breezed to the 1A title by a combined 51-9 in 6 games. With only 1 regular starter graduating, Tecumseh will surely win 1 or 2 more 1A titles during the upcoming 2-year '23-'24 cycle. 

On 6/15/2022 at 12:59 PM, Bobref said:

I wouldn’t describe the Board as “dysfunctional” on the strength of this one decision. After all, they have other and bigger fish to fry than hiring a football coach. Still, this is puzzling. I’d sure like to know why the 3 board members who changed their votes voted “no” originally, and then reversed themselves.

The current LP School Board President was a school board member in 2017 & led the charge to not renew the coaching contract for Tom Wells after 15 years as the Slicers head basketball coach. (Wells is now HC at rival Michigan City.) She had a son on the basketball team back then. Another son just graduated LPHS after being a standout athlete in football, basketball & track.

29 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Has there been any rationale made public for the decision? Is Coach James going to continue on staff? This could really be a devastating blow to an already struggling program.

The School Board Meeting is on Youtube but there was no discussion during that public meeting. The board voted 7-0 for all of the other coaching/principal hires & then voted 4-3 against "Motion 6". No names of those hired or rejected were mentioned by the Board during the meeting.

If Coach James continues to coach at LP, then he is a much better man than I would ever dream to be.

1 minute ago, HHF said:

With all due respect, Laporte has been in the Duneland Conference for 45 years, winning 3 DAC titles along with 2 sectionals and one state finals appearance.

Perhaps the 4 school board voters who rejected the old guard are looking for something new and different, a new way forward.  The DAC is now a 5A conference.  Laporte should be able to compete against the other four 5A schools in the league (Cheese/MV/VPO/MC) 

I think they will make a strong hire and are taking their time and doing their due diligence.  Take a look at what Columbus North just did as a guide to where big football schools are trending in terms of new leadership.  

 

https://twitter.com/search?q=columbus north&src=typed_query

Schellinger retired in 2014 after the state runner-upas the winningest coach in LP history at 110-122. In other words, LP is a REALLY TOUGH JOB.

Sharpe (2015-18) - previously HC at John Glenn, overall winning record at LP including 9-2 in '16, Sharpe left for family reasons to move to Indy area & his now the HC at Noblesville.

Lowery (2019-20) - previously HC at Paoli, 7-15 at LP, left for West Washington HC job.

Ortiz (2021) - asst at LP for several years before getting the HC job, went 2-8, left to be asst in Crown Point under his old HS coach. Said HC job was too much time & effort for him with a young family.

LP has hired 3 young guys in less than a decade & no one has stuck with it. We have no idea who applied for the job this year. But, to me, the recommendation to hire a loyal man like Bob James (LP asst coach/teacher since the '90s) to give the program some stability makes a ton of sense. The AD/Principal/Super (I don't know who is involved in the interview process) DID THEIR DUE DILIGENCE & those 4 school board members rejected their recommendation. The elected school board members have shown disrespect to Bob James & also to the career-educators who recommended him. If those 4 school board members know better, then they can beat the bushes & somehow attract a "strong hire" to LaPorte.