Rudy

Voting for the 2024 SW Indiana team is live! https://forms.gle/zXhtKY4YDFm9VtWy5 to vote https://almanacsports.com/article.php?news_id=2024122001 for more information 🙂 Thanks and enjoy!

Just to clarify, the teams in the original system weren't voted in, it was strictly on points. I've thought about doing a prequel to my "What A Cluster" book with it based on the points system...maybe call it "What's the Point?" 🙂 Dan "Rudy" Engler

Okay here is the 2023 SW Indiana All-Area Fans Choice Team! Player of the Year: Elijah Wagner (Bosse) Coach of the Year: Todd Wilkerson (Heritage Hills) Offensive Team Quarterback: Jett Goldsberry (Heritage Hills) Running backs: Sean DeLong (Gibson Southern) Running backs: Jed Galvin (North Posey) Wide receivers: Luke Ellspermann (Memorial) Wide receivers: Hayden Summers (Reitz) Wide receivers: Roland Vera Jr. (Reitz) Offensive linemen: Quentin Boeke (Reitz) Offensive linemen: Timothy Dixon (North) Offensive linemen: Kalon Egan (North Posey) Offensive linemen: Parker Hart (Heritage Hills) Center: Caige Christie (North Posey) Kicker: Kiefer Sanderson (Reitz) Defensive Team Defensive linemen: Kaleb Harris (North) Defensive linemen: Gavin Myers (North Posey) Defensive linemen: Levi Oxley (Reitz) Linebackers: Braydon Durham (Heritage Hills) Linebackers: Jace Gauer (North Posey) Linebackers: Beau Rose (Gibson Southern) Linebackers: Ayden Wells (Reitz) Defensive backs: Ty Brown (South Spencer) Defensive backs: Kasey Hospelhorn (North) Defensive backs: Wyatt Stratman (Mater Dei) Defensive backs: Noah Terry (Tell City) Punter: Lane Gabbard (Central) Full voting results are here: https://www.almanacsports.com/article.php?news_id=2023123101 Thanks for the nudge @Titan32 🙂

Okay by popular demand, voting is now live! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBT2K_nDlJP06Jdkaf98p31iwVD388oEQDazGA6Z6cOKGV0w/viewform?usp=sf_link

Well heck I wasn’t going to as I’ve been pretty busy but if there’s enough interest, I’ll get it worked up! Anyone else interested? 😊

Actually I did a book about Indiana high school football in 1923! Please check it out if you’d like 😊 https://www.amazon.com/Indiana-High-School-Football-Machine/dp/B0C2S7VJ85

Sagarin has them on his website back to 2009 http://indianahsfootball.homestead.com/pastfb/archives.htm#loaded I checked the Internet Archive too but nothing was archived under his new website Sagarin.com. Maybe his old one but I can't find that address.

Negative on that one. Have you tried emailing Leigh Evans? He's the publisher of HickoryHusker, last I knew.

To celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Reitz Football’s first city championship, the Panthers will once more don their original school colors. The Blue & Gray will be put away for the Central game and Reitz will sport the Purple & Orange for the first time in almost a century. “I vividly remember watching that game in 1923,” remarked Mike Whicker, local author and former Reitz teacher and coach. “It was the first time we beat Central and it was a huge upset.” The idea came from Cory Brunson, the Panthers’ head coach. “Before there was the Blue & Gray, I remember hearing the stories about the Panthers playing in Purple & Gold. I wanted to bring that back, if only for one night.” He said the plan is to only use the alternate colors for the Central game, but could use them again for other special circumstances.

Very cool stats, but I think the word dynasty is misleading on these. Reitz has had some good football teams since 2008 but I don’t think dynasty would apply to us, nor to most of the teams on this list.

Yes they were in that conference. There’s definitely an argument that Linton is in SW Indiana. I’ve gone back and forth on whether to include them or not but ultimately I’d decided to keep it to the schools listed in the counties above. I now have info for the whole state but the all-area team is kind of a throwback to when I only covered teams in SW Indiana.

I suppose so. Intended for anyone from the area or anyone with ties to the area, but I suppose it could be messed with if someone was so inclined. Never had an issue before but I could always a preventive measure. Dan

We've opened the voting for AlmanacSports.com's 7th Annual Southwestern Indiana Fans Choice All-Area Team! http://www.almanacsports.com/article.php?news_id=2022122301 Polls will be open for about a week. Congrats to all the finalists and good luck! Dan "Rudy" Engler

Looks like the AP all-state is a thing of the past. I’ve done a Fans Choice team for SW Indiana on AlmanacSports.com for several years now and thought about doing one for the whole state. Thoughts? Probably would do a big school and small school a la the old Bloomington Herald-Times All-State teams.

MaxPreps.com lists Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian vs. Union Dugger as an 8-man football playoff game. Neutral site. https://www.maxpreps.com/games/10-22-2022/football-22/dugger-union-vs-fort-wayne-blackhawk-christian.htm?c=SFWaiXg0l0mqEcdHuYQKuA#tab=matchup&schoolid= Anyone have more info on this? Is it a one-game playoff or are other teams that are involved in a tournament? Thanks, Dan

They switched divisions in the off-season and I didn’t notice until last week lol In Canada for work and will get the website updated by tomorrow and it should be reflected in those 👍

At some point it switched from rotating to being at a designated site. I'll have to double check my research 🙂

There's a quirk in the code. Even though it was 1985-86 and 2017, it shows up as 1985 to 2017. Rudy

I appreciate that. Not sure if that’s true but appreciated nonetheless. It’s just something I enjoy doing 😊 Alabama has a really good one. Michigan and Tennessee do, as well. Few more too but I’m partial to this one 😊

I created a feature on the website that lets me have box scores and stats and even links to game recaps (see games from 2009 and 2010 seasons) but scouring all the news sites, finding these and inputting proved to be too time consuming and I stopped. My goal is to have every score in state history on the site. For the older years, I’m doing one season at a time. I’m currently working on 1946 but I’ll definitely get these added to the site eventually! Thanks again for sharing!

https://www.tristatehomepage.com/home-team-friday/home-team-friday-off-the-gridiron-9-16-22/ Home Team Friday did an awesome piece on me and the oldest Indiana high school football website, ReitzFootball.com!

Very cool! I don’t think I have all those yet but I’ll work to get them added! Those northern Indiana teams were extremely strong back in the day. That area dominated the state until the 1950s and 1960s when central Indiana started to take over. Thanks for sharing!

great question! Jasper had a team from 1907 to 1909, then dropped football. They didn’t restart until 1953

Bloomington High became Bloomington South in 1973. The old Bloomington University High either merged into Bloomington North but I haven't been able to find if BN claims University's athletic lineage or not. Here's an excerpt from Page 29: Thanks and any if any Bloomington folks can help clarify this, please let me know! Dan "Rudy" Engler

Thanks @hhpatriot04! This is from Page 8 of the Indiana High School Football Records Book (which can be found here😞 Chatard has the advantage in all-time percentage with 537-168-1, which is .7613. Hobart is #30 with 649-323-16, which is .6650. The #1 team is Fort Wayne Snider. They are 503-143-3, which is a .7773 win percentage. Thanks and let me know if you have any follow-up questions! Dan "Rudy" Engler