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South went into the season with question marks with the line play on both sides of the ball after graduation losses, especially the o-line which had to be rebuilt. So far, both lines have played well with Coach Johnson praising the o-line for an outstanding effort against Lawrence Central in their scrimmage before the season started. North didn't present much of a challenge for them, so I'll need to see more against the better teams on their schedule, starting with their game at Martinsville this Friday. The annual South-Martinsville game used to be a fierce rivalry, especially during the Mo Moriarity/Bill Siderwitz era, but South moved on and sees B-North as their main rivalry. Despite moving on to a different conference, the Arties still see the Panthers as their biggest rival and seem to crank it up a notch or two above their normal playing level when the two teams play. Because of that, I'm always a little leery about this game.

I don't know if North can win a game in their inaugural season in the Mid-State Conference. It all depends on how fast their freshman QB progresses since the QB position is the straw that stirs the drink.

Pick 'em Selections They always like to say that a team usually improves the most from game one to game two, so we shall see. I hope my selections do the same since last week wasn't a particularly good week for my picks. Bloomington North @ BNL The Cougars took it on the chin in their near shutout loss to South, 44-6. The Cougars depth right now is a problem area, and they had a few players that were walking wounded that didn't play. Having more two-way players than they would like, they can wear down in the second half. They have two pretty good running backs and some speed at the WR position, but they have a freshman QB in Fisher Pugh who showed a lot of growing pains, and he threw two pick sixes in the South game. Meanwhile, BNL outlasted Martinsville in a tight game. The Cougars new coach will start the season 0-2. Columbus East @ Columbus North It will be interesting to see Frozen Tundra's take on this game. North won their game against a Whiteland team that's been decimated by graduation and returned just one starter on defense and three starters on offense. Meanwhile, East went on the road and lost to a Mooresville team out of the solid Mid-State Conference. North returns just four starters from last season--two each on offense and defense. I believe both teams are starting new QBs. I really debated this game, and my gut tells me I should go with the Olympians, but they haven't beaten a team outside of the HHC since the 2020 season, so I'm going with the home team Bull Dogs. This is an excellent opportunity to snap that losing streak to nonconference teams for the Olympians. Jeffersonville @ Seymour Both teams went on the road and lost last week with Jeff giving up 67 points to a Lawrence Central team that could make a lot of noise this season in 6A, while the Owls lost to a so-so Greenwood team. This is a tough game for me to figure out, so I'm going with the home team Owls. New Albany @ Indianapolis Lutheran Okay, New Albany surprised pretty much everyone with their home win over Providence. Can they keep it up on the road against Lutheran that beat the Bulldogs last season by a score of 17-0 in New Albany? I say no. Whiteland @ Floyd Central It will be a game between a young Whiteland team experience-wise and a veteran FC team that's coming off a big road win last week. FC by at least three TDs providing that they don't shoot themselves in the foot like they did last season.

Off subject, but Bloomington South has a transfer from BNL who has to sit out for the first six games, and I'm having trouble identifying his name and position. Would you know who it is? He was one of two transfers that came in this season with WR Maysen Lewis transferring in from Terre Haute South.

That's fine. I still think they will win the game by a wide margin.

I don't know what the Lol was about. The point was they lost to another very young team and FC should be a heavy favorite. Yes, Whiteland was coming off a 9-3 season and also had just four starters back to include just one starter on defense. It was a game of two very young teams in which someone was going to come out on top.

FWIW, Whiteland lost to Columbus North by a score of 14-7, and North has just four starters back from last season, two starters each on offense and defense. So, FC should be a strong favorite to win that game.

A repeat of last season's game. Like Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vu all over again."

LC was labeled a sleeper team in the Indy area going into the season.

Bloomington South 44 Bloomington North 6 (final) North broke through with a score against mostly South backups in the game.

Bloomington South 44 Bloomington North 0 (mid 4th, running clock) After a North fumble, South scored on a 25-yard FG.

Bloomington South 41 Bloomington North 0 (1:28, 3rd) A 70-yard pick six by South kicked off a running clock.

Bloomington South 34 Bloomington North 0 (5:08, 3rd) South scored on a rushing TD on their first possession of the 3rd. A blocked PAT prevented a running clock.

Bloomington South 28 Bloomington North 0 (half)

Bloomington South 28 Bloomington North 0 (3:29, 2nd) A blocked punt by South set them up at the North six-yard line and they scored on a six-yard run.

Bloomington South 21 Bloomington North 0 (6:00, 2nd) South scored on a 40-yard pick six. North is breaking in a freshman QB.

Bloomington South 14 Bloomington North 0 (8:33, 2nd) It was a 90-yard drive by South that was up by a 42-yard run into North territory.

Bloomington South 7 Bloomington North 0 (3:29, 1st) South scored on a 47-yard pass play.

Pick-em selections Martinsville @ BNL The Arties are led by one of the better QBs in the Indy metro area in 6'6' jr Chase Davis and he will be throwing a lot to WR Landon Cazee who led the team in receiving yards last season. The Arties by at least three TDs. Columbus East @ Mooresville East will be starting a new QB on the road, who was the JV QB last season, and will be facing a team that had a similar record last season, although the Pioneers played in a much stronger conference being the Mid-State Conference. The Pioneers by two to three scores. 5A #9/#10 Floyd Central @ 3A #2 Gibson Southern There is nothing to go by from a performance standpoint since it is the season opener. This is a very difficult game to predict so I will be going with the home team. Jeffersonville @ Lawrence Central Bloomington South scrimmaged LC this past Friday and South coach Gabe Johnson described the Bears as big, strong, and physical with a lot of team speed. LC has Texas A&M recruit CB Errol Kerns III on defense and he may see some time on offense. This will be a very long, long night for the Red Devils and one could very well name the score. 2A #8 Providence @ New Albany Until the Bulldogs show me otherwise that they are improved, and given their recent football history, I will go with the road team. Seymour @ Greenwood I know absolutely nothing about the prospects this season for either team, so I will go with the home team.

Bloomington South @ Lawrence Central South has scrimmaged LC just before the season opener for a number of years and here are some excerpts from it from the HTO. It focuses on South so how LC saw it is an unknown for me. "We scored five times, they scored three times on our 1s and three times on our 2s," South coach Gabe Johnson said. "We rotated quite a bit. I was happy with the front end of our stuff. We kept it pretty vanilla. We just wanted to see our guys get out there and play hard. "We saw some good and we saw some bad. The offense moved the ball well. Their team speed gave us some issues on the perimeter early, but we adjusted and settled in. They're big and strong and physical and we want that. We only got outside for an hour this week with the heat, then the lightning. We got in the gym, but we were limited in what we did." Individually, South's top players handled it well. Quarterback Duncan Combs and running back Hayden Clark had the time and space to perform. "Duncan and the O-line played really well," Johnson said. "The inside backers were solid. The receivers were pretty good blocking on the perimeter Hayden had almost 100 yards. The guys you expect played well. "Our O-line pushed their front a little bit. It's a new group for us, so that was important."

Bloomington South has 85 players in grades 10 through 12 that attended the first official practice which is down just a hair from last season when they had 93 players in those grades, so they have had pretty consistent numbers over the years.

Bloomington South at No. 3? I don't know about that. They are a huge question mark going into the season as an independent this season with significant graduation losses on both sides of the ball. It will be on to the Hoosier Hills Conference after this season.

I can't comment on what Southport's upcoming season projection is since I don't know, but they haven't had a winning season since 2019, and there have been three 0-10 seasons mixed in with the losing seasons up to now. I'll leave it up to others to comment on the issues the Cardinals face trying to resurrect the program.

Has anyone heard anything about Columbus North and the possibility of a conference affiliation after this upcoming season as an independent? I might as well throw Southport in there also since they are going the independent route this coming school season. I have not heard or seen anything about any efforts on that front with both schools. Bloomington South is moving on to the Hoosier Hills Conference after the upcoming season as an independent. Both Col. North and Southport were able to quickly fill out an independent schedule for the upcoming football season, but Bloom. South really struggled to put a schedule together. I don't think either Col. North or Southport want to have to go through the scheduling problems trying to fill out an independent schedule down the road for any length of time.

Here's a release on the announcement: The top high school defensive coordinator in North Carolina is the new head football coach at Bloomington North. Former Cougar lineman Andy Harding was lured back from Tarboro, NC and it's ultra-successful program to take over at his alma mater and was officially approved at the MCCSC board meeting on Tuesday, April 28. Harding takes over for Brett Cooper, who left after one season to take over at Class 6A powerhouse Ben Davis. Harding will be the third coach in three years for the Cougars following Scott Bless' retirement. North still went 15-7 the past two seasons.