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I get the competition between fans supporting their schools, but to say that the stats for the North game will be slowed at MaxPreps because of the game result is kind of silly. Actually, some basic game stats are already posted on it as of today. The day after the North/South game, I posted a summary of the game along with other games within CI, and I pretty much covered the stats from that game, and they were also in the story posted in the H-T. I often go to MaxPreps trying to get information of games around CI, and when it comes to South, win or lose, specific game stats are often delayed depending on the person providing that information. My complaint about the stats they provide nowadays, whether it's the H-T or even MaxPreps, is they don't give information anymore on things like penalties, etc. and you almost have to catch the postgame show on one of the radio stations to get that type of info.

I thought there might be some North fans lurking on this forum that don't have an account, so it's good to see you establish an account and any contributions that you have is definitely welcomed. Actually, there was a redistricting that occurred just a few years ago but not in the traditional way a person would think of it. This subject was kicked around last season under the 2023 Conference Indiana thread with my responses being pretty long (too long) where I got into how zoning laws had affected the growth in Bloomington with much of it to the south, but I won't get into that now. A few years ago, the MCCSC school board got into the statistical area of students at both North and South that were on the free lunch/reduced lunch program and the numbers showed that North had a much bigger percentage of students on the program. The board decided this was, in their minds, a socio-economic problem, and for the lack of a better way to put it, they wanted the school population at North to have a better balance of students from affluent families vs those that were less well-off. The school board solution was simple. They decided to change school bus routes in areas that were in traditional South school district areas and only provide bus service to North in those areas. They pretty much forced students in those areas to North H.S. since most families have working parents and have to have the bus service. To me and also to most people, this was indeed a de facto redistricting without the need to draw lines on a map. Just simply change the bus service forcing students to another school. I know this to be a fact and the school board meetings over it were well covered in the H-T at the time. I grew up on the southeast side of Bloomington and my home is at best just a half mile from where South Mr. Football Rex Grossman grew up. My property abuts Hyde Park to the east and all of a sudden the school bus service on our road went to North and ditto Hyde Park, and students were being transported clear across town on the extreme northwest side. I had two nephews that were affected by it and they went to North for one year before transferring to the Edgewood H.S. district. A simple call to the transportation department of the MCCSC will reveal to a person which school they transport students to for a specified area. I'll just leave it at that.

Week 5 in CI: Bloomington North (3-1) @ Terre Haute North (1-3) - This appears to have the making of a blowout win for the B-North Cougars with the TH North Patriots losing by somewhat big margins since they broke their 14-game losing streak. The irony of this game is that TH North's lone win came against Mooresville while B-North's lone loss was to Mooresville in the season opener. The loss to Mooresville by the Cougars is looking like a bad loss since the Pioneers have lost three straight games since beating the Cougars. The Patriots will rely on the running of senior RB Zyeiar White who is averaging 165 yards per game. On the season, Patriot junior QB Harrison Wetzel is connecting on 58 percent of his passes and averages 158.5 ypg passing with 4 TDs and 3 picks. For the B-North Cougars, senior QB Dash King continues to be a hot QB with both his legs and arm and he has had no turnovers in the last two games. In the Cougars game with Bloom. South, they rushed for 230 yards with two backs having 91 yards apiece. (JH's site prediction - Bloomington North 38 Terre Haute North 24) Columbus North (4-0) @ Indy Chatard (3-1) - This game looks to be a really interesting matchup and I would call it the CI game of the week. In last week's polls, the North Bull Dogs ranked 9th in the USA Today 6A poll while Chatard was ranked 2nd in the 4A poll although they will probably drop in this week's poll after losing rather big to Cathedral, 31-7, snapping a 24-game winning streak by the Trojans. North lost to the Trojans, 28-3 last season. Both teams have beaten Roncalli but you can't tell much from those games since they were both defensive contests with Chatard beating the Royals, 9-3, while the Bull Dogs beat the Royals, 14-0. Considering how the Roncalli games went, I wouldn't expect a high scoring game. Chatard jr QB Jack Harrington was 14 for 22 for 119 yards and two picks in their game with Cathedral, while sr RB Daniel Shaw rushed for 56 yards on 15 carries in that game. Junior dual-threat QB Asher Ratliff has spearheaded North's offense this season and is a threat with both his arm and legs, and Chatard will certainly being keying on him. Ratliff was responsible for both TDs in the Roncalli game, the only scores in the game. (JH's site prediction - Chatard 24 Columbus North 23) Terre Haute South (1-2) @ Bloomington South (2-2) - The Bloom. South Panthers have dominated this series and have won 19 of the last 20 games against the TH South Braves. However, this is the Panthers youngest roster in quite some time, and I don't know what to expect out of them in this game after playing a really poor game against Bloom. North last Friday with mistakes galore in that game. Will the Panthers come out all fired up after last week's loss or will they let the bad effort in that loss linger into this game? Coach Gabe Johnson has to get the team back up for this game and another loss could send this team into a tailspin the rest of the season. The Braves senior QB Brady Wilson had a huge game against crosstown rival TH North last Friday and threw for 212 yards and four TDs while completing 82.4 pct of his passes and no picks. Braves junior RB Tyisaac Corbin ran for 136 yards on 22 carries. The South Panthers have to be really concerned about Wilson's passing ability considering their secondary has given up some really big pass plays this season. The Panthers had been pretty good on turnovers up until last week against Bloom. North when they turned the ball over four times, and they can't let that happen in this game. Panther soph QB Duncan Combs needs a big comeback game after his worst effort of the season last Friday. I expect the South Panthers to try to control the ball and the clock with RB Brayden Townsend and try to keep the ball out of Brady Wilson's hands as much as possible. (JH's site prediction - Terre Haute South 35 Bloomington South 31) Southport (0-4) @ Heritage Christian (3-1) - I don't have much information on this game and the question for this game is if the 6A Cardinals can handle 2A Heritage Christian Eagles to get their first win of the season. Heritage Christian was ranked 11th in last week's 2A poll and they are coming off a 63-33 win over 2A Eastern Hancock. Heritage Christian junior QB Eli Nix had a huge game last Friday and threw for 304 yards and six touchdowns, and also rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns. His main target was Noah Dearman who had 162 receiving yards and three TDs. As far as Southport's stats, I came up empty trying to find them and after losing to Pike, 53-7, I assume the stats were quite limited in that game for them. If the Cardinals can somehow limit the damage by the Eagles' Nix they could get their first win of the season, but I have to wonder what the morale is like around the Cardinals program and if the players are in the dumps. The Eagles could win big despite the size difference in the schools. A loss here, and Southport may be heading for a winless season. (JH's site prediction - Heritage Christian 42 Southport 35)

I forgot to tell you that both the JV game and freshman game with North were canceled due to the lack of officials. They are really having trouble getting these games in this season. The JV team has gotten two games in of the four games that were scheduled up to this point and the freshman team has gotten one game in and that was the season opener with Col. East. The Martinsville games were canceled because of the weather delay to the varsity game which was pushed back into Saturday, and I suspect the freshman game with TH North was canceled for the lack of officials.

Thanks for checking in on that. It's greatly appreciated. I see that out of the HHC, New Albany was part of that

You brought back a little history there. I really hadn't thought about before, but I also would prefer an eight-team conference which would be about right. I remember the days of when South (Bloomington High School) was part of the SIAC and you talk about travel time, especially trips to the Evansville area without I-69, and I remember it to be a conference loaded with teams but I can't remember how many since I was just a kid at the time. BHS left the SIAC for the South Central Conference during the 1960's.

I'm with you on what happened under the redistricting, but it is what it is, so I just move on hoping for the best. The only stats you will find on this game are the ones that HTO published and they gave just the passing, receiving, and rushing team stats and player stats, but they don't give stats like penalties, etc. Unless you are close to the team, there is no place to find season stats, and South doesn't publish game or season stats, which makes it difficult to ferret out that information. It's not like it used to be. The only game stats we get out of the HTO is when South is in what I will call their "game of the week." Teams not in their game of the week don't get hardly any coverage outside of their X account and that is often limited. A big problem for HTO is when Gannett, which owns USA Today, bought several regional newspapers including the H-T and then they gutted the staffs. The H-T now has a very limited sports staff because of that especially when it comes to high schools sports. IU is their primary focus.

Week 4 results in CI: Bloomington North 31 Bloomington South 14 - This was the sorriest game that I've seen South play in quite some time. North was simply the better team this night and their experience over South certainly showed as they were pretty much mistake-free while the Panthers couldn't get out of their own way in a game where they had four turnovers to North's zero turnovers. If I had to award an MVP in this game for North, it would be their big senior-dominated o-line which opened big holes and allowed North to rush for 230 yards on 54 carries. South's line wasn't bad at all and when the Panthers were not committing major mistakes, South was able to move the ball. The 17-point margin in the game was the biggest by North against South since 2003 when Cougar head coach Anthony Lindsey was a senior player for North and they won by 18 points that year. South didn't commit as many major penalties as they did last week against TH North, but the ones they did commit were doozies, like after a 3rd down sack of QB Dash King which would have brought a 4th and 15 in Cougar territory, a personal foul penalty was called on one the Panthers giving new life to the Cougars and I believe they scored on the drive after getting that break. In addition to the 230 yards rushing by the Cougars, Cougar QB Dash King was 6 of 12 passing for 133 yards and no picks. South soph QB Duncan Combs who had been pretty effective up to this game, had a miserable night and was 11 for 22 for 105 yards and three picks, and he also lost the ball on a strip sack for another turnover. He will certainly learn from this game which was his fourth varsity start. South RB Braylen Townsend had 111 yards rushing on 21 carries. Columbus North 14 Indy Roncalli 0 - North won a hard-fought defensive game, and Roncalli lost their second straight low scoring game after losing to Chatard 9-3 last week. The Bull Dogs snapped a four-game losing streak to the Royals. The Bull Dog's do-everything QB in Asher Ratliff was responsible for the only scores in the game with both TDs coming on a passing and rushing TD. The first half was a battle in the trenches with Roncalli being forced into many 3 and outs, while the Bull Dogs had trouble getting past midfield. The Bull Dogs went to their hurry up offense near the end of the first half and scored on a TD pass with 33 seconds left in the half to take a 7-0 lead. The only other score in the game came with just over 6 minutes left in the game on a Ratliff one-yard run. The Royals didn't help their cause any with a couple of turnovers with one coming in Bull Dog territory after a receiver was stripped of the ball on a reception around the Bull Dog 35-yard line. The other turnover came with three minutes left in the game when a bad snap on a FG attempt was recovered by the Bull Dogs. I didn't get any stats on the game. Terre Haute South 41 Terre Haute North 22 - I was unable to come up with much information on this game. The South Braves won their third straight game in the series and got their first win to go 1-2 on the season. It was a low scoring first qtr with South up 3-0. The scoring picked up in the 2nd qtr and the Braves had a 24-14 lead over the Patriots at the half. The Braves had increased the lead to 31-14 early in the 3rd and outscored North 17-8 in the 2nd half for the rather easy win. I was unable to come up with any stats on the game. Pike 53 Southport 7 - I have absolutely no information to speak on this. It went as expected with Pike getting the blowout win. Pike had a 20-0 lead at the start of the 2nd qtr. I do know that Pike blocked two punts in the game.

Bloomington North 31 Bloomington South 14 (final)

Bloomington North 31 Bloomington South 14 (2:52, 4th) After South threw two picks in a row, North got a huge running play that carried to the South one-yard line and they scored on a sneak. This game boiled down to an experienced team making almost no mistakes in the game while South made enough mistakes to last two or three games. The Panthers got by with mistakes against weaker teams this season so far but they weren't going to get away with them tonight and they were extremely costly.

Bloomington North 24 Bloomington South 14 (end of 3rd)

Bloomington North 24 Bloomington South 14 (0:51, 3rd) South had a mistake-free drive and scored on a combination of runs and passes on a long drive.

Bloomington North 24 Bloomington South 7 (7:08, 3rd) North received the kickoff to start the 2nd half with South giving up another big pass play on a 3rd down which set up a rather easy TD for the Cougars. North's big 0-line has done a better job in opening up holes in this game. South's secondary with one returning starter has been a problem in the first four games of the season. On the ensuing kickoff, South had a big pass play that took them into North territory which was called back for holding and they ended up punting. That problem persists.

Yeah, I saw it in another earlier post that it's Guerin.

Bloomington North 17 Bloomington South 7 (halftime) South's lack of discipline cost them dearly and they gave away a North TD near the end of the half after South had stopped them in North territory and North had a 4th and 15. But South was hit with a personal foul penalty to give North a gift first down and then North scored on a deep TD pass. South gave up multiple major penalties last week against Terre Haute North and I said before this game that they can't do that against the Cougars, and they did just that.

Who are they playing?

Bloomington North 10 Bloomington South 7 (8:48, 2nd) South had a ball batted up in the air at the line scrimmage and it was picked off there. North got a couple of big gainers to wide open receivers near the sideline, but South forced a 25-yard FG to give North the lead.

Bloomington South 7 Bloomington North 7 (2:37, 1st) After South's TD, North was able to complete a big pass play which has been a problem with South's young secondary so far this season. South had North in two 4th down situations down in their territory, but they let Cougar QB Dash King pick up both first downs on keepers enroute to a 4th and goal QB sneak by King for the TD.

Bloomington South 7 Bloomington North 0 (7:55, 1st) South got the ball first and on the first play of the game, they got a penalty which was a big problem last week against TH North. South then threw a pick that was snared at the South 28 yard line. South held, but dropped what looked like a sure pick-6, and forced a North FG attempt which was blocked and recovered by the Panthers on the North 48 yard line. South drove for the score on a mix of runs and passes and scored on a pass to Sam Giles.

The school superintendent has stepped in to coach the team. JUST IN: This Texas high school football team had three head coaches in the last 48 hours (texasfootball.com)

Week 4 in CI: Bloomington South (2-1) @ Bloomington North (2-1) - These teams split two games last season with the Cougars winning the regular season game in overtime after taking a huge risk in going for two instead of kicking the PAT to send the game into a 2nd overtime. The Panthers got revenge in the sectional with a thumping of the Cougars. This game represents a veteran North team against a talented but young South team, and I see the Cougars having the edge in this game. North senior QB Dash King comes into the game red hot and he was responsible for 332 total yards and four rushing TDs and completed 10 of 11 passes in their win over TH South. That doesn't bode well for a young South secondary that is prone to giving up big passing plays as they gain experience. South has shown they can move the ball on offense and put up points and are averaging 33 ppg in their three games so far, so maybe this game ends up being a high scoring affair. South soph QB Duncan Combs has been pretty effective for the Panthers so far. South's discipline was atrocious in their game with TH North and while I haven't seen the stats from that game, they had a ton of major penalties that went on for the entire game. They are young but that can't happen against North. South has a strong runner in junior Braylen Townsend who can keep the chains moving and is very capable of taking the ball to the house, so maybe the key to a South win is controlling the ball on long drives and using clock, keeping the ball out of King's hands. (JH's site prediction - Bloomington North 31 Bloomington South 30) Indy Roncalli (1-1) @ Columbus North (3-0) - The Bull Dogs have been pretty dominant in their three games so far with a surprising thumping of Decatur Central and then two breathers against Columbus East and Southport. They really get tested in the next two games with the Catholic schools up next in Roncalli and Chatard, with Roncalli up first at the Bull Dog's field. Roncalli beat a young Bull Dog team in Indy last season 38-10, so the Bull Dogs will be looking for revenge. I have no knowledge of Roncalli's team, but they played a highly talented Chatard team close in a low scoring game and lost 9-3 in a game that Chatard won in the trenches. So, it's pretty evident that the Royals have a strong defense. The Bull Dogs will respond with their own weapon on offense in junior dual-threat QB Asher Ratliff who has been extremely impressive in the Bull Dogs three wins and is a threat with both his arm and his legs. I assume this game will boil down to Ratliff vs Roncalli's defense. I don't know much about Roncalli's offense, but I did find some stats from the Chatard game and the Royals had 210 yards of total offense with 110 yards passing and 110 yards running. Royals sr QB Jayden Buchanan was 14 of 27 passing and jr RB Zack Dozier ran for just 27 yards on 6 carries to lead the Royals in that category. (JH's site prediction - Columbus North 24 Roncalli 21) Terre Haute North (1-2) @ Terre Haute South (0-2) - Another crosstown rivalry, with the Braves seeming to have the advantage over the Patriots. TH South beat TH North last season 34-0 and have a two-game win streak in the series with THN last winning in 2021, 20-14. The Patriots are an improving team that finally broke a 14-game losing streak, and they could give the Braves a pretty good game which is probably predicated on having back their stud running back, Zyeiar White, who averaged over 200 rushing yards a game in their first two games. For whatever reason, White didn't play in the Bloom. South game so I don't know if it was for an injury or disciplinary reasons. White transferred to THN from THS so the Braves know him well. With White in the game, the Patriots could give the Braves all of the trouble in the world. Braves QB Brady Wilson had modest numbers passing in the Bloom. North game and was 8 for 16 for 86 yards and no picks. RB Tyisaac Corbin had a nice game and ran for 120 yards on 18 carries. If the Patriots have White back, then they could very well win this game. If not, I expect the Braves to come out on top. (JH's site prediction - Terre Haute South 42 Terre Haute North 28) Southport (0-3) @ Pike (2-1) - Southport has shown no improvement since last season and the last time they had a winning season was in 2019 when they went 7-4. Pike is off to a good start at 2-1 and I don't see the Cards having much of a chance in winning this game barring a rash of turnovers and critical penalties by the Red Devils. Pike blasted Southport 46-14 last season, and this appears to be another game with that kind of result. Southport's head coach, Alex Bettag, is 2-32 in his 4th season there and you have to believe his seat is red hot right now. (JH's site prediction - Pike 42 Southport 17)

I saw an item that the TH North player that went to the hospital during the South game, is okay and he had a stinger. Needless to say, that is great news and that was a scary sight to see him laying out on the field the way he did.

I thought I would add that South's JV team which went unbeaten last season, has picked up where they left off and are 2-0 on the season after beating THN in Terre Haute, 21-6. They opened the season with a 29-14 win over Col. East, with the Martinsville game being cancelled with the varsity tilt being finished on Saturday after the weather delay. The freshman team which was unbeaten but tied last season, is not off to a good start and they got thrashed by Col East 41-0 and then had their games against Martinsville and THN canceled with no explanation of why the THN game was cancelled which was to be played at South.

White didn't play and I don't know if it was for an injury or for disciplinary reasons which they never comment on. I haven't seen any stats on the game so I'm in the dark on that. THN got both of their 4th qtr TDs in the last four minutes of the game with major penalties hurting South which was a problem the entire game, and the secondary giving up big plays. I remember on one play late in the game where THN had a 4th and 21 and they completed a pass play for 31 yards to set up one of their two late TDs. You would have to think if Coach Johnson hadn't taken Townsend out near the end the 3rd, the Panthers would have had two more TDs when you consider the backup RB fumbled the ball away twice deep in Patriot territory. Yeah, I hope the best for the injured Patriot player. When he didn't move at all while on the field before they put him in the ambulance, that is really concerning, yet I haven't heard anything on his situation. I haven't listened to a WGCL broadcast since the season started so I'm surprised Joe is still at it after he said last year was it for him. I've always like Joe, but he can't keep game situations straight anymore so if I have to go to a broadcast on any games where there are more than one station covering it, I will avoid his game coverage.

Week 3 results in CI: Bloomington North 41 Terre Haute South 29 - The game was tough to try and pick a winner and while the Cougars led for much of the game, they never did completely separate themselves from TH South, and the Braves stayed close. North led at the end of the 1st, 10-6 with THS grabbing a 13-10 lead early in the 2nd before North took a 24-13 lead at the half. North outscored the Braves 17-16 in the 2nd half for the 12-point win. The Cougars had 474 yards total offense while THS had 293 yars. North's QB Dash King was 10 for 11 through the air for 157 yards with no picks, and he rushed for 175 yards on 22 carries with 4 TDs all on the ground. TH South QB Brady Wilson was 8 of 16 for 96 yards and no picks, while they rushed for 197 yards on 28 carries with Tyisaac Corbin rushed for 120 yads on 18 carries for the Braves. Columbus North 45 Southport 14 - As expected, the Bull Dogs rolled over the Cards at Southport and they dominated all three of the major offensive categories. Southport's TD came in the 1st when they tied the Bull Dogs at 7-7, and their only other TD coming in the 4th. The Bull Dogs ended up scoring 25 points in the 1st qtr to take at 25-7 lead and never looked back. Columbus North had 412 yards of total offense while Southport had 145 yards. Bull Dog QB Asher Ratliff had another excellent game and he was 19 of 29 for 193 yards and two TDs while rushing for 59 yards and one TD. I didn't get any of the Cards individual stats. Bloomington South 37 Terre Haute North 20 - TH North was coming off a big win at home against Mooresville to break a long losing drought, and I thought maybe that they had a little momentum going for them coming into this game, but South grabbed a quick 14-0 lead at the start of the game and never were really challenged after that although the Patriots scored two TDs in the 4th to make the final score a little more respectable. The Patriots gave the Panthers their quick 14-0 lead at the start of the game on two bad snaps in a row with the first one being recovered at the Patriots five-yard line with RB Braylen Townsend scoring on a run. After the ensuing kickoff, on the first down play, TH North snapped the ball into the end zone with the Panthers recovering for a quick two TD lead. South ended up taking a 23-6 lead into the half and had a 37-6 lead with two minutes left in the 3rd. A TH North player went down around the two-minute mark in the 3rd period and looked seriously hurt as he was not moving on the field at all after the injury. There was about a 25-minute delay as they attended to the injured player and I didn't see him move at any point while he was down. They stabilized him on a board and an ambulance came on the field and transported him to the hospital. I never did get his name and I haven't heard anything on him since he was taken to the hospital. When play resumed, South coach Johnson called off the dogs and put a backup QB and RB into the game, with RB Braylen Townsend not getting another carry in the game. South coughed up the ball twice on fumbles in the 4th by their backup RB with South deep in Patriot territory both times, and that along with South's young secondary getting burned at the end, accounted for both TH North TDs in the 4th.