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Week 9 games in CI. This is it for Conference Indiana with the regular season coming to a close and it is sayonara, au revoir, etc. for the conference. Without knowing what is happening at Bloom. South, Col. North, and Southport right now as far as conference affiliation, it's looking to me that those schools may be scheduling an independent next season. For the final weekend in the conference, two games look to be competitive while the other two have a running clock written all over them. As usual, my favorites are in boldface. Center Grove (7-1) @ Bloomington South (8-0) The 6A No. 4 Trojans played a much tougher schedule coming into this game, and while the 5A No. 2 Panthers have run the table up to this point and have been dominant in doing so, I just don't know how good they are against one of the best 6A programs in the state. This game will be a good measuring stick for the Panthers as they enter the sectional. The Panthers are averaging 443 yards per game and have a game scoring average of 45 ppg, but the yards and points will probably come grudgingly in this game. The Panthers lead the series against Center Grove, 10-8, but the two schools haven't met since 2009 when Center Grove won a sectional game over South. The last time they met in a regular season game was back in 1997 when the Panthers had Rex Grossman under center, with the South winning 28-0. My heart says the Panthers will win this game, but my brain tells me to go with Center Grove with the Trojans winning by one to two scores. Harrell's site prediction: Center Grove 38 Bloomington South 28 Terre Haute South (6-2) @ Columbus North (4-4) A hot Braves team travels to Columbus to take on a struggling Bull Dog team. The Bull Dogs are certainly good enough to win this game, but they have lost four of their last five games, with their only win over that period being against a horrendous Terre Haute North team that everyone has pummeled including a bad Southport team. On the other hand, 5A No. 12 TH South has won 6 of their last 7 games with their only loss during that period being a home loss to Bloom. South. The Braves will come into the game with all of the confidence in the world, so I see them taking this game by one score. Harrell's site prediction: Columbus North 35 Terre Haute South 31 Bloomington North (5-3) @ Southport (1-7) No need to go into much detail on this game. The North Cougars are going for their fifth straight win, while Southport only win was against winless Terre Haute North. This game has running clock written all over it. Enough said. Harrell's site prediction: Bloomington North 38 Southport 14 Terre Haute North (0-8) @ Brebeuf Jesuit (1-7) I have seen both teams play, and Brebeuf is light years better than the North Patriots despite having just the one win on the season. Brebeuf could put this game into a running clock situation. Another enough said. Harrell's site prediction: Brebeuf Jesuit 38 Terre Haute North 21

Center Grove 38 Lawrence North 35 (final) Center Grove scored a TD with 15 seconds left in the game to pull it out.

Bloomington South 38 Brebeuf Jesuit 7 (final) The game had a running clock near the end of the 3rd.

Bloomington North 31 Columbus North 28 (final) Crazy game at the end. Bloom. North attempted a fake punt on 4th down and the Bull Dogs stuffed it, and scored on a fairly short field to take the lead 28-24. Bloom. North then scored on a 24-yard pass with 0:44 left in the game to regain the lead at 31-28. The Bull Dogs had a chance to tie the game and put it into overtime, but the FG attempt was blocked.

Lawrence North 34 Center Grove 21 (1:31, 4th)

Bloomington North 24 Columbus North 21 (4:22, 4th) Huge mistake by the Col. North Bull Dogs as they coughed the ball up with time running out on them in the game.

Bloomington South 35 Brébeuf Jesuit 7 (4th with running clock) South has inserted many subs in the 4th.

Bloomington North 24 Columbus North 21 (7:19, 4th) The North Cougars scored on a 52-yard pass play to retake the lead. Col. North's Parker Elmore was hurt earlier in this qtr.

Columbus North 21 Bloomington North 17 (9:09, 4th) Center Grove 28 Lawrence North 21 (4th)

Bloomington South 35 Brébeuf Jesuit 0 (late 3rd) Running clock.

Bloomington North 17 Columbus North 14 (about 10 minutes left in 4th)

Lawrence North and Center Grove all tied up at 21-all with the 3rd period just getting started.

Bloomington North 14 Columbus North 14 (6:34, 3rd)

Columbus North 14 Bloomington North 7 (early 3rd) Bloom. North received the 2nd half kickoff and coughed the ball up on the drive to give the Bull Dogs a short field TD to take the lead. Bloomington South 28 Brébeuf Jesuit 0 (half)

Bloomington South 28 Brébeuf Jesuit 0 (near end of half) South Panthers scored on a 95-yard drive to extend the lead.

Bloomington South 21 Brébeuf Jesuit 0 (late 2nd) After forcing a three and out, the South Panthers went on a 53-yard drive to extend the lead.

Bloomington South 14 Brébeuf Jesuit 0 ( early 2nd) South Panthers went on a quick 86-yard drive with a 60-yard pass play for a TD finishing it.

Bloomington South 7 Brebeuf Jesuit 0 (start of 2nd) The Braves attempted a 40-yard FG to start the 2nd and had it blocked by the Panthers.

Bloomington North 7 Columbus North 7 (half)

Bloomington South 7 Brébeuf Jesuit 0 (1st) Brébeuf opened the game and punted. South scored on a fairly long drive to take the lead on their first possession.

Bloomington North 0 Columbus North 0 (start of 2nd)

Week 8 games in CI. There are four games and only one game looks to be competitive to me. Bloomington South won the final conference championship with a road win over Col. North last Friday and will finish their regular season with two out-of-conference foes. As usual, my picks are in boldface. Bloomington South (7-0) @ Brebeuf Jesuit (1-6) South travels to Indy to face a team that is still trying to recover from heavy graduation losses. These two teams played in one of the high scoring games from last season with a total of 125 points being scored with Brebeuf coming out on top 68-57. In that game, Brebeuf's Matthew Geske passed for 559 yards and five TDs, while running back CJ Harris rushed for 167 yards on 15 carries. Those two players are gone as well as a host of other players that were key in that shootout. On the other hand, South's Braylen Townsend rushed for 337 yards and five TDs in that game, and he will be back lined up in the backfield and looking for a similar performance. South's rushing attack is even more formidable this season with the addition of Shaun Cooper whom I like to say is running back 1b with Townsend at 1a. Both running backs have similar numbers this season as they give each other a breather, with Cooper rushing for 815 yards on 109 carries and 15 TDs, while Townsend, who missed almost the equivalent of two games because of a gimpy ankle, has rushed for 795 yards on 120 carries and 14 TDs. Brebeuf can expect a heavy dose of those two this Friday. South QB Duncan Combs is 78 of 105 passes for 1227 yards with nine TDs and one pick. Combs hasn't had the need to pass for many TDs since South almost always goes exclusively with their running game when they get into the red zone. Combs likes to target South Florida recruit 6'5 TE Jalen Williams who had a big game against Col. North last Friday. South averages 440.7 ypg on offense while Brebeuf averages 238.4 ypg with the Braves being led by QB Carter Cosgrove who passes for 84.4 ypg, while running back Jasir King averages 43.4 ypg rushing. Brebeuf got their first win of the season last Friday, but that was against a very bad Indy Arsenal Tech team. I can see this game ending with a running clock. This is the last tuneup for South before hosting Center Grove to end the regular season. Harrell's site prediction: Bloomington South 45 Brebeuf Jesuit 21 Columbus North (4-3) @ Bloomington North (4-3) Okay, this is the game that I believe will probably be competitive. The question for me is which Col. North team will show up for this game. Will it be the one that is down after getting beat solidly by Bloom. South on the Bull Dogs' homecoming night or will it be a team that looks to make amends for that game? These two teams went two overtimes last season before the Bull Dogs pulled it out with a 35-34 win. The Cougars have won three straight games (TH North, Jeffersonville, and Col. East) by a combined score of 134-3. Meanwhile, the Bull Dogs have lost big to the three toughest opponents on their schedule coming into this game. Col. North seems to rely mostly on their passing attack while Bloom. North seems to have a more balanced attack. The Cougars are led by QB John Bargen who has thrown for 1095 yards on the season with 10 TDs and three picks. Their running game is led by jr Brayden Johnson with 430 rushing yards on 91 carries and three TDs, while soph Carter Matthew has rushed for 251 yards on 43 carries and three TDs. While I don't have the stats for the Bull Dogs, they are certainly led by the arm and legs of QB Asher Ratliff. This could be another game between these two teams that goes down to another overtime or two like last season, but I'm still going with the home team. Harrell's site prediction: Columbus North 31 Bloomington North 24 Lebanon (6-1) @ Terre Haute North (0-7) This game has blowout written all over it. 4A No. 14 Lebanon travels to Terre Haute to play what is probably the worst 5A team in the state, and one of the worst teams period in the state, and I can see a running clock to start the 2nd half. Terre Haute North has been blown out by every team on their schedule and to rub salt into the wound, they got shutout by winless Southport, 36-0, last Friday and to make matter worse, they had a running clock on them to start the second half of that game. While I'm not going to bother to research it, I'm pretty sure that the Patriots have had a running clock on them in all seven games they have played this season. No need to go into detail on this game other than what I have detailed since it should get really ugly like every other game on their schedule. Harrell's site prediction: Lebanon 45 Terre Haute North 17 Southport (1-6) @ Terre Haute South (5-2) Coming off their first win of the season, the Cardinals travel to Terre Haute to face the Terre Haute team that is the opposite of the one they played last Friday. Southport's high coming off that first win will quickly dissipate in this game since this game also has blowout written all over it. Terre Haute South, coming off a road win at McCutcheon, 34-7, has won five of their last six games by mostly solid margins with their only loss in that stretch being a blowout home loss to Bloom. South. Going into this game, the Braves are tied with Col. North for second place in CI with a 2-1 record. The Braves can probably name the score in this game. Harrell's site prediction: Terre Haute South 42 Southport 14

Southport shutout Terre Haute North, 36-0.

Anyone know who won that big game of gridiron giants in Southport and Terre Haute North? Just curious as to who got their first win of the season. I haven't been able to find a score on it yet.

I might add that the South Panthers won the conference title in the conference's last season. Sullivan 28 Edgewood 21 (final)