QB

Any interesting question posed during the state finals game, thought it would be interesting to discuss here... A.) New Pal wins another state championship B.) Kyle Ralph is hired elsewhere. Embrace debate.

FWIW, I thought it pretty clear in your initial post. Not sure why Temptation got confused. You never said Steele was fast. I'd be interested in getting your thoughts on Price though. Hopefully you watch the game. Kid has had a great Sophomore season.

Hassel certainly has had a good season, but he might not even be the best RB in this game. Colin Price from Zionsville leads all 6A rushers

Ultimately depends on which teams show up. Is it the Zionsville team that played Avon to 3 and beat Brownsburg? Or the team that lost to FC? Same with BD. Is it the team that needed the final play to beat Pike and got upset by LC? Or the team that beat WC and Carmel? Both teams are playing their best ball down the stretch so it'll be interesting to see where it goes.

FC coming off of a rivalry win?? When did Zville and FC become rivals?

Brownsburg beat Zionsville last year 70-52... The boys basketball game was 54-39

Does anyone know why Steele didn't play in this game? Hadn't seen or heard why he wasn't out there. Obviously he would have made some sort of difference

Love to contribute to 6A

10 years is a lot of work, but here is the past 5 with a sparkline showing a trend for each conference.

They definitely have a favorable conference spread from weeks 3-7, however Westfield and Zionsville (who you omitted, but would probably also be on the top end of the Tier 2 teams) back to back weeks in the middle of that is probably not what you would like to have either.

I don't think you are far off, DT. The problem with Noblesville last year was scoring points. They only averaged 11.4 points/game and never scored more than 24 in any game, and half of their wins came with scoring only 10 points. In a conference with Zionsville, Brownsburg and Avon (3 teams who traditional lead the conference in scoring), it will be a key in cracking that next tier. Obviously first year in a system probably played a role in that, so it will be interesting to see if they figure it out in year 2.

Per usual, much has been made on here about the MIC (rightfully so), but not much chatter about probably the next best conference in the state, the Hoosier Crossroad Conference. 7/8 teams finished inside the top 35 in the Sagarin last year. I think its Avon and Brownsburg at the top of the conference again this year with little separation between Zionsville, Westfield, Fishers and HSE. I think Noblesville will also be better than last year and will win some games in the conference, but not enough to rise above the rest of the pack. I think FC brings up the rear again after struggling to compete in their first season in the conference. Should be another exciting and competitive year in this conference!

Another fun, albeit unofficial, and infant "rivalry" in week 1 is Pike vs Zionsville. Sectional opponents that are separated by just 7 miles, and have had 3 really good games since they began playing each other week 1 in 2016. Some extra juice in it for the kids this year with the Pike HC coming from Zville.

I would think the Flash would be pretty difficult to bring down in open field!

Can agree... I attended as a MS student from 6-8 grade at Franklin College, loved it.

When do the sectional alignments come out?

Not familiar with the school's situation, but I wonder if there are other factors at play here. Maybe (hypothetical) there was a large number of athletes who decided to not play football in high school because the program was so bad, but played in middle school for the coach who was just hired. Perhaps the administration feels by bringing him up to the high school level will get those kids back out (assuming the kids who quit liked playing for the coach in MS). Is it a big jump from MS to running an entire high school program? Absolutely. But if the school feels like he can turn the program around and do it quickly then what's the harm in trying. Maybe it's their last ditch effort at saving the dying program, where if the immediate future is uncertain anyway, what's the worst thing that can happen?

Cole Wiseman from Zionsville, saw action in many games last year and has a fantastic pure arm. He also started in the 2017 playoff run as a Sophomore and led Zville to a sectional title win over New Pal. Plus, he plays in a very pass-friendly offense and should have some astronomical statistics as a Zville QB normally does. Avon and Brownsburg are both returning starters at QB who started as Sophomores last season. Both Hesson (Avon) and Easters (Brownsburg) threw for nearly 2,000 yards last year. Another HCC QB who returns is Camden Simmons of Westfield.

Assuming you're talking about the same thing... It's true... he's back

Bringing back McWhorter to run the defense.

I don't think that is necessarily true. They definitely struggled in year one, particularly against the top half of the conference (Brownsburg, Avon, Westfield, Zionsville). However, they were fairly competitive against Fishers, HSE, and Noblesville. Can they win the conference this year? Probably not, unless there is a significant jump from last year. But I think the can be middle of the road and win a few more games if they improve in the right areas. I still think they finish in 8th, however wouldn't surprise me if they finished 6th or 7th after picking up a couple wins.

Zionsville brings back a lot of talent up front while losing the majority of their offensive skill players. However, the bring back a good QB (who saw action in a lot of games last year and was a contender for the starting job), the starting RB who is now a Sophomore and other receivers who could step in and fill some voids. The defense brings back everyone with only graduating a couple of starters on that side of the ball and expect to improve with the new, but familiar, DC. I expect similar success as they had last year, however, they are still chasing Brownsburg and Avon at the top. My guesses: 1.) Avon 2.) Brownsburg 3.) Zville 4.) Westfield 5.) HSE 6.) Fishers 7.) Noblesville 8.) FC

Coach Turnquist, most recently OC from Carmel and former Zville coach, is expected to be named the new HC of Zionsville.

Where's he going?

Back to the original topic of this post... Hearing that finalists interviews are complete and the AD has begun making calls to those who have been eliminated. Likely an announcement later today. No word on the complete finalist, but there were two internal candidates that made it to the final rounds of interviews.