foxbat

Addressed this in another thread, but there are many teams that do this self-damaging technique of abandoning what's working during a game. In some cases, it comes from nothing more than being creatures of habit. The game plan says pass and, despite the fact that the running game seems to be working well, we're going to stick with the plan and throw the ball because the plan says to throw the ball anytime we get close to midfield. Sometimes it's just wanting to rub someone's nose in it and the quickest way is often going to the air. Sometimes it's trying to end the game early or at least take the other team's fight out of them. To some extent, that can be understandable as, if you can get the opponent in the locker room at half arguing about who's sitting next to the window, then the second half is a lot easier. Sometimes it's impatience and worry from the leading team that they might be the victims of a quick strike and all of a sudden be in a dogfight. Loved watching Harrison last night take what worked and forcing the other team out of their zone. Harrison went into the half with a last second field goal to be up 25-13 and getting the ball to start the second half. By the time they got to the end of the first half, it was clear that they were able to ground and pound as well as exploit the edges. They came out at the half and drove the ball 85+ yards with the vast majority on the ground and ate up the first 5 minutes of the second half. Rather than going for the coup de grace and a quick score, they stuck with what was working and what worked perfectly against Plainfield's offense ... keeping them off of the field and forcing them into a situation of having to go to the air a lot. With Plainfield's 87.5 QB rating for the season and an average of one passing TD a game, Harrison's stuck with the running game that was working for them and, more importantly, just strangled the clock. They then took the ball from Plainfield and, on their second possession of the half, killed the entire rest of the 3rd quarter on the ground and ate another three minutes on top of that in the 4th and put up another score. Wasn't sure if the wind sound was the rain coming in or the air going out of Plainfield, but in just two possessions, and by the time Plainfield touched the ball for the second time that half, there were only 8 1/2 minutes left in that game and Harrison now had a 39-13 lead. The rain then came in and made it even more problematic for Plainfield as they just weren't built to come from behind, especially with a passing game, and Harrison did a great job of not helping them at all by sticking with what was working.

Had one like this last year in the Harrison-Kokomo game, except it was a crossfield kick. Harrison kicker lined up on right hash, kicked the ball all the way, sky-kick fashion, to opponent's 45 or so on the opposite side of the field about 2-3 yards from the sideline. Perfect kick ... right into the arms of Harrison's gunner. Everyone in the stands went nuts thinking it was Harrison's ball on a perfectly executed crossfield kick ... I just shook my head because I knew what was coming. Not only was it Kokomo's ball, but with the additional 15 yard penalty tacked on since the gunner caught it in the air before it touched the receiving team or the ground. It was a shame because it really did look well-executed except for that little nugget on kickoffs with the sky-kick component.

What a difference a night makes. Last week, LCC's odds placed them 2nd in Sectional 34, just to get out of the sectional. After last night, they've jumped to the "favorite" from 2A North to spend Thanksgiving weekend in downtown Indy in Harrell's Tournament Chances. They'll face off next week for the Sectional Championship against Seeger who they beat in the initial game of the season 35-8.

Harrison with an impressive showing tonight. 39-13.

Harrison now just imposing their will. On their second possession burned the the entire rest of Q3 and ate up another three before scoring again . 39-13 with 8::30 left in game..

Harrison with an 80+ yard drive to open the second half. 32-13 with 7 minutes left in Q3.

Harrison hits a. 41 yard field goal with 4 secs on the clock. Leads Plainfield 25-13 at the half.. Harrison will receive to start the half.

Harrison misses a field goal, then stuffs a Plainfield fake punt and hits a pretty seam pass for a TD. Leads 22-13. Forces a. three and out . Gets the ball back with 50 seconds.

Just announced at the Harrison game Decatur Central 19--0 over McCutcheon...

Quakers score. PAT is good. Harrison still leads 15-13 with 6:40 left in first half.

Harrison is 2 for 2 on possessions. 2-Point conversion is good. 15-6 over Plainfield with 11 minutes left in Q2..

Harrison up 7-6 just under 5 minutes in Q1.

Quakers score, but get stuffed on trick PAT. 7-6 Harrison.

Harrison draws first blood after forcing a 3 and out. 7-0 over Plainfield with 8:25 in Q1.

And the IHSAA doesn't decide to get cute again with a 4A sectional assignment. Same thing with Lutheran going to 2A. I think it will be a toss-up as to whether they can weather 2A with such a small enrollment, but the likelihood of them and LCC staying in 2A would be better if the IHSAA doesn't stick Lutheran in the same sectional with LCC.

Taking Harrison over Plainfield in this one just because I want my son to play for a sectional title before he finishes up high school. It also fits with what happened last year too with the loser of the first match avenging themselves in the second. I also think that Harrison has gotten some of the kinks worked out from the first couple of games and also has most of their guys healthy. For Plainfield, they'll need to be able to pass to keep Harrison off-balance and be able to run effectively between the tackles. When teams struggle with the pass or can't control the middle, then the Harrison defense changes up a bit. This is what happened both with Jeff and West Lafayette. Once Harrison was able to shut down the middle run, that's pretty much when the game was over. West Lafayette's QB had a 106 rating through last week, but ended up going 22-40 for 127 against Harrison. I would normally take Decatur Central over McCutcheon, but McCutcheon's surprise win over Kokomo and the close game against Guerin makes me wonder if they've got one more spark in them to force a cross-town sectional championship should Harrison prevail tonight. I'd love for Harrison to play an away game next week across town.

Actually, I think Scecina was in 2A when they won their back-to-back titles and elected to stay in 2A despite their enrollment dropping to 1A level. They eventually decided to move back down to 1A and then ended up in 2A via SF without winning a 1A title ... a pair of reds qualified them for SF. Their enrollment then kept them there. Similar to Linton who ended up in 2A via SF, but has 2A enrollment now. If I'm not mistaken, Mishawaka Marian requested to be moved up from 1A to 3A after they won 1A back around '73, but the IHSAA only granted them a single class bump to 2A which they then won in '75 and '76.

Big part of that will be figured out tonight.

Understood. I was looking more at the uniqueness of what it would cause ... three teams in a class being SF'd in a single season, which would be a first ... as opposed to the likelihood of what would happen. In 1A, we've already had a couple of teams go up and down, another team go up and down and up again and a team that didn't win a blue ring during SF, but ended up going up. It would only be fitting for 1A to have this unique item to add to its list of SF activities.

LCC's OLine has a couple of seniors this season. Weights range from 212 - 316 with average around 253ish.

Taking BD on this one as I'm sitting just on the edge of the lead pack in a pick 'em and need to start making my move and BD-Brownsburg is a place to make-up some ground picking against the expected.

It's somewhat generic, although if they have the grill fired up, get the hamburger. Around town, there's certainly Walt's Other Pub, but it's mid-range on price. It's right up the road on 9th Street, right over the railroad tracks. House wings are good. If you are doing keto, they have a cheeseburger salad and you'll leave full on that thing. My youngest boy's favorite though is pre-game meal over at Wendy's on Teal and then catching warm-ups around 6:00 pm.

Actually it's fish and water ... you gotta catch one of the priests in attendance if you want the wine option.

I thought the answer was that the Ballhawk family has used all of their eligibility by now.

What would be wilder still would be Lutheran getting bumped off in semi-state by North Decatur and North Decatur knocking off AC. Would get three bumped in a single season?