foxbat

McCutcheon isn't very good this year. Playing in the NCC doesn't do a whole lot for getting Harrison ready for the tourney outside of, very recently, Marion and Jeff. With that said, I think Harrison does look better this season than in past seasons, so I like their chances at home under normal circumstances. The loss of Atisso is definitely going to weigh on them, but as you mentioned, Dixon, the fullback, is a good-looking back. I think he sometimes gets overlooked, but he reminds me a bit of West Lafayette's Woodard from a few years back. Coffing may be the one to step in for Atisso's position ... they are built about the same, although I think Atisso is a faster, shiftier back. This will be a good game to determine if Harrison is really a continuing product of the NCC play or if they are perhaps moving to a next level in their program.

https://twitter.com/hhs_raider_fb?lang=en The Harrison- McCutcheon game can also be found here: https://www.iscsportsnetwork.com/videos/2019-ihsaa-fb-mccutcheon-at-harrison?fbclid=IwAR0xS1MMjxAamPLZq46K2af8JMEXYALfZQaB7pQlesrS2A2JGG5xZ0gYXiE

Here's Harrison vs. Westfield and it looks like the whole game https://www.ihsaatv.org/watch/harrison-vs-westfield

Full film is elusive, but MaxPreps does have the Hudl recap of the games https://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/harrison-raiders-(west-lafayette,in)/football/schedule.htm You can also check on the opponent's site to get a look at Harrison's defense too since most of the opponents' video is going to be from their own offensive standpoint. There are also several other videos that focus on specific players' activity too on MaxPreps.

I'll see if I can track something down.

I like Harrison in this one. While they lost, they played Jeff tough at home ... dropping the game by a TD. That game has instilled some confidence and also stretched them too.

Unranked Northfield knocked off #3 Southwood in 1A. Sagarin ratings indicate that game should have been a three-TD Southwood victory.

From my experience, it's probably including it. Have known many kids who started education at the Catholic/Christian schools and finished at the public schools, a much more common activity than many might realize, while still being very strong in living and practicing their faith ... including my oldest two kids.

I'm generally familiar with both teams, but interested in hearing from those who know them intimately, what would AC need to do reverse the outcome of the SA-AC meeting from earlier in the season? For example, Lewis Cass, in the Hoosier Conference, was dismantled at home by West Lafayette 58-21. Despite Cass being a top contender in 2A, it wasn't that big of a surprise give that West Lafayette was, at that time, a top 3 contender in 3A and the previous state championship winner with lots of guys returning. Two weeks later, Lewis Cass traveled to West Lafayette for the Hoosier Conference Crossover title game and stunned West Lafayette 49-42. Is that kind of game in the making here for SA-AC?

Depends on the company. I take my boys with me to LOS when LCC plays on Thanksgiving weekend and that makes all the difference to me. At the point that they aren't excited about going, my excitement might drop off, but for now my boys sitting next to me watching a game in person still makes it a special event whether regular season or tournament.

The problem in the analysis is that you are actually talking about programs and not groups/categories winning. For 1A, five of those seven titles come from one team, LCC, and come over a seven-year period. The other two were won by the same program, Ritter. For 2A, seven of the eleven come from a single program, Luers. Two of the most recent ones come from the same 1A team, Ritter, that won two titles in 1A before moving up DUE TO ENROLLMENT. At this point, we're now talking about fourteen games of a possible 36 won by three programs across two classes. For 3A, nine of those thirteen titles come from a single program, Chatard. At this point, we are now talking about four programs winning 25 of 54 possible titles across three classes. For 4A, seven of your thirteen come from a single program, Cathedral, although two of those were in a different class than 4A. Four others come from another single program, Dwenger, so eleven of your thirteen come from two programs. More importantly, what you've shown is that a total of 36 of 44 p/p wins, over 80%, that are attributed across four/five classes to a total of six programs. That's much less an issue of p/p dominance and more an issue of program dominance, which was put forth in @George Orwell 2's nicely presented and informative post.

The same reason that there are two private schools, LCC and Faith Christian, with high schools in the Lafayette area that are IHSAA members and both are 1A ... demand or lack thereof. It's the same reason that the Lutheran school in town ends at 8th grade. Same with one of the other Christian schools, Lafayette Christian School. Of course there's Apostolic Christian Academy, which has a total of 10 students. The 7th Day Adventist school which goes from K-6 and has under 50 students. And before there are any platitudes about capping enrollment for football, note that one of private schools in town doesn't play football ... the smallest one ... and traditionally gets smacked around in many sports that they play. Also, a bit of history on LCC ... the school was scheduled to be closed by the diocese in 1990 until an 11th-hour appeal saved the school from closure ... https://www.lcss.org/advancement/looking-back-25-years/.

I served with @DT. I knew @DT. @DT was a friend of mine. @Cow Bell, you're no @DT.

I doubt there's a single school out there in Indiana ... as I can't speak to Ohio ... that's driven and maintained by revenue, which p/p schools are/have to be, that holds down numbers for football status.

So if open enrollment only works for city schools, then your beef is less with Catholic schools and more with non-rural schools? I mean, you started out with being [not] surprised that a Catholic school was competing for a state championship the weekend after a Catholic school beat the defending 3A champion who is a public school ... albeit a city school. Matter of fact, that public school had just beat a Catholic school the weekend before. It had also beaten four Catholic schools in a row during the tourney last season to win the 3A title. Must have been an act of God ... or perhaps the Devil given that they are the Red Devils?

Not just SF, but open enrollment.

Saw an interesting tweet by Sam King prior to Friday's games. It referenced the fact that LCC and McCutcheon were both playing for sectional titles that night and that the last time a sectional title had been won by both teams, Kevin O'Shea was at the helm. You could also throw North Central into that pot too of having won their last sectional title under O'Shea. With LCC's win Friday, Coach Nay steps out with the first of his LCC sectional titles, his first LCC winning season, and his first LCC winning conference record. Looking to add that first LCC regional win under his tenure this Friday.

Could be a good night for Knight's passing then. LCC's shortest receiver is 5'9" and he's fast. He's not really a "go up and get it" kind of receiver, but instead is the "across the middle" and swing pass guy along with wheel routes. The "go up and get it" receivers are 6'0" and 6'3". Of those three receivers, two of them have seven picks this year between them on defense, so they are ball hawks.

Dang it, I forgot to get my picks in last week. And wouldn't you know it, I would have been 100% too. 😎

It's possible that LCC can come out of the North to be the representative, but there's still a couple of games that have to be played, and won, to make that happen. I haven't looked at North Judson yet or run any stats ... I'll try to get to that during the week ... but this year is not like previous LCC quests to LOS beyond sectionals. As I mentioned previously, I don't think LCC has ever made it to LOS when they've been behind at halftime in any tournament play. There are some observations from the first two tourney games and from last night's game, as well as a couple others, that illuminate the difference in this season from previous quests. Like the 2009 and 2010 seasons, this team is more of a no-name team ... meaning there aren't necessarily names of LCC players that those outside of the program or opponent coaches' recognition. There's no Coy Cronk or Danny/Jackson Anthrop or Ross Corcoran ... although you could argue that Mills had recognition back in 2009. Unlike those other seasons, LCC was not a brand that was mentioned from the start of the season ... and even now, it's still somewhat limited in mention. LCC finally entered into the Class A rankings about halfway or later into the season. Observations: LCC's offense has lacked the early punch in the last three games that have been fairly synonymous with previous LOS runs. LCC only averages one TD a game in the first quarter in the last three tournament games and they were TD shutout in the first quarter by TPC. The offensive gameplan for the first possession has also been fairly cookie cutter ... first play is a long incomplete pass downfield for all the marbles, second play tends to be a handoff into the middle that gets stopped after a couple of yards, then an attempt to convert on 3rd-and-long with typically very mixed results. In successful tournament runs, LCC has traditionally used a shock-and-awe approach to 1) quickly put up points on teams to make the game feel over early and 2) to employ a blunting defense to take away that type of reciprocal activity from teams that have been high scoring up to that point in the tournament; again to add a feeling of early denouement. LCC is deadly in the short-pass game and I would go with that for the opening couple of drives to force teams on their heals. I certainly appreciate the shock-and-awe potential of a three-play opening game plan where Play 1 is throw the ball deep for a TD, Play 2 is kick the PAT, and Play 3 is kickoff after score. But I also understand the feeling of accomplishment when other teams are able to defer and then force LCC to punt on that first possession. That left wheel route, which I understand has to be set up by some long pass attempts, has been particularly successful for LCC. I think it can be equally set up by some right-side or short-pass pass-option activity as well. I like the tandem backfield that LCC showed against TPC with Munn and Roach in the backfield to help alleviate need to be the workhorse. Although I like having Roach untethered near the line as a WR or slot. I'd actually like to see it run with Schrader and Munn back there with Munn in the roll of the fullback. I think it would give LCC more punch in the middle and also provide more opportunities for Schrader on the outsides. Getting to the outside has been mixed for LCC these last three games. Being able to use Munn to pick up that stray that tends to blunt the corner can free up Schrader when he gets to the corner and can turn up. Schrader's been very successful getting downfield when he's able to make that corner and runs like a fullback at that point punishing tacklers on that sideline. With that said, Roach has very nice moves coming out of that backfield as a scat back. Motion, motion, motion ... I'd like to see LCC do a lot more motion with the slot backs and WRs. TPC overdid the motion thing and got stuck for at least two or three penalties for not being set or for settling down in the wrong formation, but for the past tournament runs, LCC used plenty of motion to effectively pickup some mismatches. Putting Roach or Buche or even Schrader, in a tandem backfield in motion, provides for some options as well for so mismatches and missed assignments. Middle LB play seems more conservative than in the past and teams seem to be able to pick up bigger chunks in the middle and on quick outside hits with motion backs. MLBs are quick ... which can be seen on more traditional sweep plays where backs get a pitch, flareout, or deeper handoff ... but seem to be catching middle run plays and missing out on quick hits on the edges. Corners, or perhaps more corner/safety combo on sideline patterns, have been vulnerable, but also not yet burned too much. There are many plays in the past three games where receivers have been behind the defenders and the pass has been overthrown. Better passing QBs could convert those into quick strikes. Even not so great passing QBs can exploit that. TPC's Hart had a total of 5 completions on 15 attempts. One of those passed resulted in a 34-yard TD and another in a 32-yard gain. Hart's QB rating was 82.1 for the game and only 104.5 for the season on a relatively light schedule. The LBs have their fair share of picks this season from the underside, but that overside concerns me. Can we get Barrett to drop back just a bit? Forget two-step, three-step, and five-step ... it seems to be no-step. One of the things that I love about Barrett as he's emerged as a QB is his ability to make things happen with his legs. That nifty little two-point conversion rollout that he did against TPC shows some of that potential. With that said, I'm not saying turn him into a running QB, but dropping him back gives him more options to step up/out in/of the pocket when he needs the time or the pressure. With that no-step, when he flushes out of the pocket, he doesn't have many places to go if the line is collapsing. Would also buy him a little bit more time for that pass downfield when attempting it to increase the potential success rate of those attempts. Last-minute TDs. In the last three games, LCC has given up a TD with under a minute left to go in the game to all three opponents. I understand in one case that there were plenty of JV folks in there getting some reps and that's going to happen sometimes, but three in a row in the last minute during tourney is a bit concerning. With the above bullet-point said, I absolutely love the fire and focus coming out of the locker room for the second half. LCC's defense came out and basically smothered TPC all the way up until that last drive of the night in that second half consistently forcing TPC to be standing in their own territory most of that second half on both sides of the ball. As I tell my players though, if you keep the game close, you can kind of afford to do that; however, I'd rather have them doing that from the opening kickoff rather than after the halftime band performance. At halftime, I want that opposing coach talking to his team about moral victories in the second half and not about game victory. A little shock-and-awe on both sides of the ball early in a game goes a long way and also gives more opportunity to play more aggressively later to create additional problems for the opponent. I also know that Coach Nay is working to get back to the old LCC playbook of specialists playing one-way. Still a few folks going two-way, but being in his second year and transitioning toward that, I think he's going to need some time to get that fully-evaluated/implemented. I absolutely love what he's done to get the program back in the right direction in just a short time and back on the road to LOS. Just a few observations from the bleachers and with the caveat that I've only had a chance to see LCC play in person this season during these last three games and the BC game, but in that game I was wrangling cats, so didn't get to do much observation. Anyone else see similar or different things?

I would agree with this. I'll post later on takeaways/observations, but just wanted to say that, for all of the talk of strength of schedule and team sizes, etc., I have to give props to Traders Point. They dressed about 19-20 and may have had a low schedule strength ... as a matter of fact, their schedule strength was 310 out of the 321 teams listed on Sagarin and that's with #1 1A Indy Lutheran on their schedule. None of that mattered in their play. They were well-prepared and fairly well-disciplined in their execution. They sent LCC to the locker room at half down 10-9. Outside of Pioneer the last two seasons, the last time LCC went into a locker room down during the 1A tournament was all the way back in 2008 with Sheridan. TPC played a good game, but halftime adjustments by LCC and just sheer getting worn down sealed their fate in this. Outside of that, I think that they are a good team and I'd like to see them perhaps play a stronger schedule to perhaps get more notoriety as they tend to be overlooked. Having seen them play with their numbers and schedule, I think other teams playing them might overlook them them at their own peril.

LCC 34 TPC 16 Final