foxbat

That's a shame as Allen has typically been a team that just talked by its play on the field, didn't shy away from any type of game/opponent, and didn't make excuses. My own boys and my players have always been taught to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Hopefully Allen's coach will get back to exhibiting that philosophy. And it's potentially more problematic when you see a team like South Oak Cliff, which played Duncanville, and hung with them in a 23-10 loss ... with the realization that Duncanville has about 3,800 students and SOC only has around 1,200. That's pretty good punching power for the equivalent of an Indiana 4A school; especially given that Duncanville is Top 20.

Receiving votes means that you have to have been ranked somewhere in the Top 10 by someone. I like the fact that South Newton is having success, but of that Top 10 1A group, I'd likely place them above/in place of South Decatur ... which I'm not even sure how South Decatur is in consideration ... and that's it. As such, I don't think it's too far off after just two games that they aren't ranked in Top 10 yet. If they knock off TPC, I think they definitely get Top 10 votes.

I also suspect that the incident of dog cr*p on your field goes down too with artificial turf. Had a game one time on a grass field, where after the first play from scrimmage, we all get back in defensive huddle, and all of a sudden the smell just hits us all. Everyone's checking their shoes and looking on the ground and all of a sudden one of the corners just jumps back out of the huddle and starts pointing at the right tackle's back. Apparently on the play, he'd tackled the back and rolled in it and it was smeared all over his back. Wasn't quite like the huddle scene in The Replacements, but there was a lot of gagging going on.

Roncalli?

OK, nothing else to see here. Everyone move along.

I hadn't really followed Plainfield until this year. They played a good game with really nice stunt packages on defense. Passing game was good on the sidelines. Their first score came on a short field after Harrison missed the stunt and had a punt blocked that Plainfield recovered at the 8 yard line. After that, it took them until the end of the game to make it close. Harrison had a couple of field goal opportunities that they didn't take including a last-play opportunity in the first half that instead turned into a pick at the goal line that could have put that game away earlier if converted. Again, without following Plainfield, I'm not sure how they fare as a program. One other data point that perhaps points to the program as a whole being somewhat solid is the next day, Harrison's JV played Plainfield and only won 14-8. The previous week, they played West Lafayette's JV and literally named their score 47-0 to honor Omarion Dixon, #47 when he played at Harrison, who was one of the survivor's of the ISU football players' car crash.

Particularly impressive when you realize that SOC is only about 1,200 students ... Duncanville's about a shade under 3,800.

Do we have any indications of how many Catholics are attending Covenant? I don't know that it would likely be a significant number, much less a significant number to hurt Ritter. The vast majority of practicing Catholics that attend private schools at the high school level tend to attend Catholic or Catholic-themed schools as opposed to more general Christian schools when there is a Catholic option available. While I can certainly see Catholic students from Ritter heading to Guerin or Chatard or even Cathedral, which is actually a private school with a Catholic culture/flavor, that would have an impact on Ritter, I'd be very surprised if there was a discernible impact in Catholic students from Ritter going to Covenant and even more surprised if it had any measurable impact on Ritter's football team.

Nowadays St. Aug kind of goes back and forth on football. Last year I think they made it to the semis before being bounced. Back in the 60s/70s when I would watch them play, and run the sidelines as a ball/water boy, back in the Coach Otis Washington days, St. Aug was a powerhouse team often vying down to the last game of the season with Brother Martin or Archbishop Rummel to figure out the conference winner. Even back then, about half the folks in the stands were there to see the game and the other half was there to see the halftime show. One thing was sure, you always got your money's worth from the halftime show. The game was just gravy.

Interception on last play by Harrison preserves the win 22-14. Final.

Harrison picks up the first and a TD with 39 secs left. Penalty after the play turns the PAT into a 35 yard attempt which is no good. Harrison leads 22-14 with 29 seconds left in game.

Plainfield draws closer. 16-14. Harrison with the ballva 1:16 to kill on the clock. On Plainfield's 35.

Harrison 16 - Plainfield 7 start of 4Q.

Harrison knocking on the door, but throws a pick at the goal line on last play of half. Leads Plainfield 16-7. Harrison will receive to start the second half.

Harrison with a couple TDs and a 37-yard FG. Leads Plainfield 16-7 with 2 mins left in 2Q.

It's not just private schools. There was a parent in this area that shopped his kid around pretty much from the time the kid was junior high. If I recall correctly from the various folks in the know, he'd looked into 2-3 junior highs and at least 4 high schools.

This is a cool match-up. I'll have to see if I can catch this one. St. Aug is my dad's and uncle's alma mater and I would have attended too if we hadn't moved to Texas back when I was in junior high. It's an all-boys, Josephite Catholic school with strong traditions. DeSoto's one of the perennial powerhouse teams out of the Dallas area. It'll be a clash of city vs. suburbs, p/p vs. public, big vs. medium. Fun fact: Around 1 out of 6 of St. Aug's students are IN THE BAND ... The Marching 100. "Alma Mater, St. Augustine, Alma Mater, Josephite High;"

2 Point Games North Newton @ Rensselaer Seeger @ Benton Central Clay @ Twin Lakes Tipton @ Elwood West Lafayette @ McCutcheon Western @ Western Boone 3 Point Games Maconaquah @ Cass Northwestern @ Eastern Hamilton Heights @ North Montgomery Guerin @ Central Catholic Attica @ Tri-County Sheridan @ Clinton Central

I knew that TL had slipped a bit last season and took some beatings, but in their couple wins seemed to have handled Northwestern and Benton Central fairly comfortably whereas Northwestern's closest games were an 8-6 loss to BC and a 26-20 loss to Cass. It appears that Northwestern really got to work in the off-season. Looks like we'll get a chance to see how much improvement happens as they square off with Eastern and LCC in the next two games. On the other hand, TL will get a little respite against Clay this week before Tipton comes to town the following week.

Anyone have insights on Twin Lakes - Northwestern? Looks like it caught almost everyone by surprise.

Or a blue Ford Escort.

A couple of teams ended up with some weird SF treatment this last cycle. It appears that the IHSAA used 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 as the reference time, even though some teams were bumped for the 2020-2021 season based on previous cycles that included the 2019-2020 season. Pioneer, in 2A since 2019 season, had 2 points in 2019-2020 and none in 2020-2021 for a total of 2 points. They moved down to 1A. LCC was bumped to 2A in the 2021 season. They picked up 1 point. They had 4 points that they had gotten in 1A in the 2019 season and 2 points in the 2020 season in 1A. These 6 points bumped LCC to 2A for the 2021 season. LCC received 1 point in 2A while Pioneer had 2 points in 2A, yet LCC was kept up in 2A and Pioneer came down to 1A. Chatard received 4 points in 3A in 2019-2020 and 4 points in 3A in 2020-2021 for a total of 8 points. They were bumped up to 4A in 2021. Despite the IHSAA page saying that they would move up to 4A for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons, using Rule 2.5 ... which is the same rule cited for LCC staying in 2A, Chatard is back down in 3A again this season. https://www.ihsaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/football_success_totals_2019-20_2020-21.pdf