foxbat

Saw the WL - Harrison game last night. WL looks good this year. Harrison had four turnovers in the 2nd half alone including a pair of picks in the red zone and a fumbled kickoff after a WL score. WL's quick and runs A LOT of outside stuff from the backfield. They seemed to be less successful in the middle, except with Mullis the big QB carrying. Mullis is probably pushing 200 lbs. and looks like a fullback/lineback in the backfield. Fast and hard to bring down. Fairly varied passing game. As they've done in the past, they also get to that no-huddle offense fairly quickly. On defense, Harrison was having success between the tackles and I'm not sure why they strayed from that. WL will need to shore that up; however, in fairness, they were playing a 5A line. WL should be in decent shape for 3A as many teams are not going to be able to keep up with the speed on the corners/ends and are going to have trouble running no-huddle for most of the game ... a WL staple. Most 3A are also not going to have defensive lines/boxes that are sized to stifle WL, so they may have more success in the middle.

LCC and Seeger played a couple of times in the mid-2000s, 2004/2006. Seeger bounced up to 2A shortly after and then back down to 1A and back up to 2A again, but the two teams haven't come across each in post season for just under a couple of decades. Not sure why LCC scheduled Seeger other than necessity to pick up an OOC game since the contract with Tri-West had expired. Being in the same sectional, they may get a shot to meet again. Fun fact: Despite the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana spanning 24 counties, there are only two Catholic high schools in the diocese: LCC, the older brother, and Guerin, the younger brother. They play annually for the Bishop's Cannon and, at the game, the bishop of the diocese sits on one side for half the game and then switches sides at the half to support both schools.

Any news on the LCC game from last night? I another thread, someone had posted that there were some shoving matches and extra curricular activity going on. Heading out to eat with my daughter and her fiancee, but will weigh in a bit later on on West Lafayette's game last night. The rumors of them graduating a lot of guys and being a question mark were just that ... rumors. They will be a force ... easily in the HC and predominantly in 3A ... as long as they don't get out over their skis.

Harrison falls to WL 27-14. Final.

Time running out on Harrison. 5 1/2 left in 4Q. WL still leads 27-14. Turnovers have been costly for Harrison with two ints in the red zone and a pair of fumbles including one on a kickoff after WL score. Plus two personal fouls in 4Q.

WL picks up a short score, but PAT fails. Leads Harrison 27-14 with 38 seconds left in 3Q.

WL forces a fumble and capitalizes. Leads Harrison 21-14. Harrison then fumbles ensuing kickoff. 7 1/2 left 3Q.

WL ties it up 14-14 on opening drive of 2nd half.

Harrison leads WL at half 14-7. West Lafayette will receive to start 2nd half.

Harrison with 2nd score in three possession. 60+ yard drive capped by 2-yard run . Harrison 14 - WL 7.

Harrison 7 WL 0 ... end of 1Q. WL ties it up on first play of 2Q. 7-7.

Harrison draws first blood. Leads WL 7-0.

I'm hoping it's more like Harrison (-14).

He's back, but I had heard at the scrimmage that he either recently had surgery or was recovering from an injury.

??

Heading to LOS to watch Harrison and West Lafayette play in the Horseshoe Classic.

Opening day is coming. Anyone else feeling like a kid/elf at Christmas?

Your perspective is similar to mine from the bigger schools and bigger cities in Texas. There are some schools where basketball gets much more of a look, but I'd agree that football/baseball drive much of the energy with football easily being #1 ... and it's not even a close second. It's been a while since I was in the Texas environment where I had any skin in the mix, but it's funny that what you said about basketball, being used to maintain conditioning ... and sometimes just something to do ... between football and baseball seasons is exactly the way many of my football teammates and I remember viewing it when I played many, many, many years ago. Matter of fact, I recall some of the guys that played football and basketball in junior high viewed basketball as a way to get out of the winter lifting regiments for football. Granted, there were definitely kids that were basketball-only kids, but plenty of the 2-sporters/3-sporters saw basketball as the creme filling in the cookie.

Given the ability to play championship games in LOS on that Thanksgiving weekend, I would say leave it. Yes, it only applies directly to 12 teams in the state, but I think it also provides, with the holiday, more opportunity for more fans to be able to take part in the games ... especially on that Friday. Of interest on that grid provided, is that the Texas stats exist with over half the schools in the state never seeing the post season due to the playoff scheme and sheer number of teams in the state. Is Indiana the only all-in tourney on that grid?

Metzger looked good in his reads. Early on he got a little happy with his passes being over-thrown, but once he settled down, he had a very nice touch on the ball. He looks comfortable being mobile back there when he needed a little extra time to get the passes out. He's a little younger than his receivers and last year would have been his first time having Dienhart and Munn as primary receivers ... and he only had a handful of games where he came in at the end to clean up. In the scrimmage though, he looked comfortable like he'd been playing varsity for a while. He still has some areas to improve, but he definitely didn't look like he'd just been taken out the box. I like Metzger a lot as a player and a kid ... all the way back from when he was a youth player. While he's just a sophomore, I think he's going to look older/mature as folks see him play.

Can't believe folks have forgotten Pioneer's potential impact on 1A in just a couple years. Guess it's a case of "out of sight, out of mind."

I believe Harrison's freshman squad is somewhere around 55 or so ... maybe a bit more. I don't think there's any limit on freshman due to funding. LCC doesn't have a freshman squad ... just JV and varsity. Jeff has a freshman squad as well as JV and varsity. Youth program at Harrison this year is pretty big too ... just under 60 in 3rd/4th and a bit over 90 in 5th/6th in a self-contained youth league. Jeff also has a decent-sized youth program too although I don't know the numbers off the top of my head. They tend to have 9-10 teams with 3rd-6th and around 12-15 kids per team. LCC likely has a 3rd/4th grade team and a 5th/6th grade team each with probably around 18 kids based on historical team sizes.

Couple of homer picks: Don't know what LCC's overall record will be before the tourney, but based on watching them last night vs. Harrison, I think they will win Sectional 34 ... likely setting up a showdown with Andrean out of Sectional 33. LCC will beat Seeger in a Section 34 preview. Harrison looked good and got stronger as the night progressed. Folks seem to be speculative about WL and saying that they graduated a lot. I've heard that line before, so I think it'll still be a good game. Harrison's defense also looked opportunistic in takeways. Certainly a couple of things to work on, but I think Harrison takes this one; cementing it in the late 3rd quarter.

3 Point Games Delphi @ Benton Central Frankton @ Tipton Hamilton Heights @ Lapel Harrison vs West Lafayette Central Catholic @ Seeger Pioneer @ Cass Rensselaer @ Kankakee Valley Tri-West @ Western Twin Lakes @ Northwestern Bremen @ LaVille

I don't see Pioneer dropping any more than 3 this season and that assumes that LaVille reloads from last season. Pioneer drops down to 1A and will be in Sectional 41. Will likely have to contend with NJSP and perhaps Triton in sectionals ... and will escape a possible post-season matchup with LaVille who will remain in 2A.