foxbat

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.

LCC and Harrison squared off. LCC was going without their starting QB, but Metzger stepped in and performed well. Has a nice touch on the ball once he gets settled in. Smith will be a handful for most 2A teams that see him out of the backfield. Roster weight shows him closing on 200 lbs. and he ran like it tonight. Teams are going to need to meet him at or behind the line or likely concede 7-10 yards on the carry. On defense, Robbins is going to give teams fits. If you didn't know the history of the two teams, you probably wouldn't have figured that it was 5A vs. 2A. LCC has some heft on it. Harrison's defense looked good with three takeaways, two fumbles and an interception, to zero for LCC's defense. Harrison almost had a fourth, but it went out of bounds. Harrison's offense looks like it's going to have a good mix of grinding runs as well as a quick back attack with a good short/long passing game woven in. Should keep opponents guessing. They look particularly potent from the 35 in. Overall, I think the varsity scores were 1-1 on the first series, 3-2 Harrison on the second series, and the remainder was either 2-1 or 2-0 Harrison I think. Harrison will square off against West Lafayette at LOS next week and should give a really good indication for Harrison. LCC will likely have to wait until Week 2 for their annual matchup with Guerin as well as getting their starting QB back to get a better feel for what needs work.

LCC @ Harrison tonight.

Again, semi-boundaried.

With open enrollment, wouldn't most schools in Indiana be considered "non-boundaried" or "semi-boundaried."