foxbat

??? The SEC has divisions ... East and West. The reason that they can send multiple teams to a 4-team playoff has very little to do with divisions. It has to do with the fact that the SEC happens to produce stronger teams ACROSS divisions as opposed to them all bunched in a single division. Of course, it also helps to send a couple teams when one of your schools has Nick Sabin coaching it and he can lose to an unranked team and still end up in the top four. I wouldn't be surprised if Alabama skips the first half of the season and still ends up in the National Championship hunt.

There had been conjecture when O'Shea left LCC that he was going to a bigger, public school, again, to 1) get out from under the talk that he was successful because of LCC and 2) because he needed to pick up some additional public school service for the full public school retirement package before heading back to LCC, perhaps, to finish up his career. Don't know how much of either of those are true or just the traditional "spaghetti on the wall" talk. If there is some truth to #2, then Roncalli would make some sense if he'd picked up the years to round out the requirements. As for #1, I can say that O'Shea and LCC was very much a synergy situation and the right guy, the right program, at the right time. Both needed each other, when they crossed paths, to do what they did at the time. Part of me would like to see O'Shea return to LCC, but another part would like to see what he could do at Roncalli. Similarly, I'm really interested in seeing where Nay and LCC end up.

Merrillville's schedule probably was already locked for Week 3. Like many schools in conferences, especially larger conferences, typically Weeks 1 and 2 are the weeks for non-conference games ... and sometimes Week 9 if there isn't a crossover championship in split conferences. Merrillville's schedule is filled in Weeks 3-9 with other Duneland teams. Week 1 and Week 2 are taken up with non-con Andrean and Hobart. They've played Andrean consistently for over a decade and, looking at the schedule, it looks like they had a home-and-home with Hobart that will hit the second cycle of that finishing out at Hobart this year. Don't know if Andrean's more of a year-to-year, but I suspect that the Hobart games are part of a contract agreement.

That's pretty impressive to have been that many times and never lost in a state championship game. Are there any other schools, besides WC and LCC that have never finished as a runner-up in a state title game ... with say at least 5 or more state championship games?

Yes, and there's a secret handshake background check to weed out the infidels.

My son kicks for Harrison and has talked about Vinatieri the last couple of seasons when Zionsville has ended Harrison's season. Of course, being a Colts fan, my son was much more start-struck by seeing AJ's dad at the game.

Not sure that's safe. I don't recall a player attempting to assassinate another player at a football game. http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/violence.htm

The regular season for most coaches competing at the WL level means less than what's done in the post-season. It's the reason that many of the top performing schools take losses in the season to go further in the post-season. I just don't see the NCC, given what WL already has as being much of an upward jump for WL ... especially in looking at the added travel component. Again, WL already has McCutcheon and Harrison/Jeff on their schedule while they are still in the Hoosier. WL vs. Kokomo would be in roughly the same level as WL vs. Western. Same with Logansport. And they don't have to jump conferences. As for the Hoosier pushing WL out, I don't see that happening unless something egregious happens. At this time, WL provides a level of notoriety for the conference. WL has won the HC in four seasons of the last decade and has often provided buzz that positively impacts the conference. I'm not sure why the HC would want to push them out.

WL has played Jeff for the last four seasons, played McCutcheon for just under the last decade, and will start playing Harrison in the 2022 season. Not sure who else in the NCC, perhaps outside of maybe Kokomo, would make them better-prepared for the 3A post-season. Granted, size of players may be slightly bigger in the NCC, but WL would easily dominate the likes of Logansport, Muncie Central, Tech, Anderson, and Marion. WL used to play Tri-West in non-con and that might be a better pick-up than having McCutcheon on their schedule at this point. I suspect, however, the lure of having LCC, McCutcheon, and Harrison/Jeff on your schedule is somewhat enticing from a travel standpoint. Even in an off-year where those three games would be "away" games, West Lafayette would likely play 7 of 9 games at home or within about a 15-minute drive from home. Having at least three of those four on your schedule also provides prep for post season.

As @Donnie Baker would say, "State law!"

Is Cathedral looking for a conference? I've always gotten the impression that Cathedral, whether they say it out loud or not, likes being independent. I know the most comment argument against being independence, or conversely being in a conference, is the scheduling. In some cases that's true, but it looks like Cathedral is a unique entity that the scheduling is much less of an issue for them and being independent actually provides a wanted flexibility that other programs might see as problematic.

One of my youth coaches back in the day was a bit cruder in the technique. He always told us to watch the guy's balls because he wasn't going anywhere without them.

Sectional of Death comes to mind.

Reminds me of what a ref told our youth league coaches once when he was explaining how games would be called. He said, at this age group, there's a penalty on EVERY play ... and usually more than one.

Going to be a major change in 3A with Chatard and Brebeuf both out of the Sectional of Death.

Harrison's going to have to strike while the iron's hot at this point as they are going to pass Jeff really soon. I'm still wondering on the Jeff numbers compared to Harrison as back in the fall, the counts had Harrison passing Jeff. Maybe a lot of kids returning back to Jeff and other schools compared to the previous semester ... although seems less likely. New subdivisions near Harrison are going to likely push Harrison past Jeff, and into 6A, by the new re-classification after this one if those DOE counts hold for this time around.

I like this idea and approach! Starting from the idea of protection and safety with kids before getting to the take-down part really backs up this ideology too.

I agree that the HC-East fits with the HC better than removing them and adding Sheridan and Frankfort with them in a new league. I know the theme is kicking folks out, but as an alternative, I'd like to see Pioneer and WeBo added to the HC. For WeBo, they already play Western and they could still keep Tri-West and Lebanon or Danville on the schedule and increase the season competition. For Pioneer, they could still keep Scecina and Winamac or LaVille.

Others are also requiring USA Football Heads-Up training too ... although I prefer Hawk tackling for protecting smaller players until they really get the techniques down. Heads-Up has an element of the roll tackle approach; however, some of the first technique they teach, while keeping the head up and out of the tackle, can lead smaller, younger players open to getting freight-trained by larger players while they are learning the ropes.

Yes, I was referring to Hawk tackling rooted in the Seattle tackling regimen initiated there with Pete Carroll ... although Carroll was utilizing the early elements of the style back when he was at USC.

There are already youth programs that teach Hawk tackling which is tied to rugby style tackling.

One of several lies surrounding that topic.

That's a hard one, but you'd think the refs would be a little flexible in their climatic resolution. Seriously, I can't blame the refs for kicking it to the sideline as opposed to picking it up. I've had a player throw up on the field when coaching a game before and we tried to run everything to the opposite side of the field whenever we'd get back around that yard line later in the game. I think the there are a couple of NFL refs that could pull off stating a call on this ... could bring Ed Hochuli out of retirement just for this. For the first incident of the season, maybe it's like a sideline warning, with a mic'd reading like, "Sideline warning. Frustrated fan with inadequate partner or inability to secure a partner. Next instance will result in 5 yard delay of game penalty against *insert team name here*." No pun intended on the insert. Immediately after the infraction announcement, the stadium announcer could announce that fans are requested not to throw foreign objects or marital aids on the field ... and that batteries ARE available at the concession stands in the lower concourse. Of course, it could just be one of the old standby calls with a little modification, "After the play, the fan in the stands was givin' him the business."

Is the Cathedral/Jeff game next year a one-off, home-and-home, or possibly something longer? Carmel's still showing three of the MIC on their schedule. I'm not sure, given the way the break-up occurred, that will last much longer.