foxbat

I guess it's all relative. In the decade after that season, LCC had one sectional title and, in the decade leading up to it they also had one sectional title.

LCC ended up not playing 1A teams more recently because they got booted out of Hoosier Heartland, which at the time was an all-1A conference, and ended up in the Hoosier which only had a single 1A team at the time that LCC entered ... Sheridan ... which had spent the better part of a dozen years as the only 1A school in the Hoosier. Sheridan simultaneously departed the Hoosier and went to the old conference that LCC had been booted out of. In the time that Sheridan was the only 1A team in the Hoosier, they amassed three outright or shared HC titles, along with three blue rings, one red ring, two regional titles, and a sectional title. Incidentally, I think Pioneer's success gets eclipsed due to LCC. If you look at how many seasons LCC and Pioneer finished #1/#2 or both in top four and ended each other's seasons, I think Pioneer would be in the discussion as much as Sheridan and LCC. With that said, like Sheridan, Pioneer's dynasty implications have diminished more recently.

That's not necessarily the case. I think it also misses a fundamental aspect that, the real issue of transfers should be tied to the idea of high school interplay. If you've been attending Catholic schools since elementary school, I'd say that the term "transfer" really doesn't apply to you if you attend a Catholic school for high school. To some extent, that also applies to Christian school elementary students who attend Catholic schools for high school. Here in Lafayette, the local Lutheran school only has grades K-8, so if a family wants to attend a religion-oriented high school education, those students tend to either attend LCC or Faith Christian ... neither of which is Lutheran, but both of which have Christian education. At the same time, if you've been attending public schools through 8th grade and end up in a p/p school for 9th, then sure, the term "transfer" applies. With that said, there are some parishes/pastorates; especially now with the issue of pastorates in play, that could very easily have Catholic elementary schools that could feed into more than one Catholic high school or into a high school that's not even close by. And there are also exceptions that you can see based on offerings. For example, Sacred Heart in Fowler has Pre-school - 6th grade. I could very easily see a family doing pre-K through 6th at Sacred Heart, then traveling to LCC down in Lafayette for junior/senior high ... or even doing pre-K through 6th at Sacred Heart, 7th and 8th at Benton Central and then 9th-12th at LCC. And before folks write that off as not likely, there was a young man who played youth ball up in Benton County and then ended up at a local Lafayette-area public school for high school. A back-up player who was at that school, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, ended up departing to a different Lafayette-area public school his senior year to be a starter if I'm not mistaken. There's also another young man who played all of his youth ball out of one of the TippCo county schools, only to end up at a Lafayette city school for high school to then end up in the northern part of the state for his senior year.

LCC has tuition discount tied to parishes/pastorates that donate to the local annual Catholic Schools campaign.

In Texas, folks still show up ALOT to see Aledo play. There are a couple of other schools like that too, except not so much with the quantity and success rate of Aledo. I recall back during the LCC four-peat and the MD three-peat semi-state appearances and even nowadays folks blaming repeats as hurting attendance, but Aledo still holds one of the record attendance games in Texas and I think it was around their fourth consecutive appearance. Of course, perhaps that had much less to do with repeats given that Aledo is a public school.

The only team that ever got close to this was LCC which has been SF'd twice. Currently the only 1A team to do this. Ended up in 2A back in 2013 and lost a second round sectional game to the eventual 2A state runner-up by four points and then, the next year, ended up losing to the eventual 2A state champ in semi-state by three points in 2014. Moved back down to 1A in 2015, then back to 2A in 2021. Since then, LCC's won three back-to-back-to-back sectionals in 2A. Pioneer had some mixed result in their three-year stay in 2A with a a first-game sectional ousting in their first year, a semi-state loss to 2A runner up in the second year, and a sectional championship loss in their third year. Since returning to 1A they've been bounced in the first sectional game for the last two years. Scecina, the poster child for "no blue, screw you, move up," ended up with increased enrollment that kept them in 2A. In the last decade or so in 2A, they've managed three sectional titles and two regionals. Linton, which like Scecina, ended up staying in 2A based on enrollment, has picked up a regional title last season. Lutheran, doing the COVID mambo, may end up like WeBo with three straight blue rings in a class before being bumped.

Who had under on 20 minutes?

Yeah I was at that game. You could almost literally hear the wind go out of the Winamac crowd at that point. I think there was also a Timmy Mills KO return for a TD in that one too. Kind of depends on whether you wanted to get smoked or beat to death. Both squads had offensive weaponry, but those 2009-2012 LCC defenses just laid the lumber to everyone. Had this picture that kind of summed up LCC's defenses of those years. This was a post-season game up at Pioneer ... I think it was 2011.

Folks around Indiana way complain about repeat teams in state championships. Aledo has appeared in the six of the last seven state championship games and eleven of the last fourteen across two classes ... Texas 4A and Texas 5A. I think they've also won all but one or two.

The game at McCutcheon that I attended this season had some light activity between the halves when the teams returned to the field and they announced over the PA system that, while there would be a strobing/flickering effect, the lights would not be acting at a level that would impact people who might have maladies that might be triggered by a certain level of flickering.

Was discussing this with one of my fellow youth coaches a couple of weeks ago. The number of kids that left out of the Catholic schools to head to public schools between 4th and 8th grade were way higher than any that came in and definitely higher than any that came in during high school. This also included kids from Christian schools that played Catholic youth ball and then headed to public schools after 6th grade in the Catholic feeder program. I recalled just this last season reading through the roster and recognizing names of players whose siblings I'd coached over at LCC and, as we reminisced about the various kids that ended up at public school, we had more than just a couple of names that we went through. There are fairly set times that you see exodus, at least around this area, pending the Catholic school exodus: Right after 2nd grade - Kids make their First Communion in 2nd grade and some families pay for the Catholic education up until their kids make First Communion, then depart for public school. Right after 3rd grade - This is more akin to how two of the schools in the area are set up. St. Mary services pre-school through 3rd and then students attend St. Boniface from 4th through 6th grade, so 3rd/4th is a natural break point already. In some cases, these are folks that were doing the Catholic school thing through First Communion and just stick around to the natural break point between the schools and, in other cases, it's just the natural break point. St. Lawrence does pre-school through 6th, so this is less of something that you see in that school. 7th grade - ASt. Boniface and St. Lawrence funnel their kids over to LCC Junior/Senior High School after 6th grade. Tuition prices have a slight increase at this point, so some families see this as a break point to move public. For others, it's not necessarily a tuition issue, but just a point to add the "secular" component to the kids' growth. Some families go with the foundation in Catholic faith and then expand into the secular education side. For those already planning public school for high school, this is an early break point that allows their kids to acclimate and acquire a new friend circle before heading to public high school. 9th grade - Tuition costs jump around 30% or so which definitely gets your attention if you aren't 100% bought in to automatic religious education. Also, another social break point for kids entering public schools as freshman.

There aren't any 1A players in the Ft. Wayne area that could impact North. And, frankly, if your making the premise that 2A Luers made the difference between the 2022 North record and the 2023 record, then I'd remind you that North has had one winning season in a decade, so I'd not likely call the 2022 season proof of any real premise ... it's an anomaly. Matter of fact, they did pretty average in 2022 post-season, so I'm not sure that 2022 is much of a data point to hang a premise on (edit). The problem for that program isn't two or three players or even a 2A school in the area. My statement was in specific response to the inference that somehow or another Lutheran was having an impact on IPS schools' success ... which is ludicrous. Generically, three or four kids can ALWAYS have an impact on any GENERIC team in comparison to their peer levels; however, my issue was specifically about Lutheran and IPS and I don't think that anyone can, with a straight face, blame IPS issues on the fact that one of the smallest 1A schools in the state exists. Just like North above, their problem isn't (edit) tied to Luers, but if people want to focus on that, then their problem will remain. Similarly, if folks want to blame the woes of IPS on Lutheran, I can pretty much assure you that nothing will change for IPS. Matter of fact, I'll go out on a limb here and say that, if Lutheran disappeared tomorrow, Tech would still be in the lower 25% or possibly even 10% of 6A.

Need a couple around that height as, between Schwartz and Clayton you've a couple guys trolling around the secondary at 6'5"+ on any given play.

There's no one ... or three or four ... on a 1A squad the size of Lutheran that's going to help 6A Indy Tech.

Folks do realize that Lutheran has about 112 boys given the last classification from IHSAA? I seriously doubt that the number of kids from IPS going to Lutheran makes a hill of beans difference in IPS sports programs.

Knew what you meant the first time, but this is well-written ... for a PE teacher. Lord, I apologize for that there.

I didn't think they did running clock at the state championships.

This is what Metzger's good at. Metzger's good at getting away from the blitz, but he's not what I would classify as slippery or a running threat. He's just good at moving enough to give a receiver an extra second to get in the seam or gap or slot or just plain open. The other thing that he's good at is not fixating on a single guy when he gets flushed. Mike Tyson used to say, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." I liken that, with QBs as, "Most QBs have multiple targets, until the blitz comes through the A gap." Metzger's pretty good about still seeing multiple targets even with the blitz. It comes down to discipline ... if LaVille can bring the blitzes AND stay disciplined on ALL of the receivers, then it works for them. Sometimes though, DBs get excited when a QB flushes and want to get that half QB tackle stat ... and that's disastrous. LaRocca will likely be as good as playing on turf on Friday ... likely more forgiving when hitting the ground. The main issue for visiting teams tends to be the dewpoint in the fall when the skies are relatively clear. I've seen some opponents and officials make some "America's Funniest Home Videos" slips on that field in the fall with humidity hanging in the air.

St. Louis de Montfort is out of Fishers. Closest to Guerin, although Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Seton, and Maria Goretti are probably considered closer.

Back about a decade ago, Churubusco had a OGuard who probably weighed 140/150 lbs. Did a PHENOMENAL job up front against players twice his weight. Most impressive. Don't know if he was a wrestler or not, but still remember his performance to this day.

2 Point Games Park Tudor @ North Jusdson Adams Central @ Carroll North Decatur @ Sheridan LaVille @ Central Catholic Bluffton @ Fort Wayne Luers Eastern Hancock @ Southmont North Posey @ Triton Central Knox @ West Lafayette Heritage Hills @ Batesville New Prairie @ Northwood Leo @ Mississinewa Valparaiso @ Merrillville Fort Wayne Snider @ Mishawaka Crown Point @ Penn Hamilton Southeastern @ Westfield Ben Davis @ Cathedral

The two in 4A was just last week. Week before it was another in 4A and three in 2A ... with two in the same sectional. Also doesn't include the p/p on p/p violence. Week before that, it was another in 4A, two more in 3A, three more in 2A, and at least one charter in 1A.

Unless they are in 4A?

Never been able to get straight to Cicero. Every summer that the boys have tournaments in Cicero, it's like some supernatural force that reroutes the entire state away from straight shots there. I've not had an issue passing through Sheridan. Of course, I do keep all of my LCC gear in the trunk just to be safe when I pass through on the way to Grand Park.

Must have been in that west endzone. 😉