Gipper

Ironwood (MI) Red Devils—not Satanic but honoring the iron miners in the Western Upper Peninsula East Central vs. South Central Homestead vs. Homestead (WI) Tell City Archers—a nod to William for all of you literature fans Adams Central vs. South Bend Adams Hoopeston (IL) Cornjerkers—yes, a lot of corn is grown in that area (duh) Attica Red Ramblers—Attica is a city in Greece and prison in New York (not a car) Penn vs. Princeton—two Ivy League universities Benton Central vs. Bentonville (AR) Rugby match: Hobart vs. Hobart, Australia

River Forest vs. Lake Forest (IL) Pike vs. Pike County (KY) Lebanon vs. Lebanon (OH) Boone Grove vs. Boone County (KY) South Newton vs. Newton South (MA)

Warren Central vs Warren East (KY) Evansville Harrison vs. WL Harrison Tri-Central vs. Tri-County New Palestine vs. Zionsville Park Tudor vs. Parke Heritage Center Grove vs. Centerville Kankakee Valley vs. Kankakee (IL) Lake Station vs. Lakeland Soccer Match Valparaiso vs. Valparaiso (Chile)

Central Catholic vs. Bloomington (IL) Central Catholic Triton vs. Triton Central (West Lafayette) Harrison vs. (Cambridge City) Lincoln—The President’s Cup Maconaquah vs. Mississinewa—Teepee Classic Blackford vs. Whiteland Indiana Blind vs. Indiana Deaf (too heartless?) Angola vs. Peru

Conversely, I would love to see Edwardsburg (MI) take on Jimtown—the Eddies vs. the Jimmies…

It seems many of our teams cross state lines for a game, here are some I’d like to see: Carmel vs. New Trier (IL)—two of Indiana’s of Illinois’ wealthier suburbs (although Wilmette and Winnetka) send their kids to NT. Cathedral vs. Bishop O’Gorman (NV)—would the best Catholic school emerge? Bloomington South vs Lexington Henry Clay—two stalwarts from classic college towns (undercard: West Lafayette vs. Ann Arbor Pioneer {MI}) Twin Lakes vs. Sarasota (FL)—what team spends more time at the beach or running drills)? Elkhart vs. Huntsville Grissom (AL)—the RV Capital of the World going up against Rocket City, USA. There you go. Add more if you want or maybe just say “Gipper, you’re obviously bored)…”

I’m fully aware there are 3 different corporations, but I don’t think it would ever come to fruition. In fact, I wish the Hautians a lot of luck…

As I said medium-sized locales, not the behemoth Ft. Wayne/Allen County is😉

What if many of our medium to kind of big cities take a page out of Terre Haute’s playbook and merge? Let’s take a gander: In Lafayette (Tippecanoe County), we’d have a combo of Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and West Lafayette would be the squad as CC would invoke separation of church and state and stand on its own. Muncie (Delaware County) could we a little more formidable. Although Central gobbled up the Southside Rebels years ago, Delta, Lapel, and Yorktown would be good benefits to a hapless Bearcat squad. Kokomo (Howard County)—I like this one as Eastern, Northwestern, Taylor, and Western join their big city compatriots. Columbus (Bartholew County)—North and East: what could possibly go wrong? Bloomington (Monroe County)—combing North, South, and Edgewood is not enough as they’ll be invading both Martinsville and Bedford (and maybe Seymour) to attain football dominance in the 812. Lastly we have Frankfort (Clinton County) who improved a little bit by adding Central and Prairie. Additionally, Maconaquah, after getting spurned by Kokomo, goes covert and joins the Hot Dogs.

But that’s why they play the game…

A little shocked myself. But Lowell does have a great feeder system and the facilities improvements have been next level,

Although I know very little about Carroll, CP is a very tough out as they have been steamrolling everybody this season. I’m glad to see Buzea has brought another winner to the 219. McKim at Lowell (who was somehow overlooked in this popularity contest) as well…

Time travel should be a factor. We all know. football and basketball are played on the weekends. But what about the non-revenue sports?

Absolutely not.

I don’t think a 4A school has any business with a bunch of 2As. I like how the Hoosier Crossroads and Northwest Crossroads have survived with a similarly sized members, with one exception: Andrean, which is 2A. They don’t play like it though…

True, love the Beef House as well as the Wal-Mart in Clinton…

With that, struggling teams might want to try to emulate schools with better records. It could take something basic like. A battle cry (such as RDP, time to fall on the sword here😉), extra practices, team building, special plays, but their losing ways don’t have to be a continual thing.

Rants are OK with me! I didn’t want to all doom and gloom such as Central High can never win a game while Lakeside High wins everything. At its heart, it begins with the athletes and their desire to be better.

I just don’t know how keen the folks in Tippecanoe County are about making trek to Terre Haute. The drive on 41 & 63 has some parallels to I-70 & 80 on Kansas and Nebraska.

I think the HHC is akin to the NCC—basketball first.

As a Ball State alum, it’s quite difficult to picture the kids of any of my professors playing football!

Great points on the NCC—where basketball is king and nothing else matters. As for Lafayette Jeff, they are experiencing a resurgence is good for them and the conference. Will it attract a few more members? Probably not…

I think Marsh was the last decent coach they had. But speaking of coaching, KV did hire Kirk Kennedy a few years ago. I thought they would be a lot more competitive in the NWCC, but are basically spinning their wheels. Have they won a game this year?

The programs in South Bend are also surprisingly weak, well, other than St. Joseph, who is part of the Catholic juggernaut.