Basementbias

AC 7 Fremont 6 at the end of 1. Fremont struck first after AC had been sloppy on defense and allowed 4th down conversions. AC scored on their 1st offense play on a long run by Currie. Jets are driving towards the goal line with 3rd & 3 to start quarter 2.

Sad to see it happening. I really hope they can get some larger classes to start coming up. I was hoping some of the Pennville area kids were going to head north after their dispute about the elementary school. Jay County is pretty large, so it wouldn't hurt them to lose some of those kids (maybe drop them down a class to help compete in more sports). I'm wondering if a similar announcement is going to happen at Blackford since that is the reason South Adams had to change it to Eastbrook. Maybe some Muncie/Anderson folks can move to the NW and help these schools out a bit? Southern Wells should probably be a 2x back to back state champion instead of just a 2001 State Champ. Now they're playing JV only 19 years later.

Was definitely sad to see yesterday with this news and the news of Southern Wells. Just 2020 in a nutshell.

8 hours ago, FarmerFran said:

Serious question. Should visiting teams not be allowed to use the home teams locker rooms? Go back to the old junior high/ youth league days where players show up in game pants and get prepped on the sideline?

My concern is the post game. Are they riding home in their sweat soaked uniforms? I fear MRSA and other junk becoming a problem if that will be the case.

21 hours ago, statmurp_10 said:

SummitCitySports.COM: 'LIVE' Streams five Summit Athletic Conference football games on Fridays during the nine games regular season on YouTube. This year, the Homestead H.S. 'Spartans', who have their own 'LIVE' streaming equipment, will be doing this very venture for all of their 'home' games. Therefore there will be an open slot for summitcitysports.com to pick up another contest from the Allen County Vicinity. But not understanding how this shall shake out, a reasonable guess, would be a game from the ACAC, or the  NIAC. Allen County Voice, and Adams County Voice have been 'LIVE' Streaming games from both of these conferences in recent years, but I don't the have current information if they cover every game each weekend.

Hadn't heard of the Adams County Voice but knew Wells County had it. I know the Berne Witness webcast is the major one for Adams County. I had saw some videos of the Voice of Allen & Wells without commentary so I'd assume that is why it hadn't been the preferred method.

Interested to see what's going to happen being a state liner of Indiana & Ohio. See if they can add to my disappointment of my home county of Adams' news yesterday. Curious to see how college football is going to work as well with the conference only (if it happens). I'm sure we will see NFL but how is that going to go as well.

1 hour ago, Thor77 said:

The kids also want their friends and family there to cheer them on. This move only be if it’s seniors, and uses 4% of home seating capacity. More can be done and still be safe. And what’s dumb is this was the best compromise the ADs could get, Ainsworth fought hard for zero fans. 

I figured that was probably the case if you have good information to confirm this. So now fans will pack each other's houses and watch the webcasts possibly. I could be wrong and more can watch from home by themselves, but I wouldn't be surprised if some didn't have good enough internet and started having secret watch parties. I'm hoping it was true that The Berne Witness was going to have 3 channel feeds for all 3 schools this year. Hopefully they can attend the games to view them. Did any decision come about that?

9 hours ago, Thor77 said:

The outcry from social media from all schools sounds like shits about to hit the fan. 

I'm sure as there are AC fans who live and die for football season as I'm sure it is the same with SA & a few Bellmont fans. Like I said earlier, it's a losing situation all around unless everything goes right. Choose option A of packed crowds and then we really do get an outbreak, was it worth it? Choose option B like we have now, and there is an outcry and really reduces the atmosphere and what the game is about for the community and still doesn't guarantee an outbreak won't occur. Guess there could be an option C like how the Adams County 4-H fair was handled this year where it was mostly just family of all 4-H members. That too could end up failing with an outbreak, or it could go as well as possible like the fair seems to have. I'm hoping maybe more compromise can be made to go the option C route and everything goes right. At some point don't we just have to test the waters of trying to get back to normal while still being as careful as possible? Then expanding or reverting based on the outcome.

35 minutes ago, Thor77 said:

That’s what I was getting at, they can fit so many more, especially with empty away bleachers. There was obviously no math done at all to reach this level of fans. 

My guess is the health department was saying no fans at all and this was a compromise brought up by the schools. I could be totally wrong, but that would by my hypothesis.

21 minutes ago, TheStatGuy said:

Yup. They are being screwed over by adults who aren't caring whats going on. 

I could see this being reversed if parents or ihsaa put pressure on. 

It's a no win situation all around anymore. You ignore it all and have full capacity crowds that could lead to a deadly outbreak just to watch sports. Then you have the safe version like this were people miss out on part of what makes the game great. Usually it is better to be safe than sorry, but it's odd that the people affected by the decision aren't as heavily affected by the virus compared to other groups. Just have to make the best of the situation no matter what your viewpoint is. Just wish we could find some middle ground to try and make improvements in the entire global situation. Then we can see what really is the best way to proceed.

21 minutes ago, Thor77 said:

South Adams has 15 seniors in a big class this year, I assume AC and Bellmont are similar if not less. That’s 60 fans in a stadium that could fit at least 1500 people. 

I'd say AC probably has less and hard to say how many Bellmont has out. I was meaning I was surprised it was just senior parents and not a whole varsity roster of 30 to 40 players at max having 2 to 4 parents spread out. Some even sitting in the visitors' bleachers and around the field like playoff games.

2 hours ago, Thor77 said:

No, life is pretty much back to normal with a few masks in Adams county. I understand not allowing away fans, cause we do t want to break the bubble we got going with a lot of people from other counties, but only 4 per senior is ridiculous. That’s less than 50 total fans per game. 

The senior athletes was the surprising part. I could see having a set roster amount of players as Varsity and having 4 adults each with no visitors.

Not surprising at this point. Unfortunately I don't think it's going back in the other direction anytime soon. Surprised the 4 fans were family of Senior players of fall sports only. Better than no season, but it really just turns games into glorified practices at this point. It sucks for these kids and their supporters, but does teach the life lesson that life isn't fair.

Maybe the best move would to be allocating parents/step parents/guardians (possibly siblings) for each player a ticket. Guessing they'd make many schools dress only "varsity" listed players as well. I think that could be up to interpretation as does that mean some JV who are on special teams or 2nd/3rd string back ups for some schools. Would there be a certain number of players to be made available for rosters like the NCAA & NFL using active rosters? I think some schools would easily be able to social distance by family in these circumstances. Also should put up temporary fencing behind each goal post area and seat fans there as well as along fences. Maybe put zones near player entrance areas that are 6ft away from nearest fans. Do you allow visiting fans? If so, is it family that have presale tickets from their school?  How would one be able to police this?

The Berne Witness is a local newspaper that does webcasts for South Adams and Adams Central sports including football games. I know they had been working on adding Bellmont possibly as well. Not sure if that is still a go or not. They have a profile on Indiana Mat but I can't find one to attach to this post. They do a great job and are on the IHSAA app. You can google and see how to contact them. They did the "major" 4-H projects this year. My alma mater Adams Central and the town of Monroe need to get better service to do these broadcasts. Most away games and all South Adams games go pretty smooth because the internet/phone service is better. 

24 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Timing is everything....just a couple hours prior, the IHSAA went on social media saying they were moving forward as scheduled. 

Yes, so now everyone is wanting clarification if that means Marion County has just opted out until Oct 1st or if that means everyone else is going to have to go that schedule.

It feels like Marion County has now gave the IHSAA something to reconsider. Not sure why they weren't in communication and now have hope in some camp and doom and gloom in another. However, that is just how everything is appearing to go.

I knew Coach Davis was having to make sacrifices to come to Bellmont. He was always cordial to me and members of our league. I wish him the best. Surprising it came this late in the season, but really like the hire. Feels weird having played against Coach Hall in our younger days (plus a year younger than myself), but think this could be a big turning point. Especially if he gets the key guys that played on the state championship team to join him. I believe he will give them an identity to have for more than just a year or two at most.

2 hours ago, cpg1970 said:

Has South Adams and Adams Central ever consider to consolidate and became a 2A power?

I don't think that would be a popular idea in our area. I always see this on IndianaMat but also adding Bellmont with AC & SA to create a super wrestling team. That would probably be a 6A school then or large 5A. Too many differing opinions in Adams County to make that work. Decatur, Monroe, and Berne plus surrounding areas have differing ideas of what they want. You'd probably have more people wanting to go back to the old township schools before consolidation of any of the current three.

30 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Going to be honest - I’ve never thought that having elementary and middle schools “run” the varsity offense was that important.  I know that schools like Center Grove (whose success is indisputable) swear by it but I’m just not convinced.  Everyone cites consistency of system as some sort of cure all but it’s certainly not what my kids experienced in CYO and even in Freshman football.

At least on the Northeast side of Indy, the CYO programs have no ties at all to running Chatard or Cathedral’s schemes.  Heck, not so many years ago  (can’t speak for now) Chatard’s Freshmen didn’t even run the varsity system.

Rather, it’s a lot more about teaching skills and technique. I honestly felt like my kids in Jr. High received better instruction on skills and technique than I ever did In HS.

Even so, what happens when there is a head coaching change and the new coach scraps the old system.  Bear in mind, there is a 6 year “tail” (Grades 3-8) on teaching kids these “systems” - does the average head coach even stay at a school 6 years?  Let’s say it’s 10 years and then he leaves....then was the 6 years for those incoming Freshmen wasted?  

I realize kids have to play “some” sort of system in Grades 3-8 but wouldn’t it just be better to worry less about whatever the HS is doing and focus a lot more on skill and technique?

Agree with the technique and skill instruction. I think that is another part where AC has been blessed and SA too compared to Bellmont. In youth league games, it has been difficult to determine if the kids aren't physically mature or mentally/emotionally mature for some or if the technique isn't taught right. My belief is that it is more mental/emotional maturity as Bellmont has some really athletic and fundamentally sound kids, just not as many as the AC youth programs most years. Why I'm hoping to do more league involvement than coaching. We've had some cases of Bellmont stacking one of the 2 teams and switching which team it is (THE BIGGEST PROBLEM). Since the change the 3 years, Bellmont has made the playoff finals in 2 of the 3 and actually won the regular season last year. My biggest concern with them is keeping the good numbers up (COVID is going to challenge both sides this year if we play!). As for middle school I don't get to see either school play 7th & 8th having to be a step parent supporting my kids in Ohio.

4 minutes ago, foxbat said:

When you say youth league, are you talking about junior high / middle school or younger?  I've coached 18 seasons in the LCC youth program, 3rd-6th, and across that time, there have been six head coaches and an interim head coach.  In all that time, we never ran the offenses/defenses of the high school.

We actually would check in with the head coaches to see if there was something that they wanted us to do specific to the program and almost everyone of them wanted us to focus on the same thing ... safety, good technique, fostering the love of the game, building camaraderie and working as a team, building confidence, learning accountability, etc.  It goes to both the technique issues and also the culture that you mentioned.  The numbers, plays, schemes were all things that the coaches said were easier to do provided that the foundations/fundamentals, along with the culture buy-in were sound.

5th & 6th grade but the middle school 7th & 8th has always ran the offense of the varsity at AC. We do not have enough help to start back up the 3rd & 4th league that was on an old Bellmont play book with limited plays. AC's middle school coaches have noted the improvement with our change and the benefits they have saw. The first group is now Freshmen this season. The biggest difference between AC & Bellmont has been the stability of coaching staffs. AC had Coach Minnich for numerous years and Coach Mosser in about 10 or 11 seasons now. There have been many Bellmont coaches in that span. The culture is always changing and for Bellmont it's always been about making sure wrestling, then baseball were taken care of before football, basketball, and etc.

1 hour ago, NE8Fan said:

Agreed.  We do have good coaches at the youth and middle school levels.

The problem that even Marty had was that the middle school coaches at that time were not running his system. I believe this has been rectified and our youth league is running the offenses of both schools. We mandate a 5-2 defense for safety and learning techniques. I will say the biggest hurdle Bellmont is facing is the culture of the athletes. I've watched some practices that past couple of years while doing sign ups for the youth. The leadership of the players was not great. You have saw the results of this not in just football but wrestling, basketball, and baseball to an extent. Seems like the wrestling program has finally fixed that and hopefully those guys can play football and pass it on.

10 hours ago, NE8Fan said:

Whoa.  Back to original post.  Maybe these 1A schools should schedule someone better than Bellmont DT?   Sorry. Hard to be a fan right now especially with my son graduating. 

Selfishly I like that all 3 are playing each other each year again. Also wish either SA or AC's enrollment would go up, preferably SA like it used to be that they were 2A. Then maybe if everything aligned all 3 could play the same day at Lucas Oil. I was hoping last year to help the Bellmont youth program out more but was thrust back into coaching for AC youth. We shall see if our proposed season occurs, but my time has been split with my stepson playing flag football at Crestview and also being on the board & helping the DFL for both sides. I think we can get Bellmont back to that 2008 level but it's going to take some more time.

3 minutes ago, DT said:

It looks like a case of lazy, convenient scheduling to me.  As a matter of principle, i do not think it is appropriate for a 4A school to schedule down to the 1A level, while competing in a 6 class system.  It just defeats the purpose of having a class system in the first place.

Bellmont is in a no win situation.  Beat the !a schools, and they get no credit because they are 4 times largfer and that is the expectation.  Lose to the 1a schools, and they are criticicized for losing to a school with significantly lower enrollment and overall resources.

If Im correct, the 1A schools are of the "high flying" variety.  Not necessarily the types of teams that would prepare Bellmont for normal conference play.  If the Braves want to return to past glory, they would be wise to walk away from the easy scheduling fix and go after some bigger game in the SAC .  Thats the way you test and challenge your team in pre conference play.  Losing to the 1A schools not only hurts Bellmont in the won -loss column, it damages their collective psyche.  

The AD should take note and take appropriate action.

 

With all due respect, you need to learn about the 1A schools you are referring to. Adams Central will pound the ball down your throat and beat the tar out of you on defense when you try to run the ball. South Adams is a spread team that goes full throttle. I'll argue that they prepare Bellmont better than some conference foes they have in the NE8 some years. They have a 2 year glory run while Adams Central has had a 20 year and South Adams had a 4 year run in the 90s and a few smaller ones lately. They can't schedule the SAC because the SAC only plays each other! The problem they've had is other sports not wanting their athletes to play football and focus on other sports. Bellmont is and always has been a wrestling and then baseball school. Get the facts straight!

9 minutes ago, BTF said:

I get that Bellmont took state back in 2008, but that was twelve years ago and they've been less than average ever since. Now, if they can get back into state championship form and sustain that for a few years, then they should seriously consider dropping the 1A schools. But in the meantime, South Adams and Adams Central are good programs for Bellmont to schedule. I know that no one is impressed with 1A, but those are two rock solid programs and both are on par with Bellmont from a football standpoint. 

2008 to 2010 or so Bellmont was better than both and from then to 2016 they were close to AC and SA. Other than that AC has been way ahead of Bellmont during the Minnich years and from 2017 on. South Adams has been better since 2017 and on. It's cyclical of course, but Bellmont has never been the football program of the county like Adams Central. Bellmont refers to AC as "Football Heaven" and AC could say the same of Bellmont wrestling as "Wrestling Heaven".