slicer28

Valpo is the real deal. Not that far away from LOS in 6A last year.

Penn and LaPorte start a 2 year home-and-home this season at Penn.

City lost a lot, but they're still strong with a great coaching staff. Valpo will certainly be tough. Remember they weren't they only lost by 4 to Carmel in semi-state last year. LP should be improved from last year. Obviously, I'm biased. A lot is changing on both sides of the ball. There may be a little learning curve to get through early in the season.

Bob, do you think that IHSAA should apply the revised Rule 2-5d to the classifications for Fall sports starting in the 2019-2020 school year as they have done for winter and spring sports?

Cathedral is dropping to 4A after accruing 2 points in the last cycle as well (they won regionals in 2017). This has bee discussed in another topic, but no one seems to be too concerned that IHSAA is applying this rule change to winter and spring sports and not to fall sports.

So if IHSAA would decide to apply the new rule to football like they did to other sports it would cause an interesting shake up in 5A and 6A. FW Snider would remain in 6A next season and Cathedral would remain in 5A. Due to the cap on the size of 6A this would push Valparaiso down to 5A starting next season and Bedford-North Lawrence down to 4A. Then after the consolidation of Elkhart in 2020 they would move to 6A and Zionsville would dropped to 5A.

I can't see any appetite from any of the DAC schools to add Penn to the conference. The DAC likes being the big school conference for the "region" and adding a school from St. Joe county, let alone one that would be the big dog as soon as they got in, isn't going to be supported by any of the schools. Also, going to a 10 team league would screw up lots of traditional rivalries that these schools like to maintain. I don't see the DAC being interested in adding a private school like Andrean either. There really isn't a whole lot for the DAC to gain by adding anyone.

This has devolved into another discussion about Cathedral which is not what Slice60 was getting at. The basic question is why is the revised rule being applied to basketball and not to football? The only reason I can think of is that the revision to the rule had been proposed prior to the reclassification for basketball so IHSAA took that into account when setting up the basketball classifications. If the change in the rule for classification isn't going to be applied to football next season then maybe the change for participation quarters (54-3.1) shouldn't apply next year either.... (I am in no way advocating for that. Just making a point) Hopefully the IHSAA has recognized that this is an issue, and is discussing this now and they will either issue a revised football classification list, or they will explain why the rule change will not be applied. I'm not sure if there are any other teams that this applies to, but I think the IHSAA needs to be consistent here. Either both Cathedral football and Marquette boys basketball play up, or they both go back down.

This is an interesting question. On the IHSAA listing of classifications for boys basketball it is noted that Marquette is remaining in 2A "Pending proposed change in Rule 2-5d school would remain in higher class". There were no provisions made for this situation in the football classifications (i.e. with Cathedral). Basically it appears that the change to the rule was applied when reclassifying boys basketball and not for football.

Boone Grove in 2A plays their home games at Valparaiso HS so they play on turf.... but don't have their own home field.

Highland has turf going in this summer Griffith has turf (I think someone just mentioned that)

I've played on winning teams and losing teams. I've coached youth teams that were really good and others that struggled. I've celebrated with teammates and players I've coached on the field. I've cried with them too. I find it amazing that you seem to have been able to develop a simple quantitative measurement of the value of a football program. Please enlighten us on what factors should considered when you calculate the ROI of a high school football program.... Is it monetary profit? Is it judged purely on the scoreboard or record? Championships? It seems like you spend a lot of time here for someone who appears to dislike high school football.

All seems to be about transfers between private schools without defined boundaries.

This absolutely needs to be part of the discussions surrounding 8-man football.

Nope. There will be absolutely no appetite for that in LaPorte.

Coach, think of it this way, we're just teaching the kids to see their target and throw a good fast ball before we let them start throwing breaking balls. 😉

I was primarily talking about kids in 3rd grade and below. The divisions Pop Warner is doing this in basically cover kids up to 4th grade (possibly 5th grade in Jr. Pee Wee for older/lighters). Tiny Mite and Mighty Mite are "supposed" to be instructional. They're not even supposed to keep score at the Tiny Mite level (of course everyone does). Getting into a 3 point stance and firing out with your hands making initial contact and with your head up is just a difficult set of mechanics to get a 7 year old to get sometimes. Are there kids who can do it? Of course. But a lot have difficulty with it because their bodies just cannot do it because their arm and leg proportions are so out of wack for some kids at that age.

As a Pop Warner Coach I welcome this at these levels. One of the most difficult things to get a younger player to do at that age is to get into a proper stance. Often times this is simply due to geometry of a growing body. Their bodies just aren't built to get into a proper stance. This leads to kids who either squat like a frog; or kids who get their butts up, but can't lift their heads to see what is in front of them.

Welcome to La Porte Coach Lowery! https://www.heraldargus.com/sports/out-of-the-blue/article_555c16b0-32c9-5991-865e-b3f4cdc4bc20.html

Things will definitely be different... the reason is right in the article: "It all sets up the passing game." Welcome to La Porte Coach Lowery!

I assume that the "GID brass" did it for the same reason I volunteer to coach youth football, serve on youth organization boards and to work varsity games on Friday nights; they love this game and believe in its value.

I would hate to see this site go to a pay site. I'm happy to donate now, but I think there are a lot like me who will lurk and post only once in a while. Youth and high school football in Indiana is driven by volunteers. Yes, there are paid coaches at the high school level, but for the most part it's peanuts. Assistants, parents, players, boosters, youth coaches, etc.... none of us are in this for the money or for profit.

Played at Penn.

Dave Sharpe was a great coach for this team and this town and personally I hated to see him go. When Coach Sharpe was hired it was not because of the Power T. He was hired because he was believed to be the best candidate. I think the results he was able to get out of the program for the 4 years he was here is solid evidence that he was a great choice. I have faith that the selection process this time around will produce another great selection. Personally, I loved the Power T, but that wasn't the only reason those teams were successful. There were good players and good coaches who all believed in each other and the systems they were running. Remember, the year before Coach Sharpe arrived La Porte was in the 5A state finals. I'm not going to theorize about why Coach James wasn't hired the last time around. I love that guy and I'm so glad he's a part of our community.

This.