BTF

And a 42 million dollar youth sports complex just south of the city, similar to the one in Westfield. Looks like Dekalb County is making a MAJOR move toward improving their sports programs.

Good for Carroll. HSE, Merrillville, and Fishers all provide a competitive matchup with programs of equal caliber, but from different areas of the state. I'd love to see them land one of those schools along with either GC or Warren. The latter two schools give the Chargers an opportunity to see size and speed not likely to be seen from their SAC counterparts.

Maybe the reason Tom Crean is such a d!@#h$%^ is that he's trying to hard to be like Jim.

Carmel 5600..................maybe they should consider the Crossroads League.

I like the idea of Noblesville joining Homestead, Carroll, and Northrop. It gives the SAC a taste of of the HCC before the regional round. Plus, from a fan's perspective, who wouldn't want to see the SAC vs HCC in round one?

For the SAC it would have to be Carroll. They have a student body of 2500 and continues the grow as the fastest growing area of Fort Wayne. Throw in the new 8 million dollar stadium and it starts to become a no brainer. It probably doesn't matter though. On the surface, Coach Dinan appears to be passionate enough to stick around for awhile.

It looks like over the last decade they were about equal five years and EN the better team five years. East Noble is the better program it appears. For Warsaw, Chesterton is a step down. I'd like to hear thoughts from someone closer to the Duneland conference. HHF maybe. I think some Snider fans are wondering why they would schedule a program that would rank 5th or 6th in the SAC most years. That's not an attack on East Noble and it's a fair question. Snider, Dwenger, Homestead, Carroll, and Luers are pretty good programs. Personally, I like the idea of playing East Noble as long as they pick up a 6a team or a strong 5a team as their other opponent. Another 4a program or a low 5a program would make this all for naught. If that were to happen, it certainly wouldn't be by design. Probably more of an indication that scheduling isn't as easy as we were hoping it would be. I have the upmost respect for what Amstutz has done with EN's program. I see the Knights as a team that will, at the minimum, maintain it's level of play or become widely considered one of the Top 5 programs in 4a.

I like what Luke Amstutz is doing at East Noble. Going after schools like Cathedral, Penn, Snider, and Warsaw goes to show that he's serious about building and maintaining a program.

Who said it was a step back? I don't recall anyone saying that. I do recall a couple of posters saying they were surprised. I don't think anyone was expecting a 4a school. But hey, I'm sure the Snider staff knows what they are doing.

It looks like EN was one of many teams that they reached out to. The Knights jumped on it quickly and boom, one of the open weeks is secured. I imagine we'll come to find that the next opponent will be at the highest level of 5a or a 6a opponent from the Indy area. If that doesn't come to fruition, it's certainly not because Snider didn't reach out and try.

I think you're comparing apples to oranges. It's more of a recruiting thing than an SEC thing. High schools, most of them anyway, don't have the opportunity to recruit over a widespread area like Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and Georgia do. Part of what makes a good program at the college level is your ability to recruit..........at any cost. At the high school level, you're at the mercy of the kids residing in your district.

I don't hate Carmel. I just get defensive when at comments like "going through the north without breaking a sweat." Or claims that their program is superior to their counterparts without disclosing that they have an unfair advantage. Better team? Yes. Better program? Absolutely not. Yesterdays game at Homestead was a doubleheader. The Lady Spartans #1, defeated Snider #9, by 5 points. Heard the gymnasium was a sellout. Turns out both fan bases were able to leave the gym proud of their teams performance.

Fair evaluation of the Panthers performance over the past four years. But not a morsel of evidence that Carmel could beat them without breaking a sweat during any time period over the last four decades.

They were north in 2020/2021 2019 Won state 2018 State Runner-up 2017 Third best team in the north. Never made it Lucas 2016 Won state 2015 Didn't make it, lost to Penn. Wouldn't have made it past regional if Snider didn't get bumped down. 2014 Escaped Penn by one point before losing to Ben Davis at Lucas

Good point. Give me a few minutes.

Nor should they be. It's not a fair fight. Snider makes them sweat every time. If you think Carmel's coaching staff thinks they can walk into a Snider game with their team half asleep, you might consider talking to one of them.

Fair assessment. Snider had a good team in 2021. Not compared to great teams of Snider's past, but still pretty good. After handling Dwenger in the regular season, they were probably looking ahead to Zionsville a little bit. They love knocking heads with Indy.

Above? In terms of what? Enrollment only....... the way I see it. If Homestead had 5000 kids the results would be different. A great program would win state 2/3 of the time with that kind of student population.

Agree. Most those schools don't have the resources to compete with a school 2-3 times their enrollment.

The schedule Muda proposed looks good if for some reason teams from the MIC and HCC didn't want to schedule them.

It makes me no bit of difference if Carmel schedules them or not. I just said they would accept the challenge. Sounds like you are in the mood for an argument. 1. Snider hits them in the mouth every time. Homestead and Carroll continue to get better. Carmel would be the favorites, but let's not play pretend that teams in Fort Wayne are a bunch of chumps. 2. They do every time they play a Fort Wayne school. They know they can't fall asleep against schools up here in the Fort. If they do, they are done. They play Homestead with the same intensity they play Snider (a series that speaks for itself). Probably why they beat the Spartans by 3 or 4 touchdowns when they play. I guarantee they are doing that by "not putting their best foot forward." You're taking a step backward here Temp. Very unlike you. I tell other posters that you know your football. But maybe you don't know the Carmel program as well as you think you do. I mean for crying out loud, in another thread you compared them to a school half their size!!!!

Just saying those four teams would accept the challenge. Always a challenge when the team you are playing is double your enrollment. At least Carmel knows those teams will hit them in the mouth. I agree with "nothing to gain, everything to lose." No one wants to lose to a smaller school. But any matchup that causes you to put your best foot forward to win the game, is a good matchup. I doubt Carmel looks at it the way you do.

Can't do much better than that outside of the MIC and HCC. Looks good.

They shouldn't have any problems finding a quality opponent in weeks 1 & 2. Snider, Homestead, Carroll, and Dwenger would gladly accept that challenge.

Absolutely. This is an epic move for the SAC. When it was announced that that new format was being discussed, lots of discussion ensued regarding the possibilities. There's no doubt that the state of Indiana is loaded with marquee programs outside of the SAC to match themselves against. And I get the idea that in-state games gives you a better evaluation of how you stack up against your playoff counterparts. That was the goal. Goal realized. Schedule the games. But the fans do appreciate the border wars..............for what it's worth. Looking forward to seeing who is matching up with who. Keep the updates rolling in!