BTF

And two years later, they'll be back in 5A. Outside competition will do them some good as well. My biggest concern at this point is the 6A programs.

I agree with your post other than this part. Under this scenario, Snider is back to square one. This doesn't do Snider much good for when they get back into 6a. They need the outside competition just as much as Carroll and Homestead.

I was unaware of the problems Elkhart was facing this year. I hope you are right about the future there. The north needs them. I believe their coach has a good history? I imagine Carroll and Homestead are already mirroring other successful programs. But something is clearly missing outside of smaller teams they play in the regular season. I won't go as far as to say that they are "throw away" games other than South Side. Concordia, Wayne, North Side, and Northrop all have their moments. Concordia has two victories over Carroll and three games against Homestead that were decided by less than a touchdown. Northrop has beaten both Carroll and Homestead (once each). North Side beat Carroll in 2015. But to be fair to your comment, they haven't even ben been remotely close against either program ever since. Wayne has a victory over Carroll to their credit. After further review, you could probably regard Northrop, North Side, and Wayne as throw away games. But not Concordia. We'll see if Concordia can continue to produce with the new coach.

Everyone was hoping the Duneland would come through last night. They didn't, and it wasn't even close. So how good is the Duneland? Crown Point was the only team to come within 27 of the Pirates. That was a 14 point defeat after losing by 37 on their first go around with them. After last nights result, the Duneland appears to have a lot of work to do. I say that respectfully as I've always had respect for that region of the state. Elaborate on Elkhart as the "most likely to break through." A school of 3000 shouldn't be as awful as they were this year. Maybe I'm missing something. This may be a homer statement, those outside of Fort Wayne can decide. But I think the hope lies with Homestead and Carroll. Both schools are trending toward 3000 enrollments. They both have good coaching (not great, but good). They 5Aboth have the facilities and the socioeconomics. The big piece of the puzzle that's missing is the ability to add an MIC and HCC team to their annual schedule. Good for Merrillville to be bumping down to the class that they rightfully belong. The north will be exciting with them added to the 5A mix with Snider, Dwenger, and Valpo.

Now that Homestead and Carroll have raised their programs to an SAC level of play, they are realizing that it's not enough to get to Lucas. Indy has outpaced it's competitors something severe over the past 10 years. The only way for Homestead and Carroll to keep up would be to go independent. When both of those schools (2400) reach 2800-3000 in enrollment, are they still going to want to play 4a and 3a programs? Lol, I cant' imagine that being the case. We might as well make a change sooner rather than later. I have no doubt that Snider and Dwenger would pick those two back up on their open dates, but it's back to the drawing board for those two programs..............it doesn't get either one of them to Lucas more regularly. Both will get back to state, I have no doubt about that. But throwing some Indy schools in the mix will no doubt get them there more often.

Traction AP

No matter what the future holds for the conference, Dwenger is going to make deep runs in 4a & 5a. I don't see how adding Leo and East Noble helps Snider, Carroll, and Homestead.

I was referring to Popeye Williams. Great football player, but dancing isn't quite his thing.

Westfield's dancing could use some work.

Snider's declining enrollment, now down to 1800 students, doesn't help their case much. Homestead and Carroll are 2400 and growing. Lot's of potential there.

I agree that the landscape is different now than it was 25 years ago. But in all fairness, Snider would have given Center Grove and Penn a run for their money in 2016. Unfortunately, a team like that only comes around every 5 years or so. By and large, I agree with your statement. I just like to get all the facts out there.

Touting all of their success before 2018, Snider's probably calling b@#$s%&! on this entire conversation. You could be making a good point though. For the SAC, it may not be a matter of scheduling anyone from Indy. It's more about replacing a South Side with a Warsaw, a Concordia with Penn, and a Wayne with Merrillville.

I can see the faster and thicker part. But I don't think the average height in Indy is any different than other parts of the state. Fort Wayne's youth training programs are up there with anyone's. Take Traction AP for instance. They fielded a team that that won the IMG National 7 on 7 tournament. Of course it didn't get any attention since fans on here only want to talk about how great Indy is. That 7 on 7 team finishes in the top one third every year. What's probably lacking is the strength and conditioning within the programs themselves, which I think is what you are getting at. But let's not lose sight of the fact that better competition breeds better programs. You'd have to be blind to not recognize that Homestead and Carroll are better programs for joining the SAC. The HCC would probably be similar to the SAC or even a notch below if the MIC hadn't toughened them up over the years. Unfortunately for the SAC, there aren't any 5000 enrollment schools to toughen them up. Solution: Schedule the best teams you can find. A good football program, which is what Homestead and Carroll are, will ultimately rise to that higher level of play if they schedule the right competition. The proof is in the pudding . You even suggested it yourself when you came up with the idea of the "Northern Eight,"................not sure I got the name right.

Link to the game?

So wait until Regionals to get waxed by Indy? I have a hard time believing they wouldn't do better at regionals if they scheduled an Indy team during the regular season.

In all fairness, we do need to back off a little. It doesn't change my mind that a change is needed, anyone with a brainstem knows that. So before we leave the SAC for dead, we should consider what Snider and Dwenger have done in the past decade........if were being completely fair. Snider 2012 - 5a state finalist (still the largest division at the time) 2015 - 5a state champion 2016 - Possibly a rainstorm away from winning 5a state 2017 - One penalty too many preventing another appearance at state, this time in 6a Dwenger 2013 - Irrelevant since 4a isn't a problem for the SAC 2015 - Irrelevant 2018 - Irrelevant 2020 - Lost in semi-state to a team they beat 9 times out of 10. Conclusion: In the case for Snider and Dwenger, it's not a matter of them NEVER reaching state again (5a) in the SAC's current format. However, Snider will be in the same boat as Carroll and Homestead when they reach 6a again (and they will). Snider's enrollment is shrinking, so they will have a hard time sustaining the success in 6a that they saw in 2012 and previous seasons. Stepping up the competition will help curb that problem moving forward. Same with Dwenger at the 5a level. Are we satisfied with a 'once in awhile' state appearance? Or do we wanna hear Snider mentioned in the same sentence as Center Grove and Carmel (possibly Homestead and Carroll). Dwenger in the same sentence as Cathedral. I'd prefer the latter. Now it's in the hands of the SAC administrators.

I was making light of the fact that Zionsville has had 13 home games in a row. I'll go back to "if I were a betting man,"........................Eagles by 14. If that were the spread, I'd take Zionsville.

Lol. I was thinking two touchdowns and two extra points. So four scores if you want to get technical. Wait, I'll back off to 7 points. I forgot about the ten interstates leaving the city. They should only be on the bus about an hour.

I was thinking the same thing, they may not know how to handle that. City by two scores.

Snider only gets credit for three. And they were hardly upsets as all three games were massive blowouts.

Great article. Thanks for sharing. Not only is the nine game regular season ineffective in producing state competitive programs in the higher classes, but it's also become very boring. Could we see a spike in attendance by bringing in some new games? Do more South Side fans show up if they host Churabusco versus hosting Homestead? Do more Snider fans show up by playing Merrillville versus playing Concordia? How about Dwenger vs Chatard versus playing Wayne. How about Wayne knocking heads with Delta every year? Those are the type of games that would boost attendance in my opinion. But what do I know. As far as the SAC is concerned, ease of scheduling trumps higher attendance and deep playoff runs. Not to mention, it's...........B...O...R...I...N...G.

Better politics over the years. But that's ok, traffic is bad enough as it is. No more growth in Fort Wayne please.

Warsaw at Snider 2001 Warsaw brought the biggest offensive line I've ever seen to Spuller Stadium. They may have even been the favorite that night. The Tigers knew they had a strong Snider team to get past, but their sights were really on Penn, who beat them in a tight game the year before. Warsaw made a statement right away going up 14-0. Snider clawed back and tied it. With Warsaw up 20-14 with 5 minutes to go, Snider drove the length of the field by running every single play. No big runs or small ones, but each run went for about 4-6 yards. Snider tied it up and ultimately won in overtime 23-20. Penn bowed out in regional setting up a Valpo/Snider match in which the Viking won and went on to state. Snider at Homestead 2002 Snider drew a bye and had two weeks to prepare for the favored Spartans. This was arguably Homesteads best team ever (the other being 1998). In a game that Snider led by a touchdown most of the way, Homestead went ahead 21-20 on a thrilling 4th down touchdown pass with just a few minutes to play. With time running out and Snider facing a 4th and 1 from their own 29, they brought in the full house backfield. That was just a set-up for the wide open TE downfield who stumbled as he caught the ball and fell down untouched. That set up the game winning field goal with no time remaining. Snider having two weeks to prepare was the difference in that game. Snider went on to lose to Ben Davis 31-7 at state. Fishers at Snider 2012 Down 28-14 with Fishers driving into FG territory with 5 minutes to go. I left the game only to get a phone call on the way home telling me that Snider won 36-35. Snider's season ended in the state finals to Lawrence Central 39-14.

I think it remains to be seen whether or not the HCC is superior at the #1 position. I'll place my money on the HCC, but we won't really find out until Friday. Position's 2-8 are a 'no contest.'

It's not far off. Evansville's metro is 315,000, so about 3/4 of Fort Wayne. Growth outside of Indianapolis has never been a priority for the State of Indiana. Indiana's model is to have one very large city (though I wouldn't categorize Indy as 'very' large), and several small cities surrounding it. I don't think our state politicians want competition with Indy for businesses, tourism, and conferences. Far different than Ohio's model of of having a major metro areas throughout the entire state. Relating to football, I don't really think it's a matter of Fort Wayne not having as much resources as Indianapolis. In fact, Fort Wayne is pretty well known for it's youth training programs. It's another fact that the Summit City produces it's fair share of professional athletes per capita. Indianapolis has two major advantages. The first being the enrollments of the schools. It's hard to compete with that. The other being the competition that breeds more competition. The MIC made the HCC better, it's plain and simple. The SAC has no such luxury to find competition in the outside burbs. We'll have to seek games against teams from Indy in order to rise to that next level.