BTF

I'm talking about pure northern teams. I don't consider Westfield to be north in the slightest. They are an Indy team thrown in the northern bracket. I feel like Jeff is right on the line. Sometimes I credit them for being north, sometimes I don't. It depends on the day I guess. Regarding Warsaw. Good coaches typically improve there programs every year it seems for their first 5 or 6 seasons, then there is a trail off. That's all I was basing my prediction on. I will defer to you on that one, you know way more about their program than I do.

Good for Portage. It's time for the Duneland to flex it's muscle at the 6a level. I think the future looks bright for the north. Valpo seems to be on solid ground. Merrillville is playing at a high level. It's just a matter of time for Portage. Warsaw is on the up and up. The Homestead and Carroll districts continue to grow and pump money into their facilities. And Snider may have a team over the next couple of years that could bump them back to 6a. Penn is still Penn. Not 'Geesman' Penn, but still solid.

He did have some impressive teams when he was at Portage. I remember some of his teams of the 90's. You didn't get to state without going through them. I remember Snider's 12-0 team in '94 bowing out to them.

Young team last year? They got waxed twice by Merrillville last year. Looks like maybe one good team over the past decade?

Ben Skowronek (Homestead) to the Rams.

My presumption what that Valpo and Snider were moving down. Clearly both those programs rate ahead of Warsaw.

A two loss regular season seems to be the norm for Bart Curtis at Warsaw. Does he do better in 2021? I think they get over that hump this year. They may have solidified themselves as a Top 5 team in 6A North. 1. Penn 2. Merrillville 3. Elkhart 4. Homestead 5. Warsaw/Carroll

Regarding the original topic: Warsaw is approaching the level Phil Jensen had them at during the 1999-2001 seasons. Scheduling Warren Central is sending a message to the rest of the state that the Tigers fully intend on being a significant player in the tournament moving forward. Good for them and good for Northern Indiana Football. Without me scrolling back five pages, what is the difference between Tech and WC?

No one said it was the "sole" reason. In my opinion it's 1/3 of the equation.

Noblesville, HSE, and Fishers are just recent members of the enrollment Top 10. So you can't compare them to Carmel, Ben Davis, Penn, and Warren Central since those schools have been at the top for decades.

Programs with Top 10 enrollments have won 28 of 36 championship in the states largest class. Actually, it's more like Top 5, since that's where Ben Davis was enrollment wise when they were winning their trophies.

Although I completely agree with the affects socioeconomic factors, I can see why some struggle with the concept. But enrollment? That's grade school math.

Fine. Let's try something different for him then. Footballking16.................Program A and Program B both have the SAME socioeconomic factors and equal strength coaching staffs. Program A has a school enrollment of 3600 and Program B has an enrollment of 1800. Is it likely that Program A will produce double the amount of D1 caliber players than Program A?

Seriously. Let's try this again. Enrollment and socioeconomic factors have NO impact on the success of a football program. None?

Not a guarantee, but a major advantage. Can you agree to that?

Doesn't matter if it's 5 or 22. Congrats to the Greyhounds. Their defense was all that was advertised. I'm curious though, did you even pay attention to the game while it was happening? Your "the game was never in doubt" comment was perplexing to say the least.

It was in doubt when Homestead was up 18-13. But in the end, Carmel proved that they own Homestead in all sports. And that game probably puts the school with 5000 students at the #1 football/basketball position. But lets be honest. Isn't anything less than a state championship kind of embarrassing for a school that size?

I was able to send you a message. Check it out. Carmel will be a handful for sure.

Shoot me a PM by Saturday morning. Homestead takes on #2 Carmel at 9:30am.

You there?

He'll be a tough one to replace.

Yes. PM me.

It's pretty clear who the Top 4 are. It's the order that is confusing. Each one of those four could make a case for #1.

It'll be a tall task to get through the season and tournament unblemished. Although they ran the table on Indy schools during the regular season, doesn't mean they'll do it again. They've earned their #1 ranking through their body of work all season long, but I'd probably be crazy to take that bet. I didn't donate in 2020. PM me if you want to work something out.

Upstate 8