Lysander

Good Lord…..I’ve got no words.

Nice to see you Coach…...truly hoping all is well with you and yours. I miss the Old Days here.

They should wait to see who wins the Indy 8th Grade CYO Championship. Pike, seriously?

To be honest, I’m freezing my @ss off that afternoon and while LITERALLY walking up to the ticket gate and I ask myself…..wait…what…..I haven’t had a kid playing here in a decade …..and a fireplace just 3 miles away along with interweb service. Good sense prevailed.

Yep…5A is an “accommodation”. “Short Bus” class….literally. Witnessed a couple of those schools lose by 30-40 plus in August/September/October (one in particular near IU pissed and moaned on radio despite about 1,000 more kids after an ass-kicking….then “cancelled” during COVID). Then there was Merrillville showing up at Chatard….. Frankly, Snider should have dirt stomped 5A…..but didn’t….somehow. I’m just floored about that.

I defer. I’m the farthest thing from a genius….you only need to ask my forever faithful better half. (Which has always made me question just why she has hung onto me since HS….just what is wrong with this chick?).

As I have been an advocate from the BEGINNING. On DAY ONE of this ridiculous class I stated that NONE of these 5A teams excepting Snider had an ongoing tradition of football excellence (some may have 40 or so years ago) and it was an accommodation to big schools and perhaps big $. Sadly, the 1A schools had neither the influence and, perhaps, the $. Regardless, the IHSAA totally screwed up on this and my guess is that it had to do with big school central Indiana influence v. rural schools.

Nothing says more about the irrelevancy of 5A than the fact the fact that the 5th-7th team in 4A (Martinsville) beat the 5A State Champion team. Not to be overtly political, and I know this might well piss off several friends of mine here, but the simple existence of 5A is literally the DEI of Indiana HS Football. Its an embarrassing class. Sorry....an "also ran" award for teams that couldn't win 4A or 6A (Snider excepted).

Being obligated to only 4 Circle City Conference games per year provides this flexibility....in EVERY sport. Quite literally, its the best of both worlds. Perhaps a scheduling nightmare for your AD, though....but that's why they're paid the big bucks.

Frankly, East Central's "drive" would only be an another 30-45 minutes as opposed to the normal "internal" Circle City Conference drive (if your going to a Roncalli/Chatard game on Friday you'd best leave Thursday). I'd also add that East Central (in my opinion) would be a great "add" to the CCC (for the record, I'm just a dude on the interweb....who might know a couple of people). A dominate 3A/4A school from SE Indiana with a great tradition joining a conference composed of multiple State Championship level 3A/4A teams in both Boys and Girls sports kind of sounds...well................PERFECT.

They should join the Circle City Conference. Its only a 1-1.5 hour drive and they only have to play 4 games a year to meet conference obligations. In football, they have already played 1 or 2 of those conference members for the last 10-20 plus years (Chatard or Roncalli). Add that they would be playing other non-football State Championship level teams during the regular season. As strange as it sounds, they would fit nicely (assuming the CCC sees it the same way) and it would HUGELY upgrade the bar for them vs. the EIAC.....and I say that as an old EIAC guy who won some championships and some All-Conference nods back in the day.

I even question whether Heritage Hills shouldn’t be No. 3.

Not to nitpick but in rereading that Regional thread I saw only TWO posters who were critical of New Pal’s schedule strength. One was @Just a dad (a Chatard fan) and the other, quite ironically, was @BTF….unless “two” constitutes “a bunch” these days. With that, the rest of us associated with Chatard have nothing but admiration for what New Pal’s accomplishments have been over the last 10 years and had (and continue to have) nothing but respect for the program. The Dragons had long dispelled the strength of schedule canard with their incredible successes these last 10 years. Once again, congrats to New Pal for their success and for representing the South so well. Honestly, I think many of us from Chatard will truly miss not having another chance at the Dragon’s next year….it was one of the most exciting games I’ve witnessed in person in years. Best wishes going forward and, again,….congrats on an amazing season!

Just a comment that occurred to me earlier in the week when some were making comments regarding one team having 12 State Championships and HH not playing the schedule that Luers played. At the time, I just bit my tongue. My first thought was that Heritage Hills would likely have around 10 State Championships but for the fact they almost always faced Chatard in SemiState. The other thought I had was HH always brought it against Chatard and it was a bruising tough game….regardless who Chatard had played during the regular season. Congrats to HH.

Substitute the word “protonic” for “prostate” and it would likely be the subject matter of half the conversations I have these days.