Lysander

I love you (in a manly way).....and Sectional 32, too. Feel better?

Add “computer illiterate” and you’ve got me covered.

I was literally just trying to cut and paste that scene from “Miracle”. ”T’night, we are da’ greatest hockey team in da’ world!”

Not sure I follow. IHSAA just said they couldn’t play at their traditional “home field” - which is Broad Ripple. Often after Sectional games had already been played there. Not sure why. One of the foremost facilities in the State. It’s got grass (in spots), hashmarks, goalposts, working crappers, a concession stand and bleachers. “ Field of Champions”......

Is this game being broadcast/webcast? Not seeing it on IHSAATV (and affiliates) and I don’t know what WHMB40’s Game of the Week is as of yet. Given that it’s between No’s 1 and 2 per Sagarin and featuring the Defending State Champ vs. an upstart Cinderella team, it just might be worth broadcasting.

Chatard was already playing most of the season at LN the year they played GS in Indy at LN (I think). Given the weather that day, it wouldn’t have mattered where they played since the conditions were horrific. They could have just as easily played in a gravel pit. The IHSAA started moving certain playoff games away from Broad Ripple prior to ‘07 or ‘08. That said, I think the ‘08 Semistate and ‘09 Regional were there but I think those were the last. Again, memory fades.

Nope. The IHSAA has dictated it in the past. A Broad Ripple to Pike (which is usually available after the first week of November) move is at least one example.

The IHSAA, for some inexplicable reason, has not appreciated the excellence of the Field of Champions (Broad Ripple) and has moved playoff games away from there some years back.

No doubt Valpo is good but other than simply stating they are Top 5 regardless of class on what basis do you support that statement? Calpreps/Maxpreps puts them 10th. Sagarin puts them 13th. Their schedule is ranked 48th - so is not as if they are undefeated playing a bruising schedule. If every team people claimed was easily Top 5 regardless of class actually were we would have at least 30+ Top 5 teams. Like most any year, 6A is going to be won by a school within 10 minutes of 465.

EC v. Mooresville will be a contrast in styles. Personally, I think EC’s grind it out style gives them an advantage this time of year when weather can be all over the board. Going with Memorial. Discipline is everything this time of year and I think they have the big edge there.

The rant/“get off my lawn” moment (which it was) had more to do a lot of the discussions surrounding 6A and nothing to do with Cathedral/Chatard’s particular hang ups regarding each other. For the record, the reason Chatard (in my opinion) is still not in 4A had more to do with bad timing. Cathedral moved up into a bad 5A at the same time Chatard waltzed into 4A when New Pal and Columbus East notched it up another level (and were in the South). The top end of 4A was tougher than 5A during that transitional period (and the points needed to stick around were more). Even today, 5A is pretty much controlled by the old “names” in 4A. I remember at the time when 5A was manufactured declaring it was a class with no traditional “powers” excepting Snider and would be eventually dominated by 4A which contained some great teams “pound for pound” (please, let’s not rehash this phrase again). This, in fact, came to pass and is the case in point for the my original rant. As “to not being in the same breath” I don’t know what your referencing. I would argue that most here (at least in 6A) don’t know that size doesn’t matter. Not that I care much if I’m right or wrong about that.

One of these 4 will likely be playing in LOS. I’m thinking the Regional game is probably East Central v. Memorial (have those guys ever played each other?) with the winner beating Roncalli (going out on a limb....not too much of one, though).

I was just looking at the strength of the various Sectionals and absorbing some of the subtle condescension elsewhere here when discussing 6A vs. the rest of the State. So, I decided to look at the average strength of the various 6A Sectionals (which have 4 teams each) vs. the top 4 teams in 3A Sectional 28 (Chatard, West Lafayette, Brebeuf and Guerin). The only real possible comparison was to use analytics so I defaulted to Sagarin. I could have used Calpreps, etc. but chose Sagarin since it is so often utilized here. I averaged the Sagarin strength rating of each 6A Sectional v. the top 4 teams in 3A Sectional 28. The results were interesting. The top 4 teams in 3A Sectional 28 had an average Sagarin Rating of 82.68 Only 6A Sectionals 4, 5 and 7 had higher average Sagarin Ratings (98.79, 95.66 and 91.85 respectively) 6A Sectionals 1, 2, 3, 6 (Perry Meridian really drags the average down in this Sectional) and 8 were all lower on average than Sectional 28 (77.27, 72.36, 80.48, 69.19 and 82.17 respectively). As it also turns out, only Sectional 4, 5 and 7 had a higher Sagarin rated individual team than the highest Sagarin rated team in Sectional 28. The top team in 1, 2, 3, 6 and 8 were all lower rated. Interesting (and useless) factoid but maybe a bow in the quiver of some of the smaller classes should they spy some 6A chest beating going on. To be clear, the champion of a Class is just that....their Class champ. They aren’t champion of the class or classes above (or even below them). My main point (and burr in my butt) is the automatic assumption that bigger means better......by default when it comes to talking about individual teams playing one another. It doesn’t. And before we talked about teams more recently like New Pal (who is the default example) there were other teams in Indiana like Mater Dei and Luers that for decades had consistently beat or competed evenly against schools multiple times bigger than they were and it was EXPECTED that they would win more than their share of those games. There seems to be some thought process that somehow every 6A school is a MIC (or HCC) school as regards football. Most 6A schools are just pretty average.......some just flat out piss poor. Keep in mind, 5A is only as strong as it is because of the 4A teams that moved into it and dominated that class. Good teams are good teams and it shouldn’t be some shock that they beat bigger teams. Rant over......maybe.

Before the Guerin/West Lafayette game fades out of everyone’s attention in light of the upcoming Sectional Championship, I want to give kudos to Tom Dilley and the kids at Guerin. I watched the game last night and it seemed like Guerin executed their game plan almost to perfection but still fell short. I really can’t say enough about how disciplined they were as to following Dilley’s plan. Guerin generally controlled the clock and was able to limit WL’s number of possessions. They also ran the ball very effectively - particularly in the first half but needed to take to the air later with good result (although WL always had heavy pressure on the Guerin QB). WL, when they had the ball, would take great gouts of yardage at times seeming to cover 70-80 yards in 3-5 plays. Guerin got a few stops but I remember when WL punted in the first half a commentator saying it was only the 8th time WL had had to punt all year. Only the 8th punt for WL all year!?! If accurate, that is insane. My sense is that the difference was special teams. Guerin mystifyingly seemed to give WL short field opportunities by design. Particularly near the end of the 2nd Quarter after Guerin scored late to take the lead, they kicked short to WL who only needed to cover less than half the field to score in the last 1:40. WL ended up scoring and went into the locker room with a lead following a half that Guerin largely controlled. In the 3rd Quarter (I believe) Guerin gives up the Kickoff return TD. Guerin also missed an extra point. Could be wrong but I really think Guerin wins last night if their special teams’ play matches (or comes close to matching) that of WL. I could go on about WL but figure we’ll be talking about them all week. I just wanted to give Guerin credit for the truly great game they played before we move on. For any fans of the game it was streaming free last night if you want to watch it.

You’re right.....I forgot that Sherman and Mr. Peabody were on Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends but were a separate cartoon. Memory is the second thing to go........

MD is solid most every year and they play a great schedule most every year as well BUT when they beat Central just a few weeks ago, It raised them several more levels in my opinion. Since then, I have had them playing Webo for a trip to LOS.

Rocky and Bullwinkle of course.

It’s in the Section entitled “How to Screw Over Non-Indy Schools”. Can’t believe you missed it.....

West Lafayette (Sagarin No. 2 in 3A, No. 20 Overall) v. Guerin (Sagarin No. 7 in 3A, No. 59 Overall) at Guerin. Despite the fact I would prefer fellow CIrcle City Conference member Guerin win, I think West Lafayette wins handily. Guerin has actually played a great schedule (when you factor in the out of state opponents) and performed fairly well excepting the Roncalli game. Chatard (Sagarin No. 1 in 3A, No. 4 Overall) v. North Montgomery (Sagarin No. 26 in 3A, No. 140 Overall) at North Montgomery. It’s been a few years since these two have played one another but as am going with Chatard to win by 21 plus. I think Chatard has too many weapons on offense combined with a defense that is smothering. Guess I should know but is North Montgomery a grass field?

Very in depth biography. I don’t think anyone will ever accuse Maraniss of falling too much in love with his subject, though.

Unfortunately, it will analytically. It will be the same situation as exists for the SAC....basically an island within the state. I get why conferences do what they do, but as a fan I dislike it. Just a few years ago, I was able to annually watch Dwenger play for 3-4 years straight when they played Chatard but that opportunity is foreclosed these days. Admittedly, it seemed like only Mater Dei made an annual early season trek North but with teams like Gibson Southern beginning to extend out from SW Indiana the prospect of seeing more teams from SW Indiana play in Central Indiana seemed like a possible reality that I was looking forward to. oh well....

Maybe I am wrong but I thought TW had gone way back (somehow) in the Sags a few years ago for one reason or another. I haven’t seen any trace of him here recently but I’m guessing some here could reach out to him.

Heh.....well I have heard some here (with faltering success) define speed differentials as “city” speed which, I guess, infers “country” speed as well. Let me suggest that in the case of Plainfield that they have “excellent “suburban” team speed”. Mileage may vary.

The only prediction about this game I was right about Friday was the fact Chatard’s crowd was bigger than Brebeuf’s. The game itself was a Chatard clinic throughout. Even the Brebeuf onside kick blew up in their face. Still......West Lafayette is the champ and the favorite....until they aren’t.

Thoughts on the first games. Probably not a lot of surprises since the only strongly contested game will be Chatard (No. 1 Sagarin) at Brebeuf (No. 3 Sagarin) West Lafayette (No. 2 Sagarin) at Hamilton Heights - Going to be a tough night for HH. I have to think WL is looking to take someone’s head off after last week’s loss. Expect a running clock starting at the half. Guerin Catholic (No. 6 Sagarin) at Yorktown - on paper this game should be within 2 TDS. I expect Guerin to win big after their surprising BIG loss last week to Roncalli. N. Montgomery at Crawfordsville - North Montgomery by 35 plus. Running clock. Chatard (No. 1 Sagarin) at Brebeuf (No. 3 Sagarin) - Brebeuf is usually a whole different animal to play against in playoffs and is 7-2 playing the 36th toughest schedule in the State. Their effort last week vs. Terre Haute North was not particularly impressive but the week prior they played within 14 of Cathedral (a top 5 team in the state overall by most every analytic). Chatard is 7-1 playing the 20th toughest schedule in the state. Chatard, the last few years, has been more impressive in the regular season than in playoffs. Add that it’s hard to beat a good team twice AND it’s a home game for Brebeuf (Chatard will still likely have a bigger crowd, though). I think this game is too close to call.