Lysander

So, in summary, you agree with me - the current system is wrong and if we truly were football fans we would fix it.

In 50% of our 6 classes (Classes 1A-6A), there is a game being played the first round that might well have been a game that should have been played in LOS on Thanksgiving weekend per Sagarin (and I’m tired of hearing all of the bonehead b!tching about Sagarin....as if some polled Sportswriter or Coach in Angola knows ANYTHING about the relative strength of a team in Evansville or vice versa.....give me a break). 6A: Sagarin #1 Avon v. Sagarin #2 Brownsburg 3A: Sagarin #1 Chatard v. Sagarin #3 Brebeuf 2A: Sagarin #1 Lewis Cass v. Sagarin No. 2 Pioneer Rather than football fans being able to enjoy the ability to see these games live, they will as likely as not be watching some 2-7 teams pound away at each other.....with one of them actually living to play another day. While 50% of those 6 teams cited above Seniors will be turning in their gear having played their last game ever. Teams and kids that have spent years honing their skills to play at the highest levels in their class denied the chance to play in a high profile and electric Sectional, Regional, Semi-State or even State Championship game. But we would rather let ping pong balls decide....because “it’s the only fair way”. Its flatly wrong and we all know it. And don’t give me this crap about “Football Gods”, “Sh!t Happens”, etc., etc. This situation exists because WE allow it to.....not some fictional Football God. We are just too damn lazy and indifferent to do anything about it. If we really are honest to God fans of the game why do we tolerate this?

Guerin is #6, btw. Not #4.

The system has HH #5 overall in a really tough Class 3A. Not bad despite an SOS that is lower than No’s 1,2 and 3. Currently they are ahead of Guerin whose schedule strength is 30th. All that SOS tells you is what it’s supposed to - “How tough are the team’s schedules in comparison?” SOS is just added info. It doesn’t mean that the team with a weaker schedule isn’t a better team.

Sectional 28 per Sagarin Class Rankings: #1 Chatard #2 West Lafayette #3 Brebeuf #4 Guerin Weird how every single 3A Parochial South of Mishawaka AND the defending State Champs managed to all find themselves in the same Sectional.

That is what Sagarin indicates. That seems a bit off to me when compared to a Heritage Hills whose schedule rank is 122. I would think their schedule rankings would at least be comparable. Even so, it’s not like I drilled very deep to figure out why.

He also had Roger Frazier (Indiana 1975 100 yd dash champion and 1975 Prep Track and Field Athlete of the Year) in the backfield with him at Richmond. Dude ran a 9.5 100 in HS.

Why would anyone be upset that the 3 top ranked teams (Sagarin) in a class (4 of the top 6) end up in the same Sectional? Move along, nothing to see here.

Zack Martin

Sounds like a great discussion for the “Out of Bounds”....

Seems to be the case (as both Cathedral and West Lafayette learned a couple of years back) but the Brebeuf/Culver game every year baffles me as to how close it ends up (or even when Culver won) when Brebeuf should be a huge favorite. Last week’s Brebeuf/Terre Haute score made me scratch my head a bit also.

Funny - was thinking the exact same thing last night when I saw the earlier post.

Not inferring they were anything special. Roughly 4A/5A size school that was either 3-1 or 4-1 going into the game. The game was an absolute route from start to finish. Still, though,......the biggest receivers I ever saw......and a D1 QB.

Actually Streif was coaching in 2007 - St. Matthew’s 4th Grade CYO team.

6A - not Penn

Chatard 56 Normal West 8 Final Normal West had a D1 QB and the 3 biggest HS receivers I have ever seen (bigger than Covington Catholic last year).

I will say the same thing I always say as to this. Indianapolis Archdiocesan schools can’t even talk with their own CYO kids on an individual basis as regards sports let alone kids from public schools. These are the rules for the Archdiocese schools (and Brebeuf has signed onto that agreement as well). That said, if you can evidence in some fashion that a private/parochial is doing the things you are accusing them of - then more power to you. I am all for nailing hides to the wall in the case of violators. My guess is, though, that if there are hides at all to be nailed, a fair amount of those will be public schools.

No doubt. Even so, the field really did appear to be in excellent condition.

I could only tell from the sidelines (no kids on the field these days) but the field appeared to be in excellent condition. Just for the record, my kids practiced on the “old” Chatard field - any field not featuring dirt, rocks (some glass mixed in for good measure) and volumes of goose-poop is a good field.

Just eyeballing both 4A and 5A it looks like roughly 1/3 of the teams are located within Indy or South of Indy with the other 2/3s located North of Indy. It’s problematic in both those classes.....which have effectively exchanged teams when the 4A teams move up.

It’s generally a geography problem but there is the added problem of the historic weakness of the true 5A teams (with the exception of Snider and a Westfield team that was effectively 6A in size when it won 5A) that are unable to send 4A interlopers “back” to 4A. New Pal, Cathedral, Columbus East, Dwenger, Roncalli (for a couple of years).....all are 4A teams that are either currently playing up or have recently played up. 5A has been a playground for the best 4A teams to basically dominate. Once they leave 4A, they rarely come back home which has also greatly weakened the upper end of 4A which used to be the best class “pound for pound” (couldn’t resist that phrase). That said, I saw that coming when the IHSAA announced the whole formation of 5A. The dominance of “true” 4A teams in 5A was to be expected.

2-3 years ago I had lunch with the director of a not-for-profit whose organization was responsible for promoting development among the various municipalities in Hamilton County. I was surprised when he told me that if you combined those various municipalities (Fishers, Noblesville, Carmel, etc., etc.), the population measured only 4-5,000 less than the Ft. Wayne area. It was a bit jaw-dropping to me at the time to learn of this.

Chatard 35 Guerin 0 start of 4th Running clock

Chatard 21 Guerin 0 Half

Dang!