Boilernation

The Duneland won 3 straight 3A Titles in the late 70's with Valpo, Merillville and Portage. Zero chance the parlay pays out again with Portage in 6A. The Pirates have won 4 Regionals in the past 5 seasons. Semi-State is the hump they've been trying to get over.

Ha! I used to live in the original Monon Place Apts at Compton & Kessler before moving to Hamilton County. I enjoyed seeing Chatard fans flood the neighborhood for games at Broad Ripple. It had a vintage atmosphere. When I lived near 61st and Evanston the current on campus stadium was still just a field of dirt. It’s impressive what they’ve turned that land into.

Appreciate the feedback Bob. I have more clarity on your viewpoint.

Haha. Speaking of him, he proclaimed last week on the Region Board that everyone in the state, including The Indy Star, was calling the Merillville vs. Valpo game the 5A State Title.

Merrillville doesn't have a JoJo Johnson or Justin Marshall this year that can take any carry/reception to the EZ, but they still have speed and lots of it at RB and WR. The Pirate Offense is much more efficient in the run game and short passing game. Their QB has zero downfield accuracy. Logan's eyes will probably pop open when he sees some of the downfield pass attempts against Valpo last week.

Here's the link from Region Sports. Go to the 2:57 mark. I slowed down the speed and took the attached screenshot. #4 for Merrillville was already in position to make a playon the ball just as the Valpo WR caught the ball. It's hard to tell fromt the angle if the Pirate defender only hit the hands/arm/ball or the helmet of the WR as well. Would you still consider it a foul if he didn't hit the WR's helmet? https://www.ihsaatv.org/regionsports/?B=744109

I noticed that live and rewound back to make sure I actually saw what I thought I saw with 78 making the tackle. Wow! The RB trying to stiff arm him was amusing.

Do programs like Chatard have any influence on how CYO teams are ran? I would assume a school like St. Pius X is sending a majority of their kids to Chatard based on distance. Does their coaching staff have a Chatard influence?

Eh, I thought it all changed once Chatard figured out TV's Wing T about midway through the 1st Half. Then it was all down hill quickly as TV couldn't run the ball and didn't have a passing game. Anyone know if Radtke is still running wishbone or had he adapted to a modern offense at Knox? As someone else mentioned, he's already taken North Judson, Griffith and New Prairie to the State Finals. Very impressive he has a shot with a fourth team. But, we're talking about Chatard here. And not 2016 or 2017 Chatard. The Trojans will roll with ease once again. Maybe next year Knox when the Kessler Blvd Beast is up in 4A.

Personally, even though I think Jake Gilbert is arguably one of the best coaches in the State and they've beaten HSE twice, I feel Crown Point benefitting in getting Westfield. CP will host the Semi-State I've personally seen at Zionsville this year and other games streamed online how well Westfield travels. But, will their fans make the trip up to Lake County when a trip to LOS seems assured to Central Indiana fans? I guess we'll see. Crown Point's secondary is without a doubt their week point. Westfield will likely attack it, but if I'm CP I rather go against Westfield's passing game than Donovan Hamilton, Kameron Anthony and Jalen Alexander for HSE. I think this one comes down to Crown Point's front 7 on D and Noah Ehrlinger. Crown Point's secondary is sieve. Westfield will exploit it. Crown Point will have to find a way to slow down Westfield's running game or the Bulldog D will be on the field for a long time. Westfield can and will grind out long drives. Ehrlinger needs to deliver in the passing game. The Junior D1 recruit was 11-17 for 223 yards and 2 TD's against Penn. I don't believe Crown Point can get away with running power play after play with Larry Ellison against the Westfield D Line. Ellison carried the ball 39 times against Penn with a lot of those carries coming out of the Wildcat position on consecutive plays. That will not work against Westfield. Crown Point is in the same spot as Carroll was last year. Proving they can beat a Hamilton County school in Semi-State is the next step for them. They have a quality coaching staff and a lot of talent. Just think the secondary is a glaring weakness and trying to win the line of scrimmage against Westfield is never easy. I'll take Westfield by about 10.

I drove by EC’s stadium on Friday afternoon on my way to Cincinnati. Got me psyched to watch them play Memorial at historic Enlow Stadium. And just like that it was over. IIRC 41-7 at the Half. Unreal. Their skill talent can compete with anyone in the state in open space. Can their OL handle a BD or CG D line? like seeing Fishers in the Top 10. 7-4 but still very good. Khobie Martin was a heckuva RB. Good QB and Receivers as well.

Can you share the link to the HUDL video you’re referencing?

Did they get a hand on the kick? I couldn’t tell. That would be two huge blocks in a row with the first coming on the PAT attempt that would have tied the score at 34.

And I hope the Irish faithful look back fondly on O’Neils final game as a QB in what seems like 7 seasons of football. That kid took a beating last night and fought to the final whistle.

Agreed. Multiple times I thought Crown Point was going to break the game open. The Kingsmen responded time after time with TD drives to get back in the game. Crown Point’s secondary looked like Swiss cheese last night, but credit to the Penn QB for making the throws. I thought he played a great game.

The Merrillville DB who broke up the final play in the EZ deserves as many helmet stickers as possible. It looked like a Valpo TD as time expired before the Pirate DB hit the Valpo WR and broke up the pass.

The details for Northern Indiana are seriously lacking. That would put the South Bend and Elkhart areas on the shores of Lake Michigan.

LOL...and Harbaugh is looking like a very good replacement for Flus.

Just seems like one giant cluster F*** of who has the bigger skeletons in the closet. Sharing info, aka sign stealing, is gamesmanship until you find out how teams are actually doing it. Like I said, nail Harbough if proof can be found he knew the lengths Scallions was going to get info. Others may disagree, but I've never been a fan of the extreme ownership concept.

My thoughts as well. Either prove there was a trace back to Harbaugh knowing of the extreme lengths Scallion was going to acquire his knowledge or move on. And while you're at it ask Ohio State and Rutgers why they used an electronic device to notify Purdue in 2022 of signs their actual coaches picked up on during live game action.

The only problem is there's a small window to get those OOC games in and you have to have reciprocated interest. Regarding Illinois, they start a week later than Indiana. And a lot of the Suburban Conferences don't travel far for OOC. They'll play a Chicago Catholic League school or schools from different Conferences (i.e. DuPage Valley vs. West Suburban).

Unaware that Stallions was recording or unaware that he was on the sideline of the CMU/Michigan State game? Personally, i'm no Michigan apologist, but I think it's worth noting that Stallions was somewhat of a psycho who wrote a 600 page manifesto about becoming the head man of the Michigan program. I don think it's out of the question to think he went above and beyond in a rogue way to handle the deliverables assigned to him. Personally, this whole story seems "meh" to me and I have skin in the game that possibly favors the Bears if this pushes Harbaugh to the NFL. Any game we watch on a Saturday afternoon has teams with elaborate communication signs on the sidelines. Multiple sign signalers, poster boards, etc. They're not alll doing it because of Michigan. At this point I'm more intersted in knowing how much of an advantage a team actually gets from uncoding a teams signs. At the end of the day players still have to execute.

Yeah, New Prairie would likely be a better fit in the Northern Lakes or Northwest Crossroads if either would throw a life preserver their direction. Great point on the Freshman and JV schedules as an independent.

I would imagine the coaches of the Country Club sports, Baseball and Softball would prefer a DAC over NIC schedule. Basketball is iffy. Some of the South Bend schools compete very well with the DAC or are head and shoulders better (i.e. Washington WBB). Elkhart seems like a complete underachiver based on the success Central and Memorial boys had before the merger.

I'm on board with whatever approach gets Penn into the DAC and I believe it's inevitable as the NIC is just not a viable option for Penn. Some of speculated Penn should just go Independent. I don't know about that. I've never been a HS AD, but I imagine it makes life at work a lot more stressful for an AD and his/her Admins to fill Independent schedules.