Boilernation

Edit: I forgot Crown Point joined before Hobart left. Lake Central finally received the invite they longed for once Hobart left.

I believe Elklhart Central was the hold up last time around when the Duneland was courting Penn. IIRC, the DAC wanted Penn and Mishawaka but those 2 wouldn't come without Elkhart Central. Mishawaka is clearly not in the picture anymore and Penn shouldn't ride a sinking ship with Elkhart. IMO, the DAC should bring in Penn and throw a bone to either Elkhart or New Prairie. The Conference needed a shot in the arm when Hobart left and they got it with Crown Point and then later with Lake Central. It's time for a change. The DAC needs Penn and Penn needs the DAC. You could go East/West to balance it out in football and allow OOC scheduling. West: Merrillville Lake Central Crown Point Portage Chesterton East: Valpo Penn New Prairie/Elkhart Michigan City LaPorte Schedule 2 Cross Over games and Conference placement games in Week 9 similiar to the Hoosier Conference. Penn is already on a majority of DAC schedules in all sports. The DAC and Penn can overcome the time zone differences.

Was that from a defensive or offensive standpoint or all around?

Craig Buzea will be looking to get a monkey off his back as he is 0-4 against Penn in Regionals between '95 and '03 when he was the Portage HC. His lone win against Penn was with his 2019 Homewood-Flossmoor team that beat Penn by 28. Considering Crown Point's OOC schedule was fairly weak and the Duneland is basically a 5A Conference with Portage and Lake Central not competiive at all at the 6A level, this feels like Week 1 for Crown Point at the 6A Level. They have some athletes at RB and WR who are pretty good. Lines are very big as well on both sides of the ball. They'll put 4 D1 recruits on the field 6'3 S Landon Delich (Toledo) 6'3 DL Paul Clark (Buffalo) 6'4 LB Will Clark (Buffalo) 6'1 JR QB Noah Ehrlich has a couple of MAC Offers Crown Point has taken care of business this year as expected based on their schedule, but they've often never looked dominate doing it. Not really sure how they match up with Penn. Buzea is a skilled and veteran offensive play caller with over 30 years on his resume. He'll find ways to get Crown Point in the endzone. It looked like Penn was running RPO against Valpo in week 1. I haven't watched the Kingsmen since. I remember them having some speed at QB and RB that really hurt Valpo on the outside. Crown Point can be beaten the same way. Their strength on D is the inside run game. I've been saying it all year, but I feel like Crown Point is a complete unknown at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Penn by double digits or lost a close one. Because of that I would probably give the edge to Penn by about 3-6.

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Who looks worse right now? The Big Ten or Cincinnati, UCF and Houston who were finally invited to a big boy conference and all 3 sit at the bottom of the standings.

I would definately substitute Fishers for Crown Point based on SOS. Crown Point is a complete unknown at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if Penn or Warsaw beat them.

Probably. Teams that lack discipline and self control typically go off the rails in high stakes games they can’t win. Especially if some of Snider’s players do some talking.

Yeah. How does North possibly keep this game close without Johnson?

10-14 is a giant circle of suck.

Good question. As a mid '90's Portage grad I remember Portage Pop Warner being fairly solid. Coaching at the Middle School levels was solid as well. Most of Portage's MS and HS coaches back then played for the legendary Don Howell at Hobart. I have no idea what's going on now in Portage other than demographics have drastically changed since the early 2000's and the HS is now over 50% free/reduced lunch. I have faith in the coaching and leadership abilities of Roydon Richards. Not sure if he has the tools needed though to build a winner.

I second this. The comments on your 5A thread from some Fort Wayne posters mirror what we're seeing in this thread. And if this boorish behavior is a result of a failure to meet their own expectations we could be in for a doozy on Friday night when reality sets in for North Side that Snider is going to beat them again.

Perplexing. Beautiful fall night for football and 2 powerhouses fighting to get closer to an achievable State Title. I would have went but the Better Half doesn’t like missing Zionsville games.

Congrats on the win...great game and grit by Ben Davis to come back! Zachary is who I thought he is. But, C'mon man, you can't break out the "Tell Me" meme for that crowd. De Facto Sectional Championship with 2 of the top teams in the Midwest that are neighboring school districts in a beautifully renovated statdium and Ben Davis drew at most 40% (being generous) of their home stands. I'm really hoping we get to see a Ben Davis vs. Center Grove matchup.

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Likely. The question is would Kevin Warren allow it for the Bears. I could also see Harbaugh looking for the NFL if he wins a Title at Michigan. I look at it as he came back home, added hardware to the Trophy case, and he's ready for a run at a Super Bowl. I can't believe a competitive freak like that can sit at a table with his brother knowing he himself doesn't have a Super Bowl Ring. Then it just depends on whether or not trying to do it in Chicago interests him.

With BD fans or people wanting to see the game? Good for the Giants if the fan support is there again.

You are correct. I was looking at the August 20, 2021 game and overlooked the November 12th win for BD. Nevertheless, Brownsburg has won 5 of the last 6 matchups. What has changed for BD regarding attendance this year? It was clear in the past couple of televised games I've watched (prior to this year) of theirs that the fan support was sparse.

Yep. Ohio State wanted him and somehow Purdue won the recruiting war. Maybe things would have been different had he went to Ohio State.

Lack of work ethic and questionable off the field behavior. At one point he was shot in the eye by a bb gun. Not sure if that was at the brawl he was involved in at the pool hall that was in the Levee.

Brownsburg vs. Ben Davis: Is this a true road game for the 'Dogs? I would imagine they'll outdraw the Giants in fan attendance. I'm taking Brownsburg to solidify they now own the West Side and take 4 straight against Ben Davis by 6 points. Westfield vs. Carmel: Talk about 2 programs going opposite directions. You have to go back to 2002 for the last time Carmel finished with a record not above .500. Westfield wasn't even playing in the highest classification in 2002. I'll take the 'Rocks by 14 Zionsville vs. Noblesville: I'll likely be in attendance for this one. IMO, it depends on which Zionsville offense shows up as I don't think the Zionsville DL will be able to stop the Noblesville rushing attack. Zionsville has a chance to win a close one if they can find a way to get Eugene HIlton receptions and space in the passing game. Otherwise, it'll be Noblesville by double digits again. I'll take the Millers by 10

I just checked the Missouri football roster. Not surprised to see star WR Luther Burden the 3rd's hometown listed as St. Louis. It's been pretty common lately for ESL's best football players to be from St. Louis.

The parity in the Mid-State is amazing. Not a knock on them. They're the lightweight version of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. A few very good teams with average records due to strength of Conference.

Really surprised you're going with the Vikings to repeat. They took a big hit losing Travis Davis (200+ yards rushing against Whiteland and Snider last year). His backup (Burda) is banged up as well. Some on the Region Sports message board are saying they have injury concerns across the OL as well. Seems like the Vikings are limping into the playoffs. On the plus side, they basically have a few weeks to heal as they should coast through Sectional 10. Can someone from Fort Wayne shed light on what happened to North this year. They went from a legitimate 5A State Title contender to a bottom tier SAC team. Was losing the QB and RB too much to handle despite the return of Johnson?

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