Boilernation

Has the New Prairie community actually started to question his methods? IMO, this would be a home run hire for Portage. He'll instill discipline and toughness, he can out-coach most coaches in the Region, and he can develop an offense that scores. Hope this rumor comes to fruition.

Per the article regarding the firing of the Principal, Surveillance footage viewed in May shows Bruce and the female, alone, entering his darkened office on multiple occasions. And at that point he was just told to not be alone with the girl!! WTF. This reads as if the Principal and School Board hero worshiped Bruce as opposed to protect a 17 year old girl. Disgusting.

A documented history of snap chatting a 17 year old girl. The truth finally comes out. I'm guessing lawsuits and firings are on the horizon.

Yep. That was Buzea's downfall as he warned a potential basketball coach not to get involved in that mess and it went public. They lost a very good baseball coach in Tim Pirowski as well. I did see in the article announcing Darren's departure that former wrestling great Fred Joseph is now the Athletic Director. Maybe things have changed for the better since the old AD was in the building. I'm out of the loop though. I haven't lived in Portage since the late '90's. There's no reason Portage can't be a contender for DAC and Sectional Championships at the very minimum on a yearly basis. It would be nice to see someone turn the program around.

How many do you think went P5 in all of Buzea’s years? All I can think of is Albert Evans to Purdue.

They’ve had far more D1 and lower level college talent the past 5 or so years than Buzea ever had. Bigger kids too. Portage has always had a Hispanic population. Not sure that’s an issue. That population pumped out some darn good football players over the years.

Darren Rodriguez will not be returning to the sideline next year at The Warpath. Portage went from a 5A Title appearance in '94 and an annual threat to win Sectionals (couldn't get over the Penn hump in Regionals) under Craig Buzea to capping out at 6 wins a few times in the post Buzea era with multiple coaches. Due to demographic shifts eastward from Lake County, Portage arguably now has more talent to work with then Buzea was ever dealt. This job should attract a handful of applicants from Northern Indiana.

Which teams had the most representation? It looked like Valpo, New Pal, and CG had very large crowds from what I could tell.

Cooper Jones is Top 10 in Indiana. We’re you only looking at the Senior class? He already has offers from Michigan and Ohio State. Between Jones, King, and Hook, that’s 3 D1 recruits at minimum on the field for a 5A title game. Could be another 2 to 3 when things shake out for the underclassmen. Especially, on Valpo’s lines. That seems impressive talent to me.

Man is Valpo’s front 7 on D tough as nails. I was excited to see if they could hang with New Pal’s O-Line and they definitely backed up their hype. Fighting to the end and only coming up short by 7 to New Pal is one helluva way for Valpo to go out. Does New Pal drink goats urine (Beerfest reference) when they’re backed into a corner? They have an uncanny ability to take back momentum and blow a game open with big plays when the opponent is threatening. Spegal’s long TD run at the end of the 2nd quarter against Decatur Central in last years Finals comes to mind. They had multiple big plays in a short sequence to break open their game against Cathedral in the 2nd half. Tonight, Like Nowlin mentioned, Ralph went to the one running play that worked in the first half and Spegal took it to the house. After Valpo’s D held NP to a FG, NP breaks their back with another big play on the pick 6. That Hook kid from New Pal is a phenomenal DB. Great instincts against the pass and he can step up lay a hit on a ball carrier. He could turn into a beast at Toledo.

Indianapolis Bishop Chatard East Noble Indianapolis Lutheran New Palestine Eastbrook Center Grove

Show me where the Lawrence schools aren’t competitive in sports other than football.

Kick out Rutgers and go after the Holy Grail trifecta of academics, athletics, and resources: UT-Austin. They were greedy enough to kill the Big 12 and would be greedy enough to join the Big Ten.

Oh yeah. Crab cakes and lacrosse should have been the punchline in Wedding Crashers. We also have Johns Hopkins as a current B1G lacrosse member.

Ha! I work in Finance for a Global company and was called a bean counter by a sales rep of ours. Not sure if I should be offended or congratulated.

I have a feeling Jones will follow his in his dad's footsteps and play at Notre Dame if offered. To date, Ohio State and Michigan have offered, so the kid definitely has some choices. I'm looking forward to seeing if Valpo's front 7 has the chops to back up their hype at this level of competition. This New Pal O-Line is one of the most dominant I've personally watched at the HS level.

Yep. I think they had Banks cover him. Not sure if that was the only time all season that Banks played DB. Now that kid could have possibly found his way into the NFL had he kept his head straight.

Yeah, we’ll see a lot of James Banks and Jeff George type talent all over LOS this weekend...There’s a major difference between a team with great football players and once in a generation type talent. Nevertheless, it’s the draw they were given, by no means am I saying the deserve sympathy.

Sucker punching a fan? That makes my blood boil. I hope that slap is held accountable for any medical needs and faces charges. Some body blows prior to the arrest wouldn’t have hurt either. I’m surprised to hear EN fans ventured to the Brickies section and acted in an antagonizing fashion. Did Hobart fans not retaliate?

Well, I guess putting a ref on the field is the only way The Region can touch the field in a 6A title game.

That’s fair if the penalty had any benefit on the play. I haven’t seen the replay, but those holds, if valid calls, could have had no impact on the play or directly benefitted Burbee’s long gains.

After hosting Carmel in Valpo's '75 3A State Champtionship win, they haven't caught many breaks in State Championship match ups. 1985 5A Title: Jeff George 2001 5A Title: James Banks 2019 5A Title: The New Pal juggernaut I would be curious to see the career earnings of the WR's taken in the '07 draft vs. Jeff's. I believe he's pushing $200M with his recent contract. I could be way off, and I have looked at career earnings, but my guess is only Megatron could have touched that if he kept playing.

The southern bracket.

Video don’t lie. Warren had about 10% of their home side filled against CG in Regionals. BD barely brought any fans to their Semi-State game, which was a short drive from Wayne Twp. The end zone seats were empty and CG had plenty of open seats on their side.

Let’s not forget DC held New Pal scoreless in the 2nd half last year. The key for Valpo is obviously Valpo’s massive lines. Try to slow down the Spegal show and burn a ton of clock running the ball on offense. I like New Pal by about 10-15 IF Valpo can put a run game together.