Boilernation

The Westfield side of Demaree will look empty tonight. Major restrictions in Lake County this week. Parents and limited fans only.

Per Twitter, Valpo left 2 hours ago on 3 chartered busses. Man, I know chartered busses are common nowadays, but these kids have it nice. In my day we yellow bussed it to Indy from The Region. 2 to a seat. Brutal ride. As for the game, fairly identical teams. Both wear green, white, and black. Both are white collar communities. Both have huge lines with D1 recruits. I'll still give the edge to Zionsville. Playing at home, Valpo has had an odd year, and Zionsville could possibly be undefeated as well had they played Valpo's schedule. Merrillville-Westfield: My brain says Westfield by at least 14. My heart says Merrillville is going to pull off the upset tonight in Demaree. It'll come down to Merrillville's star studded D-Line stepping up and JoJo Johnson continuing to make big plays on offense. It'll be a homecoming of sorts for Westfield's very talented DE Popeye Williams. He's originially from The Region and is a very close cousin of one of Merrillville's starting Safeties. Hobart-Marion: I think the Bricks get back to what used to be their birthright: Playing on Thanksgiving weekend in Indy. I'll take Hobart by about 10.

I get that Lake Central recently went through a complete remodel; however, why build a football facility like this if you're not interested in winning? I'm assuming those are athletic facilities behind the south endzone. St. Germain took a lot of heat on these boards from us arm chair QB's for only being able to win one Sectional at Lake Central, but he had a nice string of 8 and 9 win seasons. Lake Central can win the post-Elmer Britton era. They have the enrollment. Like many of you have said they just need the right coach. That person could be a complete unknown right now. Look at Merrillville. The Pirates are rolling with Seiss, but his hire from Muncie Central was a complete head scratcher on paper. I'm a firm believer that winning begets winners. Lake Central won't have a problem losing talent to Andrean, Chicago Mt. Carmel, or even upstart Illiana Christian if the Blue Indians are contenders again. IMO, the timing is perfect for LC as the writing is on the wall that Andrean has taken a dropoff in Mason's absence. I think it's fair to say the '59'ers are playing for a State Title either last year or this year (at least one of the years) had Mason not left for Michigan City.

I would agree. My gut feeling is that it'll be Avon who eventually breaks through. The committment is definately there for all schools when it comes to facilities and feeder programs. Even Noblesville just recently broke ground on a new $14M stadium that will hold roughly 8,500. The new stadium wont' be ready for football until the Fall of 2022.

Meet the new play caller. Same as the old play caller. I hope the Bears give Louis Riddick an interview for the GM role. He's very open in his desire to be an NFL GM. I hear him once a week on Waddle & Silvy and he comes off as VERY knowledgeable about the game and building a team. I don't know which idea of mine was dumber: recording the game and staying up until 12:30 to watch it or simply watching the game in the first place.

That was my assumption. We both know DT would be crowning them Conference of Champions had Brownsburg knocked off Carmel and Ben Davis for a 2nd time. Highly impressive when your #2 team can beat Ben Davis by 31 and beat the Ohio Division 1 Champ.

I don't see how any conference can be above them at 2. Certainly not the Duneland. The SIAC and Mid State are too small, IMO. I think most of the HCC could fair very well in those conferences. I believe they've proven the past two years that they're currently ahead of the SAC.

That's 2 years in a row that the SAC Champ/Co Champ hasn't looked good against middle to cellar dwellar HCC Teams and then throw in Westfield dismantled Homestead. The HCC is heads and shoulder above everyone not named the MIC. I'll give them them the benefit over my beloved Duneland in any matchup. I think Valpo is in serious trouble. They lacked a great passing game last year and the upgrate was supposed to be when Grimes transferred in from Lafayette Jeff. He ended up leaving the 1st half of the Penn game with an injury and hasn't been seen since. Valpo is a ground and pound team that will use the massive size/strength of their lines to run the ball down ZIonsville's throat and stop the ZIonsville offense. I can see this game turning into a 14-10 type of game that sees a lot of clock being burned up by running the ball. I'll give Zionsville the edge due to tougher schedule and Zionsville has a QB in Stone that capable of making big plays with is arm. I have a feeling Merrillville will keep it somewhat close and Westfield will end up winning by around 14. JoJo Johnson is not easy to contain. He and Marcus Hardy con generate some offense for the Pirates. Nothing against Marion, but I'll take the Bricks by 10+. I can't see them losing at home in a game that puts them back into a State Final Appearance for the first time since 1996. Especially since they were so close last year.

Fleck and Franklin, absolutely. Just 1 bad year. Franklin will turn Penn State around. I'm curious to see how Fleck handles adversity this year and into next now that the experienced players he inherited are now gone. Harbaugh is gone. That team has no fight and appears to have quit on him. If nothing else you could expect a Harbaugh coached team to play with a purpose. It's time to move on.

Just hear about a place in Columbus and I looked it up to see if it's true. Meyer owns an establishment called "Urban Meyer's 7-0 Pint House" in Columbus. I just don't see him ever being a legitimate candidate at Michigan.

I'm surprised to see Marion in a Regional after losing Chambers. Was Bell a carry over from Chamber's staff? Hopefully, this year is a sign that Marion won't go back to 0-2 win seasons in the post-Chambers era. They won 3 games total in the 3 seasons prior to Chambers.

Eh, I would pass. I think he benefited greatly in San Fran by having Fangio and Roman as Coordinators. First and foremost I'm hoping Ted Phillips is removed of his duties. For the 1st time ever the McCaskey's fired one of their own and went outside the family for a President. Phillips hasn't proven in any capacity he deserves to be running an NFL team. Bring in a new President, let him pick his GM, and then look for the HC. One name I do like for HC is Buffalo OC Brian Daboll. He has spent time with both Belicheck and Saban. His offense appears to be better suited for the Bears talent moreso than Bieniemy at this point. Admittedly, I probably put too much value into hot but unproven Coordinators. My fear with some retread coaches is they haven't evolved with the game or they're success was more about the Coordinators and staff they had around them.

Yeah, I'm not up to speed on all things snobbery in South Bend, but didn't he catch Covid from attending a DC gathering?

Really wouldn't matter. Pace would still find some insane logic to draft another QB over Lawrence.

Agreed. You can't schedule like they do, be blessed with the talent they have on a yearly basis, and then say enrollment is a hinderance to playing 6A teams. At least 95% of 6A teams are never good enough to be on par with an average Cathedral team, IMO of course. Oh well, it's their right to remain in 5A and I'm sure they have reasons within their Athletic Department to not want to set a precedent of moving up voluntarily.

Will Cathedral ever consider opting to move up and remain in 6A? Honest question. Not trying to troll. I would think a rematch with Center Grove would be more rewarding than picking up easy hardware in 5A.

Agreed. Look at what Zander Horvath is doing at Purdue in place of King at RB. Horvath could play RB or LB at Purdue. I could be wrong, but I think he was a walk on out of Mishawaka Marian.

Which is a shame, give him a solid OC and he would still be a great NFL HC, IMO. I agree with you that the Bears don't have the talent to run Reed's offense. Plus, in reality, if Bieniemy's name is finally called, he probably has a lot more appealing options than Chicago. A bigger question is will Pace be around to make the hire or draft/sign a QB. And, given we have a playoff caliber defense, should we prefer the Bears try signing/trading for a QB as opposed to drafting one in the 1st round that may need years to develop?

Fitzgerald is the only one out of that group I would put any stock into. I just hope the Bears realize they went down the right patch with Nagy by hiring an offensive mind and bringing in a solid DC to run the defense. The only problem is Nagy failed. I wouldn't mind seeing them go back to the Reed coaching tree and get Eric Bieniemy. I think he's finally get hired this offseason and he is actually runninng the Reed offense. Nagy was barely used for playcalling when he was in KC.

I'm uncertain if it's the same injury he sustained against Merrillville in last year's 6A Sectional Final, but I feel for the guy. The past 2 HS games he's played have resulted in serious injury.

Agreed. They’re just not hitting on all cylinders. They’ll need Burbee back to have any chance at advancing. I see Lockhart continues to be QB1. Did he beat out Grimes or is Grimes injured as well?

They go from having their season cancelled to winning the schools first ever Sectional Title in football. Coach Good Is building a solid program at the corner of Ridge and Calhoun.

The big Jr. DT was recently offered by Nebraska. That’s 4 Certified D1 recruits and 5 mythical. 3 of the 4 transferred from Hammond Morton.

Right? You can’t beat Westfield, Carmel, St. X, La Salle, Elder, take CG to the final seconds, and then expect the 5A playoff path will present any challenge.

Yeah! Alvarez is a wuss!