Boilernation

Ha! Or, in the case of 6A, the dwarf brother in size compared to Central Indiana schools. Unless, you're talking about Lake Central, who only cares about soccer and baseball and fields a football team out of necessity.

2. No. Can't compete in all sports. 3. Good questions. It feels like Griffith has lost their identity. Maybe Hammond has swallowed Griffith and Griffith is more like an extension of Hammond and no longer the Griffith we once new. The last time I saw Griffith play was when they rolled into Arcadia with caravans of cars and buses emblazoned in "Bad To The Bone" messages and they took Hamilton Heights to the woodshed for a Regional Title. Maybe Russ saw the writing on the wall when he bolted for New Prairie. That program went from being a finely tuned Russ Radtke machine to just another Highland, Hammond Gavit, etc. 6. Yes, I would still like to seem them play at least one of their rivalry games with Hobart/Andrean; however, I feel they need to test themselves against a Central Indiana team at least once a season. Merrillville appears to be one of the few Northwest Indiana teams still taking football seriously. They don't want to wait until they run into a Fort Wayne or Hamilton County team in Semi-State to see the weaknesses Duneland teams can't expose. 7. No. it's football. Baseball is king in Crown Point. I think we'll see a resurgence at Portage before Crown Point is a Duneland contender again. 8. Lake Central is a baseball first school and Michigan City will always have better raw talent than Munster. IMO, he would be crazy to leave for either unless it's strictly a financial decision and the money is right. We always speculate whether Central Indiana teams reach out to him. What about Penn? Would Penn be better off with him? Personally, I would take Penn over any job in Northwest Indiana. 9. Hoffman won 6 Regionals and 2 Semi-States. Though he did have a lot of lean years in the middle of his tenure. Marshall still has ways to go and time will tell if he just benefited greatly from an extremely talented wave of players to come through the system. Similiar to Hoffman, Marshall isn't catching any breaks at chasing a Title. Hoffman faced Jeff George in '85 and James Banks in '01. Marshall drew Charlie Spegal last year and this year he's facing Covid 19 and the potential of a historically great Cathedral team. 12. My initial though is similar to #2. But, maybe you're on to something if it's limited to basketball and football. Not sure how the schools would fair in track, soccer, softball and baseball. It definately would benefit any Northwest Indiana Conference to have Hammond Central and East Chicago basketball in the mix.

Agree completely! It's one reason I've never understood why newspapers put up pay walls. I would think The Northwest Indiana Times and Indy Star could drastically increase ad revenue by not restricting the amount of traffic their sites get. This reminds me of watching Indiana and Purdue basketball games on WYIN Channel 56 when I was a kid in Portage. If I recall correctly, Joe Arredondo was always leading the Saturday afternoon pledge drives during commercials. If you are who I think you are, the show you did with Mark on Thursday nights was a pleasure to watch when I was in Middle School and High School. I graduated from Portage in '97.

Thanks. I always assumed Roselawn fed into KV. Does Lowell's district extend all the way down to the Kankakee River?

Not Bobref, but I watched there entire game against Penn and bits and pieces of the LaPorte game. Based on that sample size, they're pretty similar to last year. Monster lines on both sides of the ball, a defense that's really hard to move the ball against, and an offense that's not very flashy. Against Penn, they played without 2 starters on the OL, one of which is a big Western Michigan commit. They also played the entire 2nd half without the transfer QB from Jeff (Grimes.) I don't think he played against LaPorte either. All I read is he had a leg injury in the 1st half against Penn. Not sure if it's the same leg he injured last year. They returned their leading rusher from last year (Burbee) and have another solid RB in Vinyard. They lost their top 2 WR's from last year. The passing game has been weak. Not sure if it's due to breaking in new WR's or not having Grimes behind Center. I would probably rate the North currently as: 1. Dwenger 2. Valpo (Repeating is tough. Could come down to which team makes the long trip on Route 30) 3. North (Great offensive talent, a holding penalty waiting to happen, not a defense I would want to rely on in the playoffs) 4. Harrison (wildcard, IMO) 5. tie between Northrop and Michigan City I hate to be that guy, but at this point I'm expecting Cathedral to lay a beat-down on whomever makes it out of the North. Cathedral vs. Brownsburg or a rematch with Center Grove in the 6A playoffs would have likely been more appealing to watch.

Not sure I like that decision. Carroll throws the deep ball for their 8th TD pass with just 3 minutes left. Carroll up 76-48

Carroll 55 North Side 48 early 4th. North Side with some serious talent on offense. The QB Duce Taylor has a Power 5 Conference arm. A 6’3 Freshmen is emerging. Carroll’s Junior QB is abusing North’s secondary. Now 62-48 Carroll. I would some this up as phenomenal offensive talent on both sides and secondaries on both sides that are completely lost.

I believe Roselawn is also in the Kankakee Valley district. Home of the infamous Ponderosa Sun Club.

Or gymnastics! Congrats Pioneer. Great W! I would think it’s never happened and 1A vs 5A in the old system couldn’t have had more than a handful.

Drives me absolutely insane! Especially when the cart return is within a 10 second walk. Those people are the same ones who throw their McDonalds trash and lit cigarettes in the parking lot or ding doors. Obnoxious! And my wife criticizes me for being too picky with the spots I take.

I saw on Max Preps this game will be aired Saturday night at 6 on ESPN 2. I believe the game is being played Friday night. Hope this one doesn't get cancelled. Brownburg jumped out to the early lead last year and led 17-16 at the half in Cincinnati. It was all St. X in the 2nd half as the Bombers walked away with a 38-17 win.

Bringing up Chesterton and Pioneer is low hanging fruit at an attempt to prove a point. Don't let one week/season change your mind that a 10 team conference and 9 game round robin schedule sucks. We could be back to normal next year and all cancellations due to Covid are no longer happening. I'm sure the SIAC fans miss seeing the likes of Southridge, Henderson, and various other Owensboro schools in Non-Conference play. I miss the few years the SAC wasn't round robin and schools like Snider and Dwenger tested themselves in OOC play. Back to Chesterton, they originally had Class 5A power Chicago St. Rita scheduled in week 2. I'm not sure who Pioneer had in week 2. Nevertheless, 2A vs. 6A isn't ideal, but kudos to them for at least finding an opponent and not taking the week off. The Duneland originally only wanted Penn and Mishawaka when discussions heated up a few years back. Both wouldn't budge unless Elkhart Central was included. IDK. I want to agree with you, but I'll still be surprised if it happens. This is a good lineup: DAC West: Lake Central, Crown Point, Merrillville, Portage, Chesterton DAC East: Valpo, Michigan City, LaPorte, Penn, Elkhart I agree. I watched what I could of the Mt. Vernon/Noblesville game until my eyes couldn't take any more of that beating and the MV team just didn't look like a Hoosier Heritage team. They were big and athletic. From a size and geographical standpoint, both schools seem to have outgrown their current Conference.

DT went to IU. He relishes any attempt he can get to take a dig at the Old Gold & Black.

Radtke loses in week 1...

Wow, that was quite the finish for the Vikings to overcome a 9 point deficit late in the 4th quarter. From what I could tell the backup QB played the entire 2nd half. Not sure if Grimes got hurt in the 1st half. Per the NWI Times, Valpo was without 2 starting OL due to Covid precautions. Western Michigan bound John Hofer was one of them. Going to be an interesting year for all teams as more and more backups will be put in starting roles.

Pawlus.

Ha! Pleasantly surprised when I saw the final score. I stopped watching after that last post to meet some family. I’ll have to go back and watch the rest of the 4th to see how they pulled it out.

16-7 Penn. Early 4th. This one is likely over. Good rebound for Penn. Abysmal offensive showing by Valpo.

9-7 late in the 3rd. Valpo can’t get anything out of either QB.

Valpo needs to get it together on Offense or Penn us going to walk away with a W. Valpo had 2nd and goal from the 2 and took a 17 yard loss on a bad snap followed by an INT on the next play. 9-7 Penn at the half.

Yikes. 42-7 Mt Vernon early 3rd quarter. Noblesville sticking with the Power T formation and not even trying to spread the field. -2 yards and a cloud of turf isn’t cutting it

And the punt return for a TD should have a small return. Awful attempts to tackle by Noblesville. Not sure what Noblesville can change. That’s Sharpes style. Won’t work if the O-Line can’t open holes.

The Sharpe era is not off to a good start in Noblesville. The Mt. Vernon D-Line is living in the Noblesville backfield so far. 21-7 Mount Vernon

Valpo vs. Center Grove Week 2 needs to happen!

Speaking of Arcadia, great little coffee shop there called The Remnant. It has the hip rural appeal that gets mimicked in places like Broad Ripple and Fountain Square. Rural Indiana has some gems. I agree with Nowlin; Delaney wouldn't have cancelled the season. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out as it's now unclear whether a formal vote of Big Ten Presidents was actually taken.