CaptainHook

4 hours ago, Bash Riprock said:

There are rumblings that the MIC might need a couple of new teams........😉

Beating one 6A team is interesting piece of data....beating 9 of them in the regular season, then a few more in the playoffs....now that is a trend.

Joking aside, NP is an outstanding program.  Where do you think they should be ranked?

BTW, big fan of your son...how's he doing at Toledo??  His stats look really impressive....need to sit down and watch him play this season!!

While NP is growing, enrollment just topped 1200 this year.  They aren't ready for the MIC yet!  Although the MIC isn't what is used to be.

He is playing well.  I thought he held his own at Ohio State.  MAC play starts this weekend.  Definitely enjoying it.  Played at Notre Dame, at Ohio State, at San Diego State last weekend...fun times and good memories.

I love to poke the Cathedral bear in here.  All in good fun.

1 minute ago, Footballking16 said:

And Cathedral will still end up playing a harder schedule.

got one 🐟

NP can only do so much.  For years, everyone complained about the Dragons conference.  Then MV won 4A in 2021, and GF is ranked in 2022.  The Dragons schedule outside their weight class, and defeat 6A Westfield and 5A Decatur Central.  We can't all schedule a bye and Hammond Morton.  It is what it is.  They won't be tested the rest of the regular season.

that's three minutes of my life I'll never get back

🐉😎

very interested to see how that Greenfield Central vs MV game turns out

1 minute ago, BTF said:

Isn't this how New Pal competed with 6a in the past? Playing their best guys both ways and emphasizing superior conditioning? It's not typical for a school of their enrollment to put 22 equally talented football players on the same field as a school of 3000. But if you can take your best guys and put them on both sides of the ball, that becomes a different story..............if they can last the whole game. They seem to be able to do that. My opinion from the outside looking in. 

yes, that was how they beat Center Grove and competed in 5A the last several years, this year's team is a bit deeper, and less guys have to go two ways full time..

8 minutes ago, combthehair said:

I read that they have 3 D1 guys on the line. Do you know what schools? I found one signed with U of L. 

LT is committed to Louisville.  RT (and only junior) is the #1 prospect in the state and gonna be able to pick where he wants to play, as he holds several offers (including Ohio State).  RG also has offer from Illinois State.  The 6th OL is a freshman that I predict will someday play in college as well.

8 minutes ago, Staxawax said:

How many players play both ways for New Pal?  It is this reason (if it's more than 1 or 2) that New Pal could not survive a 6A schedule. But yes, on a given night, they are as good as anyone.

This years Dragons have more depth on the offensive/defensive lines than any prior team.  The OL guys don't have to go both ways, but several do rotate in defensively.  Honestly, there are only two guys that are probably full time two way players.  I didn't realize that until you asked.  Several players go both ways in the two deep.

I for one am not ready to call 4A a wrap.  And this team has a long way to go to be mentioned in the same breath as 18 and 19.  But it has been two impressive wins to open the season.  This team has a lot of seniors that have learned how much work it takes to compete at this level, and some stud juniors.  Should be a fun year.

and Cathedral would play in 4A if the IHSAA would let them 🤣

9 hours ago, oldtimeqb said:

Transfer or move? 

Not to argue semantics but that is a world of difference, IMO. 

The Spegal family moving from Muncie to New Palestine should not be scrutinized as heavily as a player that switches schools without an actual address change. 

The transfers in moved in, as far as I know.  The transfers out, did not (but were not blocked).

12 minutes ago, Irishman said:

A former IHSAA Exec Committee member member is an assistant superintendent in our district. her claim is that it may happen, but has been in discussion for years. She also claimed it would only be allowed after a student's freshman year. And I agree, the system has long been broken. 

edit: changed board member to Exec Committee member

I know schools that never block anyone.  I know schools that block occasionally.  But I also know of schools that drag out the process and block as late as possible vindictively.

On 6/12/2022 at 9:39 PM, Indiana Fan said:

Read where New Pal had quite a bit of transfers. Interesting…

Any word or info into the new New Pal players for this fall?

I believe NP had two transfers out.  A LB that probably would have seen the field this year, and a backup OL.

Had a DL and QB transfer in.

How long until the IHSAA goes to the NCAA model allowing one transfer for any reason (without a move)?

All I can say is the current model the IHSAA uses is very broken.

1 hour ago, FastpacedO said:

Through experience with my son (concerning recruiting). The player (in this case Rory), his parents, and his coaches have to be the advocate. They have to be the ones to sign up for camps/events where there will be coaches. They have to send the film to coaches (even if they don't think they have a shot at that school). Yes it is true if you have talent college coaches will find you, but that holds for the truly exceptional athlete. The player, players parents and coaches have to get it out there to College coaches. To be totally honest and fair there are 50 states (along with other countries) with 100's of High Schools that have 50-100+ players. It is unrealistic to expect college coaches to see find out about every player. Sure they will find the top to mid players. There are hidden gems they don't know about that will require the player, his parents, and his coaches to get them noticed.

I will give you an example of how College Coaches sometimes stumble across players that was not on their radar. Several years back Boston College coaches were extremely interested in an Offensive Lineman at Cathedral (Jeremy Trueblood). He had measurables and play on the field and was getting all kinds of recognition and notoriety. Fortunately for the Boston College coaches when they were reviewing film of this Offensive Lineman, they stumbled across a TE and DE/LB that was lightly recruited and stood out on film when reviewing said Offensive Lineman. They ended up finding a hidden gem that was lightly being recruited. The player they stumbled across was Mathias Kiwanuka, all just by reviewing film on an Offensive Lineman. He ended up being a First Round NFL draft pick

This is very accurate.  Gotta be proactive in getting noticed.  Get to a camp or two that record height, weight, and speed.  Or run track.  Send your film to the coaches of schools that interest you, but you gotta be realistic about finding your level.  Twitter is a fantastic recruiting tool.  Go to individual school camps if they show interest.

The biggest thing is having coaches come through your high school door and your head coach putting film in front of them.  I do not think my son would be where he is if a lot of coaches hadn't stopped in to see the kid that scored 70 touchdowns in a season.

Freshman class is the smallest football class in years (less than 20), and only a couple of them dressed.  Ralph's conditioning program drives away a lot of the fringe players.  7th and 8th grade classes are larger and both had great years.

17 hours ago, FastpacedO said:

I have watched a couple of games. From what I have seen the Irish defense has looked very good. If I were to pick something of a weakness of the defense it would be their occasional mental lapses. By that I mean when they have a lapse and unnecessary penalties that extend a drive like an encroachment etc. They play fast and physical though.

I do admit I have only watched New Pal against Decatur Central (a game they should have won) and last week against Whiteland. Aside from the 1 long TD run Whiteland had early on (listening to Coach Ralph at halftime talk about that play made me chuckle his wording was perfect and I enjoy listening to him speak what goes through his mind). New Pal doesn't tend to have a wow factor player on their team and they are young. I am very impressed how well they play as a team. I am also impressed with their improvement from week 1 to now (even though they should have won the week 1 game). You can tell Coach Ralph and staff work really hard on the fundamentals and conditioning of their players. I would say all of you are thankful each passing week for the mind Coach Ralph has when it comes to football, his players, staff, and community. 

More importantly I hope Max is having fun and you are having fun watching him play! Has Sampson cut his hair yet (I kid I kid).

Maxen is having fun, but definitely needs a haircut. We are having a blast watching him.

This thread has definitely taken a turn for the worse.  Game tonight went about like I expected. Dragons went 5 wide. Had some open guys and made a few plays. Defense held their own, but wore down. Had a few injuries tonight, including QB knocked out for almost the entire second quarter. Hurry up offense for Cathedral was a nice wrinkle. Very young Dragons team that needs to get a little tougher and a lot more focused in the future. It’s back to 4A for NP.

FWIW, I have heard much respect for the Irish defense and the defensive line in particular.

For the most part, the Tournament Success Factor has done what it intended, bumping parochial schools up.  New Palestine and Columbus East have been the public schools most effected, but both have done well enough to not complain too much (East may have a legit complaint).

In my opinion, Cathedral plays a 6A schedule, and should request to play in 6A playoffs in Indiana.  They don't.  That's fine.  

I would like to see a rule where a parochial starts one class above its enrollment, and a public cannot be bumped more than one class over its enrollment.  Neither New Palestine or Columbus East have any business playing in 6A.  East was unlucky enough that their run of success came in the same two year cycle, while NP's was split over two cycles, which is silly.  Cathedral should be in 5A or 6A at a minimum, which the Tournament Success Factor has done.  They should never slum it in 4A again.

22 minutes ago, IndianaWrestlingGuy said:

Cathedral has 40 juniors. Starting QB, WR1, TE1, 4Star DT are only returners, but should not have a ton of fall-off. Maybe we'll get a couple years of New Pal...

Only if New Pal pulls the upset.  If Cathedral wins, they are off to 6A for two years, and New Pal will return to 4A.

30 minutes ago, psaboy said:

So New Pal should be good to very good next year?

Only have 4 seniors starting.  Quarterback, guard, linebacker, and safety.  Several seniors in the defensive line rotation, though.

At 1-3, this group had a lot to learn about playing hard and needed to improve their mental toughness.  They've grown up a lot the last few weeks.  I doubt it's enough to legitimately compete with the Irish on Friday, but 8 weeks ago, I didn't think they'd win the sectional either.

FWIW, two junior OL and one sophomore OL are getting legit FBS looks.

5 hours ago, Wildcat1992 said:

I don't think an early season girls BB game should trump a regional championship football game.  If nothing else, the football game could have been scheduled in the afternoon and Triton fans could have made it a double header with the girls BB game.

They did. Football game was at noon. They encouraged everyone to stay for the girls game afterwards. If I remember right, it was two very high ranked girls teams.

The Cathedral TE also played as a freshman in 2019.  Made a couple big catches too.

23 minutes ago, FastpacedO said:

I believe he was talking about New Pal's current team (2021) is Sophomore/Junior heavy. New Pal's 2019 team that beat Cathedral in the Regional 35-10 was Senior/Junior heavy.

Correct. I was talking about New Palestine.