FarmerFran

19 hours ago, RingLeader said:

If Rochester would've joined what a great league geographically with some excellent local rivalries created too. 

Rochester would never slum it in the HNAC 😄

1 hour ago, FinePrint said:

Now that North Miami has officially announced their move to the HNAC, what do you all think about the way the conference membership has shaken out?

This looks like it will be a solid small school conference for football. I'm not sure what the addition of SCUM brings to the table other than a long drive for the southern half of the conference and a filler game for everyone. I'll be curious to see how many teams keep Knox and LaVille on the schedule. I hate to see the 2 largest teams part, they provided good competition.

I dislike all of this "leveling the playing field" nonsense. Whatever happened to embracing a challenge and working your butt off to beat your opponents. This whiny attitude of other team's winning too much and need bumped up does a disservice to the teams that do things the right way regardless of socioeconomic factors, especially at the small school level.

Pioneer, as well as a number of other teams, had their heads caved in by LCC for several years in a row in the tournament. Finally in 2016 when they beat them, it was an awesome moment for our team and community that really sparked a good few year run for us. Pioneer has a garbage field, old equipment and little administrative support. They also have ~ 50% Free and Reduced Lunch rate, but in general have been successful since the late 90's. Their feeder program runs the same offense from youth league through high school and several high school coaches also help with the younger levels. 

Like every small school we will have ebbs and flows of talent, but in general we are successful due to the system we have in place. There are many examples of other teams/communities doing this across the state. It is a shame that instead of rewarding this "commitment to consistence", we instead reward the ineptitude of other programs by enabling this woe is me attitude.

If you don't want to get beat, get better.

19 hours ago, Punttheball said:

Yes, Valley has been officially voted out of the TRC.  Valley was given three options to choose from.  They would not comply with any of the three choices, so the conference elected to dismiss by an 8-0-1 vote.  This will be effective for the fall of 2023.  As I understand it, Valley will need to fill their Fall 2023 football schedule for a year.  

I noticed TV currently plays Rochester week 5. Do you think that game will stand given the rivalry? If not, could be a great opportunity in the future for Pioneer and Rochester to play. Pioneer has Hammond Central scheduled right now and would like to get out of that matchup from a travel standpoint.

1 hour ago, Punttheball said:

Is Pioneer going to better this year in football?

We've had a better offseason so far than we did last year, but we are still going to be young. I expect some more growing pains this year, but overall we should be better than last year.

15 hours ago, Gipper said:

Interesting take.  I know the Panthers are pretty good in football, but as for everything else like basketball, they're pretty average.  

Calling Pioneer average in basketball is an insult to the word average... From a football standpoint, I think Pioneer in the Hoosier would be a great fit overall most years, but to Gipper's point we wouldn't be competitive in much else, but maybe track, softball and volleyball.

On 3/31/2023 at 4:13 PM, npcougar15 said:

TRC is a solid fit for Rochester as far as enrollment is concerned, not going to argue that. But if you are telling me Rochester isn't moving to the new conference because of small enrollment, I'm not buying that for a second.

Bremen 503

Jimtown 582

Glenn 638

Knox 553

Laville 391 

Tippy Valley 561

Potential schools

Rochester 495

Fairfield 543

Wawasee 946

Pioneer 313

 

I'm sorry but if your main concern is being "the smallest school in the conference" when the biggest school is only 140 students bigger than you, that's not a valid excuse. This new conference would definitely be a step up in competition from the TRC (especially with TV leaving). Again not faulting Rochester for staying put, but don't tell me it's an enrollment thing.

 

 

There is no way Pioneer is joining that conference, so you might as well get them off of this list. Aside from enrollment disparity, the shortest drive time for the confirmed schools is ~45 minutes Jimtown is ~1:20.

Personally, I think that we should get rid of the success factor all together. I'll never understand punishing future teams for the successes of those that came before them. I don't care if you're a public or private school, you classify based on your enrollment and leave it be.

Has there been any mention when the conference will officially start? curious to see when schedules start getting obliterated.

1 hour ago, CoachDurham said:

Didn't they have West Central once?

They were at the offset and left after a year or two. With Knox and LaVille leaving I could see them having interest coming back especially if the rest of the MWC pushes for 8 man. 

1 hour ago, FinePrint said:

So if LaVille and Knox are leaving the HNAC, who does the conference go after to replace them?

South Central

West Central

Argos

Rochester

Westville

Oregon-Davis

I’d like to see them reach out to Rochester, Lewis Cass, West Central and or North Miami. 

5 minutes ago, Gap Down Backer said:

 I agree- schools need to do what they think is best for their situation- and for all sports- be interesting to see if Knox and Laville break off who will still play them from the HNAC or if they'll just wash their hands of them.  Finding football games is a nightmare when you have open dates that need filled.  

No doubt. North White chooses to take a bye week 5 instead of playing Pioneer anymore, so we've played Hammond Central (2-3 hour drive depending on traffic) and Indy Attucks the last several years.

1 hour ago, MarshallCounty said:

Buddy of mine that is a former school board member said big news coming Friday for Bremen.

Is Friday the actual vote? Heard yesterday's meeting was just ADs and principals.

11 minutes ago, First_Backer_Inside said:

To become more tournament ready. Not one school in the HNAC(from the 1A schools) is close to matching the physicality of Adams Central and possibly even South Adams. Adding these two schools is only going to make you tougher when it comes to tournament time. It's going to be a while before any of those teams are able to compete for a conference title regardless of the other two teams joining or not so I don't see what it's going to hurt. Just going to make you better.

Completely agree from a football standpoint. When you factor in all of the other sports being played I don't see the small schools wanting them to join.

50 minutes ago, FinePrint said:

That's what those schools should be saying.  Pioneer should be next.  Why would the small 1A schools want to bring in two additional schools with double their enrollments?

Can't see Triton, Caston, Winamac, Pioneer or Culver being in favor. I think Judson would be on the border. 

From a football standpoint, at least as of 2023, Glenn and Bremen would be middle of the pack teams. Enrollment wise, I wonder if Glenn and Knox would continue to be good fits as they continue to expand in the future. Hopefully the decision makers are looking at the long term and not just a see what fits now mentality. 

I find it hard to believe Pioneer and Caston would be for this from a travel distance standpoint alone. For Pioneer this would add 2 more roughly one hour drives for conference opponents. I know this might seem like a big deal, but the fuel costs start to add up when you factor in all of the additional varsity, JV and junior high games, events and matched that they will need to travel to.

I'll be curious to see the outcome. If they go Divisions, Big School Small School would essentially be a North South split with the exception of Triton. I'd like at least one open week on the football schedule for an out of conference game. I'm not a fan of playing a closed conference regular season. I'm also wondering that if those two are admitted if any schools would choose to leave.

Bringing the conversation over from the Harrell site.

Looks like John Glenn and Bremen are making a push to enter the HNAC in the future. Conference members have met and will vote sometime in March. I'll be curious to see if the potential 10 team conference moves to divisions and how they will determine football scheduling. 

3rd HNAC coach to resign this off-season…

12 hours ago, Titan32 said:

The huge advantage 1, 2 and 3A privates have has nothing to do with recruiting or transfers.

Divine intervention??

10 hours ago, CoachDurham said:

4 Point Games

New Prairie 

Valparaiso

5 Point Games

Center Grove

Lutheran

6 Point Games

Chatard 

Andrean

*5 Point bonus if you pick ever game right

46 minutes ago, Irishman said:

I am willing to bet most people would prefer that as well. The fact is it has been a LONG time since I have see a nice grass surface. In fact, in 30 years of coaching, I can likely count on one hand the number of nice grass fields I have seen.  

2016 Pioneer played at Adams Central at semi state and the grass was immaculate. Kudos to their grounds crew for the field staying great all through the torrential downpour before and during the game. 
 

LCC’s Bermuda grass field was also nice when we played there in 2018. 

1 hour ago, Muda69 said:

First comment from this story says it all:

 

I'd rather play on a nice grass surface any day over turf...

Stats aside, its going to come down to how the Jays react in the big game atmosphere this year. Last year, they showed up and it seemed like the moment was too big for them and they layed an egg (pun intended). How are the kids and coaches going to respond to that?