FastpacedO

You are correct. The last 5 meetings between Cathedral and Brownsburg have been at Brownsburg (2018-2023). In 2023 their lone meeting was in Brownsburg, in 2022 both meetings (including tournament) were at Brownsburg, and in 2021 and 2018 the game was in Brownsburg. Over those 5 meetings Brownsburg leads 3-2. However Cathedral leads the overall series 6-3. Cathedral and Brownsburg played 4 times between 1993 and 1999 with Cathedral winning all 4 meetings which were all tournament games when both schools were in Class 4A, of those 4 games only 1 was played at Brownsburg. source: https://www.almanacsports.com/football/game.php?id=1993.11.05.013

Yes there was people from both Cathedral and the opposing team with Standing room only, but plenty were seated and there were generous sections on the home side blocked off for the visiting fans. It was also done at University of Indianapolis for a semi-state game between Cathedral and Evansville Reitz many years back. Typically Cathedral has used Tech which has plenty of seating for the opposing teams fans. According to the radio broadcast last Friday Brownsburg would only agree to play an away game against Cathedral if it was at a collegiate stadium. No Arlington or no Tech. So if that is the case Brownsburg got exactly what they wanted. For the other Cathedral home games I believe they said they will play North Central at Marian College also and then will play Center Grove and Roncalli at Butler if I remember correctly. It is not a matter of finding stadiums with ample seating, it is finding stadiums that A.) High School doesn't already have a home game B.) doesn;t want to gouge for renting their stadium on a Friday (yes some HS want way too much) C.) finding a High School that will allow them to rent it D.) making sure the stadium meets the demands of the opposing team during the contract signing. It isn't as simple as you may want it to be, but your also not the one having to negotiate the contract with the opposing team or search for a venue.

It won't be uncharted territory. Cathedral did it with Elder a few years back at Marian, and did it last year with Ben Davis at University of Indianapolis.

Totally get it. It is no easy task putting together a Top 25 especially early in the season. Looks pretty solid though.

Cathedral being at spot 1 is a little high. I would probably go with Brownsburg but they play each other this week. I understand though why Brownsburg is not at the top spot after the Irish beat BD and Brownsburg's last few years of regular season play coupled with tournament woes. I think the Irish will be fine, they are solid on defense and have a very good running game. Their QB aside from a tipped pass played well in his first start. The Irish can still peak as their QB gains more confidence and experience getting comfortable and their O-line gets healthy. Solid list you have put together for sure. This Friday's Brownsburg vs Cathedral at Marion College will be interesting

Still wondering if you got at least a new vehicle for using the old wire cutters on the lights. Or was it the old Macgyver trick with a paper clip. All kidding aside hope you are doing well.

Not a stretch of a pick. It will be interesting to see what Cathedral brings to the field this year. Replacing a 3 year started the caliber of O'neil will be a tough so I am curious to see how they look this year.

North Central has athletes walking their hallways that can definitely benefit their football program even with Cathedral, Chatard, Heritage Christian, and Brebeuf within range. There are a multitude of factors that play in to North Central's lack of success on the football field. There have been some terrific coaches there who have done the best they could with what they have and only a couple have had a little bit of success. At any rate there is more to their lack of success than P/P schools. They have far more success on the basketball court.

Understand what you are pointing to but it begs the question. Where was the change? By that I mean historically Arsenal Tech (long long time ago) was very strong. Same could be said for some old Howe teams, and Washington back in the day. Arlington 1999 didn't have a huge influx of rostered players and that team took Ben Davis to the brink. There are many factors and discipline can be one. I know Coach Harpold was head coach at both Howe and Arlington during their success. Washington during their success had coach Springer and his T-formation. The biggest change to me is speed and skills training (outside of the actual football team). Something more students at P/P and even better off Public schools parents can afford, but not so much for IPS.

It is a Home School team. Not a member of the IHSAA

Partially true "The IHSAA decides whether transfers are granted eligibility within their rules" This only applies for students already in HS that transfer. Not much the IHSAA does if it is an 8th grader in Pike Township that decides to be a Freshman at Lawrence North (just an example). Totally different from a current HS student that transfers from one HS to another. I have put no effort to look it up, but I would venture to say there are more current High School students that transfer "out" of Private/Parochial schools than transfer "in". Something not mentioned when the topic of Brebeuf and Cathedral comes up is the amount of schools available in that general area if you knew how close Cathedral, Chatard, North Central, Lawrence North, Lawrence Central, Heritage Christian, and Park Tudor were to each other it would surprise many (outside of the Indianapolis area). Brebeuf isn't super far either.

The difference being Warren Central has 7 State Championships since 2003 the most recent being 2018, Merrillville hasn't had one since 1976. I personally find it tough to assume WC will be a juggernaut this year coming off of a 5-7 season. With transfers I guess you never know and we will find out.

It is a shame the only team you will see from Indiana will be a Indy Crimson Knights homeschool. There are plenty of great teams around the State. I wish you luck on your venture looks like a full slate of games on your plate.

Definitely would have been interesting. The 2002 Ben Davis team had 3 losses that year. Penn 30-14, Warren Central 17-14 in OT, and Center Grove 17-16 in the regular season. They avenged the loss to Warren Central in Regionals winning 35-28 in OT (both games with WC went to OT) and avenged the loss to Center Grove in Semi-State winning 21-3. After Valpo's 16-15 win over Penn they lost to FW Snider 28-17 to Snider in FW. Snider lost to BD in State 31-7. Would have definitely been interesting.

It sounds good except last year there were 87 games against out of State schools (some years that number is higher and some lower). So as mentioned Sagarin is flawed and inaccurate since there were 87 games played against teams outside of Indiana. If all teams only played Indiana schools it would be prefect, but that is not the reality we live in. If the State were to go to any form of seeding Sagarin would not be the proper system to use.

Possibly. That being said Snider was having a tough time stopping RB Darren Evans (166 yds 1 TD) and QB Dexter Taylor (104 yds 3 TD's). WC only threw 3 passes the entire game (one was a 99 yd TD). Snider still was productive without Lewis, LCJ Martin (123 yds 0 TD) and QB Hayden (107 yds 1 TD threw for 74 and 2 TD's). Nobody knows what would have happened, Snider played well in that game offensively without Lewis though.

Who F.W. Snider with 219? I only kid I know that Snider just moved up to 6A. What amazes me is that Carmel is only 2 games behind CG. Just seems like there have been many wins by CG would have been more separation.

Yes it was a typo it won't let me fix it.

I have watched a few good ones. Vlahogeorge Laff Jeff Richard McCutcheon Schiff Ev Mater Dei Adams West Laff Lindauer Ev. Mater Dei Puricha Ritter (both of them) Allen Gibson Southern Zachary Sheridan Banks Ben Davis Two that really stood out were Banks and Zachary. Both were electric when they had the football and also were very good defensive players. Watching Banks play in HS was a treat. It didn't matter if it was at QB running or throwing, at DB, or even on returns he was very electric.

Well one thing we do know. If we were to go to Ben Davis football field and throw #24 Steve Holman (91 BD Running Back) and #21 Alijah Price (current BD Running Back) on the field in pads I know who I would put my money on. I know what your thinking, Price. Well to @temptation chagrin I am taking Holman because I am relying on the crafty ole' veteran to use a foot to trip Price! All kidding aside you are 100% spot on BTF.

I am very well aware of the fact Sagarin only measures in-state performances. It is the single largest flaw of the Sagarin ratings. The reason Sagarin only measures in-state performances has absolutely nothing to do with out of state games can be played with different set of rules. With Indiana's travel rules all the states that Indiana could play against are members of the NHFS (Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Missouri). So any changes in rules would be very minor (like running clock that has only recently been used in Indiana). The reason Sagarin does not measure out of state opponents is because it does not want to gather data of the out of state opponents record and their opponents record etc. Ultimately it does not matter because Indiana's football tournament is an all in format with no seeding. So you don't need rankings only ping pong balls and a bingo tumbler. Ohio has a terrific computer ranking system. If you want accurate computer rankings, Sagarin is not accurate because not every team in Indiana plays only Indiana schools, it also can become inaccurate when a conference has no out of conference competition. I sleep perfectly fine every night.

I should probably also note that Calpreps only goes back to 2003.

There are major flaws in Sagarin especially with teams that have out of State opponents or teams that are locked into only conference teams. I have stating that for years. Here are a look at CalPreps Dynasty ratings for Indiana (only did top 25 first photo) and Top Single Season (only did top 25 2nd, 3rd, 4th photo). Note the 2015 CG team came in at #24

I will agree it is hard for me to not place 2006 or 2003 Warren Central teams among the top. I watched the 2003 Warren Central team absolutely obliterate 2002 and 2003 Ohio Div 1 State Champions Cincinnati Elder 45-20 at the Ryle Classic in Ryle KY. That 2003 WC team let their guard down and lost to Carmel and a shocker to LN. The 2006 WC team though were dominant, hard to believe that was 18 years ago.

I am not so sure I would say 2015 wasn't a strong year in 6A. Center Grove's Titus McCoy was a fantastic RB. There were some terrific games in the South Bracket that year. Cathedral (in 6A at the time) lost in 2 OT's 37-34 in a great game to Brandon Peters led Avon at Avon and Center Grove edged out Warren Central 24-13. Then Center Grove in 2 OT's squeaked by Brandon Peters (Indiana Mr. Football and Gatorade Player of the year) led Avon 35-34 at Center Grove. Back to back double OT games for Avon. In the North you had Penn upset a 2 loss Carmel team (Cincy LaSalle and Center Grove) at Penn. Penn lost to CG 28-16. CG and Carmel reloaded and played for State the following year with Camel besting CG in OT 16-13 in a great game. I would say it was a strong year in 2015 for 6A just a little more parity and not one team showing total dominance.