FastpacedO

One of Evansville Memorials transfer from a Public School is the Athletic Directors son. Pretty good reason for the transfer and no issue with the IHSAA. I should also state the new AD is also a Memorial Alumni.

Don't hate me but it's Friday Funday. Do those big@ss populations get big gas discounts?

That is one big@$$ P.O. Box on I-74 I pass just before reaching the Ohio border!

They both are relatively close in SOS. Sagarin (without out of state opponents) has Ben Davis at 79.87 (16th) and Cathedral 81.45 (15th). Calpreps (including out of state opponents higher the number better the SOS) has Ben Davis at 40.4 (opponents 55-60) and Cathedral 34.8 (Opponents 67-50) pretty close to a wash. BD dropping 62 on LN was definitely eyebrow raising. The Wildcats threw 5 Int's and had a fumble in that game something that was detrimental to them, you can't give BD that many possessions or a short field. Sometimes it takes that kind of game get a little bit of luck on your side, can even give a wake up call. I am sure most would and I believe most are picking the Giants in this one, rightfully so Ben Davis has been a terrific team this year. The Irish haven't been exactly stellar against Ben Davis the last couple of meetings between the two. The Irish will need a great defensive effort like last week maybe even better, and will need their Offense to play better than last week to have a shot. I am not sure what to expect, but I know both teams will play very hard regardless.

You mean to tell me there wasn't something in the water to produce 7 footers north of Fort Harrison State Park?

If Lutheran were to have anything to do with Public schools losing kids (which it does not) it would be affecting Southport, Beech Grove, Franklin Central, and maybe Greenwood. Lutheran has been around since 1976 and has a whopping enrollment of 225. Even some of your bigger P/P's would have more of an effect on Township schools than IPS. I am being 100% honest when I say IPS leadership is its worst enemy, and busing was the beginning of the death nail to IPS. Heck Cathedral is literally 5 minutes from Arlington. In 1999 Arlington took Ben Davis to the brink (losing the game 16-15 by a long FG). They beat Cathedral 21-20 in OT that year and Cathedral went on to win State as did Ben Davis. The IPS and their leadership are the reason for closure of Arlington, Broad Ripple, and Northwest. Placing all those eggs in the Arsenal Tech basket worked for basketball not so much for football.

The Giants have an excellent QB as well. Offensively Ben Davis is averaging 42 PPG Cathedral 36.36 Defensively Ben Davis is allowing 16.82 PPG and Cathedral 17.27

That is correct there still are kids from Public school that attend the Parochial schools not in large numbers though. Same with the Private schools they have a larger percentage of Catholic students than public students, but being private they also have a larger amount of public students than Parochial. Also at the private schools you will see more public students from the Carmel, Westfield, Lawrence, Fishers area than IPS.

In all seriousness there are definitely position Cathedral will have to counteract the Ben Davis talent advantage, but I wouldn't say every position. There has been a consistent weakness this year for the Irish, and improving that weakness would make their defense much much better. It made some strides last week, but they can't afford a let down this week as Ben Davis is a extremely talented team. Ben Davis is definitely the favorite in this no doubt. The Irish will have to play very well, not turn the ball over while getting turnovers, and have some intangibles on their side.

Think of Warren Central and Ben Davis similar to Carroll and Homestead. Homestead and Carroll are not part of Fort Wayne Public Schools just like Warren Central, Pike, North Central, Lawrence North, Lawrence Central, Southport, Perry Meridian, Speedway, Franklin Central, and Ben Davis are not part of IPS. The Private/Parochial schools have been around (earliest 1918 Cathedral) even during the hayday when Arsenal Tech, Howe, Washington, etc. were doing very good. The decline of IPS was a direct result of busing and it has never recovered. From 1973 to 1998 IPS student enrollment plummeted by 64,000 students. It had zero to do with recruiting.

There are no Indianapolis Public Schools IPS that are anywhere close to being Top Ten in the State.

Agreed, add in IPS is a mess even in leadership. The IPS is the IPS's worst enemy and has nothing to do with recruiting from P/P or BD and WC. Numerous incompetent decisions made (too many to list). Rest easy though they have putt all their eggs in the Arsenal Tech basket. It starts with leadership and trickles on down.

Ben Davis's State and National prominence was there long before Washington High School closed the first time in 1995. Their National Title came in 1991 Dick Dullaghan started coaching at BD in 1984 and that is when they really began to take off. Busing though really was the start of the death nail to IPS schools.

Except it didn't turn out that way a couple of years ago.

Only bad thing with that is it makes it slow and sloppy for both teams. May slow up the opponent, but if you were already slower it will slow you down even more. Then you would really be "Stuck in the mud" 😂

Ben Davis did solid against the run when playing Brownsburg, gave up a couple of big runs but Brownsburg's RB was really good. Ben Davis gave up some long passes but locked down in the 4th quarter making plays. Cathedral ran the ball more against Lawrence North than they typically do. The Giants can create problems for the Irish Offense, the Irish will have to play a whale of a game Offensively to have a shot. The Irish defense has done well against the run all year, but the Giants have a quick back in Price and the QB runs very hard when needed so the Irish will have 2 runners to focus on. Secondary has been the Irish weak spot all year, they played pretty solid against LN, and a lot of that had to do with the pressure applied to the QB while trying to keep him from making big plays with his legs. The Irish would need to have a great game from their secondary again as the Giants can hit big plays in the passing game as their QB has a great arm and Zachary is very scary. Should be a great game. I think many Irish and Giants fans will be wondering which Giants or Irish team shows up Friday. They will be entertained none the less. Last week I expected Ben Davis to destroy Pike. Watched the Cathedral vs Lawrence North game expecting a Offensive shootout and it ended up being a defensive battle. Don't fully know what exactly we will see from Ben Davis and Cathedral, but having watched both play they will both play hard throughout. Should have booked it for Arlington. It would be nice and dark by about 6pm. Would be an interesting game to watch. 😂🤣

It is on the website https://www.ihsaa.org/sports/boys/football/2023-24-tournament?round=state-finals

SEC teams do schedule some cream puffs for non Conference games

@AllGutsNoGlory only joking my friend but it was irresistible

I don't think he was insulting Ben Davis just was stating they hadn't traveled with a large fan base. He may be incorrect. These D-2 and D-3 colleges don't have large visitor sections because honestly road teams don't bring large fan bases to away games so they are unnecessary.

Ben Davis has played 4 out of 11 games on the road. This week will make 5 out of 12.

Deion "Primetime" Sanders probably wouldn't be okay with that if it were at Colorado stadium after what they went through! 😂

No just gave a percentage of the predictor and listed all of them so we can see how accurate it comes out. They've been batting at about 85% for the year which is pretty darn solid. I personally go by what I see on the field (teams weakness / strengths) not a computer ranking. I can 100% tell you Calpreps Computer model bests my guess by about 20-25%. especially later in the year.

The St. Michael Red is West Deanery (will feed into Ritter, Chatard, Brebeuf, and Cathedral) St. Louis de Montfort is in Fishers part of Diocese of Lafayette (will feed into Guerin Catholic, Chatard, Brebeuf, and Cathedral) Our Lady of Grace is in Noblesville and also a Lafayette Diocese school (will feed into Guerin, Chatard, Brebeuf, and Cathedral)