hhpatriot04

Yep.... For better or worse, money and influence talk.

It's just quasi data for the sake of developing a working rating system... Change the base score, but only if you contribute to the rating algorithm!

Credible source?

Who is "you?" I'm the biggest proponent of the First Ammendment who you will find. Stay between the lines of truth and decency and there are zero problems here. I also don't know the intricacies. Post publicly reported or seen facts and we are good. I remember when Westfield was a right turn on McDonalds. My sister went from 1992-1994. My stomach has dealt with treatments at Mayo and living in Iraq for 5+ years. Stick to the media reports and we won't have a problem with this thread. No one is saying Westfield is a certain high school that starts with a "M" and ends with a "ville" three decades ago. Acknowledging what truthfully happened is a first step. ~ Chris

I don't think you'd find many HH fans betting that the Patriots would beat Memorial in 2019. It was a good Heritage Hills team, but maybe not even Coach Wilkerson's best -- just his most successful. I biasedly prefer the 2003 HH-EVM matchup. HH, without any real DI players (Seifrig graduated the year before ... one sophomore who lettered went on to play DI), also beat Mater Dei in the same sectional and Jasper (coming off a 4A State Championship) during the regular season. The 1990s had some great games, HH was better in the 2000s, and Memorial has been the better program over the past 10 years. That's my objective take and I'm sure I'll take some flack from my own school for saying so.

Historically... Reitz or Jasper. The tournament, classes, and now the success factor have all changed how we can measure the success of programs. But seriously, Reitz, what is going on? Mater Dei certainly isn't the MD of yesteryear, but with the success factor and the SIAC schedule and Coach Goebel, it can handle Class 2A South most years (I don't think these MD teams have the talent of the 00's)... As much heck as I have given Reitz, SW Indiana needs you to help elevate big class football in SW Indiana. Memorial, Jasper, and for a few years Central did so, but "Let's Go Panthers!"

OK, the story is credible with local media reports. That has always been the standard for allowing such content. Keep all comments above board, constructive, non-speculative, and decent. "If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything at all" is how this thread will be moderated. Any racial slurs, direct or indirect, will result in indefinite bans until the admins and mods decide otherwise. Best, ~ Chris

I love all the ranking systems out there -- Sagarin, Almanac Sports (shoutout to @Rudy) CalPreps, USAToday, MaxPreps, Play Football NFL (just for top teams), etc... With the advent of Google Docs, it is easier than ever to collaborate on projects. Is there any interest in developing open source rankings for TGD? Here is an editable Google Sheet with six teams (this year's state champions) and six weeks of games (round robin) with fictitious, but realistic score data. I have set up this Google Sheet using my GridironDigest email. If you are interested in being involved with this, sound off! It will be a long term project, but no better time than the present (and the off season) to talk about it. Thoughts? I am open to using other software, but I have some experience with Google Sheets, Forms, and Scripts... Just based on the above data, I think a good first step would be to automatically calculate: - Total_Win_Percentage (by team) - Home_Win_Percentage (by team) - Away_Win_Percentage (by team) - With this, we can develop a simple "Top 6" based solely on Win_Percentage FYI: Anyone with access to the aforementioned Google Sheet link can edit. Edits are trackable and changes are reversible. Please use the comments section within Google Docs or on this thread if you make any big changes. Interested to see where this goes!

Let's see if CG can continue that for 15 years. My prediction is once Cathedral gets to 6A that CG, WC, and even Carmel won't be able to keep up. Cathedral also benefits from many other factors like boosters, a youth league that spans the city, academics and extracurriculars which have always been top notch. I don't see that changing anytime soon. My argument has never been the P/Ps directly benefit from "poaching" -- even prior to open enrollment; open enrollment actually benefits city/suburban schools far more than rural schools due to distance. P/Ps benefit from all the reasons (mostly socially economically driven or at least correlated) which I mentioned. Standards and expectations are higher from chorus to debate club to athletics. Cathedral is the best positioned P/P in the state to compete with the mega schools and they will figure out a way -- just give them some time. Disclaimer: I was born in Carmel, went to HS at Heritage Hills, had multiple family members go to Manuel, Carmel, Westfield (pre-2000), North Central, Cathedral, and Chatard. I'm well aware of the intricacies and changes of city, township, "suburban sprawl", private, and parochial schools in the Indy area.

You typically don't see the OL separated into positions for the PAC. If memory serves me correct, it's typically just a blanket OL (and you may end up with more than five players). With the different offenses and defenses, the teams askew positions year-to-year, as some teams run even/odd defensive fronts leaving the DE either as a DL or LB. This can also happen with DBs and LBs, if a player is a "Rover" SS/LB split. When all is said, they do a pretty good job of making the list flexible to try and include the best players -- classic example is two good QBs and one getting moved to DB or P/K if they played it. I'd suggest adding 2-4 ATH positions and then just limiting the offensive and defensive teams to 11 (plus a K & P). Who would be the FB this year either in a Wishbone or some form of the Flexbone (just for short yardage...)? Actually, some kind of Pistol/Run-N-Shoot would be interesting this year as TEs were in short supply. I've always thought the Run-N-Shoot circa 1990s NFL has been underused in HS. HS went from Power -> Pro (one TE, two WR/tight slot) -> Variations of the spread. Timing is really hard to get right with the Pistol, but when executed well, everything goes downhill and you have the options of the Wing T with long and short motion, options, shovel passes, play action, screens. And no GS spread!

Any updates on Mr. Hook's situation as we enter the holidays? Best, ~ Chris

The scary thing is now that Cathedral realizes it will be competing in 5A/6A for the foreseeable future, they are going to make adjustments. Every school in Marion and the "donut" counties should be prepared given open enrollment and Cathedral's resources as a private (not parochial) school.

Geez, IU and PU... What are you waiting for. If Air Force offered, I'd say even Notre Dame would be interested in "offering" a preferred walk-on status. Definitely passes the eye test. I don't know his measurables, but it would be a shame if a 40-yard dash is what is separating him from an offer. So many guys in the league (Jerry Rice) did not have great 40 times, but could create separation and attack the ball. Instead everyone is looking for the next Randy Moss.

Same way guys in SW Indiana have continuously gone unnoticed. It's improving with the addition of social media, though. Ball State, UIndy, KWC, and others have loved what IU and Purdue have missed. Linemen seem to get out of SW Indiana, but it's much tougher for many skill players. I might also blame some ADs for going to closed conferences and not scheduling bigger market talent when possible in Indianapolis, Kentucky, Illinois, and the Cincy area. Teams should be able to play nine or ten games. Conferences should be 14 teams (6 + 1 games) with two divisions (like the B1G) and a week dedicated to a seeded divisional conference champion. Best divisional record gets the No. 1 seed. In the case of teams with one divisional loss or more, head-to-head result decides the seed. Forfeits count as losses, regardless of pandemics!

I didn't see this list posted, and I think it should be helpful: At a glance since 2000, the only "small school" winners have been: - Wodicka, West Lafayette, 2009 - Smith, Luers, 2012 - Kiser, Pioneer, 2018 McIntosh, Reitz, 2007, has been the only winner truly from "southern Indiana." The others like Bloomington/Columbus, I'd say most southerners consider to be central Indiana as you aren't receiving news coverage from Evansville or Louisville. Also, I'd argue that Cutler from HH in 2000 (or Schiff from Mater Dei) would've been a better choice than Shannon --Cutler ran, threw, caught, returned punts/kicks, I believe he holds the 3A State Finals tackle record. He had an injured ankle in semi-state and state and debatably lost a scholarship because of it; although, Vanderbilt turned out to be great. Year Player High School College NFL Draft 1992 Alex Smith, RB[2] Franklin County Indiana 1993 Bo Barzilauskas, OL/DL Bloomington South Indiana 1994 Josh Martini, RB East Central United States Marine Corps 1995 Earl Haniford, QB Martinsville Indiana 1996 Israel Thompson, RB Martinsville Ball State 1997 DuJuan Daniels, RB Bishop Chatard Boston College 1998 Rex Grossman, QB Bloomington South Florida 2003 NFL Draft: 1st round, 22nd overall by the Chicago Bears 1999 Derrick Ellis, RB Indianapolis Arlington 2000 Otis Shannon, RB Indianapolis Cathedral Harper College 2001 James Banks, QB/DB[3] Ben Davis Tennessee Carson–Newman 2002 Clayton Richard, QB McCutcheon Michigan 2003 Desmond Tardy, QB Warren Central Purdue 2004 Jason Werner, WR/S Roncalli Purdue 2005 Dexter Taylor, QB Warren Central Tulsa Western Kentucky Marian 2006 Darren Evans, RB Warren Central Virginia Tech 2007 Paul McIntosh, QB Evansville Reitz Army Southern Illinois 2008 Morgan Newton, QB Carmel Kentucky 2009 Daniel Wodicka, QB[4] West Lafayette Johns Hopkins University 2010 Tre Roberson, QB[5] Lawrence Central Indiana Illinois State 2011 Gunner Kiel, QB Columbus East Notre Dame Cincinnati 2012 Jaylon Smith, RB/LB[1] Bishop Luers Notre Dame 2016 NFL Draft: 2nd round, 34th overall by the Dallas Cowboys 2013 Terry McLaurin, WR[6] Cathedral Ohio State 2019 NFL Draft: 3rd round, 76th overall by the Washington Redskins 2014 Markell Jones, RB[7] Columbus East Purdue 2015 Brandon Peters, QB[8] Avon Michigan Illinois 2016 Hunter Johnson, QB[9] Brownsburg Clemson Northwestern 2017 Reese Taylor, QB[10] Ben Davis Indiana 2018 Jack Kiser, QB[11] Pioneer Notre Dame 2019 Charlie Spegal, RB[12] New Palestine Indiana 2020 Carson Steele, RB[13] Center Grove Ball State

As it is a yearly award, the primary measurement should be the current season. Stats diminish with smaller schools -- just the way it is. If I voted, I would just be trying to answer: "Who performed the best in Indiana this season?" Everything else is secondary: team success, career stats, school size, quality of collegiate offers -- even current year stats have to be weighted for SoS, position, type of offense/defense, participation (a player on a team that has put a running clock on, for example 10 teams, won't have the same opportunities to post stats as a four-quarter player). Are only seniors eligible, and if not, has a non-senior ever won the award? I would also propose that a Mr. Football Offense and Mr. Football Defense be awarded, as it is too difficult to draw comparisons between both sides of the ball. Brady Allen of Gibson Southern would have my vote — and I'm no Gibson Southern nor Purdue fan. We are splitting hairs, but put him on Mount Vernon, Cathedral, or Center Grove, and his numbers would be just as good if not better -- with more snaps, more media coverage, and (no offense to GS) but a better surrounding cast... although he might want to take one receiver with him, Heltsley.

Well it's great that you still have it. I remember Frontpage. As for free archiving, I think a Facebook Page is probably best if you want complete control, as your content could be edited on Wikipedia.org. If someone from the Linton community can provide you with space via WordPress or a similar website management system, that might be your best bet. A private Wiki run by The Gridiron Digest was another possible option, but it became difficult to manage due to updates and hardware changes. I believe that I have all that info saved... just a matter of finding the time and bending DK's arm to install the most recent software, then try to see what can be salvaged.

I hope everyone had a good season. As some of you know, we have a very active presence on Twitter from August through January. Through December, I pay $14.99 per month for software that auto-shares any tweet that uses #TGD or @gridirondigest. It is very useful for sharing streams, scores, updates, and other things to our nearly 9,000 followers. Would you like to see this feature continued all year? If so, could we get some boosters for the 2022-2023 season to earmark their donation for this? (If you are interested, PM me and tag @DK_Barons because he keeps the books!) Looking at the Twitter feed since the state finals' weekend, we are driving conversations (which increase our engagement and reach on social media). Additionally, if you would be interested in being an active editor on The TGD Facebook Page, please message me. I know recruiting, strength competitions, highlights of football standouts in other sports, facility improvements, 7-on-7s, etc. would be possible content. I am currently running to many other social media accounts to give it proper attention (i.e. content). One more thing. TGD's logos are becoming dated. If you are a graphic designer or know someone who would like to give us a facelift (only talking about: a few logos, background, and generic social media sized graphics, let me know. Booster status would be granted depending on output! Enjoy the offseason, but check in with us! Best, ~ Chris

Did you save copies of the summaries on a computer or USB drive? What was the actual URL of the SW7 Conference site where you posted you writeups? I might be able to recover some or all of it. A good free solution if most of your content is text and photos is to make a Facebook Page. It at least provides you with an easy way to archive all of that info. Additionally, you can populate the Linton-Stockton Football page on Wikipedia. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once info is saved there, it is never going to disappear. It is open source, so anyone is able to edit it, but they must do it within the Wiki Standards (basically make sure everything has citations). Regardless, even if someone edits something that you have posted, you can contest their changes and Wikipedia saves all of the previously saved edits, so you can always revert back to a previous version. I'm not sure how technically inclined you are, but WordPress is also an option if you want full control.

This will be a pinned topic for journalists, members of the media, SIDs, photographers, historians, archivists, etc. to link up. This is not for streams or other the like to be advertised. The Gridiron Digest community is welcome to add constructive feedback -- discussions on paywalls, local sports journalism (or its evolving nature with SIDs and private photogs/bloggers), and so on. But it will not be a space to blast things like paywalls, reduced or biased coverage, etc. without providing alternate solutions. That being said... - @crimsonace1 - Journalist, teacher, and radioman extraordinaire - @Rudy AlmanacSports.com 'nuff said - @Miner_Pride A true asset to southcentral Indiana HS sports (what's your official online archive?) - @DaveMosbey Model example of how to incrementally archive a school's sports programs (don't let the HTML fool you!) - @Bcaster My perhaps biased favorite play-by-play voice of sports in talent-rich southwestern Indiana - Where is TW lurking? Every time I look he's getting a new promotion. Not sure how involved he is with the CircleCityConference.com, but it's the best conference website I've seen. This list is not exhaustive, so who is missing? It would be great to add to it through the winter and be able to network (understanding that most of you also cover winter and spring sports) -- don't worry @DK_Barons, this isn't a ploy to revive gridirondigest.info/wiki ... I might work on my predictor tool to attempt to rank programs since 2000 differently than CalPreps or the Texas forum...

I've said it before in different ways, but... The IHSAA needs to learn about standard deviation and bell curves. - 1A should have 16-32 teams (white) - 6A should have 16-24 teams (white) - 2A to 5A should have the remainder with class lines set by deviations (the other colors)

I don't want to put any pressure on 12 & 13 year olds, but their pedigrees are outstanding to say the least -- better than a washed up former player whose biggest claim to fame is losing to Chatard three consecutive years in the semistate, so now has to write about the achievements of others, ala journalism -- coupled with a solid freshman class. Middle school FB at HH has never really been about winning games. It's about learning a system, not having drama in the program, and keeping numbers up so they hopefully stay as freshmen. BTW, we want our Wahls back!!! In all honesty, best of luck to the Titans. We hope it's your year and you bring some hardware back to the PAC. Wish I could be in Indy during Thanksgiving Weekend! This year's seniors at HH played their hearts out, represented Patriot Football well, and proved that if you trust in the system, you'll be able to hold your heads high with a 9-3 record. Now it's time for the underclassmen to rest for a few weeks, then put in the work for next year.

(To clarify) The question is if it has changed/affected/impacted "your team's..." -- not necessarily hurt or helped their chances ... just affected.

Without overthinking it via the "butterfly effect," without the implementation of the success factor would your team still be playing for a sectional championship? More bluntly, are there teams now in your sectional or not in your sectional which would or would not be playing for a sectional title if we conducted the 2021 tournament based solely on enrollment?

Even in 3A, Heritage Hills rarely would have 75 players counting grades 9-12. Typically, 2-4 freshmen dress varsity in the regular season and around 4-6 are added for the playoffs (usually a QB, K, and a few of the better athletes). This year, I believe that Heritage Hills will actually have at least one freshman earn varsity letters and around 10 freshmen are on the playoff roster... Additionally, HH typically has a regular season roster size of around 40-50 (not typically including freshmen, but the freshmen do play a 5-9 game schedule in addition to JV).