Frozen Tundra

@boilerfan87 @Owls2005 @swcgillespie @Fkfootball Just a friendly reminder to make sure you get your picks in by 7 PM!

Week 5 Picks Columbus East (2-2, 2-0 HHC) at New Albany (1-3, 1-1 HHC): This is the only game this week in which the series is not extremely tight. The Olympians hold a 25-6 advantage but it was the Bulldogs that snapped a 19 game losing streak to East last year. East was able to avenge their loss against the team that ended their HHC winning streak (Seymour). Now they get the team that ended their HHC championship streak at 17 years. Based on what we’ve seen out of New Albany so far this year, they may be in for a rough night. East wins. Jeffersonville (0-3, 0-2 HHC) at Floyd Central (1-3, 0-1 HHC): The Red Devils had an embarrassing loss last week which, based on how close they were to beating Seymour and BNL in their first two games, seems to be a sign of a lack of heart/effort. If they don’t get mentally tough then they’ll be feasted on by a Highlander team coming off their own late game choke-job against Seymour. Jeff leads the all-time series 27-24 but Floyd Central has won 10 out of the last 11. I think the Highlanders keep the streak going and get the W. Jennings County (1-3) at Madison (1-3): The 59th edition of the Railroad Rivalry takes place tonight and what a rivalry it has been. The Panthers lead the series 31-27 but recent history is not on their side. The home team has won the last ten games in the series. Add in the fact Jennings County lost to South Dearborn 28-0 in week 1 while Madison lost to South Dearborn 15-12 in week 2 and even the transitive property isn’t on their side. Based on these factors, I’m thinking the home team winning streak extends to 11. The Cubs are my pick. Seymour (2-2, 2-1 HHC) at Bedford North Lawrence (2-2, 2-0 HHC): We have another close series here as the Owls lead this one 24-23. Seven out of the last eight games in this series have been decided by eight points or less. Contrary to the Jennings County and Madison series, the recent history in this one favors the road team as the home team has taken the loss in the last four games. The Stars have gotten off to some slow starts the last couple weeks against HHC teams and this is not the week to continue that. Once again, I think recent history continues as Seymour is just too talented and experienced. Seymour wins.

Week 5 games

HHC Pick ‘Em Standings (after week 4) @LC_Bears_04 18/20 @boilerfan87 17/20 @Frozen Tundra 17/20 @Olympian06 17/20 @mamasa 15/20 @Owls2005 15/20 @swcgillespie 14/20 @Uncle Bubba 7/8 @Fkfootball 5/8

😳 You’ve got my attention. I graduated with Drew Kiel. I remember all the hype he and my other classmates got in middle school as they went unbeaten in 7th and 8th grade. If Highland Hills is comparable then that’s definitely something to take note of.

Yeah the Jennings County offensive line got stood up or pushed back pretty much every snap. That’s been the case a lot over the years. East isn’t as big as they used to be. We got shoved around by Whiteland and Columbus North this year. I’m guessing they took out their frustrations last night. Hopefully Jennings County can get some size and strength on their lines but I think they need a head coach that is willing to be there for the long haul to ensure that happens.

Yeah I was there. It was pretty bad. 69 total yards to 400 by East. 5 first downs to 22 by East. 3 turnovers to 0 by East.

You’ve got nothing to apologize about. I just don’t think Jeff showed up. Unless Seymour is somehow really bad, you don’t go from nearly beating them to getting completely demolished by Mount Vernon. That’s an effort issue. Maybe blowing leads late in their first two games took all the wind out of their sails. It shouldn’t but, then again, Jeffersonville hasn’t been the most disciplined team in the HHC.

Mount Vernon (Posey) beat Jeffersonville tonight 48-0. Yikes. I missed badly on that game.

Week 4 Picks Bedford North Lawrence (1-2, 1-0 HHC) at New Albany (1-2, 1-0 HHC): This has been a tight series with BNL leading 23-21. The Stars looked rough for most of last week’s game with Jeffersonville but made a heck of a comeback at the end to win. On the other hand, the Bulldogs don’t impress me. Their losses weren’t close and their six point win at Jennings County isn’t great. BNL is my pick. Floyd Central (1-2, 0-0 HHC) at Seymour (1-2, 1-1 HHC): Another tight series here as the Owls lead it 14-12. Seymour won 11 out of the first 14 games but, ever since 2009, the Highlanders are 9-3. Both teams have key injuries but I feel like Floyd Central has the better win (Silver Creek as opposed to Jeffersonville). For that, I’m picking the Highlanders. Jennings County (1-2, 0-1 HHC) at Columbus East (1-2, 1-0 HHC): We go from two tight series to this one. Columbus East leads it 44-7 and has won the last 24. The average score in those 24 games? 46-9. The Panthers have been shut out in three of the last five games and haven’t put up more than a touchdown on the Olympians since 2013. I don’t see much changing this year, even with East not being that great. East wins big. Mount Vernon (Posey) (2-1) at Jeffersonville (0-2): These teams met for the first time ever last year, a 35-13 win for the Wildcats. I keep going back and forth in my head over which team I’ll pick. The Red Devils have let their first two games slip from their grasp late, but Mount Vernon has played a really weak schedule. Their two wins are against teams that are a combined 1-5. I might regret this but I feel like Jeff will come in with a chip on their shoulder and finally close out a game. Plus I think they’ll be the fresher team due to not having to take a near two and a half hour bus ride. I’ll go with Jeffersonville.

Yes

Sorry for the confusion. Student population rank is where the school ranks in the state based on student population. For instance, Columbus East is the 61st biggest school in the state based on the most recent classification cycle data. The table includes the student population rank of each school during each cycle. The chart just kind of gives a visual of how each school’s rankings have varied over the last decade.

Did some research on student population growth and ranking among HHC schools. As you can see in the charts below, East and Jeff have pretty much stayed the same over the past decade. Floyd Central is growing and Seymour is booming. On the flip side, New Albany and BNL are shrinking while Jennings County is really shrinking. On the table below, the ‘11/‘12-‘12/‘13 classification cycle doesn’t have a population number with it because I couldn’t go back that far on the IHSAA website. It only shows the rankings for that cycle. Each cycle after that contains the student population and rank, as well as the percent change from the previous cycle. The final column shows the percent change from ‘13/‘14-‘14/‘15 to now.

Week 4 Games For the record, that’s 3A Mount Vernon (Posey)

HHC Pick ‘Em Standings (after week 3) @LC_Bears_04 16/16 @boilerfan87 15/16 @Frozen Tundra 15/16 @Olympian06 14/16 @mamasa 12/16 @Owls2005 12/16 @swcgillespie 12/16 @Uncle Bubba 4/4 @Fkfootball 2/4

Wrong topic. This is a 5A thread buddy.

Wow! Sounds like Jeff choked it away. Unfortunately, these are the two worst teams in the HHC. Baby steps though. Hopefully Jennings County will continue to improve.

Floyd Central 27, Silver Creek 13. Final

East wins 34-12. Scored the last 27 points of the game.

New Albany up 21-7 after three

Thank God they figured it out. The first 1 1/3 quarters was scary. Floyd Central still leads 20-7 after three

Floyd Central leads Silver Creek at the half 20-7 East leads 21-12 at the half

61 yard touchdown pass by Seymour. Had two defenders on him but neither could get to it. Seymour is sacked on the two point conversion. 12-7 with 11:04 left in the half.

After trading punts, Seymour drives down the field and gets an 11 yard TD pass. Offsides on East on the PAT so Seymour went for two but was stuffed on the run up the middle. 6-0 with 6:17 left in the first

Eddie Vogel has been at East since 2002. He was an assistant for Gaddis at East every season except Gaddis’ first (2001). David Miller has been at East since 2006. Even before Gaddis retired, everyone expected one of these two guys to become the next head coach. I don’t know if Miller interviewed for the head coaching position and, if so, what his plans were as head coach. All I can say is that Vogel came in with the idea of changing nothing. He wanted to run the program the exact same way as Gaddis because of how successful Gaddis was with it. I can’t speak as to whether Vogel is actually doing it. I can only speak for what I see on Friday nights and what I’ve seen hasn’t been good. The biggest thing is that the talent pool at East has dried up. We all began noticing this in the mid-2010s when the JV and freshmen games were becoming dominated by Columbus North. In 2019 and 2020, we were a 6A school due to the success factor. While we couldn’t get past Center Grove in sectionals, it should be noted that those teams would’ve made semi-state in 5A had we not been moved up. Wouldn’t have made it to state because New Palestine and Cathedral would’ve beaten us, but those were 5A final four-caliber teams. Many of us knew that, after the 2020 season, we no longer would even be 5A final four-caliber team. The talent pool just dropped off that much. Having said all of that, the coaching hasn’t been great. Vogel continues to run the offense Gaddis ran since 2012 when he no longer had a Kiel to sit in the pocket and pick secondaries apart. Problem is, I don’t think there are enough athletes on this offense to continue running it. It has to change but I’m not even sure how. Like I said, the talent pool is pretty low. I need to mention that I love Coach Vogel and Coach Miller. They were great teachers when I was at East and both are great men. However, they kind of seem lost without Gaddis. The personnel mistakes and mismanagement we’ve seen from them the last couple weeks resulting in delays of game, illegal substitutions, and the burning of timeouts because they’re not paying attention has been abysmal. I’m not saying East needs to make a coaching change or a coaching staff change…yet. However, unless any of the other HHC teams start actually becoming legitimate contenders in the state, East should win the HHC every year. That’s not a knock on the other teams. It’s just the reality of where this conference is in football. Nobody in the conference has a better system than East. Nobody is from a bigger football community than East. Nobody has a more successful coaching staff than East. And it’s not like our success was a long time ago. It was recent. That should give us an advantage. I’ll excuse last year because of the circumstances surrounding it. However, I’m not excusing it going forward.