Frozen Tundra

Tonight’s scrimmage schedule: Columbus East at Martinsville Brownstown Central at Jennings County Bloomington North at Jeffersonville Charlestown at Floyd Central Seymour at Silver Creek Scottsburg at New Albany BNL at Mitchell

Yeah I’m hoping. Wish I had some insight for you. All my connections with East dried up a few years ago. Living in Jennings County, I know a little more about the team here than at East. Then I have a brother-in-law who is an assistant at Fishers. So I actually hear more about them than I do East or Jennings County.

I’ve been here the whole time. As for what East looks like, I don’t know. I don’t have any connections on the inside that would know. Sadly, I’m expecting more of the same though.

Problem is, they probably wouldn’t be able to get these quality games any time other than at the beginning of the season.

I appreciate the respect in mentioning Columbus East here but we’re not what we once were. Bob Gaddis’ retirement after the 2020 season coincided with the talent pool drying up. Outside of a player or two, a majority of whatever talent there is within our school district ends up going to Columbus North these days. We knew things couldn’t last forever but back-to-back 4-6 seasons have been a tough pill to swallow.

I can’t recollect anything related to Owen Valley but I was able to look it up thanks to the Almanac Sports website. Their season-by-season record is on the right side of the screenshot.

Columbus East and Jennings County are still scrimmaging the same teams they always do. Columbus East will be at Martinsville and Jennings County will host Brownstown Central.

Yeah I wish football broke away from the NCAA so that every other sports team and student-athlete didn’t have to be affected by the ridiculous conference changes. Money is definitely the driving factor. Nevertheless, here all I’m thinking about is the football side of things and then you hit things close to home when you mentioned the situation at Butler. I’m a huge Butler fan, with men’s basketball being the team I support the most. While I never found the moves from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 to the Big East ridiculous, the fact the budgets didn’t bump up in other sports is ridiculous.

Agreed. Plus, I don’t think regular season games are needed as measuring sticks. The failures of previous postseason games, those alone should be the measuring sticks. I’ll go back to Columbus East as an example. In 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2012 we fell to Cathedral at semi-state each time. Coach Gaddis didn’t feel the need to schedule Cathedral or even Roncalli to gauge what the measuring stick was. Previous experiences of playing Cathedral in the postseason gave him the insight needed of what it took to win those games. Gaddis was a great communicator and had a tremendous ability to convey this message to his players so that they understood what was expected. He knew, and they knew, they had to be above that level if they wanted to beat Cathedral and/or win a state championship. The tide turned in 2013 en route to a 4A state title and then Columbus East finally got the Cathedral monkey off their back in 2017 by drubbing them 42-13 en route to a 5A state title. When we smoked New Palestine at semi-state by 35 en route to the 2013 4A state title, Kyle Ralph didn’t decide to go out and beef up the schedule to prepare for a rematch with Columbus East. He inspired his team to hit the weight room and motivated them by saying Columbus East was the measuring stick if they wanted to win a state title. It paid off. They came back in 2014 and were bigger and stronger than before. A last second field goal got them the win against us in the 2014 semi-state and they throttled New Prairie in the 4A state title game a week later. Therefore, I feel like Carroll and Homestead should already know what the measuring stick is based on how their last few postseasons ended. I’m not sure regular season games against those Indy suburb schools are needed. Needless to say, all teams are different. What worked for Columbus East and New Palestine may not work for others. 6A is also another beast entirely so one could definitely make the argument the rules are different in that classification. I just know I really enjoy following football in the northeast part of the state, especially in the immediate Fort Wayne area. You guys have a ton of talent and a lot of high-quality football gets played there. I’m thankful WANE 15 posts their game highlight clips on YouTube every week so I can keep track. Best of luck to all this season.

I don’t think it’s safe to say that it’ll pay dividends. I think we’d like to say that but can’t know that for sure until we have about ten years’ worth of evidence. You asked what Carroll and Snider are getting from playing South Side, Northrop, Concordia, and Wayne every year. I’d argue that those are only four games out of a nine game schedule and that the overall quality of the conference (thanks to the other five teams on the schedule) makes up for that. I know we like to say tougher schedules translate to championships or that testing yourself in the non-conference can translate to championships. However, I’d counter that by saying it’s not always true. I think it can depend on your culture, the coaching, and how talented your players are. Take Columbus East for example. My guys play in one of the weakest, if not the weakest, big school conferences in the state (4A-6A schools). When Bob Gaddis was the head coach, I think we averaged about one ranked opponent per year in the regular season. Most times, that opponent was rival Columbus North (a non-conference opponent). Nevertheless, Gaddis was at Columbus East for 20 seasons. After a rocky first three years, his last 17 years were incredible. From 2004-2020, Columbus East went to semi-state or further ten times. Three of those ten times ended at Lucas Oil Stadium with a 4A championship, a 5A runner-up, and a 5A championship. In particular, the 2013 team beat every opponent from week 1 to semi-state week by at least 28 points. Dwenger was the only test that year but Columbus East squeaked by them to win the 4A title. Regardless, Bob Gaddis went 115-1 in conference play during his final 17 years at Columbus East. Most of those 115 wins were blowouts and it was so common seeing the JV team come in during the third quarter every week. Everyone said we couldn’t win a championship because of this. Yet, this allowed the back-ups and JV players to get so much experience that they were prepared by the time they were varsity starters. It also kept the team fresh and we never had any significant injuries. In summation, my point is that beefing up the schedule doesn’t always translate to championships or even deep postseason runs. You can go deep and win championships even in a crappy conference (see New Palestine as another example). If you have a good coach, talented players, and a great culture then you can overcome a regular season schedule containing multiple weak opponents.

Not saying teams like Carroll and Homestead have nothing to lose by scheduling the Indy-area 6A schools. I’m just curious whether it’s really going to matter or not come the postseason. After a few years of this new scheduling format, I’ll be interested to see if it pays dividends.

I’m interested to see how things play out now that everyone will only play seven conference games. Will this be beneficial come the postseason as some think? Only time will tell.

I heard Blackhawk was joining the ACAC. Is this true? And, if so, when is it supposed to take place?

I’m with Bob Knight. Penn State should’ve never been in the Big Ten, nor should the next seven teams to get invited. I wish conferences were capped at 10 teams in the collegiate level and at 8 at the high school level. When your conference is so big that you can’t play each other every year then it’s too big. As for your second comment, I completely agree. When that happens, I think I’m done with it.

With four Pac-12 teams headed to the Big Ten, does this open the door for Hobart, Lowell, East Chicago Central, and Munster to the HHC? Just wondering…

It would but, unfortunately, it wouldn’t work out scheduling-wise. Unless they give up their non-conference rivalry game with Seymour, the only week Brownstown has available is week 7 and that’s the week BNL plays Floyd Central.

What exactly will you be doing?

This year’s non-conference schedules for every HHC team. BNL: at Martinsville, at Bloomington North, Madison Columbus East: at Bloomington South, Columbus North, at Bloomington North Floyd Central: at Louisville St. Xavier, Terre Haute South, Silver Creek Jeffersonville: Whiteland, at Louisville Fern Creek, at Silver Creek Jennings County: South Dearborn, Brown County, Madison New Albany: at Franklin, Christian Academy (Louisville), Bloomington North Seymour: Greenwood, Brownstown Central, at Bloomington South Observations 1. BNL and Jennings County are the only teams to keep Madison on the schedule. Only difference is, Jennings County actually has a rivalry with Madison. I’m kind of surprised BNL has maintained Madison. 2. Bloomington North is the most common non-conference opponent for the HHC as BNL, Columbus East, and New Albany all play them. Is this just a coincidence or is this by Bloomington North’s design? Could this foreshadow a future move or am I just being a conspiracy theorist? Lol 3. Columbus East, by choice, is playing all of its sectional opponents during the regular season. This is a first. Obviously they already have to play Seymour but adding both Bloomington schools despite being in the same sectional with them is a shocker. East never even used to play non-conference sectional opponents during the regular season when Bob Gaddis was coach (except for the years when rival Columbus North was in the same sectional). 4. After playing all of their non-conference games on the road last season, Jennings County will play all of their non-conference games at home this season. 5. The U.S. 50 schools (BNL, Jennings County, and Seymour) are playing the exact same non-conference opponents that they played last year. 6. Columbus East is playing Bloomington South for the first time ever in the regular season. Their four previous match-ups all occurred during the postseason. 7. Floyd Central is playing both Louisville St. Xavier and Terre Haute South for the first time ever this year. 8. Jeffersonville is playing Whiteland for the second time ever. The last time was in 1972. They will play Louisville Fern Creek for the fourth time ever and the first time since 2019. 9. New Albany will play Christian Academy of Louisville for the first time ever. And, based on what I can tell, it looks like they’ll also be playing Franklin for the first time ever.

Can’t be any worse than the situation he inherited at Shelbyville prior to this

Thanks for correcting me on the name. Absolute brain fart on my part. Any other time I’d know his name. Not sure what the heck happened. Hopefully I’m not getting dementia or something. 34 is too young for that.

I noticed today that Kyle Bragg is the only current HHC coach that has a winning record as an HHC coach. That’s a pretty sad stat for our conference. 1. Kyle Bragg (29-24 in 5 years at Floyd Central) 2. Steve Cooley (84-86 in 16 years at Jeffersonville and New Albany) 3. Derrick Barker (10-11 in 2 years at BNL) 4. Tyson Moore (13-17 in 3 years at Seymour) 5. Eddie Vogel (8-12 in 2 years at Columbus East) 6. T.J. Newton (3-7 in 1 year at Jennings County) 7. Isaac Parker (8-21 in 3 years at Jeffersonville)

Can’t lie. I’d love to see this game now. Brownstown wouldn’t be the walk in the park some think they’d be.

Bloomington North has actively looked at leaving the conference. They tried to get into the Mid-State a few years back, along with Columbus East. However, Perry Meridian was chosen to fill that eighth and final spot. I know there were rumblings of Bloomington North returning to the HHC but I don’t know if it was ever anything serious. My attention is on the MIC. If they ever decide to return to eight teams then I have to think Southport would be in consideration. Personally, I think Conference Indiana is one move away from falling apart. Finding four non-conference opponents isn’t ideal but it is manageable. Having to find more than that will be an even bigger challenge. Columbus North may be able to make it work due to their great athletic brand (as much as I hate to admit it) but I’m not sure it would work well for other teams in the CI.

The problem with the EIAC is that it’s shrinking in student population size which allows East Central to be head and shoulders above everyone else. That 3A/4A split they had isn’t an accurate split anymore because Franklin County and South Dearborn fell to 3A. Aside from East Central, the only other 4A school is Connersville. If East Central is upgrading athletics across the board then I feel like they’re going to outgrow the EIAC. Unfortunately for them, they don’t really have a big school conference in that part of the state that would allow for respectable travel times. Therefore, due to their proximity to Cincinnati, I could see them going independent at some point. They keep their EIAC rivals on the schedule, as well as Roncalli and Harrison, and then add more Ohio teams if needed.

I’d love to have East Central but that’s not very likely to happen. The travel times would be pretty rough for them. I’d love to have Columbus North but they think they’re above the HHC. I guess they’d better hope Conference Indiana doesn’t finally fall through or they might actually have to tuck their tails between their legs and come knocking at the HHC’s door. A Bloomington North return to the conference would be kind of cool. It would give BNL a western rival and keep them from feeling like the outlier. Going along with that last one, I wouldn’t complain having Bloomington South either but they’re similar to Columbus North. I get the impression they have a high opinion of themselves. If Scottsburg ever grows then I think they’d have to be considered. I know they were 4A for a short time. I keep thinking one of those Louisville suburb schools (outside of the three already in the conference) will grow enough eventually. Maybe I’m wrong though. Outside of those schools, I’m not sure who else really falls within the geographic footprint that is 4A or bigger.