Frozen Tundra

The old guard (people in their 50s and 60s) don’t want to leave and I get it. I’m a traditionalist too. However, as they get older, they’re getting phased out of their positions of power whether voluntarily or not. Yeah Jennings County has lost quite a few athletes to other schools. Columbus East, Greensburg, and Jennings County North (a.k.a. South Decatur) are three to name a few. I know a study was done a year or two prior to the pandemic to determine where students were transferring out of the district to and why. The purpose of the study was to figure out how to keep the student population from continuing to shrink as that’s seen as a serious problem for the school district.

The issue is that Jennings County is shrinking quickly in student population while five of the other six HHC student populations are growing. While I’m not saying it’s impossible for Jennings County to compete despite that, given how the state of athletics has been there, the likelihood they will is not good. This is why conversations started several years ago as to whether it was time for the school to move on from the HHC. The reason they didn’t is because they wanted a new conference home but couldn’t get invited to one. So instead of going the route of a school similar to their situation (Madison), it was more beneficial just to stay in the HHC and take their lumps. I made a prediction that they’ll be out of the HHC by 2030. Maybe they go to the EIAC. Maybe they go to the Mid-Southern Conference if a spot ever opens up there. Or maybe they join a conference that isn’t in existence yet. Shakeups to the EIAC, MSC, and/or the Hoosier Heritage Conference could facilitate that. We’ll see though.

They can choose. North definitely has a better reputation in regards to academics and athletics. You can walk into that school and just tell that they’re the school with more money. Unfortunately, most kids in Bartholomew County these days would rather go there for football even if it means they won’t make it out of sectionals because of Center Grove.

Here are the games for week 3

The talent pool at Columbus East was in the process of drying up after their 2017 5A state title and it completely dried up after the 2020 season. Gaddis knew what he was doing when he retired. However, it should be noted the coaching staff almost seems lost without him. A lot of the staff returned (with one of them taking over the head coaching gig), but the playcalling and just overall team management have been pretty poor. Lots of miscues early on this year by the coaching staff and it’s very noticeable by all.

I hate when people misspell woofs. I’m like, “Sound it out Randy! Do you even hear an L, V, or E sound in that word? No you don’t.” I guess that’s what happens when you get a Kentucky education.

Yep. One of the worst teams overall year-in and year-out. They’ll have a decent year once a decade or so but that’s it.

HHC Pick ‘Em Standings (after week 2) @Frozen Tundra 12/12 @LC_Bears_04 12/12 @boilerfan87 11/12 @Olympian06 11/12 @mamasa 9/12 @Owls2005 9/12 @swcgillespie 8/12

Brown County is that bad. They lost 77-7 to Owen Valley last week.

Dearborn County is definitely in southeastern Indiana. And, yes, East Central has been the best team in southeastern Indiana for years. But if you’re splitting the state up into quadrants then they’ve been the best team since Columbus East went downhill.

I’m sure you have but it’s worse for me because I’ve been spoiled by state championship teams. To go from that to this is painful.

Ain’t that the truth. I can’t believe how bad they’ve been. Sadly, I’ve sat there and watched it in person both times this season. And I don’t even have to torture myself like that because I don’t have a kid or relative on the team. Yet here I am. Brutal.

Final Scores Jennings County 46, Brown County 6 Gibson Southern 45, New Albany 7

Boy, that sounds depressing.

@boilerfan87 @Olympian06 @swcgillespie Unless I’ve somehow overlooked it, I’m not seeing week 2 picks from you guys yet. Try to get them in by 7 PM if you want to remain in the 2022 weekly competition.

Week 2 Picks Bloomington North (0-1) at Bedford North Lawrence (0-1): The Cougars have won 14 of the last 15 against the Stars, including the last three, and lead the series 21-14. Both teams are coming off week 1 losses to Mid-State Conference teams. Bloomington North had the bigger loss but played a tougher opponent. This game could be closer than most expect but I’m going with Bloomington North to get the W. Columbus East (0-1) at Columbus North (0-1): For the first time since 1999, one of the state’s biggest football rivalries will not have Bob Gaddis nor Tim Bless on the sidelines. Instead, it’s now Eddie Vogel vs Logan Haston. (Personally, that is very weird to me.) The Bull Dogs lead the overall series 26-25 and come into the game having won five out of the last six. The Olympians seemed to struggle in the second half last week as Whiteland’s huge lines wore them down. Too many guys playing both sides of the ball probably didn’t help either. North has traditionally had some big lines as well and I feel that spells more trouble for East, especially given North gave 5A #2 Decatur Central a tough game last week (the final score isn’t indicative of how close the game actually was). Unfortunately, I think North wins. Floyd Central (0-1) at 6A #4 Louisville duPont Manual (1-0): The Highlanders and Crimsons meet for the second time ever after Manual’s 34-7 win last year. I don’t expect anything different this year. Manual wins. Jeffersonville (0-0) at Seymour (0-1): It’s kind of hard to pick this game since we have no information on Jeff to go off of. The Red Devils lead this series 33-22-1 and have defeated the Owls nine out of the last 11 times, including the last two. Seymour has more hype going into this year, though, and I think that puts them on top of the HHC standings after week 2. Seymour wins. Jennings County (0-1) at Brown County (0-1): This has been a fun little series between two teams known for being subpar on the gridiron. The Panthers and Eagles met for the first time in 2018 and have played every season since. Aside from the first meeting (which Jennings County won by 28), every game has been decided by seven points or less. The Panthers took the first two games in the series but Brown County has won the last two. Last week, Jennings County was shut out 28-0 at South Dearborn while Brown County got demolished by Owen Valley 77-7. Based on those results, I’m going with Jennings County to get the win. New Albany (0-1) at 3A #3 Gibson Southern (1-0): The Bulldogs and Titans played for the first time ever last year and it turned into a 39 point beatdown of New Albany. Gibson Southern would go on to win its first ever state title while New Albany would go on to win its first ever regional title. Both teams lost significant players to graduation after last season. However, the Bulldogs are rebuilding while the Titans are reloading. Wouldn’t be surprised to see another blowout this year. Gibson Southern wins.

Well I looked up the year by year schedules for every HHC team since 1973 in order to compile each school’s total wins, total losses, and winning percentage in HHC games (not including non-conference regular season games or postseason games). In doing so, I found some very strange scheduling oddities. There were some imbalanced schedules in quite a few seasons, especially after membership changes. I’ve included every instance below. 1973: Bedford (2-0) and Madison (1-0) were co-champions. Jennings County went 1-2 while Columbus East went 0-2. Bedford defeated Jennings County and Columbus East but did not play Madison. Madison only played Jennings County. 1976: As the HHC expanded to 7 teams, the conference schedules were greatly imbalanced. BNL played 5 games; Columbus East, Jennings County, and Madison played 4 games; Floyd Central and Bloomington North entered only playing 3 games; and New Albany entered only playing 1 game (Floyd Central). Despite the fact New Albany went 1-0 in HHC play, the conference title was awarded to Columbus East for going 4-0. 1977: Conference schedules were still greatly imbalanced. Floyd Central and Jennings County were the only teams to play a full 6 game HHC schedule. BNL and Madison played 5 games, Columbus East and Bloomington North played 4 games, and New Albany played 2 games. Despite the fact New Albany went 2-0, the HHC title went to Bloomington North for going 4-0. 1979: Jeffersonville joins and causes imbalanced scheduling once again. Despite playing only Floyd Central and New Albany (and beating both), both games are considered non-conference games. Not really sure why. The other 7 teams all played each other with Columbus East coming out as HHC champs at 6-0. 1980: Once again, Jeffersonville only plays 2 HHC games (Floyd Central and New Albany again). However, this time the games count as conference games. The other 7 teams play each other which means 5 of them played a 6 game conference schedule while Floyd Central and New Albany are credited with playing 7 games. BNL takes the title with a 6-0 record. 1981: All 8 teams play each other except Jeffersonville doesn’t play Bloomington North for some reason. BNL repeats as champs at 6-1. 1982: Same as the previous year although now Madison also does not play Bloomington North. Jeffersonville takes the title at 6-0. 1983-1988: Back down to 7 schools as Bloomington North has departed. Strangely, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, and Jennings County spend the next 6 years playing a full 6 game HHC schedule while the other 4 teams only play 5 games. Columbus East and New Albany do not play each other during this period. BNL and Madison also don’t play each other during this period. 1989-1996: For the next 8 years, Columbus East and New Albany continue to avoid each other as do BNL and Madison. However, now Jeffersonville and Jennings County aren’t playing each other. Floyd Central is the only team playing all 6 conference opponents. 2018: After Seymour joined in 1997, each team played a full 7 game HHC schedule until now as Madison and Jennings County have convinced the conference to go to a 6 game schedule. However, 4 teams aren’t able to find a third true non-conference opponent. Therefore, they decide to play their normal conference opponents. Jeffersonville plays Seymour and Columbus East plays Floyd Central. Nevertheless, these are not counted as HHC games. 2021: All 8 teams somehow make it through their 6 game HHC schedules in 2020 despite the height of the pandemic. However, Floyd Central and Seymour aren’t so lucky in 2021 as Seymour gets hit with COVID. Both play a 5 game HHC schedule while the other 5 teams play the full 6 games. Below are the HHC win-loss records and winning percentages of all 10 HHC teams (past and present). 1,100 total games have been officially played. 1. Bedford: 2-0 (100%) 2. Columbus East: 220-69 (76.12%) 3. Jeffersonville: 165-96 (63.22%) 4. Floyd Central: 173-123 (58.45%) 5. BNL: 157-132 (54.33%) 6. Seymour: 90-80 (52.94%) 7. New Albany: 146-131 (52.71%) 8. Bloomington North: 16-20 (44.44%) 9. Madison: 64-218 (22.70%) 10. Jennings County: 67-231 (22.48%)

Forgive my lack of knowledge of the school districts down there. Is that in Silver Creek’s district? I remember there being a districting issue down there but I don’t remember all the details.

I feel like BNL is right there with them. I’ll need to research it though. Probably going to add up every team’s conference wins and losses to rank each school by winning percentage. I’ll probably also add up their final position in the standings each year and divide it by the number of years in the HHC to find the average. Those stats will reveal the HHC hierarchy.

Yeah that’s exactly the number of students Columbus High School would have if it had never split in 1972.

I would think they’d need to have a sixth school. There are 37 conferences that sponsor football but only five have less than six members. It’s too difficult to go with less teams, especially for larger schools near the Ohio River in the southeast portion of the state.

That honestly doesn’t bother me. College sports made me numb to it. The SEC has the Auburn Tigers, LSU Tigers, and Missouri Tigers as well as the Georgia Bulldogs and Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Atlantic 10 has the Fordham Rams, Rhode Island Rams, and VCU Rams.

Yeah I don’t think Conference Indiana could survive another defection. I’ve heard some folks say they should bring in Northview but that doesn’t make the conference any better. Also makes life much more difficult athletically for Northview.

I think it should stay at 7. Silver Creek fits geographically and could jump right in immediately but they need to grow some more. They’re 47th in 4A with 913 students. The smallest school currently in the HHC is Jennings County at #22 in 4A with 1,181 students. Jennings County is shrinking quickly though. They’ve lost nearly a quarter of their student population since 2011. If that trend continues, they won’t be able to keep up in the HHC. Wouldn’t be surprised if they leave by 2030 if things don’t change. Back to the original question though, Silver Creek could jump in now but I don’t think it’s the right time for them. Personally, I’d love to see Bloomington North, Bloomington South, and Columbus North join. I think it’s beneath Bloomington South and Columbus North to do that. I think Bloomington North would at least entertain the idea. Nevertheless, as I stated originally, let’s stick with 7. If the HHC and/or the Conference Indiana landscape changes, or if Silver Creek has a boom in growth, then we can entertain the idea of adding some schools.

HHC Football Champions By Year: 1973: Bedford and Madison 1974: Jennings County 1975: BNL 1976: Columbus East 1977: Bloomington North 1978: Columbus East 1979: Columbus East 1980: BNL 1981: BNL 1982: Jeffersonville 1983: Columbus East 1984: Columbus East and New Albany 1985: New Albany 1986: Columbus East 1987: Jeffersonville 1988: Jeffersonville 1989: Columbus East, Floyd Central, and Madison 1990: Columbus East, Jeffersonville, and Floyd Central 1991: Jeffersonville 1992: Jeffersonville 1993: Jeffersonville 1994: Columbus East 1995: BNL 1996: Floyd Central 1997: Jeffersonville 1998: Floyd Central 1999: Seymour 2000: Seymour 2001: Seymour 2002: New Albany 2003: Floyd Central 2004: Columbus East 2005: Columbus East 2006: BNL and Columbus East 2007: Columbus East 2008: Columbus East 2009: Columbus East 2010: Columbus East 2011: Columbus East 2012: Columbus East 2013: Columbus East 2014: Columbus East 2015: Columbus East 2016: Columbus East 2017: Columbus East 2018: Columbus East 2019: Columbus East 2020: Columbus East 2021: New Albany Just realized there’s a typo on here. East has won 26 HHC championships, not 24.