Frozen Tundra

The HHC was formed in 1972 by Bedford, Columbus East, Jennings County, and Madison. East and Jennings County are the only original members remaining. The first season of HHC athletics did not actually begin until the 1973-1974 school year. Here’s a membership timeline. 1972-1974 (4 Members): Bedford, Columbus East, Jennings County, and Madison 1974-1976 (4 Members): Bedford closes in the summer of 1974 and consolidates with six other Lawrence County schools to form Bedford North Lawrence. BNL, Columbus East, Jennings County, and Madison 1976-1979 (7 Members): Bloomington North, Floyd Central, and New Albany join. Bloomington North, BNL, Columbus East, Floyd Central, Jennings County, Madison, and New Albany 1979-1983 (8 Members): Jeffersonville joins. Bloomington North, BNL, Columbus East, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, Madison, and New Albany 1983-1997 (7 Members): Bloomington North departs. BNL, Columbus East, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, Madison, and New Albany 1997-2021 (8 Members): Seymour joins. BNL, Columbus East, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, Madison, New Albany, and Seymour 2021-Present (7 Members): Madison departs. BNL, Columbus East, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, New Albany, and Seymour

I saw this posted on Twitter. We’ve yet to mention on here that this is the 50th season of HHC football. This chart shows the series histories of all ten past and present HHC teams against one another. It also shows all of the championships each school has won. Pretty interesting stuff.

No. Last year’s New Albany team was a once-in-a-generation team. They lost a ton of players due to graduation. Gibson Southern should win.

Just like IUPUI football. Flawless.

HHC Pick ‘Em Standings (after week 1) @boilerfan87 6/6 @Frozen Tundra 6/6 @LC_Bears_04 6/6 @Olympian06 5/6 @mamasa 4/6 @Owls2005 4/6 @swcgillespie 4/6

Here is the week 2 schedule. The good news is an HHC team is going to get a win this week…as long as Jeffersonville doesn’t cancel their game again.

Jeff was supposed to play at Bell County this year. I’m guessing it was only a two year series. Since last year’s game was canceled due to COVID, maybe Jeff didn’t feel it was fair that they had to travel for a game against Bell County but Bell County didn’t.

Also going to throw out there that I really like East’s new football helmets. Torch logo in the back. Oregon O logo on the sides.

I see the game between Jeffersonville and Bell County got canceled for a second year in a row. 🤦🏻

Week 1 Picks Bloomington South at New Albany: The Panthers lead the all-time series 6-3 but the Bulldogs have won two of the last three. New Albany lost too many key players from last year’s team so Bloomington South is my pick. Jeffersonville at #6 Bell County (KY): This is the first ever meeting between the Red Devils and the Bobcats. Bell County went 10-3 last year and seems to be one of the more decent teams in Kentucky’s 3A classification. If it wasn’t already enough of an uphill battle for Jeff, they have to make the 3 hour drive southeast to a Kentucky county that borders Virginia and Tennessee. Bell County wins. Jennings County at South Dearborn: The Knights lead the all-time series 4-2 and have won the last two against the Panthers (both sectional first round games). While the two teams haven’t met on the gridiron in four years, this is actually the first regular season meeting since 1980. Neither team has ever won three straight in the series but I think it happens this year. Hard to pick JC with the revolving door of coaches they’ve had lately. South Dearborn gets the win. #2 Louisville Male (KY) at Floyd Central: The second-best team in Kentucky’s 6A classification comes into Floyds Knobs for their nearly annual beatdown of the Highlanders. Aside from the 2020 COVID year, these two have played every year since 2010 and the Bulldogs lead the series 10-1. FC earned a seven-point win in 2011 but Male has won all their games by 19 or more points. The average score since 2012? 45-7. Why is this game still being played? Male gets another big win this year. Martinsville at Bedford North Lawrence: Speaking of one-sided series, the Artesians have a 19-3 advantage over the Stars. Martinsville has won the last six and you have to go back to 1992 to find the last BNL win. The Stars may be improved but I don’t think they end the losing streak. Martinsville wins. Seymour at Greenwood: This is the first ever regular season meeting between the two schools. The only history they have together is a sectional championship win by the Woodmen in 1988 and a sectional semifinal win by the Owls in 2001. Even with a healthy Jaylan Johnson, I’m not sure I’d Seymour to win. Greenwood is the pick. #5/#6 Whiteland at Columbus East: The Warriors have won three straight against the Olympians and lead the all-time series 7-4. As the student population at Whiteland rapidly grows, it doesn’t make things any easier for East. The Warriors were already tough to stop because of their offensive trickery, but their offensive line just seems to get bigger every year. If you can’t control the line of scrimmage against them you’re toast. Whiteland gets another easy win over East.

Thanks for the info! I was hoping to hear what was going on at BNL. It’s been too quiet around here.

That really blows. Hate to hear that even if it benefits East’s chances of beating them. Hopefully he can heal up quickly and be ready to go at full-speed next year. Also, it’s nice to see a Seymour fan on here. I wish we could get fans from the other schools on here. New Albany, Jeffersonville, and Jennings County are severely lacking.

@Bonecrusher @foxbat I really appreciate your perspectives. It’s quite eye-opening to read your posts. As a lifelong Hoosier and one that prefers basketball over other sports, it’s surprising to me that basketball is seen there as a tertiary sport. I know I’m just a product of my environment but I was always under the impression that football and basketball were looked at as the two biggest sports across this country. With as many pro baseball players as Texas churns out, I guess it does make sense that baseball is held in higher regard there than basketball.

My only question is whether or not the official start of practice would need to be moved a week earlier since the first game would be a week sooner. If so, is that feasible? Would summer camps also need to start a week sooner?

I’m by no means advocating a change. I just think it’s a good thing to evaluate our system and compare it with others. Do we do it better? Can we make it better? When I look at how late football runs in some states (i.e. Texas), I’m stunned because I don’t see how that’s possible from a winter sports aspect. Maybe it somehow does work there. It wouldn’t work here though. Personally, I like Indiana how it is. If I had to make a change, the only thing I’d change is getting rid of the scrimmage week and making it a tenth regular season game. However, that’s just my perspective as an outsider. I wasn’t able to play high school football so I don’t know if it’s even feasible.

Indiana and Missouri are the only states in the country that have an all-in format.

Yeah I always thought they should get rid of the public scrimmage and just play a game instead. Not sure if that throws off the summer schedule though. I never played so I couldn’t tell you if it’s feasible or not.

Thought I’d chime in with a relatively new topic. I got bored yesterday so I decided to look up the schedules of high school football teams in other states and compare them to Indiana. I had to go back to 2019 because COVID has made things hectic the last couple years schedule-wise. I put together the table below to give an easy visual representation of the differences between Indiana and its border states, as well as four of the biggest football states in the country. What are your thoughts? Is the format best here in Indiana or does one of the other states do it better? With the school year starting earlier these days than ever before, should the season start earlier? Should a tenth regular season game be added to the schedule? Should each team be required a bye week during the regular season? Let me know what you think.

Here are this week’s games. I’ll run the pick ‘em contest again this year. Make sure to have them in before kickoff each Friday night. As for me, I’ll probably wait to give mine on Friday mornings or afternoons.

Seems Jennings County had a pretty decent scrimmage tonight. How’s everyone else do?

Hoosier Hills Conference storylines: - Columbus East’s 17 consecutive HHC title streak came to an end last season as well as its 96 straight HHC wins streak (107 straight when counting the postseason). Was this a result of having the most inexperienced team of the last 20 years on the field last year, was it because hall of fame coach Bob Gaddis retired after the 2020 season, or has the talent pool at the school dried up? With all the experience coming back, we’ll know for sure this year. - New Albany won HHC and sectional titles last year for the first time in 19 years. They also won their first ever regional title. Last year’s team was a once-in-a-generation team with all the talent and experience they had. The Bulldogs suffered heavily from graduation, though, so everyone is expecting them to take a big step back this year. However, can head coach Steve Cooley build off last year’s success? Will this year’s team be motivated by 2021 and put in the work to improve quickly? If they can finish in the top 3 in the HHC then it’ll shock a lot of people. - Seymour has a lot of talent and experience returning. Tyson Moore (son of Center Grove head coach Eric Moore) is slowly building up the program as he enters his third season. He followed up a 3-7 rookie campaign with a 4-6 record last year which included ending his alma mater Columbus East’s 96-game HHC win streak. As for the other four schools… - Floyd Central looks to be a top three team for a seventh straight year. They enter their fifth year with James Bragg at the helm and seem capable to challenge for the top spot. Do they have the talent and the depth to pull it off? Stay tuned. - Jeffersonville enters year 4 with Isaac Parker in charge. The Red Devils took a step back last year due to graduation losses, but Parker has instilled discipline into a program that badly lacked it prior to his arrival. Like New Albany, a lot of talent roams the halls of that school. It’s just a matter of getting that talent to play football and then utilizing it properly. - Bedford North Lawrence is an enigma. Not quite sure what to expect from the Stars as Derrick Barker returns for his sophomore season as head coach after a 4-6 debut. BNL had been a 5A team ever since that classification began in 1985 but is now in the 4A ranks. Doesn’t get any easier, though, with East Central in their sectional. - Jennings County enters the season with their third head coach in three years. This will be their sixth head coach in 11 seasons. With Madison leaving the conference prior to the 2020 season, the Panthers are all alone as the perennial doormat and don’t seem on their way up anytime soon. Hard to get excited for football in North Vernon when there’s a revolving door at the head coach position.

Hoosier Hills Conference scrimmages: Mitchell at BNL Martinsville at Columbus East Floyd Central at Charlestown Jeffersonville at Whiteland Jennings County at Brownstown Central New Albany at Scottsburg Silver Creek at Seymour

HHC Scrimmage Schedule: Mitchell at BNL Martinsville at Columbus East Floyd Central at Charlestown Jeffersonville at Whiteland Jennings County at Brownstown Central New Albany at Scottsburg Silver Creek at Seymour

New Pal is in 4A so you won’t be seeing them winning 5A

The threshold is actually closer to 2,100. If it weren’t for Cathedral moving up due to the success factor, Harrison (WL) would be the final 6A school with 2,079 students. Instead, it’s Fort Wayne Northrop with 2,080 students. As you can see, Decatur Central has a little ways to go before they’re in 6A.