Frozen Tundra

Other schedule changes thus far: - Jennings County will open the season at South Dearborn. The Panthers opened with a neutral site game against Norwell this year. They’re trading one Knights team for another. - Seymour, who had opened with South Dearborn the last four years, will now open the 2022 season at Greenwood. - Seymour will also have a change in week 9. After Madison every year since 1997, the Owls will now host Bloomington South (as mentioned by @MuleDriver) - Not really a schedule change but Jeffersonville will be playing at Bell County (KY) in week 1. Jeff was supposed to host them this year in week 1 but COVID kept it from happening. BNL, Floyd Central, and New Albany’s schedules are listed as incomplete on John Harrell’s website. Here’s what we do know: - BNL still has Martinsville and Bloomington North as their opponents for weeks 1 and 2. Madison is still their week 8 opponent. - Floyd Central doesn’t have any non-conference opponents listed yet but I believe @Fkfootball had mentioned at the beginning of this past season who the Highlanders will be playing. - New Albany will still play Bloomington South in week 1 and Bloomington North in week 6. No opponent listed yet for week 2 but that was Gibson Southern this past season.

Looks like Columbus East vs Indianapolis Chatard was just a one year thing. East has Bloomington North back on the schedule for the first time since 2017. Sorry @Lysander

This is where I disagree. I can understand them joining the MIC as long as football is independent. Even a weaker MIC in football is still a huge jump in competition for Columbus North. Look at all the years they’ve lost to Center Grove in sectionals. Some of those CG teams weren’t all that great in relation to the last couple years or in terms of where they finished in the conference at the time. You are correct in your statement that Columbus North isn’t thrilled about Conference Indiana’s instability. They’ve tried bringing in Columbus East and other schools in the past few years to help stabilize it only to be turned down. If an opportunity presents itself, I could definitely see them bolting. In regards to travel, the ride to Bloomington is not a burden for Columbus North. First of all, it’s not that far. Secondly, the Columbus North vs Bloomington South rivalry goes all the way back to when they were the sole high schools of their cities. North has no problem playing Bloomington South or even Bloomington North for that matter. Also, I’m not suggesting Bless is afraid of playing teams solely because they’re good. I think it’s a combination of how good they are plus the depth those schools have. That’s the safety concerns he’s referring to. While North may have the depth to fill in some injury holes against schools of similar or lesser size, there’s a much larger talent disparity between their reserves and those of a large school like Ben Davis or Warren Central. To play schools of that size on a consistent basis will beat you up and deplete you. Unlike Fort Wayne Luers up in the SAC, there is no upside for North in playing schools like that when it doesn’t prepare them for the postseason. It only leaves them banged up for the already brutal 6A state tournament. So if you can’t win a 6A sectional then the only reward to a season is a conference title. And, as I already stated, that isn’t happening in the MIC due to the sizes of the schools and roster depth of their teams. Personally, I feel one of three options is going to happen for North. Option 1, they’ll apply to join the Mid-State Conference if an opening pops up. Option 2, they go independent in football. A high profile school with the athletic success they have shouldn’t be hindered from finding eight opponents annually for their schedule. Option 3, they ride it out with Conference Indiana until a dissolution or further contraction forces them to move on.

Hold up. You literally interviewed Columbus North head coach Tim Bless back in July and, in that interview, he whined about the unfairness of having to play the 6A mega schools in the state tournament every year. He said the size discrepancy was “ridiculous and, in some cases, borderline unsafe.” So my question to you is, based on that interview, how do you justify Columbus North making the move to the MIC when Ben Davis is more than twice the size of North, Warren Central and North Central are nearly twice the size of North, and Pike has 1,000+ more students than North? Is that not a “safety concern”? North can’t even get out of sectionals due to a Center Grove team that has roughly 500 more students enrolled than North. Was he suggesting they were too big for North to compete with as well? If so, then Lawrence North would be too big also since they’re slightly bigger than Center Grove. So I guess what I’m really saying is this. Either your suggestion of Columbus North jumping to the MIC is ridiculous or Tim Bless is full of crap and is bitter about not being able to beat Center Grove.

Nevertheless, despite living an hour and a half away from MIC territory, I still find this whole situation intriguing. I have no dog in the fight but, as I mentioned in the Hoosier Hills Conference thread, my gut is telling me there’s a chance ripple effects could find their way down to my part of the state. I’m interested to see how the dominos fall.

And here I didn’t think we’d have anything to talk about until enrollment numbers came out in the spring…

You are exactly right. Maybe I was blind to it before but I really started feeling the shift about three years ago.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock over the past 24 hours, I’m sure you’ve heard the news about the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference voting out Carmel and Center Grove and the two schools pitching to join the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. Without rehashing a topic we’ve repeatedly beat a dead horse over, I simply ask whether this big move will cause ripple effects throughout the state in regards to conference affiliation. While the situation is still very much fresh and fluid, I could personally see a domino effect happening that would affect the HHC. Admittedly, I’m not privy to any inside information but I would like to think there is some validity to my speculation. What do you guys think?

Major Columbus East streaks that were snapped this year (per CE Football Stats on Twitter): - 17 straight conference titles (2004-2020) - 14 straight outright conference titles (2007-2020) - 96 straight conference wins (last loss: at BNL on 10/13/06) - 107 straight wins against conference opponents (last loss: at BNL on 10/13/06) - 60 straight conference home wins (last loss: vs Floyd Central on 9/26/03) - 55 straight home wins against conference opponents (last loss: vs Seymour on 10/21/05) - 47 straight conference road wins (last loss: at BNL on 10/13/06) - 55 straight road wins against conference opponents (last loss: at BNL on 10/13/06) - 18 straight conference opening wins (last loss: vs Seymour on 9/6/02) - 8 straight conference opening road wins (last loss at Seymour on 8/31/01) - 18 straight wins against Seymour (last loss: at home on 10/21/05) - 10 straight road wins against Seymour (last loss: 8/31/01) - 19 straight wins against New Albany (last loss: at New Albany on 9/20/02) - 10 straight home wins against New Albany (last loss: 9/18/98) - 12 straight wins against 4A teams (last loss: at New Palestine on 11/21/14) - 6 straight road wins at 4A teams (last loss: at New Palestine on 11/21/14) - 36 straight road wins at 5A teams (last loss: at Columbus North on 8/27/10) - 11 straight 5A tournament road wins (last loss: at Terre Haute North on 10/21/88) - 6 straight 5A sectional opening wins (last loss: at Terre Haute North on 10/21/88) - 16 straight sectional opening road wins (last loss: at Bloomington North on 10/23/98) - 9 straight 5A sectional wins (last loss: vs New Palestine on 11/6/15) - 5 straight sectional semifinal road wins (last loss: at Whiteland on 10/26/01)

Final Pick ‘Em Standings: @Frozen Tundra 40/49 @Olympian06 39/49 @LC_Bears_04 38/49 @mamasa 32/49 @boilerfan87 32/49

Week 14 Predictions New Albany (9-3) at #1 Cathedral (12-1): I usually wait until Thursday or Friday to make my picks just in case COVID rears its ugly head and causes a key player or two to miss the game. However, I don’t think even COVID could change the result of this game. No disrespect to the Bulldogs but they just haven’t played this level of competition outside of Columbus East in a long, long time if ever. I think the goal should be to see how long they can play without having a deficit that requires a running clock. Unfortunately, I think they’ll trail by 35+ by halftime. The Fighting Irish are just too good. It’ll be interesting to see the total yardage in this game. Cathedral wins.

They definitely have improved. New Albany has been notorious within the Hoosier Hills Conference for their atrocious defense. They started the year rough but improved on it greatly as the year has gone on.

Pick ‘Em Standings (after week 13): @Frozen Tundra 39/48 @Olympian06 38/48 @LC_Bears_04 37/48 @mamasa 32/48 @boilerfan87 31/48

I liked Coach Gilbert when I found out he was friends with Coach Gaddis. I think Gaddis offered him some big role with the IFCA prior to 2016. So any friend of Coach Gaddis is ok with me.

Completely agree

Lawrenceburg turns it over on downs on the Gibson Southern 41 with 51 seconds left. Gibson Southern 31 Lawrenceburg 29 Final

Gibson Southern with a 20 yard field goal Gibson Southern 31 Lawrenceburg 29 3:25 left

Gibson Southern 28 Lawrenceburg 22 11:06 left

Gibson Southern 21 Lawrenceburg 7 Halftime Gibson Southern will receive the second half kickoff

Memorial never ceases to amaze me anymore. I didn’t think they could compete in 4A when they were moved up but here they are in the final four yet again. Twice in a three year span with the first resulting in a state title.

Evansville Memorial 17 East Central 14 Final East Central led 14-0 at the half but Memorial tied it up with 5:55 left before hitting a 30-yard field goal as time expired. Mount Vernon (Fortville) at Evansville Memorial next week.

Bloomington South was without their starting QB and starting RB last night. I don’t think New Albany would’ve won under normal circumstances but I’m still shocked they won at all. This is the most experienced team New Albany probably has ever had and it allowed them to get here. First conference and sectional titles since 2002. First ever regional title. Nevertheless, I fully expect Cathedral to be up by 35+ by halftime and play with a running clock in the second half.

A few days before the game, I remember listening to 1070 The Fan and hearing it discussed that it would probably be the quickest state title game ever with the way both teams liked to run the ball. Lol. I went into that game thinking we’d probably lose based on what I’d seen of Westfield. That miracle play we made at the end of the first half made the score closer than it should’ve been. You guys had the stronger team. I never like losing but I didn’t mind losing to your Shamrocks. When we went to the 4A state title game in 2013, I was pulling for Westfield to beat Cathedral in the 5A title game. The result was all too similar to our first four match-ups with Cathedral so I sympathized for you that you weren’t able to get your first state title. So when Westfield beat us in 2016, I remembered 2013 and was happy for you. No shame in losing to a deserving team, especially when it was their first state football title.

New Albany up 20-14 at the end of the third quarter. The Bulldogs are trying to hang on to win their first ever regional title.