Pre-Season Poll (inspired by Temp)

[23andCounting]

4 hours ago, FridayNightLights said:

I'd sneak Decatur Central in on that list. They bring back everyone from a 5A State Championship team. Multiple D1 kids. I would take them over 21-25 and probably a few others listed. 

For sure. Temp puts a lot of thought into the poll, they'll be somewhere in the Top 25 after Week 1. I think the ceiling for DC is somewhere near #8. You don't just go into 6A your first year and dominate. It just doesn't work like that. 

[23andCounting]

53 minutes ago, Rodney said:

This guy gets it

 

Just don't say it to much people don't like it when you mention a class has a down year

It all started when Cathedral departed. That's when 5A became "down." They were even down when Snider, DC, and Mishawaka were still there. They'll be "up" this year, mark my word, lol. 

[23andCounting]

5 hours ago, temptation said:

What do you see in Pike that I don’t?

They did have their moments last year, especially early (beating Zionsville and Fishers) but I’m not sure I’d have them that high, particularly over Warren and LC.

No one's finished the sequence yet..............1, 3, 5, __. Probably no clue what I'm referring to. Pike is trending up with Mike Brevard. And if they continue, that puts them at 7 wins this year. That's it really. No clue who they lost or who they have coming back. Darts. 

[Footballking16]

19 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

It all started when Cathedral departed. That's when 5A became "down." They were even down when Snider, DC, and Mishawaka were still there. They'll be "up" this year, mark my word, lol. 

5A has been largely watered down since the inclusion of a 6th class and the inception of the success factor. It's been dominated by 4A enrollment schools.

[Justasportsfan]

13 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

It all started when Cathedral departed. That's when 5A became "down." They were even down when Snider, DC, and Mishawaka were still there. They'll be "up" this year, mark my word, lol. 

Cathedral "departed" 4a before running roughshod through 5a. Snider did have some down years, tbh, some thought after 6a was formed that Snider would reel off a few titles before being bumped to 6a...those who watched Snider clash with traditional powers in 5a had good reason to believe so, although that was early 2000-12. Mishawaka is another school that was bumped from 4a not too long ago. You give me EC, Snider, New Pal, Cathedral, Valpo/Merrillville all lurking in 5a I'd say it was an "up" year. When you remove a couple or a few of the traditional powers, it does make the road to LOS slightly more amicable is all I am saying. IHSAA was tired of hearing us complain that the same teams won titles and wanted new blood down in Indy. I get it, it infuses life into youth programs which will keep the sport churning.

[FridayNightLights]

1 hour ago, Rodney said:

This guy gets it

 

Just don't say it to much people don't like it when you mention a class has a down year

Down year, or not, for 5A last year...DC will be pound for pound one of the best 25 teams in the state this year...and I think it will be closer to best 10-15 teams in the state. 

Edited July 9, 2025 by FridayNightLights

[23andCounting]

15 minutes ago, Footballking16 said:

5A has been largely watered down since the inclusion of a 6th class and the inception of the success factor. It's been dominated by 4A enrollment schools.

Dominated by Cathedral, which is an open enrollment school. To say they are a 4A school is laughable. New Pal did it twice. 5A enrollment schools did it 6 times. One could conclude, let's call Cathedral a 5A program (many would call them 6A with open enrollment and no feeder schools), that 10 of the 12 titles came from 5A programs and only 2 by 4A programs. 

1 minute ago, FridayNightLights said:

Down year, or not, for 5A last year...DC will be pound for pound one of the best 25 teams in the state this year...and I think it will be closer to best 10-15 teams in the state. 

Ran out of "likes", so..............like. 

[Rodney]

East Central? No way we're going to forget about that game.

 

Couple people here still owe me for it

[Rodney]

Most years a 5a school won the 5a tournament as of recent they would've been clobbered by the 4a team

[23andCounting]

15 minutes ago, Rodney said:

Most years a 5a school won the 5a tournament as of recent they would've been clobbered by the 4a team

Contrary to public opinion, Snider/EC in 2023 could have gone either way. I actually have Snider as the favorite in that game. I think Snider's defense would have given them fits. Low scoring game for sure.

I see New Pal beating DC last season, but hardly "clobber." 

East Central wouldn't have clobbered Snider, Valpo, Merrillville, or North Side in 2022. I wouldn't even guarantee a win over any of those teams. Not going back any further............back to work. 

 

[Footballking16]

41 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

Dominated by Cathedral, which is an open enrollment school. To say they are a 4A school is laughable. New Pal did it twice. 5A enrollment schools did it 6 times. One could conclude, let's call Cathedral a 5A program (many would call them 6A with open enrollment and no feeder schools), that 10 of the 12 titles came from 5A programs and only 2 by 4A programs. 

Ran out of "likes", so..............like. 

Ok? Doesn't change the narrative that 5A has been dominated by schools outside their enrollment classification. 

Believe Columbus East won it in a year they were up due to the success factor and Valpo won it in a year where they were 6A by enrollment but in 5A due to Cathedral being in 6A but could be wrong on that. There are some very good 5A enrollment schools, don't get me wrong, but 5A is the weakest class top to bottom and it's not really close and has been since the implementation of 6A. To argue otherwise is silly. 

Edited July 9, 2025 by Footballking16

[Footballking16]

24 minutes ago, Rodney said:

Most years a 5a school won the 5a tournament as of recent they would've been clobbered by the 4a team

Agreed. IHSAA screwed up splitting up 5A into two classes. Top 32 enrollment schools should have formed 6A and the bottom 32 enrollment schools should have formed 1A. A 64 team class comprised of the 32 5A schools and the top 32 enrollment schools in 4A would form a pretty darn competitive class. 

[temptation]

8 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

Contrary to public opinion, Snider/EC in 2023 could have gone either way. I actually have Snider as the favorite in that game. I think Snider's defense would have given them fits. Low scoring game for sure.

I see New Pal beating DC last season, but hardly "clobber." 

East Central wouldn't have clobbered Snider, Valpo, Merrillville, or North Side in 2022. I wouldn't even guarantee a win over any of those teams. Not going back any further............back to work. 

 

New Pal and Decatur Central were tied at 21 last fall around halftime before the game was cancelled and never made up due to weather. 

[Rodney]

Big snider fan

 

Ec would've thrashed them

 

But people also thought that north wherever the hell it is could compete with ec

Edited July 9, 2025 by Rodney

[Trojanmp52]

On 7/8/2025 at 10:00 AM, Footballking16 said:

Warren Central at 20? 

If I am wrong hope some one can tell me. 10 of the 11 staters on defence where seniors last year

 

[Rodney]

I've got Warren significantly higher than 20

[Komets2727]

30 minutes ago, Rodney said:

Big snider fan

 

Ec would've thrashed them

 

But people also thought that north wherever the hell it is could compete with ec

Very doubtful on that

[23andCounting]

1 hour ago, Footballking16 said:

Ok? Doesn't change the narrative that 5A has been dominated by schools outside their enrollment classification. 

Believe Columbus East won it in a year they were up due to the success factor and Valpo won it in a year where they were 6A by enrollment but in 5A due to Cathedral being in 6A but could be wrong on that. There are some very good 5A enrollment schools, don't get me wrong, but 5A is the weakest class top to bottom and it's not really close and has been since the implementation of 6A. To argue otherwise is silly. 

Not sure top to bottom really matters considering every class really only has four legitimate contenders. Again, 10 of the 12 years were one by a 5A enrollment school or Cathedral (whatever class you want to call them.). "Dominated" by lower enrollment schools is false and a massive stretch. I say that because I view Cathedral as a 5A/6A program based on the advantages they have over their 4A peers. 

1 hour ago, Footballking16 said:

Agreed. IHSAA screwed up splitting up 5A into two classes. Top 32 enrollment schools should have formed 6A and the bottom 32 enrollment schools should have formed 1A. A 64 team class comprised of the 32 5A schools and the top 32 enrollment schools in 4A would form a pretty darn competitive class. 

You agree with the "clobber" statement? Good grief.

I agree with everything else. Major miss on the IHSAA's part. 

[23andCounting]

1 hour ago, temptation said:

New Pal and Decatur Central were tied at 21 last fall around halftime before the game was cancelled and never made up due to weather. 

Good point, forgot about that. I was going to call it a pickem, but I know everyone was really high on New Pal last season. 

[23andCounting]

51 minutes ago, Rodney said:

Big snider fan

 

Ec would've thrashed them

 

But people also thought that north wherever the hell it is could compete with ec

EC was too one dimensional. They would have been lucky to go over the 14 mark. The question is, could Snider have scored 17. I think yes. If you watch film of both programs, I think Snider was a serious match-up problem for EC. Too bad that game never happened. Snider kept both Merrillville and DC out of the endzone, let's not get ahead of ourselves here Rodney. 

[23andCounting]

40 minutes ago, Rodney said:

I've got Warren significantly higher than 20

I can live with that. Most on here seem to be confident in their new coach. Don't forget, being ranked 20 in the state of Indiana is a compliment for any program. There's some damn good football in this state. 

[Footballking16]

7 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

Not sure top to bottom really matters considering every class really only has four legitimate contenders. Again, 10 of the 12 years were one by a 5A enrollment school or Cathedral (whatever class you want to call them.). "Dominated" by lower enrollment schools is false and a massive stretch. I say that because I view Cathedral as a 5A/6A program based on the advantages they have over their 4A peers. 

You still can't refute that at least half of the 5A title have been won by schools who aren't traditional 5A enrollment schools. That's exactly what watered down means. 

[Justasportsfan]

20 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

EC was too one dimensional. They would have been lucky to go over the 14 mark. The question is, could Snider have scored 17. I think yes. If you watch film of both programs, I think Snider was a serious match-up problem for EC. Too bad that game never happened. Snider kept both Merrillville and DC out of the endzone, let's not get ahead of ourselves here Rodney. 

I forgot DC didn't reach the EZ that game...oof..

[temptation]

1 hour ago, Trojanmp52 said:

If I am wrong hope some one can tell me. 10 of the 11 staters on defence where seniors last year

 

Yeah, don’t think this is accurate.  I know their two highest prospects entering this season are both on defense.

[Footballking16]

10 minutes ago, temptation said:

Yeah, don’t think this is accurate.  I know their two highest prospects entering this season are both on defense.

They have a kid committed to Alabama (Finch) and another trending towards Ohio State on that side of the ball. Believe they pulled in a few transfers as well who have D1 offers. Unless their new coach is in completely over his head, they'll be a tough out for anybody.