NIC Week # 4

[CoachK5]

Second week of conference games.

St. Joe (3-0) @ Marian (1-2) Holy War '26

SB Washington (0-3) @ Penn (3-0) 

Elkhart (2-1) @ SB Riley (1-2)

New Prairie (0-3) @ SB Adams (2-1)

Don't believe any of these games will be close.

[Sparty]

Can’t believe it’s week 4 already. 
Hope everyone is enjoying every minute and their teams are doing great.  

[LC_Bears_04]

13 hours ago, CoachK5 said:

Second week of conference games.

St. Joe (3-0) @ Marian (1-2) Holy War '26

SB Washington (0-3) @ Penn (3-0) 

Elkhart (2-1) @ SB Riley (1-2)

New Prairie (0-3) @ SB Adams (2-1)

Don't believe any of these games will be close.

South Bend St. Joseph

Penn

Elkhart

Soufh Bend Adams

On another note, there's no reason South Bend Washington and Penn should be playing each other.  It does neither team any good.

[hhpatriot04]

  

On 9/6/2026 at 7:08 PM, hhpatriot04 said:

Elkhart

Marian

New Prairie

Penn

South Bend Adams

South Bend Riley

South Bend St. Joseph

South Bend Washington

Thoughts on these helmets? Do they match what the teams are wearing this season? Any input is appreciated!

[npcougar15]

52 minutes ago, hhpatriot04 said:

  

Thoughts on these helmets? Do they match what the teams are wearing this season? Any input is appreciated!

Change New Prairies to a Navy Blue facemask and chinstrap

[npcougar15]

23 hours ago, CoachK5 said:

Second week of conference games.

St. Joe (3-0) @ Marian (1-2) Holy War '26

SB Washington (0-3) @ Penn (3-0) 

Elkhart (2-1) @ SB Riley (1-2)

New Prairie (0-3) @ SB Adams (2-1)

Don't believe any of these games will be close.

Stick a fork in us.

We are a terrible team in a terribly uninteresting conference. 0 Interesting games this week and maybe one or two the entire conference season (PennvsElkhart) (ElkhartvsStJoe). Why Penn keeps wanting to participate in this conference is beyond me

[GOLDRUSH1985]

2 hours ago, npcougar15 said:

Stick a fork in us.

We are a terrible team in a terribly uninteresting conference. 0 Interesting games this week and maybe one or two the entire conference season (PennvsElkhart) (ElkhartvsStJoe). Why Penn keeps wanting to participate in this conference is beyond me

I'm sure Penn doesn't, but what conference is there? Could you imagine the travel times to Crown Point , Lake Central , etc . Add in the time difference , kids wouldn't be getting home until midnight or after on school nights . 

[GOLDRUSH1985]

Maybe all 3 South Bend public schools should combine . 

[hhpatriot04]

9 hours ago, npcougar15 said:

Change New Prairies to a Navy Blue facemask and chinstrap

[npcougar15]

7 hours ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

I'm sure Penn doesn't, but what conference is there? Could you imagine the travel times to Crown Point , Lake Central , etc . Add in the time difference , kids wouldn't be getting home until midnight or after on school nights . 

The timezone argument is such a weak argument. You do realize the timezone splits the NP district right down the middle? I'd leave my house at 6am to get to the school at 5:15am for my 5:30am practice before school then after practices ended at 5:30pm I'd hop in the car and hopefully be home by 7pm. Every day, that's just how it is and you figure it out.

 

I'm not suggesting Penn leave the NIC in everything. But they 100% need too in football. A South Bend school hasn't beat them since 1986 (including St. Joe) and Penn is currently on a 164 game win streak against any school that is named "South Bend XXXXXX"....Their current schedule is such a waste of time for everyone involved. Go independent in football. Keep a DAC school week 1, keep Mishawaka week 2, Elkhart will have an opening in their schedule so keep them. You have Cathedral who is Independent, etc. 

how hard is it to make a schedule that looks like:

Valpo

Mishawaka

Elkhart

Cathedral & Bloomington South are independent 

Dwenger, Homestead, Snider, Carroll, New Palestine, have 5 non-con openings

Roncalli, Chatard, East Central have 6 non-con openings

Hobart, Lowell, Andrean, all have a non-con opening

you have Michigan schools, you have Ohio schools, you have Chicagoland schools

These other schools are figuring it out, why can't Penn?

 

Fact is Penn hasn't won state in 25 football seasons and in their 4 trips to Indy since then the scores have been 7-57, 0-54, 16-28, 14-63 against the big boys of Indy. What does Penn have to lose?

 

 

[GOLDRUSH1985]

Nice , had to throw the last couple sentences in there, didn't you? Look at it this way , the yearly butt kicking NP will take only makes them better. 

[GOLDRUSH1985]

8 hours ago, npcougar15 said:

The timezone argument is such a weak argument. You do realize the timezone splits the NP district right down the middle? I'd leave my house at 6am to get to the school at 5:15am for my 5:30am practice before school then after practices ended at 5:30pm I'd hop in the car and hopefully be home by 7pm. Every day, that's just how it is and you figure it out.

 

I'm not suggesting Penn leave the NIC in everything. But they 100% need too in football. A South Bend school hasn't beat them since 1986 (including St. Joe) and Penn is currently on a 164 game win streak against any school that is named "South Bend XXXXXX"....Their current schedule is such a waste of time for everyone involved. Go independent in football. Keep a DAC school week 1, keep Mishawaka week 2, Elkhart will have an opening in their schedule so keep them. You have Cathedral who is Independent, etc. 

how hard is it to make a schedule that looks like:

Valpo

Mishawaka

Elkhart

Cathedral & Bloomington South are independent 

Dwenger, Homestead, Snider, Carroll, New Palestine, have 5 non-con openings

Roncalli, Chatard, East Central have 6 non-con openings

Hobart, Lowell, Andrean, all have a non-con opening

you have Michigan schools, you have Ohio schools, you have Chicagoland schools

These other schools are figuring it out, why can't Penn?

 

Fact is Penn hasn't won state in 25 football seasons and in their 4 trips to Indy since then the scores have been 7-57, 0-54, 16-28, 14-63 against the big boys of Indy. What does Penn have to lose?

 

 

These Other Schools are figuring what out ? You mention Penn's State losses , NP has made it to state 2 times in that time frame . They got 77 points hung on them in one of the games . Maybe you should be concerned with NP instead of Penn . 

[PDB26]

4 hours ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

These Other Schools are figuring what out ? You mention Penn's State losses , NP has made it to state 2 times in that time frame . They got 77 points hung on them in one of the games . Maybe you should be concerned with NP instead of Penn . 

They’re figuring out how to make better schedules despite travel difficulties.

[GOLDRUSH1985]

3 hours ago, PDB26 said:

They’re figuring out how to make better schedules despite travel difficulties.

And my point is ,in most of the years of those blowout State losses, Penn was playing in state and out of state powerhouse teams . How did it work out for them ?

[US31]

On 9/8/2026 at 1:55 PM, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

I'm sure Penn doesn't, but what conference is there? Could you imagine the travel times to Crown Point , Lake Central , etc . Add in the time difference , kids wouldn't be getting home until midnight or after on school nights . 

EnrollIn Courses

 

The travel times would be comparable or even shorter than several other conferences in Indiana.   My guess is the longest drive would be to LC....a shade under 2 hours depending on traffic (which is long).  Most DAC schools are closer. 

Penn has lived in the cocoon of never having to drive across more than one couny line for an NIC game for several decades.  Get over yourselves....

Do you know how many conferences extend across 4 or more counties?

Do you know what conference Richmond is in????

Do you know which schools are in the Sagamore conference???

Do you know what the driving time is from Carmel to Center Grove on a weeknight with 465 traffic?

Give me a break....

Edited 1 hour ago by US31

[hhpatriot04]

6 minutes ago, US31 said:

The travel times would be comparable or even shorter than several other conferences in Indiana.   My guess is the longest drive would be to LC....a shade under 2 hours depending on traffic.  Most DAC schools are closer. 

Penn has lived in the cocoon of never having to drive across more than one couny line for an NIC game for several decades.  Get over yourselves....

Do you know how many conferences extend across 4 or more counties?

Do you know what conference Richmond is in????

Do you know which schools are in the Sagamore conference???

Do you know what the driving time is from Carmel to Center Grove on a weeknight with 465 traffic?

Give me a break....

The Pocket Athletic Conference extends across Perry, Spencer, Dubois, Warrick, Gibson, Pike, and Posey counties.
 

ETA: Forgot Daviess County now that Washington is in the conference.

[US31]

1 minute ago, hhpatriot04 said:

The Pocket Athletic Conference extends from Perry, Spencer, Dubois, Warrick, Gibson, Pike, and Posey counties.

Exactly....

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Penn only has one conference opponent in another county....and its Elkhart.  Which is probably a 30 minute drive tops.

[GOLDRUSH1985]

7 minutes ago, US31 said:

The travel times would be comparable or even shorter than several other conferences in Indiana.   My guess is the longest drive would be to LC....a shade under 2 hours depending on traffic (which is long).  Most DAC schools are closer. 

Penn has lived in the cocoon of never having to drive across more than one couny line for an NIC game for several decades.  Get over yourselves....

Do you know how many conferences extend across 4 or more counties?

Do you know what conference Richmond is in????

Do you know which schools are in the Sagamore conference???

Do you know what the driving time is from Carmel to Center Grove on a weeknight with 465 traffic?

Give me a break....

I'm not going to argue with you about distances of schools , but comparing a 41 mile drive from Carmel to CG in Indy traffic, to 88 miles from Penn to Crown Point or Lake Central in Chicago traffic is funny . I've been to a Friday night game at Lake Central , it took well over 3 Hours to get there . 

[US31]

3 minutes ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

I'm not going to argue with you about distances of schools , but comparing a 41 mile drive from Carmel to CG in Indy traffic, to 88 miles from Penn to Crown Point or Lake Central in Chicago traffic is funny . I've been to a Friday night game at Lake Central , it took well over 3 Hours to get there . 

Its a long drive.....time to live like most of the conferences in Indiana.  See above the PAC has figured it out....why can't Penn?  Probably schedule those games for a Saturday in your other sports. 

Long drives aren't stopping schools with way less resources than Penn from finding a conference with more balanced competion.  

[GOLDRUSH1985]

1 hour ago, US31 said:

Exactly....

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Penn only has one conference opponent in another county....and its Elkhart.  Which is probably a 30 minute drive tops.

Actually about 10 Minutes

[GOLDRUSH1985]

51 minutes ago, US31 said:

Its a long drive.....time to live like most of the conferences in Indiana.  See above the PAC has figured it out....why can't Penn?  Probably schedule those games for a Saturday in your other sports. 

Long drives aren't stopping schools with way less resources than Penn from finding a conference with more balanced competion.  

I can't answer why Penn doesn't leave the NIC . Maybe they weighed the extra cost vs reward of joining the DAC and it doesn't make sense . Let's be honest , Penn plays in a weak ass conference and they managed to beat the DAC's best last year in the playoffs .