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Can Elkhart Dethrone Penn and Become King of the North?


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1 hour ago, blucrunchdl said:

If you check the amount of unsportsmanlike penalties that have declined since this staff has taken over. I believe it is instilling discipline into the program. along again with the number of kids that show up for current workouts from both schools. I believe that the gelling is going in the right direction.

 

I think the coach EC has had recently has changed a lot.  Having been on the sidelines and seeing how he handles things I was impressed.  It sho

uld be interesting how he handles more kids and more depth.

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4 hours ago, MarshallCounty said:

Demographics change, interests dropped, coaches retired, other regions have stepped up.  

I agree with this 100%....with some further specifics.

Demographics/Economics changes in the last few decades across most all of Northern, IN.  (Ft Wayne to a lesser degree).  With a significant amount of population movement from the Region and SB/Elk area to Northern Burbs of Indy.  I live in Hamilton County and can hardly keep count the number of Duneland/NIC/NLC folks that are down here now.  A LOT of Legacy families from all of those programs are now in the Indy Metro area....specifically Northern/Western Burbs.  At my kids' ball games, I know people from Penn, Hobart, Jimtown, Valpo, LaPorte, Goshen, Plymouth, etc, etc, etc.  These are guys who were GREAT players in all the blue blood programs (I don't count myself one of them😋).  That is a lot of football "culture" being exported from Northern, IN to the Indy Burbs.

More specifically, Penn is NOT a "Mega" school anymore and has not been able to keep pace with the growth of the MIC/HCC schools.  They would fit nicely in the middle of both of those conferences across most all sports.  Being at the top some years in some.

Maybe most importantly.....some of the legends of Indiana Football have been retired for a long time.....Gees, Howell, Sharpe, etc.  Their contemporaries are drawn to the FtW, Indy Metro areas.  Hopefully this ebb will flow in time....in my football soul, I want to see the NLC, NIC, & Region football get back to par with the Indy Metro

Edited by US31
my grammar sucks...
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On 12/15/2019 at 2:50 PM, BoomBoomMcGee said:

I think that Warsaw will continue to build positive momentum towards a very good and stable 6A football program up north. I believe they will give Penn more of a challenge in the near term in the playoffs and possibly Elkhart in the medium to longer term.
Elkhart will have the athletes. its up to the coaches to develop them and create a winning football environment around the program starting in the feeder system / middle schools. I do believe Elkhart chose the right head coach to lead the program going forward. 

This

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Sticking to my guns here: athletics are very cyclical.  Lafayette Jeff could do a few things in the tournament, the DAC schools won’t stay down forever, and who knows?  Maybe a Ft. Wayne school might do something.

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51 minutes ago, Gipper said:

Sticking to my guns here: athletics are very cyclical.  Lafayette Jeff could do a few things in the tournament, the DAC schools won’t stay down forever, and who knows?  Maybe a Ft. Wayne school might do something.

The SAC will be a crapshoot this year. Could be Carroll, could be Snider, or it could be Homestead. More than likely in that order. Carrroll might be top ten caliber, but barely. 

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2 minutes ago, BTF said:

The SAC will be a crapshoot this year. Could be Carroll, could be Snider, or it could be Homestead. More than likely in that order. Carrroll might be top ten caliber, but barely. 

Don’t know much about the SAC, but thanks for the intel.

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11 hours ago, Gipper said:

Don’t know much about the SAC, but thanks for the intel.

Carroll has the potential of having their best team ever...............that really just equates to a sectional championship. Homestead has one of the better quarterbacks in the state returning, but loses a large portion of his supporting cast from last season. Snider will be Snider, but appears to be a rebuilding year. That being said, I'm the same guy who predicted Wayne near the top of the SAC last year, so take what I say with a grain of salt. 

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1 hour ago, BTF said:

Carroll has the potential of having their best team ever...............that really just equates to a sectional championship. Homestead has one of the better quarterbacks in the state returning, but loses a large portion of his supporting cast from last season. Snider will be Snider, but appears to be a rebuilding year. That being said, I'm the same guy who predicted Wayne near the top of the SAC last year, so take what I say with a grain of salt. 

It would be great to have a few more teams from the Fort at LOS.

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19 minutes ago, Gipper said:

It would be great to have a few more teams from the Fort at LOS.

It will happen, Snider's not down for good. Just not sure this will be the year for them.

Carroll continues to grow, so I see potential there. They have a good coach and I think he knows how to grow a program. He was an assistant under Isaacs for well over a decade.  

Homestead hasn't done it by now and they probably won't. There is something missing there. They are always good, but rarely great. At the minimum, the Homestead program should be on par with Snider by now, but they aren't. Enrollment wise, they'll never more than likely be able to rumble with the MIC. 

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11 hours ago, BTF said:

It will happen, Snider's not down for good. Just not sure this will be the year for them.

Carroll continues to grow, so I see potential there. They have a good coach and I think he knows how to grow a program. He was an assistant under Isaacs for well over a decade.  

Homestead hasn't done it by now and they probably won't. There is something missing there. They are always good, but rarely great. At the minimum, the Homestead program should be on par with Snider by now, but they aren't. Enrollment wise, they'll never more than likely be able to rumble with the MIC. 

IMO, Snider will likely be heading to 5A after the 2020 season. Homestead had it's chance last year. They finally beat Snider in regular season and looked good.  Then came Carmel and they got manhandled, maybe that game against Noblesville really did expose them as being the best team in an average, at best SAC league. 

I expect Carroll to be top dog in SAC next year, surprise team next year, Northside. With Snider, big question is who gets the call at QB.

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7 hours ago, psaboy said:

IMO, Snider will likely be heading to 5A after the 2020 season. Homestead had it's chance last year. They finally beat Snider in regular season and looked good.  Then came Carmel and they got manhandled, maybe that game against Noblesville really did expose them as being the best team in an average, at best SAC league. 

I expect Carroll to be top dog in SAC next year, surprise team next year, Northside. With Snider, big question is who gets the call at QB.

Call me cynical, but I expect Carroll to find some way to lose.  North Side to lose it due to just losing their cool at times.  Snider will right ship, but need to get control of the sloppiness that comes in big games (rarely saw that with Isaacs or Hawley).  Luers just doesn't have it and if you listen to rumors then the coaching may be changed in the near future (the senior QB would have won the Eastside game simply running the ball many whisper).  Wayne has a new coach and might take a little bit to get the offense going...need to see who he brings in to coach.  They lost nearly everyone last year, so don't know what the hype was.  South not sure.  Homestead will be good.  Dwenger will have  new offensive and defensive coordinators, so there's that.  Northrop played well at times, but lots of behavior issues in the school and better athletes walking around than on the field.  Concordia is due to get better.  

Ah, the question at hand...Elkhart should get on par with the new Penn.  My little ones from Mary Beck will be entering high school soon and they'll be good.  🙂

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20 hours ago, psaboy said:

IMO, Snider will likely be heading to 5A after the 2020 season. Homestead had it's chance last year. They finally beat Snider in regular season and looked good.  Then came Carmel and they got manhandled, maybe that game against Noblesville really did expose them as being the best team in an average, at best SAC league. 

I expect Carroll to be top dog in SAC next year, surprise team next year, Northside. With Snider, big question is who gets the call at QB.

For what it's worth, Homestead was healthy when they played Snider. They weren't the same team after they lost Braeden Hardwick to injury. 

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On 2/28/2020 at 8:00 AM, Wedgebuster said:

What has caused the shift in power from the days of Penn, Jimtown, Duneland Conference dominance?  

I don't think it was any one thing for Penn . But these few things add to it . Penn's stud Sophmore(2017) QB commits to play baseball at Notre Dame and quits playing football . IMO , he would of been one of Penn's best  . OL  Tate Johnson moves to Georgia (Committed to Auburn). 9 Players on Edwardsburg , MI State Championship team (2018) went to either Elementary or middle school in the Penn District. Families moving a couple miles north for the small school experience . Add in the injuries to key players last year , and it steamrolls . Just losing 2 D1 type players off a team (especially QB) can have a major impact . 

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5 hours ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

I don't think it was any one thing for Penn . But these few things add to it . Penn's stud Sophmore(2017) QB commits to play baseball at Notre Dame and quits playing football . IMO , he would of been one of Penn's best  . OL  Tate Johnson moves to Georgia (Committed to Auburn). 9 Players on Edwardsburg , MI State Championship team (2018) went to either Elementary or middle school in the Penn District. Families moving a couple miles north for the small school experience . Add in the injuries to key players last year , and it steamrolls . Just losing 2 D1 type players off a team (especially QB) can have a major impact . 

Didn't know about that big of a shift at Penn. That said, I think the Elkhart Lions will be a challenge year in and year out for Penn. Can they beat them a few times here and there, probably, but doubt they dethrone them. 

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9 hours ago, psaboy said:

Didn't know about that big of a shift at Penn. That said, I think the Elkhart Lions will be a challenge year in and year out for Penn. Can they beat them a few times here and there, probably, but doubt they dethrone them. 

All bets are off when a school doubles it's enrollment size. The kids still need to be coached though. With the right coach, Elkhart will endanger Penn's stronghold on the area. And Josh Shattuck might be THAT coach. His seven year track record shows that his teams get better year after year. If that trend continues, Elkhart is a 10 win team this year...........at the minimum. Elkhart's stock continues to rise. 

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