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Which program has more upside? Noblesville or Portage?


Guest DT

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As a fan of big school football, these two schools and the coaching changes they made this offseason present one of the more fascinating new storylines in Class 6A.

Portage was once a blueblood in The Duneland Conference.  State champs under Les Klein in 3A in 1977 and runner up to Castle under Craig Buzea in 1994, Portage has a winning pedigree but has fallen on hard times over the past decade.

PHS is still one of the biggest schools in the state, second largest in The DAC,  yet the Indians are a moribund 36-68 over the past 10 seasons.  Very un Portage like, and certainly a real PITA for many Indian fans, supporters and alumni. Portage has decided to bring in one of Indiana's great Hall of Fame Coaches in Russ Radtke.  

What are the expectations for the new Radtke led Portage program?  Can they compete annually with Valpo and Merrillville in The DAC?  Do they have the individual athletic talent and depth to move beyond a sectional championship?  Will numbers increase or will Radtke's hard ass approach scare off marginal players?  

Does Radtke have one more reclamation project in his bag of tricks, after turning North Judson, Griffith and New Prairie into powerhouse programs?

Portage has been soft , predictable and very beatable for a long time now.  This may be Radtke's biggest challenge, and perhaps eventually his greatest triumph.

Former Laporte Head Coach Dave Sharpe takes over at Noblesville, a big school that has no football pedigree and has never challenged for more than a conference title in its less than illustrious football history.

When fans think of the HCC, no one thinks of Noblesville.  

Does Noblesville has something brewing that Sharpe saw but no one else acknowledged.?

They've got numbers.  Good size in the trenches.  Not known as a school that develops high level offensive skill talent.

Sounds like a perfect fit for Sharpes' ground and pound power running offense.

This is an offense that big school central Indiana fans have not seen.  The NHS farm boys will finally get an chance to beat up their HCC counterparts in hand to hand combat as the Millers grind out chunks of yardage in Sharpes powerful ground game.

Who has the bigger upside?

I love Coach Radtke and what he has done, but I have a feeling Sharpe is going to take the HCC by storm and win  a conference title very quickly.

 

Edited by DT
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52 minutes ago, Temptation said:

Portage.  Less competition.

Both teams occupy similar places in their respective conferences

Let's take a 5 year snapshot of the DAC and the HCC and look at the headwinds facing each program :

DAC

1. MIchigan City - Valpo

3 Merrillville

4. Laporte

5. Chesterton

6. Crown Point

7. Portage

8. Lake Central

HCC

1. Avon

2. Brownsburg

3. Westfield

4. Fishers

5. HSE

6. Zionsville

7. Noblesville

8. Franklin Central

Radtke works quickly, Sharpe is more deliberate.

Portage may see more early success,  while Noblesville may be better positioned for long term competitive stability.

Both teams will be exciting to watch.  The bland and boring RPO offenses that dominate high school football today will get a refresher from Radtke's wishbone and Sharpes Power T.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, DT said:

Both teams will be exciting to watch.  The bland and boring RPO offenses that dominate high school football today will get a refresher from Radtke's wishbone and Sharpes Power T.

Who would have ever thought that the wishbone and the full house would be described as “exciting “ and “a refresher?”

  • Haha 2
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1 hour ago, Bobref said:

Who would have ever thought that the wishbone and the full house would be described as “exciting “ and “a refresher?”

I just hope they both get the chance to show what they can do.  Cancellation of the season is now a real possibility.

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1 hour ago, Bobref said:

Who would have ever thought that the wishbone and the full house would be described as “exciting “ and “a refresher?”

Me.  Sloooooooooow whistle. 

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2 minutes ago, Coach Hanson said:

Best hire by Noblesville in the last 20 years and I think portage turns the program around starting this year. Great conversation starter DT, much better than the contraction conversations 😉

I like to burn the candle on both ends Coach.  

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12 hours ago, DT said:

Both teams occupy similar places in their respective conferences

Let's take a 5 year snapshot of the DAC and the HCC and look at the headwinds facing each program :

DAC

1. MIchigan City - Valpo

3 Merrillville

4. Laporte

5. Chesterton

6. Crown Point

7. Portage

8. Lake Central

HCC

1. Avon

2. Brownsburg

3. Westfield

4. Fishers

5. HSE

6. Zionsville

7. Noblesville

8. Franklin Central

Radtke works quickly, Sharpe is more deliberate.

Portage may see more early success,  while Noblesville may be better positioned for long term competitive stability.

Both teams will be exciting to watch.  The bland and boring RPO offenses that dominate high school football today will get a refresher from Radtke's wishbone and Sharpes Power T.

 

 

 

1.  The path to the top of the DAC is much less steep than the path to the top of the HCC and the HCC is a better conference overall by far...

2.  The tournament path is not even comparable, especially after this hiatus and Carmel returns to the north.

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This one hits home as I played for Buzea at Portage and I've lived in Noblesville for the past 12 years. And get to know your school boundaries, DT! The farmboys east of 37 (technically east of the Summer Road north/south line) go to Hamilton Southeastern. The HSE district goes all the way up to the intersection of  216th Street and SR 13 just north of Lapel. IMO, Portage easily has more upside. Easier Conference, Sectional, and Regional competition. I'm completely out of the loop in terms of the talent at Portage, but from what i've seen the past few years on WJOB broadcasts and reading online, it's a lot more size and speed that what I was used to seeing. That bodes well for Radtke. Our teams with Buzea were relatively small. We were just tough as nails and Buzea demanded we played disciplined football. We ran into a mountain of an O-LIne against Castle in the '94 5A title game and they wore us down in the 2nd half. Blow open a 6 or 7 point lead in the 4th quarter. Then two straight down to the wire Regional losses to Penn who went onto win State both times. 

I can tell you that baseball and then basketball appears to be king in Noblesville, but that's based on the parents of boys that I know and my limited experience watching the youth leagues. Baseball is all year round here with the Finch Creek Fieldhouse having indoor baseball fields. But, the Noblesville Grinders youth football league is very popular as well. And if I were new to Noblesville, without knowing anything about Avon, Brownsburg, HSE, Fishers, etc., I would assume Noblesville had a successful football team with the size, speed and commitment the community does have. I think it just goes to show how tough the HCC is. Maybe it wasn't a fluke that Noblesville took Homestead down to the wire in Sectionals. I am looking forward to seeing what Sharpe can do. I do agree with you that his style is probably more beneficial to Noblesville. Eat ground and burn clock. Keep the superior offensive talent of Brownsburg, Avon, etc. off the field.

 

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I don’t see it happening for Portage if the is a 2020 football season.  Valpo takes the DAC and Merrillville wins the sectional.

Will be interesting what Sectionals 1 & 2 will be in 2021 when the two Hammond schools close and consolidate.  Valpo will probably be back up to because of enrollment or success factor 6A.

Edited by Tommy
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42 minutes ago, Tommy said:

I don’t see it happening for Portage if the is a 2020 football season.  Valpo takes the DAC and Merrillville wins the sectional.

Will be interesting what Sectionals 1 & 2 will be in 2021 when the two Hammond schools close and consolidate.  Valpo will probably be back up to because of enrollment or success factor 6A.

Portage will have to find a way to get past Penn in sectional 2.

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8 hours ago, MarkCalaway said:

3.5 Years

 

I will take the under on the amount of time both coaches are at their schools.  

Who will take the over?

Man.  This guy is really preparing each guys “tombstone” already...

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18 hours ago, Tommy said:

Portage will have to find a way to get past Penn in sectional 2.

What about Elkhart?  Will they be in this sectional?

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1 minute ago, DT said:

What about Elkhart?  Will they be in this sectional?

I don't like how they are putting grades 10-12 at Memorial and grade 9 at Central but playing all their games at Central's Rice Stadium.

Michigan City tried putting grades 10-12 at Rogers and grade 9 at Elston and it was best decided to put grades 9-12 all under one roof.

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1 minute ago, Tommy said:

I don't like how they are putting grades 10-12 at Memorial and grade 9 at Central but playing all their games at Central's Rice Stadium.

Michigan City tried putting grades 10-12 at Rogers and grade 9 at Elston and it was best decided to put grades 9-12 all under one roof.

Is this a short term fix or the long term plan?

Isnt the stadium at Central?

Does this go into effect with the 20-21 school year?

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On 4/5/2020 at 1:14 PM, DT said:

What about Elkhart?  Will they be in this sectional?

Yes - Sectional 2 will be

Chesterton
Elkhart
Penn
Portage

Warsaw slides over to Sectional 3 with the Fort Wayne schools for the 2020 season.

6A Realignment for the 2021 season could potentially be very interesting. I might just start a thread about that.

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2 hours ago, NLCTigerFan07 said:

Yes - Sectional 2 will be

Chesterton
Elkhart
Penn
Portage

Warsaw slides over to Sectional 3 with the Fort Wayne schools for the 2020 season.

6A Realignment for the 2021 season could potentially be very interesting. I might just start a thread about that.

Does Warsaw prefer the FW sectional or Sect 2?

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21 hours ago, DT said:

Does Warsaw prefer the FW sectional or Sect 2?

I am going to take the cheap answer of "depends on the year". I think obviously the last two years, from top to bottom Sectional 3 was more difficult (Snider, Homestead and Carroll as "threats" versus mainly just Penn in Sectional 2). However, in the future, I could see Sectional 2 being a more difficult path depending on what Elkhart and Portage bring to the table. Plus, unless Snider wins a Regional Championship (2 points) next season, they are going to move back down to 5A. 

Examples for teams more likely concerning 6A NORTH:

If Valpo wins Semi-State in 2020 - they will move up to 6A. They might do this anyway with enrollment.
If Bishop Dwenger/Bloomington South wins State in 2020 - they will move up to 6A.
If New Pal wins a regional championship in 2020 - they will move up to 6A.

I added the bit about Bloomington South and New Pal because if two teams move up from 5A to 6A (those are the only 4 possible schools), that could potentially put Warsaw into 5A. There's a thread here that someone complied the Mid-Cylce enrollement numbers, and Warsaw was ranked 31st with 2,051 students.

It's entirely possible depending on what happens on the field and the numbers that come out next cycle, but Warsaw could be looking at moving down to 5A Sectional 10 with Concord, Goshen, and Mishawka (with SB Adams going to Sectional 9 to replace a 6A Valpo) OR 5A sectional 11 with Bishop Dwenger, North Side, and Snider [with Northrop moving up to 6A due to enrollment (27th with 2087 students) and Anderson moving to 5A Sectional 12 to replace a 6A Zionsville (26th with 2089 students)]

 

*can you tell I'm bored while "working from home" during quarantine?" 😏

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