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Hoosier High School Football - Pre Season Top 20


Guest DT

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2 hours ago, temptation said:

Sorry, after 2020 Merrillville has to earn their way back on to ANY list.  Transfers, D1 talent galore and got embarrassed on their home field in the semi state.

City and Valpo have shown well on the big stage recently, even in losses.  Merrillville doesn’t get that same benefit.

Yeah, they had like 8-10+ D1/P5 recruits on that team, from what I heard. They were stacked, what happened ??

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I am just saying, if you are giving Penn what appears to be the benefit of the doubt, at least go on the past 4-5 years. No way do they deserve to be ahead of the top 3 in the DAC, Elkhart, maybe, but definitely not Penn. 

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22 minutes ago, psaboy said:

Yeah, they had like 8-10+ D1/P5 recruits on that team, from what I heard. They were stacked, what happened ??

They played sloppy, undisciplined football against a team that was exactly the opposite of that.

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51 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

There was not 8 or 9 D1 guys on Merrillville last year 

Big OL Minnesota commit I believe 

Jo Jo went to ND

Big DL national recruit GRANT, 

That is the 3 I know of 

Talented team, no doubt but were not close to double digit D1 kids 

 

It became a huge topic with exaggerated hyperbole last fall.  He’s not lying that some of the Pirate fanbase made the claim he mentioned.

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3 hours ago, Staxawax said:

This.  There is no way either Chatard or Roncalli would hang with either of those.

I was hugely impressed with the state championship performance by Roncalli.  They absolutely demolished a good Hobart team, and likely would have played a very competitive game against any of the 4 schools in the 5A and 6A finals.

Big strong team with great depth, impact skill players and great coaching.  

I believe the gap between Cathedral and Roncalli was substantially shortened last year, maybe even eliminated.  

 

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1 hour ago, temptation said:

It became a huge topic with exaggerated hyperbole last fall.  He’s not lying that some of the Pirate fanbase made the claim he mentioned.

Yep, exactly. I still like to have fun with that !!!

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1 hour ago, DT said:

I was hugely impressed with the state championship performance by Roncalli.  They absolutely demolished a good Hobart team, and likely would have played a very competitive game against any of the 4 schools in the 5A and 6A finals.

Big strong team with great depth, impact skill players and great coaching.  

I believe the gap between Cathedral and Roncalli was substantially shortened last year, maybe even eliminated.  

 

Both Cathedral and Chatard were significantly better than Roncalli last year. I think CC and WeBo would have given Hobart all they wanted and more in a hypothetical matchup. Roncalli has great size and depth on their offensive line (that’s never been an issue for them).

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8 hours ago, jakone said:

Trai Essex?

Trai Essex was good (3rd round draft pick), but DE Moore is off to a better start from a recruiting standpoint. Moore has offers from Ohio State, Texas A&M, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, IU, and Minnesota..........just to name a few. Essex didn't get that kind of attention. 

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Merrillville still finished 13th according to Sagarin despite their poor performance against Chatard. Ahead of Zionsville, Homestead, and Dwenger, who were all in the Top 18. Concordia was more competitive against Chatard than Roncalli was last year, but that doesn't necessarily make them the better team. Let's just write off Merrillville's loss against Chatard as a bad night. 

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6 minutes ago, BTF said:

Merrillville still finished 13th according to Sagarin despite their poor performance against Chatard. Ahead of Zionsville, Homestead, and Dwenger, who were all in the Top 18. Concordia was more competitive against Chatard than Roncalli was last year, but that doesn't necessarily make them the better team. Let's just write off Merrillville's loss against Chatard as a bad night. 

Now do the Westfield loss...

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1 hour ago, BTF said:

Trai Essex was good (3rd round draft pick), but DE Moore is off to a better start from a recruiting standpoint. Moore has offers from Ohio State, Texas A&M, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, IU, and Minnesota..........just to name a few. Essex didn't get that kind of attention. 

Trai played TE in high-school didn't think he would be OT until Nw convinced him. He played DE too..yet technically speaking that could make moore the guy if trai went as a TE..

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50 minutes ago, temptation said:

Now do the Westfield loss...

Westfield was undoubtedly the state's third best team last year, as Sagarin suggests. Merrillville's 18 point loss to them doesn't make them unbefitting of their #13 ranking. 

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2 minutes ago, BTF said:

Westfield was undoubtedly the state's third best team last year, as Sagarin suggests. Merrillville's 18 point loss to them doesn't make them unbefitting of their #13 ranking. 

No but they had two opportunities to show themselves to the rest of the state last season and crapped the bed both times.

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Just now, Justasportsfan said:

Trai played TE in high-school didn't think he would be OT until Nw convinced him. He played DE too..yet technically speaking that could make moore the guy if trai went as a TE..

All the more reason to dub Moore as Fort Wayne's most highly coveted lineman? And for the record, Dwenger's Jason Fabini is currently the top lineman to come out of The Fort. 

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7 minutes ago, temptation said:

No but they had two opportunities to show themselves to the rest of the state last season and crapped the bed both times.

 

Maybe there was just a big gap between the Top 6 and everyone else? Merrillville was highly touted last year, so you know Chatard and Westfield gave them their best shot. And quite frankly, Merrillville hadn't seen the level of competition that those two programs offered. It was like running into a ton of bricks. 

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10 hours ago, Footballking16 said:

-I believe Center Grove and Cathedral are hands down the two best teams with a considerable gap between the rest.

-Ben Davis is too low. Extremely young team last year and got off to a tough start with a bunch of COVID issues. Think they are biggest threat to Center Grove.

-Chatard loses a ton but that has never stopped them before. Would not be shocked to see them beat Roncalli.

-Bullish on Roncalli but Rodenberg has done a great job rebuilding that team and they will have a very good offensive line. Amazing that it takes an influx in talent down on the southside to get Cathedral back on the schedule. 2023 can't come soon enough, they are due for a whoopin. 

 

I think you could be right on the Giants.

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10 hours ago, BTF said:

 

Maybe there was just a big gap between the Top 6 and everyone else? Merrillville was highly touted last year, so you know Chatard and Westfield gave them their best shot. And quite frankly, Merrillville hadn't seen the level of competition that those two programs offered. It was like running into a ton of bricks. 

I guess that’s possible, though Cathedral beating Westfield by 36 (albeit in week 1) is pretty damning.  I’m not sure Westfield belongs in that conversation...yet.

Also willing to admit my bias against Merrillville.  After the way a handful of their fans strained their triceps patting themselves on the back last September, it was amusing to see their season end in that manner.

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17 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

There was not 8 or 9 D1 guys on Merrillville last year 

Big OL Minnesota commit I believe 

Jo Jo went to ND

Big DL national recruit GRANT, 

That is the 3 I know of 

Talented team, no doubt but were not close to double digit D1 kids 

 

The 4th would have been the kid from Morton that transferred in. He signed with Bowling Green. Lavarion Logan would possibly give them 5. He seems like a fringe non P5 recruit this year. Maybe someone like Ball State, Northern Illinois, or Western Michigan would take a flyer on him. 

The Duneland should be interesting this year. We'll see if Seiss and Marshall can rebuild or take a step back now that generational talent/transfers are out the door. What can Buzea do with Crown Point in year 1? Michigan City could be in a prime spot for a 5A run. Can Good make an immediate impact at Lake Central? The DAC doesn't have a legit State Title contender, but the story lines will be really good this year.

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2 hours ago, temptation said:

I guess that’s possible, though Cathedral beating Westfield by 36 (albeit in week 1) is pretty damning.  I’m not sure Westfield belongs in that conversation...yet.

Also willing to admit my bias against Merrillville.  After the way a handful of their fans strained their triceps patting themselves on the back last September, it was amusing to see their season end in that manner.

Either I didn't catch that, or I forgot. 

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8 hours ago, BTF said:

Either I didn't catch that, or I forgot. 

Unless you were on the IN HS FB Facebook page, you probably missed the constant reminder of the "17 D1" athletes on Merrillville's team, or how they were best in state.  The real maturity came out when they were embarrassed by Westfield.  I've never in my years seen a more classless fan base or a fan base that is as delusional as Merrillville's.  You'd have thought they were the 10-time defending champs with the way they talked.

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