Merrillville

[Lysander]

3 minutes ago, temptation said:

I agree with this.  They’ll be a player in 5A, if Cathedral ever comes back to the field.

Maybe so, but by most every appearance (including one actual game), they weren't winning 3A-5A last year. 

Aside from that, my sense was that they had a lot of players last year that might not have otherwise been there in a non-COVID world.  Do they retain those players? 

Even if they do, does it matter at all once they face anyone from Central Indiana that is sent North? 

[Yuccaguy]

1 minute ago, Lysander said:

Maybe so, but by most every appearance (including one actual game), they weren't winning 3A-5A last year. 

Aside from that, my sense was that they had a lot of players last year that might not have otherwise been there in a non-COVID world.  Do they retain those players? 

Even if they do, does it matter at all once they face anyone from Central Indiana that is sent North? 

Just stop is Lysander...stop it!  Why are you trying to deal with a "reality" situation?   STOP IT....  😂

[temptation]

2 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Maybe so, but by most every appearance (including one actual game), they weren't winning 3A-5A last year. 

Aside from that, my sense was that they had a lot of players last year that might not have otherwise been there in a non-COVID world.  Do they retain those players? 

Even if they do, does it matter at all once they face anyone from Central Indiana that is sent North? 

I mean there is only ONE direction to go from a team with 17 D1 players who got trounced in the semi state…

[Lysander]

3 minutes ago, temptation said:

I mean there is only ONE direction to go from a team with 17 D1 players who got trounced in the semi state…

Can't disagree with that.

5 minutes ago, Yuccaguy said:

Just stop is Lysander...stop it!  Why are you trying to deal with a "reality" situation?   STOP IT....  😂

[Guest DT]

The entire Duneland Conference will benefit in the next reclass.  You will likely see 5 DAC schools permanently reclassed to 5A:

Valpo

Merrillville

Laporte

Chesterton

Michigan City

Growing Indianapolis communities like Zionsville and Whiteland , as well as an SF promoted Cathedral, are pushing Duneland schools out of 6A and into 5A.  That's a good thing in my view.

 

[Guest DT]

https://inview.doe.in.gov/schools/1046003809/population

https://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/quick resources/Enrollments & Classifications/football schools 19-20.pdf

Had the IHSAA not skipped a reclass due to Covid, Merrillville would now be in 5A.  The schools poulation has dropped nearly 8% in the past two years, and is projected to dip below 2000 next school year.  

[Guest DT]

5 minutes ago, DT said:

https://inview.doe.in.gov/schools/1046003809/population

https://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/quick resources/Enrollments & Classifications/football schools 19-20.pdf

Had the IHSAA not skipped a reclass due to Covid, Merrillville would now be in 5A.  The schools poulation has dropped nearly 8% in the past two years, and is projected to dip below 2000 next school year.  

Below is the HHF interview with merrillville Coach Brad Seiss from late July, for additional insight into the MV program.  

 

 

 

HHF Interview with Merrillville Head Coach Brad Seiss

Check out our Q&A with the Head Pirate as Merrillville prepares for another DAC season and a hopeful solid post season showing :

Welcome to Hoosier Gigh School Football Coach Seiss

Question 1 Coach. You are entering your 7th season at Merrillville. In general terms, how would you assess your first 6 years in Northwest Indiana relative to the current state of your program, and how it has progressed since you took over in 2015 from Zac Wells?

Question 2 Coach, what is your basic philosophy for Merrillville in terms of offensive and defensive schemes/approach?

Question 3 Your team is 21-4 over the past two seasons, with two Regional championships. The Northern semi state has been a veritable road block for teams all across Northern Indiana for years. Given the numbers disadvantages that Region and other northern schools face when going up against the Indy mega schools, what will it take to get over the hump and bring a big school state championship back to NWI?

Question 4 Merrillville has been loaded with an abundance of talent over the past several seasons, and it has shown in your performance on the field. Who are some of your top level kids that are getting significant attention from the college recruiters?

Question 5 You open the season with 2A Andrean and 4A former DAC rival Hobart. Merrillville used to open its season for several years against Warren Central, running into some of the best Warrior teams ever during their state championship runs. What is your philosophy on non conference scheduling, and do you feel the current slate prepares your team adequately for the DAC season and then on to the state tournament.?

Question 6 It should be another interesting and competitive year in the Duneland. Your Pirates and Valpo graduated a lot of high end talent. Last year was tough to assess due to the Covid Outbreak. Laporte and Chesterton looked to be improving as the season wore on. Crown Point has made a major offseason coaching move. Michigan City appears to have some momentum. What are your thoughts on the conference race heading in to the season, and do you expect DAC schools to make any noise in the post season tournament?

Question 7 MIC schools have dominated the 6A tournament since the last class expansion. Merrillville, Chesterton and Valpo are 3 of the smallest 6A schools in terms of enrollment. Understanding the desire to compete at the highest level, would you like to see any changes made to the class structure so that schools like Merrillville are not competing in the same class with schools that have twice your enrollment, or more?

 

 

Answer 1: When I took the job at Merrillville I knew I had big shoes to fill when Zac left to go to Homewood - Flossmoor. He had won 3 Regionals in 9 years and we were coming off a season where we were a little down but had snuck a sectional championship in on a 6-6 season and we had a lot of talent returning. Not only had Zac done a great job but so had Jeff Yelton before him and so had Rick Wimmer before Jeff and I was really the 1st non region / non Merrillville guy that they had hired since Rick Wimmer. I had a lot of learning to do and truthfully probably wasn't ready to take on a program the caliber of Merrillville and I feel that we underperformed those first 3 years. I think I've matured over my time here and really have done a better job of utilizing players and coaches to give us a better chance for success. It also helps we've had a very good run of talent over the last 3 years to raise our level within the region and northern Indiana football.

 

 

Answer 2: From a philosophy standpoint I'm a true believer that you need to base your schemes off the player strengths and weaknesses that you have. That is something that can change year by year. When I came to Merrillville we didn't have great depth of front so I decided that we should be an odd front defense to save ourselves an extra lineman. As the years went by, our opponents' schemes changed, and our depth changed. We have shifted to a 4 man front because we've had the depth and talent to do so. Offensively with the type of athletes we have we will always be spread / multiple personnel groupings / multiple formation based because that gives us the opportunity to utilize some of our very traditionally strong skill players we've had especially at RB and WR.

 

 

Answer 3: Finding a way to beat the teams from Indianapolis or in the case of Merrillville break through and win a Semi-State is something that we've been chasing at Merrillville for quite a long time. Whether it's been myself, Coach Wells, Coach Yelton, or Coach Wimmer we haven't been able to crack it. It's been FW Snider a few times, Carmel, HSE, and most recently Westfield that have stood in the way. For us it is all about finding ways to establish as much depth as possible. Our enrollment has been going down for quite some time so we know we aren't going to beat these teams with overwhelming numbers and bodies but it makes what we're doing from a strength and conditioning standpoint and a player development standpoint even more important. The last 2 years losing to Carmel and Westfield makes you realize we might have the top couple kids on the field but the most important thing for us is how good are the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th players that are on the field. Us developing every kid is huge because we don't have as many in the halls to pick from. The Indianapolis schools are so far ahead from a strength and conditioning standpoint during the day and almost operating in a collegiate way with the strength staff and facilities that they have to develop their kids.

 

 

Answer 4: We've been very fortunate to have some very talented players to be a part of our program in my time here and when you have talent it makes coaching a heck of a lot easier. In the last 3 years we've had 7 division 1 players and we have 3 more returning this year. Last year we had 3 division 1 players and another 7 that signed NAIA scholarships so we've been very fortunate to have several players that move on to the next level. We've had players each of the last 2 years get offered scholarships by the service academies which is quite an honor because not only does it mean you have talented kids but also you have smart kids that are good people as well. Coming into this season we have DL Kenneth Grant returning who has been offered by OSU, Michigan, and Wisconsin along with Lavarion Logan who's been offered by most of the Missouri Valley and the service academies along with Theo Sparks who has been offered by a few MAC schools.

 

 

Answer 5: When you look at our pre-season schedule our administration has shifted toward having traditional local rivalries with Andrean and Hobart. We get the Andrean game every year at home and we renewed the Hobart rivalry a few years ago which in the 70's / 80's / 90's was the biggest game in Northwest Indiana. Financially those games make a lot of sense because we get Andrean at home and the general interest that sparked from the Hobart rivalry. Playing Warren and Penn in the past we didn't get great crowds because of the distance. Obviously there are some decisions that have to be made whether you decide for them to be financially driven or competitively driven. It's not easy to always find games. With us playing Warren Central in the 2000's it still didn't lead us to breaking through and winning the semistate in 05, 07, 09, or 2012. With us being on the upswing over the last few years and losing to Indianapolis teams in the semi-state it definitely puts into light the need to potentially play bigger schools so that we can be more prepared for their speed and size. What we've done in the short term is this summer we're scrimmaging Fishers, Carroll, Snider, Indianapolis North Central, Avon, Brownsburg, and Chatard so that we can see some high end programs. In the long term we really are interested to see where we fall from a classification standpoint. We're now below 2000 students so in the future running into some of the big schools in the MIC or the HHC might not even happen anymore.

 

 

Answer 6: It'll be a very interesting year in the Duneland simply because a lot of unknowns as everyone has navigated through covid and some new coaches leading programs in the DAC. Us and Valpo lost some high end talent but fortunately for both of us had high quality JV teams. In my time here Valpo and MC have sat at the top of the DAC but we didn't get to play them last year due to their schools having covid issues leading up to our game. So we really didn't prepare for either so I am very unfamiliar with some of the guys they have coming back simply because we didn't have to dig too deep to get to know them because we knew we weren't gonna play them long before we had to prepare for them. Chesterton returns a very good QB and they have been solid over the last few years. Portage was young so you assume that they'll be much improved. Then LaPorte, LC, and Crown Point got new coaches. Coach Buzea has really seemed to energize the Crown Point program heading into his first year and us and them being rivals along with being in the same sectional really increases the energy for that game as there are a lot of familiar faces on the sidelines so that will definitely be a challenge. He's been mega successful everywhere he's been so you'd have to assume it'll be the same at Crown Point.

 

 

Answer 7: The Indianapolis schools have really blown up from an enrollment standpoint. They also have great strength and conditioning structures within their athletic departments and they have great coaches leading their programs. Yes football is a numbers game and the more bodies you have means the more chances of having good players and creating more depth but they also have great coaches leading the way. At Merrillville we do sit on the lower end of our class from an enrollment standpoint but it doesn't mean that we'll just lay down and not fight the fight to compete with them. If we're in 6A we'll do everything we can within our program to be successful and try to make deep tournament runs. The trend looks like we'll drop to 5A but I honestly don't look into that all that much. Every decision we make whether its personnel, scheme, player development, summer scrimmages, or future scheduling is done with the thought of what helps us finally break through and make it to Lucas Oil. We had our chances last year against Westfield. It was 21-16 late in the 3rd quarter where we had squandered some opportunities and not got a couple breaks to where we could've entered the 4th quarter with a lead which is all you want to do when trying to advance to the state championship. Instead we proceeded to play about 5 of the worst minutes you could play and were out of the game. But as we look back we definitely saw that we could compete. As far as changes to the structure of the tournament that is for people that are a lot smarter than me to decide. As the leader of our program we've just got to work on improving day in and day out and the chips will fall where the chips fall.

Thanks Coach, and best of luck to you and your team this season.

11

 

[Staxawax]

1 hour ago, Lysander said:

Maybe so, but by most every appearance (including one actual game), they weren't winning 3A-5A last year. 

Aside from that, my sense was that they had a lot of players last year that might not have otherwise been there in a non-COVID world.  Do they retain those players? 

Even if they do, does it matter at all once they face anyone from Central Indiana that is sent North? 

I believe they are the best pound for pound team in the region. I swear to god they are.

[Boilernation]

11 hours ago, Lysander said:

Maybe so, but by most every appearance (including one actual game), they weren't winning 3A-5A last year. 

Aside from that, my sense was that they had a lot of players last year that might not have otherwise been there in a non-COVID world.  Do they retain those players? 

Even if they do, does it matter at all once they face anyone from Central Indiana that is sent North? 

Depends on who gets sent North (i.e. Cathedral). A little silly to discredit them for losing to 2 teams that a majority of 5A and lower Central Indiana teams would lose to. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Boilernation

[Lysander]

24 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

A little silly to discredit them for losing to 2 teams that a majority of 5A and lower Central Indiana teams would lose to. 

……far be it from me to discredit the “best team in the state with 17 D1 players”.

I think they are the better than “Indinia” University this year.  They certainly have more D1 players.

 

 

[Boilernation]

4 minutes ago, Lysander said:

……far be it from me to discredit the “best team in the state with 17 D1 players”.

I think they are the better than “Indinia” University this year.  They certainly have more D1 players.

 

 

Yeah, I get the hyperbole from a few members of their fan base. Reality is they would fair very well in 5A. Especially, if Cathedral was absent. 

[Lysander]

4 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

Yeah, I get the hyperbole from a few members of their fan base. Reality is they would fair very well in 5A. Especially, if Cathedral was absent. 

They would but many tend to forget Snider and Zionsville (and currently Dwenger) as part of that North 5A equation. In all honesty, so long as Snider is 5A, they will generally be my 5A preseason pick in a non-Cathedral 5A.

That said, the DAC would, admittedly, likely be the most solid “5A” conference in the state (chest pounding and all).

[Guest DT]

1 minute ago, Lysander said:

They would but many tend to forget Snider and Zionsville (and currently Dwenger) as part of that North 5A equation. In all honesty, so long as Snider is 5A, they will generally be my 5A preseason pick in a non-Cathedral 5A.

That said, the DAC would, admittedly, likely be the most solid “5A” conference in the state (chest pounding and all).

LOL  The DAC needs something to hang its hat on.  King of the 5A North not so bad

[Lysander]

3 minutes ago, DT said:

LOL  The DAC needs something to hang its hat on.  King of the 5A North not so bad

“King in the North”!

[gonzoron]

1 hour ago, Lysander said:

“King in the North”!

We all know how that turned out. Didn't need a hat.

[Boilernation]

2 hours ago, Lysander said:

They would but many tend to forget Snider and Zionsville (and currently Dwenger) as part of that North 5A equation. In all honesty, so long as Snider is 5A, they will generally be my 5A preseason pick in a non-Cathedral 5A.

That said, the DAC would, admittedly, likely be the most solid “5A” conference in the state (chest pounding and all).

Historically, the DAC has faired very well against the current day formation of the SAC. A lot of Semi State battles going back to the ‘80’s. Both Snider and Dwenger have been on the losing ends of the most recent ones. Zionsville is threat #1. Not the Fort Wayne schools. The best to come out of the Duneland are typically on par with whomever they face out of Fort Wayne. 

[Boilernation]

2 hours ago, DT said:

LOL  The DAC needs something to hang its hat on.  King of the 5A North not so bad

The DAC is stuck in purgatory. Too small now to compete in football with the HCC and MIC. If they can make a run in 5A they fall victim to whichever team is annihilating Central Indiana (Cathedral/New Pal)

Edited September 6, 2021 by Boilernation