Hoosier Hills Conference

[Fkfootball]

Floyd Central Preview from the Tribune. I’ll post the New Albany and Jeffersonville previews as well, as soon as they come out.

 

FLOYDS KNOBS — For Floyd Central, there’s good news and bad news.

First the good news. Just about everyone is back on defense. By all parameters, it should be the strength of the team.

Now the bad news. Just about everyone is gone from an outstanding offense that averaged 37.2 points per game last year. 

 

“We’re replacing a three-year starting quarterback, a three-year starting tailback, the entire offensive line that graduated is playing college football this year — basically, it’s the entire offense," Highlanders head coach James Bragg said. 

Gone from last season's 7-3 squad are, among others, offensive tackle Zen Michalski, now a freshman working his way up the depth chart at Ohio State; running back Wenkers Wright, an Illinois State frosh who ran for over 3,300 yards and 42 touchdowns the past two seasons and quarterback Tristan Polk, who threw for over 3,300 yards and 31 TDs as a junior and senior before heading to Marian University. In all, nine off last year's roster are playing college football. 

In short, the Highlanders have some big cleats to fill. 

Among those ready to step into the starting lineup is junior Cody Bibelhauser, who'll take over for Polk at QB. The 5-foot-7, 160-pounder will trigger a revamped offense. 

“He’s small and quick,” Bragg said of Bibelhauser. “(The offense) will be a little different for us."

Bibelhauser completed his only varsity pass, for 11 yards, last season. 

“He’s got a beautiful ball, he’s just young," Bragg said. "He hasn’t had a lot of (varsity) experience yet. He’s gotten better every day at practice. That’s all we can ask for.”

Bibelhauser’s backup will be sophomore Tristan Robertson.

The Highlanders hope to replace Wright with not one, not two but three players. The projected starter is junior Jake Hausz, who was a slot receiver last year, when he had eight catches for 87 yards and two TDs. He'll platoon with sophomores Grant Popp and Mitch Bernardi. Bragg said Popp is a "speed demon" who reminds him a little bit of Wright when he was a sophomore. 

Junior Eli Branham (17 receptions for 403 yards and two TDs) and senior Zac Hutslar (nine catches for 219 yards and two scores) are the team's top-returning receivers. That group will also feature Jaxon Farley, a senior who has missed nearly two years with a knee and shoulder issues. Farley said he’s nearly 100 percent now.

“I feel good,” he said. “It’s good to be back out here.”

Up front senior Brandon Fessel is the lone returning starter. He'll be joined on the offensive line by classmates Jacobi Walker, Gavin Harvey and Lucas Schneider, who'll play tight end. 

On the flip side, Fessel and Harvey are returning starters on the defensive line, as is Nate Ripley. Harvey is the team's top-returning tackler. He recorded 42 stops, including a pair of quarterback sacks last year. 

The secondary should also be a strength for Floyd. Several with starting experience return there. They include Hutslar (36 tackles in 2020), Hausz, Branham and Jordan Fonda, a junior. 

“We’ll ride our defense to the grave,” said Bragg, who is 21-11 as head coach of the Highlanders. ”We’ll be alright this year."

Floyd starts its season tonight at Louisville Male, which could be the best team in Kentucky this year. The Highlanders then host Louisville's DuPont Manual, another one of the top squads across the river, next Friday night and Silver Creek on Sept. 3. Floyd Central will close the season with six straight Hoosier Hills Conference contests beginning with Seymour on Sept. 10 and ending at New Albany on Oct. 15. 

The Highlanders, who are 16-6 over the past two seasons, still have a few players who were on the field for their 31-7 win over Jeffersonville in the sectional final in 2019. One of those is Hausz, who has lofty goals for this year. 

“My expectations are pretty high,” he said. “I want to win the regional. I don’t want to win just the sectional. I want to be the first to win the regional.” 

 

[mamasa]

Does anyone know if Columbus East games will be on Facebook Live or streamed at all?

[Fkfootball]

New Albany Preview

 

NEW ALBANY — New Albany enters this season with high hopes, and rightfully so.

The Bulldogs return a great deal from last year’s 6-3 squad that lost 35-25 to Jeffersonville in the sectional championship game. This year New Albany has its sights set on the program’s first sectional title since 2002.

 

“Our main goal this year is to win the sectional,” senior lineman Sabastian Landon said. “I think we were overconfident last year in not being too prepared for that sectional game. Our goal right now is to get that sectional title.”

“We probably have the most experienced team back in the area. Whether we have the best team or not we have to find out,” Bulldogs head coach Steve Cooley added.

It’s no secret that New Albany should be able to score points. The Bulldogs return pretty much every key skill-position player off an offense that averaged 39.5 points per game in 2020.

“We’ve got over 4,000 yards on offense returning. So we’ve got a chance to score some points,” said Cooley. “We should be fun to watch. We’ve got some experience up front and we’ll be physical. I think we’ve got some athletes that we’re going to try and utilize them the best we can.

Triggering the offense once again will be Derell Simmons. The senior completed 56.4 percent of his passes for 1,115 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also running for 498 yards and seven TDs, last year.

Also back from last season are running backs Myles Johnson (1,378 yards, 12 TDs) and Kyondre Winford (920 yards, eight TDs), who combined for nearly 2,300 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns in 2020.

The Bulldogs also bring back their top two receivers from last year in seniors Ja’Raylan Johnson (27 catches for 713 yards and nine TDs) and DeJon Winburn (17 receptions for 295 yards and three TDs). Winburn moves to the outside this year while DaQuan High will take his old spot in the slot.

“Our quarterback Derell Simmons has improved a lot from last season,” Landon said. “He wants to lead this team. Our receivers DeJon Winburn and Ja’Raylan Johnson, who just went off in the sectional, will try to get us back to the position we were last year.”

Landon will anchor things up front, along with 6-foot-4, 305-pound Blake Osborne.

The biggest question for the Bulldogs is, can they stop anyone? Last year New Albany’s defense allowed 33.7 points per game and gave up more than 40 four times.

“Last year we couldn’t stop the run,” Landon said. “The offense was able to keep us in games because we scored a lot of points. We feel like we’ll be a more balanced team.”

The Bulldogs made some adjusts on defense in the offseason. This year they’ll use four down linemen instead of three.

“We’re trying to change things on defense and get better,” Cooley said. “We were young on defense and gave up way too many points (last year). We’ve got to play better defensively and be sound on special teams and the kicking game.”

Landon and Osborne will both also see action on the defensive line as the ‘Dogs utilize several two-way players.

The linebacking corps will be led by junior Avarion Chambers. He topped the team in tackles (93) last year in spite of playing only seven games due to injury.

“He’s phenomenal off the edge. He’s really talented,” Cooley said.

Another outside linebacker, junior Elijah Jennings, has drawn praise from Cooley after missing last season because of injury.

“He’s really, really done a nice job for us,” the coach said. “He’s a real physical kid.”

Returnees J’sean Groves, Myles Johnson and Dakota Johnson will bolster the linebacker position.

“We’ve got some depth. So we just have to go play,” Cooley said.

The secondary should be led by junior Darrius Lewis Hickenbottom. The safety earned All-Hoosier Hills Conference accolades last year, when he tallied 89 tackles and five interceptions.

The Winburns (DeJon and Tyeese), as well as High, round out the secondary.

Sophomore Zach Fleming, a member of the boys’ soccer team, will handle kickoff and field goal duties. He saw limited action last season.

“His leg is a lot stronger now. We just may be able to kick more field goals,” Cooley said. “He’s done a nice job.”

The Bulldogs begin their season with a huge test at Bloomington South tonight. The Panthers are led by the McCullough brothers, Dasan and Daeh, whose father, Deland, was hired as the associate head coach and running backs coach at Indiana University in the spring.

Next Friday the ‘Dogs will host Gibson Southern, which features Purdue recruit Brady Allen at quarterback, before they begin HHC play Sept. 3 against Jennings County.

“We did good last year, but it wasn’t where it could have been,” Osborne said. “This can be even better than last year. If we put some pieces together on the line it will be a smooth road.”

New Albany will close out its regular season Oct. 15 against archrival Floyd Central.

“We’ve got T-shirts that say, ‘Time for talk is over,’” Cooley said. “Everybody is talking about how good we are going to be. We’ve been building for this for three years.”

[Fogertyputmein]

On 8/16/2021 at 9:19 PM, Olympian06 said:

Don't worry, I think Whiteland will beat East as well.. Can't judge a team after 1 game, I give them a few weeks to get going. Good Luck to the Highlanders. 

According to the polls Whiteland is supposed to be East especially playing at Whiteland.  I think if it is close at half it will be a good game, if Whiteland runs out early it will likely be ugly.

 

[Olympian06]

23 minutes ago, Fogertyputmein said:

According to the polls Whiteland is supposed to be East especially playing at Whiteland.  I think if it is close at half it will be a good game, if Whiteland runs out early it will likely be ugly.

 

I think Whiteland wins by 14-17... need a big season from your son on both sides of the ball tho haha.. The kid can do it all. I think East will def get better as the year goes on. 

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, mamasa said:

Does anyone know if Columbus East games will be on Facebook Live or streamed at all?

The game will be streamed online at ihsaatv.org

[Fogertyputmein]

8 minutes ago, Olympian06 said:

I think Whiteland wins by 14-17... need a big season from your son on both sides of the ball tho haha.. The kid can do it all. I think East will def get better as the year goes on. 

I think that is our main challenge not enough depth and I am skeptical he will get much time on offense unless it is goal line.  If others struggle to produce then maybe he gets a shot but then conditioning comes into play on defense.  East is pretty used to playing 22 guys and this year that may be difficult to do and compete against the better teams.  If that is the case and we have to play more guys both ways it may have us wearing down late in games which is the opposite of how things have been for a long time.  

 

[Frozen Tundra]

Week 1 Predictions

#10 Columbus East at #5 Whiteland - As much as I’d love to pick my Olympians, we haven’t really started hot out of the gate the last five years. Not to mention, that Warrior offense always gives us fits. Whiteland is the pick.

Floyd Central at #1 Louisville Male - Whether the Highlanders returned a lot of experience or not, it’s hard imagining they could topple the top team in Kentucky’s 6A class. Bulldogs by a lot.

Jennings County vs Norwell (at Knightstown) - This game shocked me when I saw it had been scheduled. The Panthers playing a team from the Fort Wayne area? Not to mention, most regular season neutral games seem to be played at Lucas Oil Stadium so this is definitely abnormal. Nevertheless, the 3A Knights finished last season at 10-2. It was their first winning season since 2009. However, they’ve made steady improvement since head coach Josh Gerber took over in 2016. While they have some holes to fill due to graduation (especially at QB), I think they’ll be more prepared to play than a Jennings County team reeling from a very recent head coaching change. Norwell wins it.

New Albany at #9 Bloomington South - This could be a statement game for the Bulldogs. The Panthers have allegedly gotten really good out of nowhere thanks to some incoming transfers. New Albany is feeling confident that they have one of their stronger teams in years and they’re ready to prove it. A win tonight would definitely open some eyes. However, I’m going with Bloomington South in this one. They’re being hyped for a reason.

Seymour at South Dearborn - After peaking in 2018, the Knights have fallen off the last couple of seasons. Luckily for them, they’re playing an Owls team that hasn’t been too great lately either. I’m a fan of Seymour head coach Tyson Moore. He’s a good guy but I’m just not too confident in him right now. I think he’ll eventually make a great coach but he’s a pretty young guy with only one season of head coaching experience. He’s going through a learning curve right now. Therefore, South Dearborn wins it.

BNL at Martinsville - The Artesians will be coming off a ten-day quarantine period. You have to wonder how much of it will affect their performance on the field. Despite that, BNL has a new coach and they’re just too much of a mystery to me. I don’t know what to expect so I’m keeping my expectations low for right now. Martinsville wins it.

 

[Frozen Tundra]

By the way, where are you at @Fkfootball? You still haven’t picked a winner for tomorrow’s BNL at Martinsville game.

[Olympian06]

Whiteland - 7

East - 0

 

The freshman from Whiteland just left every player in the dust. That kid is fast! 66 yard TD run. 

[Olympian06]

3 minutes ago, Olympian06 said:

Whiteland - 7

East - 0

 

The freshman from Whiteland just left every player in the dust. That kid is fast! 66 yard TD run. 

Whiteland forces another 3 and out, but Whiteland's returner gets popped upon catching the ball and East recovers the fumble. 

[Olympian06]

Columbus East with a big answer, the offensive line was solid that drive... 

East - 7

Whiteland - 7

2:26 1st quarter.

[Olympian06]

Whiteland leads Columbus East 14-7 at the half. The East team has actually played pretty well. Whiteland is always a tough matchup for CE. Good 1st half for both teams. 

[Olympian06]

After 3 :

Whiteland - 21

East - 7

East fumbles 1st and goal from the 4 on the last play of the 3rd. Have no clue why East tried to rush a play in the last 5 seconds of the quarter but it costs them. 

[Olympian06]

Whiteland - 28

East - 7

Luckily for East (outside of maybe Chatard) this will be the best team East plays in the regular season. A young team that will get better. 

[boilerfan87]

Male 49, Floyd 0 FINAL

 

It was 42-0 in the middle of the second quarter. 

[Olympian06]

16 minutes ago, boilerfan87 said:

Male 49, Floyd 0 FINAL

 

It was 42-0 in the middle of the second quarter. 

That's why Male is probably the best team (Top 3 for sure) in the entire Midwest... Male and Center Grove are basically the same type of team. 
 

If I was Floyd I wouldn't even care about that game.. As long as they come out healthy that's all that matters. Floyd will be ready to battle next week. 

[boilerfan87]

5 minutes ago, Olympian06 said:

That's why Male is probably the best team (Top 3 for sure) in the entire Midwest... Male and Center Grove are basically the same type of team. 
 

If I was Floyd I wouldn't even care about that game.. As long as they come out healthy that's all that matters. Floyd will be ready to battle next week. 

I agree, the game does nothing for them, really. Next week will be a tough outing too, as Dupont Manual is the other major magnet school in Louisville and has a few D-1 guys. In the long run, it should prep them for the post season. 

[Fkfootball]

FC loses 49-0. This is getting ridiculous. It’s time for FC to stop playing a D-1 College team disguised as a High School team. We never once crossed the 50 in this game. The kids looked like they wanted to go home from the start. They don’t want this game and Floyd Central is ridiculous for continuing to force them to play this game.

Edited August 21, 2021 by Fkfootball

[Olympian06]

2 minutes ago, Fkfootball said:

FC loses 49-0. This is getting ridiculous. It’s time for FC to stop playing a D-1 College team disguised as a High School team. We never once crossed the 50 in this game. The kids looked like they wanted to go home from the start. They don’t want this game and Floyd Central is ridiculous for continuing to force them to play this game.

I agree man, it honesty does nothing for either team. I don't get it. 

[Fkfootball]

20 minutes ago, Olympian06 said:

I agree man, it honesty does nothing for either team. I don't get it. 

It stupid man. Our most talented FC team of the last 10 seasons lost last season at home by 28 to East. They aren’t ready for big time football and not even progressing towards it.

[Olympian06]

I take back my comment on New Albany.. these boys aren't beating East this year.. on to get 70 hung on them against Bloomington South. 

[Fkfootball]

3 minutes ago, Olympian06 said:

I take back my comment on New Albany.. these boys aren't beating East this year.. on to get 70 hung on them against Bloomington South. 

They won’t beat Floyd Central. Is the same thing. They can’t play defense. Floyd Central is the only team in the conference besides East that will at least play “some” defense. And we’ll get walked by East too.

[Frozen Tundra]

Rough night for the HHC.

Columbus East loses at Whiteland 28-7

Floyd Central loses at Louisville Male 49-0

New Albany loses at Bloomington South 50-20

Jennings County loses to Norwell 48-6

Seymour loses at South Dearborn 56-26

Jeffersonville is probably glad they have the week off because they’ll likely come out of week 1 with the best reputation. We’ll see what BNL does tomorrow but I’m not too confident.

[Frozen Tundra]

BNL loses at Martinsville 45-14