Hoosier Hills Conference

[Fkfootball]

1 hour ago, Hoosiers1218 said:

Hello all,

I feel as nobody on here has ever given any insight into the JC program. I always see the they don’t belong in the HHC they need to move conferences, but it’s never going to happen. Plus it’s not true JC has plenty of potential to field a team that can compete with New Albany, Floyd, BNL, East, etc. I was a former player on the 2015-2016 team and we showed we can be a winning program, but there are some factors in my opinion that hamper the program such as high coaching turnover my senior year we were on head coach number 3.

I actually agree with you. And that team you had was pretty solid.

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, Hoosiers1218 said:

Hello all,

I feel as nobody on here has ever given any insight into the JC program. I always see the they don’t belong in the HHC they need to move conferences, but it’s never going to happen. Plus it’s not true JC has plenty of potential to field a team that can compete with New Albany, Floyd, BNL, East, etc. I was a former player on the 2015-2016 team and we showed we can be a winning program, but there are some factors in my opinion that hamper the program such as high coaching turnover my senior year we were on head coach number 3.

The issue is that Jennings County is shrinking quickly in student population while five of the other six HHC student populations are growing. While I’m not saying it’s impossible for Jennings County to compete despite that, given how the state of athletics has been there, the likelihood they will is not good. This is why conversations started several years ago as to whether it was time for the school to move on from the HHC. The reason they didn’t is because they wanted a new conference home but couldn’t get invited to one. So instead of going the route of a school similar to their situation (Madison), it was more beneficial just to stay in the HHC and take their lumps.

I made a prediction that they’ll be out of the HHC by 2030. Maybe they go to the EIAC. Maybe they go to the Mid-Southern Conference if a spot ever opens up there. Or maybe they join a conference that isn’t in existence yet. Shakeups to the EIAC, MSC, and/or the Hoosier Heritage Conference could facilitate that. We’ll see though.

[Hoosiers1218]

1 hour ago, Frozen Tundra said:

The issue is that Jennings County is shrinking quickly in student population while five of the other six HHC student populations are growing. While I’m not saying it’s impossible for Jennings County to compete despite that, given how the state of athletics has been there, the likelihood they will is not good. This is why conversations started several years ago as to whether it was time for the school to move on from the HHC. The reason they didn’t is because they wanted a new conference home but couldn’t get invited to one. So instead of going the route of a school similar to their situation (Madison), it was more beneficial just to stay in the HHC and take their lumps.

I made a prediction that they’ll be out of the HHC by 2030. Maybe they go to the EIAC. Maybe they go to the Mid-Southern Conference if a spot ever opens up there. Or maybe they join a conference that isn’t in existence yet. Shakeups to the EIAC, MSC, and/or the Hoosier Heritage Conference could facilitate that. We’ll see though.

Yes student population is shrinking. Jennings County does not have the best economic opportunities and a good majority of residents in Jennings County have to travel out of county to work. I feel it does make people move out of the county and move to a place with more opportunity and another thing that I’ve seen is kids living in Jennings County, but going to Columbus east or more surprising South Decatur. I still can’t see us leaving the HHC, I heard we won’t leave because we were one of the founding members. 

[Frozen Tundra]

14 minutes ago, Hoosiers1218 said:

Yes student population is shrinking. Jennings County does not have the best economic opportunities and a good majority of residents in Jennings County have to travel out of county to work. I feel it does make people move out of the county and move to a place with more opportunity and another thing that I’ve seen is kids living in Jennings County, but going to Columbus east or more surprising South Decatur. I still can’t see us leaving the HHC, I heard we won’t leave because we were one of the founding members. 

The old guard (people in their 50s and 60s) don’t want to leave and I get it. I’m a traditionalist too. However, as they get older, they’re getting phased out of their positions of power whether voluntarily or not.

Yeah Jennings County has lost quite a few athletes to other schools. Columbus East, Greensburg, and Jennings County North (a.k.a. South Decatur) are three to name a few. I know a study was done a year or two prior to the pandemic to determine where students were transferring out of the district to and why. The purpose of the study was to figure out how to keep the student population from continuing to shrink as that’s seen as a serious problem for the school district.

[Hoosiers1218]

1 minute ago, Frozen Tundra said:

The old guard (people in their 50s and 60s) don’t want to leave and I get it. I’m a traditionalist too. However, as they get older, they’re getting phased out of their positions of power whether voluntarily or not.

Yeah Jennings County has lost quite a few athletes to other schools. Columbus East, Greensburg, and Jennings County North (a.k.a. South Decatur) are three to name a few. I know a study was done a year or two prior to the pandemic to determine where students were transferring out of the district to and why. The purpose of the study was to figure out how to keep the student population from continuing to shrink as that’s seen as a serious problem for the school district.

South Decatur may as well be Jennings County North lol. It is sort of a drive from Northern Jennings County to the high school. I stayed at Jennings County even if it did take me 20-25 minutes to get to school because the 15-16 team we were all close. Most of us had played together since 5th and 6th grade and I wanted to finish playing with the same group of guys and I think that’s how we all thought. The 15-16 year Coach Zimmerman was hired who was our middle school coach. We knew his system already and we loved and respected the hell out of Coach Z and we wanted to play as hard as we could for him. It just really works out at Jennings County when a team stays together and can get a system in place.

[Impartial_Observer]

Seymour just 13 miles away faces another set of problems. There is a very real chance they will be 6A in the not too distant future. Several construction sites going now and more in the works. If trends hold true Seymour would have an enrollment nearly 50% Hispanic and close to 35% non-English speaking. And while the options as far as Hispanic groceries and Mexican Restaurants have exploded around town, I’m not sure these numbers are conducive to success in the Gridiron or test scores in the spring. 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Impartial_Observer

[Hoosiers1218]

8 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Seymour just 13 miles away faces another set of problems. There is a very real chance they will be 6A in the not too distant future. Several construction sites going now and more in the works. If trends hold true Seymour would have an enrollment nearly 50% Hispanic and close to 35% non-English speaking. And while the options as far as Hispanic groceries and Mexican Restaurants have exploded around town, I’m not sure these numbers are conducive to success in the Gridiron or test scores in the spring. 

Seymour has turned into a bustling place, I mean it’s just right there off i65 companies want to build next to interstates. Not to mention Jackson County is huge.

[Frozen Tundra]

24 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Seymour just 13 miles away faces another set of problems. There is a very real chance they will be 6A in the not too distant future. Several construction sites going now and more in the works. If trends hold true Seymour would have an enrollment nearly 50% Hispanic and close to 35% non-English speaking. And while the options as far as Hispanic groceries and Mexican Restaurants have exploded around town, I’m not sure these numbers are conducive to success in the Gridiron or test scores in the spring. 

When exactly did the growth take off in Seymour and why is the city so attractive to Hispanics?

[Frozen Tundra]

35 minutes ago, Hoosiers1218 said:

South Decatur may as well be Jennings County North lol. It is sort of a drive from Northern Jennings County to the high school. I stayed at Jennings County even if it did take me 20-25 minutes to get to school because the 15-16 team we were all close. Most of us had played together since 5th and 6th grade and I wanted to finish playing with the same group of guys and I think that’s how we all thought. The 15-16 year Coach Zimmerman was hired who was our middle school coach. We knew his system already and we loved and respected the hell out of Coach Z and we wanted to play as hard as we could for him. It just really works out at Jennings County when a team stays together and can get a system in place.

Glad to have you in this group. It’s nice to have a pure Jennings County fan in here finally. I’ve had to pick up the slack despite the fact I went to Columbus East. I’ve lived in Jennings County for almost a decade, have deep familial ties here, and have many connections within the county. However, I still bleed orange and brown pretty hardcore so it felt weird covering for Jennings County on here.

[Panther25]

8 hours ago, Hoosiers1218 said:

Seymour has turned into a bustling place, I mean it’s just right there off i65 companies want to build next to interstates. Not to mention Jackson County is huge.

I watched that 15-16 team quite a bit. Lol.  What number were you? 

[Impartial_Observer]

8 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

When exactly did the growth take off in Seymour and why is the city so attractive to Hispanics?

Late 90’s early 2000’s. It became apparent early on Jackson County would not be able to supply the workforce needs of local industry that Jackson County Development Corp was bringing in. Within about a year of WalMart DC opening up, a manager told me we have approximately 100 new hires starting every week and we have people from 7 different counties. Cummins runs two buses a day from Greenwood and Whiteland bringing people to CIC. Which really sticks in my crawl when you look at the 10’s of millions they receive in grants and abatements, but that’s another conversation. 
As I understand it a majority of the immigrants we have now are Guatamalan. Early on they were Mexicans, and the Guatemalans and the Mexicans don’t necessarily play well together. 
I have heard estimates from locals, police, city hall, school officials, my wife, who say that anywhere from 30%-60% are illegal. 
I frequent several Hispanic establishments, my experience is they are good hard working people just trying to raise a family just like the rest of us. 
Without getting in the weeds, that’s kind of the situation, hey it always boils down to socioeconomic issues right, and while Seymour is doing well, it doesn’t necessarily translate to W’s on the Gridiron. 

[Uncle Bubba]

Read a article on WLKY today about a kid who transferred in from Male this year to New Albany. He is a 4 star OL senior. How is he available to play? 

[Uncle Bubba]

3 hours ago, Uncle Bubba said:

Read a article on WLKY today about a kid who transferred in from Male this year to New Albany. He is a 4 star OL senior. How is he available to play? 

I left the area for some time and don’t know how transfers work. Had family at FC/NA/Jeff back in the early and late 90’s.  
Kid from NA seems legit and hope he succeeds  

was just wondering what the new transfer rules are? 
 

FC seems to be playing a early heavy schedule… which can help or hurt. Looks like hurt them this year from the injury report that I’m hearing from my buddies back home  They seem to be in a conundrum that lower level schools don’t want to play them so they have to fill with bigger schools. Just trying to get a understandable why playing the big Louisville teams help this early in the season.  Heard FC drops Male and Manual next year but picks up St. X next year for opening night. Does that help or hurt program?  

Thoughts? 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Uncle Bubba

[Frozen Tundra]

Week 3 Picks

Bedford North Lawrence (0-2, 0-0 HHC) at Jeffersonville (0-1, 0-1 HHC): The Red Devils lead the series 30-16 but the Stars have won four of the last five games. BNL has played a couple of tough opponents the first two weeks while all we have to go on with Jeff is last week’s loss to Seymour. There’s really not enough to go off of here and I feel like it could go either way. Because I came into this season expecting Seymour to challenge for an HHC title, I’ll give Jeff the edge here against BNL. It took a late Seymour TD to come from behind and beat them. Therefore, I say Jeff wins.

Floyd Central (0-2) at Silver Creek (1-1): Surprisingly, this will only be the second time these two teams have matched up. The Highlanders were blanked at home last year and are now looking to return the favor. I don’t think the Dragons are as good as last year’s team and I think Floyd is much better than last year. Sounds like Floyd Central played Male and Manual tough early on the last couple weeks. Based on that, they should be able to last longer against Silver Creek. I’ll take the Highlanders to win.

New Albany (0-2) at Jennings County (1-1): Five HHC teams are winless two weeks in. Two HHC teams are 1-1. It’s crazy to think Jennings County has more wins than five HHC teams (including Columbus East) but here we are. The Bulldogs lead the series 36-10 over the Panthers and have won the last six. Despite how bad Jennings County beat down Brown County last week, and despite how bad New Albany has looked the last two weeks, I have to think talent wins out in this game. The Bulldogs have much more of it. New Albany gets the W.

Seymour (1-1, 1-0 HHC) at Columbus East (0-2, 0-0 HHC): 96 straight HHC wins. 107 straight wins against HHC teams. These unfathomable streaks Columbus East had going for them from the 2006 postseason through the 2020 season came to a rotten end last year at the hands of Seymour. If you remember that game, East completely gave it away late and seemed to try their hardest to give Seymour the win. Ironically, the coach to break those East winning streaks was Tyson Moore, a guy who put four years in on the East football team from 2007-2010 to help build those streaks. The Owls also snapped East’s 18 game winning streak against them. However, the Olympians lead the series 35-21. I’m curious to see how East approaches the game and how they respond to last year’s result. While it’s clear the Olympians are no longer a state title threat, have they fallen so far as to no longer being an HHC title threat? This game will reveal it. After taking some lumps the last two weeks, I’ve got to think East will be ready and and capable. I’m going with East.

[Frozen Tundra]

Still need week 3 picks from:

@boilerfan87

@mamasa

@swcgillespie

As for @Fkfootball and @Uncle Bubba, you guys aren’t in the main competition since you missed the first two weeks. However, if you want to put your picks in each week then I can keep track of it and have you compete against each other. Up to you.

[RetiredSouthernCoach]

I'm new to the site and new to the Columbus area after living near the Indianapolis area. I've enjoyed reading through all the takes on the conference teams in this southern area. Keep up the good conversation! 

With the East program, I cant imagine how hard it must be for Coach Vogell to follow a legend in Gaddis. Being measured up to that every Friday is tough. I've always felt you want to be the coach that follows the coach after the legend, so the next East coach, when you look at these big time programs. Is there any hope for East to get things turned around and back to a top ten level? Have they just lost coaches/coordinators that were pieces of the puzzle? Vogel sounds like a lifer there at East, so hoping they can get it going. 

 

[Fkfootball]

9 hours ago, Uncle Bubba said:

I left the area for some time and don’t know how transfers work. Had family at FC/NA/Jeff back in the early and late 90’s.  
Kid from NA seems legit and hope he succeeds  

was just wondering what the new transfer rules are? 
 

FC seems to be playing a early heavy schedule… which can help or hurt. Looks like hurt them this year from the injury report that I’m hearing from my buddies back home  They seem to be in a conundrum that lower level schools don’t want to play them so they have to fill with bigger schools. Just trying to get a understandable why playing the big Louisville teams help this early in the season.  Heard FC drops Male and Manual next year but picks up St. X next year for opening night. Does that help or hurt program?  

Thoughts? 
 

 

 

 

 

FC is pretty healthy other then their top RBs being out. And they got hurt in practice which can happen. They have other guys to carry the ball so I’m sure they’ll survive.

[boilerfan87]

Bedford NL at Jeffersonville 

Floyd Central at Silver Creek

New Albany at Jennings County 

Seymour at Columbus East 

[boilerfan87]

9 hours ago, Uncle Bubba said:

I left the area for some time and don’t know how transfers work. Had family at FC/NA/Jeff back in the early and late 90’s.  
Kid from NA seems legit and hope he succeeds  

was just wondering what the new transfer rules are? 
 

FC seems to be playing a early heavy schedule… which can help or hurt. Looks like hurt them this year from the injury report that I’m hearing from my buddies back home  They seem to be in a conundrum that lower level schools don’t want to play them so they have to fill with bigger schools. Just trying to get a understandable why playing the big Louisville teams help this early in the season.  Heard FC drops Male and Manual next year but picks up St. X next year for opening night. Does that help or hurt program?  

Thoughts? 
 

 

 

 

 

They would have had to move to this side of the river. If they relocated, then the transfer would have been approved. Students from out of state are not allowed to attend Indiana public schools even if they're not an athlete. 

[Frozen Tundra]

1 hour ago, RetiredSouthernCoach said:

I'm new to the site and new to the Columbus area after living near the Indianapolis area. I've enjoyed reading through all the takes on the conference teams in this southern area. Keep up the good conversation! 

With the East program, I cant imagine how hard it must be for Coach Vogell to follow a legend in Gaddis. Being measured up to that every Friday is tough. I've always felt you want to be the coach that follows the coach after the legend, so the next East coach, when you look at these big time programs. Is there any hope for East to get things turned around and back to a top ten level? Have they just lost coaches/coordinators that were pieces of the puzzle? Vogel sounds like a lifer there at East, so hoping they can get it going. 

 

Eddie Vogel has been at East since 2002. He was an assistant for Gaddis at East every season except Gaddis’ first (2001). David Miller has been at East since 2006. Even before Gaddis retired, everyone expected one of these two guys to become the next head coach. I don’t know if Miller interviewed for the head coaching position and, if so, what his plans were as head coach. All I can say is that Vogel came in with the idea of changing nothing. He wanted to run the program the exact same way as Gaddis because of how successful Gaddis was with it.

I can’t speak as to whether Vogel is actually doing it. I can only speak for what I see on Friday nights and what I’ve seen hasn’t been good. The biggest thing is that the talent pool at East has dried up. We all began noticing this in the mid-2010s when the JV and freshmen games were becoming dominated by Columbus North.

In 2019 and 2020, we were a 6A school due to the success factor. While we couldn’t get past Center Grove in sectionals, it should be noted that those teams would’ve made semi-state in 5A had we not been moved up. Wouldn’t have made it to state because New Palestine and Cathedral would’ve beaten us, but those were 5A final four-caliber teams. Many of us knew that, after the 2020 season, we no longer would even be 5A final four-caliber team. The talent pool just dropped off that much.

Having said all of that, the coaching hasn’t been great. Vogel continues to run the offense Gaddis ran since 2012 when he no longer had a Kiel to sit in the pocket and pick secondaries apart. Problem is, I don’t think there are enough athletes on this offense to continue running it. It has to change but I’m not even sure how. Like I said, the talent pool is pretty low.

I need to mention that I love Coach Vogel and Coach Miller. They were great teachers when I was at East and both are great men. However, they kind of seem lost without Gaddis. The personnel mistakes and mismanagement we’ve seen from them the last couple weeks resulting in delays of game, illegal substitutions, and the burning of timeouts because they’re not paying attention has been abysmal. I’m not saying East needs to make a coaching change or a coaching staff change…yet. However, unless any of the other HHC teams start actually becoming legitimate contenders in the state, East should win the HHC every year. That’s not a knock on the other teams. It’s just the reality of where this conference is in football.

Nobody in the conference has a better system than East. Nobody is from a bigger football community than East. Nobody has a more successful coaching staff than East. And it’s not like our success was a long time ago. It was recent. That should give us an advantage. I’ll excuse last year because of the circumstances surrounding it. However, I’m not excusing it going forward. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Frozen Tundra

[TheMadness1]

9 hours ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Seymour (1-1, 1-0 HHC) at Columbus East (0-2, 0-0 HHC): I’m curious to see how East approaches the game and how they respond to last year’s result. While it’s clear the Olympians are no longer a state title threat, have they fallen so far as to no longer being an HHC title threat? This game will reveal it. After taking some lumps the last two weeks, I’ve got to think East will be ready and and capable. I’m going with East.

Seymour sounds like that have stilled played inconsistent football every other possession thus far.  East obviously needs to get their offensive drive going.  I'm sure East has a little added fuel for this game being that Seymour ended their HHC streak away last year.  But can they put that energy to good use as a team rather than some ending up trying to do too much and it backfiring.  That 2nd half should decide things.  This game will definitely determine who one of the top two HHC spots goes to this season.

[Hoosiers1218]

14 hours ago, Uncle Bubba said:

Read a article on WLKY today about a kid who transferred in from Male this year to New Albany. He is a 4 star OL senior. How is he available to play? 

Usually New Albany loses good players to private schools across the river not the other way around. Like New Albany losing Rondale Moore to Trinity big ouch. My guess is he probably moved to Indiana because you can’t live in Kentucky and go to a public school in Indiana. 

[Fkfootball]

33 minutes ago, TheMadness1 said:

Seymour sounds like that have stilled played inconsistent football every other possession thus far.  East obviously needs to get their offensive drive going.  I'm sure East has a little added fuel for this game being that Seymour ended their HHC streak away last year.  But can they put that energy to good use as a team rather than some ending up trying to do too much and it backfiring.  That 2nd half should decide things.  This game will definitely determine who one of the top two HHC spots goes to this season.

Seymour has East and Floyd the next 2 weeks. This is their make or break point of the season. 2 losses here and they’re out of the race.

[Impartial_Observer]

16 minutes ago, Fkfootball said:

Seymour has East and Floyd the next 2 weeks. This is their make or break point of the season. 2 losses here and they’re out of the race.

Ehhh, the wheels kind of fell off last year after the East game,  but they were still a play away from being sectional champs. Get better this week. 

[Panther25]

Jennings County JV/Fresh 28 - Batesville 8