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On 8/2/2022 at 8:22 AM, Dave007 said:

I think DC is the team to beat, not just in the south but state this year.  

 

What is interesting - maybe someone can confirm - but with DC's enrollment aren't they close to borderline 6A now?  I googled their enrollment and it shows 1,845 and if I recall 6A threshold is around 1,900?  If that is the case this could be their last year in 5A regardless.  

The 6A/5A cutoff is 2,080 for this cycle but keeps moving up as schools get larger. 

DC is experiencing some growth but they're still the 15th-largest school in 5A (so squarely in the middle). A few others - Whiteland, Plainfield, especially - will likely get to 6A first and that requires some of the 6As to get a bit smaller, too. 

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On 8/2/2022 at 2:23 PM, temptation said:

I think so.  They are an automatic 8+ win outfit annually that has had the unfortunate circumstance of running into the Cathedral juggernaut the last three seasons (and 6 of the last nine seasons) and either New Pal or Zionsville in other years.  

They actually gave that 2018 New Pal team one hell of a game but simply ran out of gas in the second half.

I by no means think that they are a consensus favorite and maybe this is unfair to Merrillville but the Hawks are more proven on a state wide level than anyone left in 5A.

NP was up 28-6 at halftime in that game, punctuated by one of the greatest runs I've ever seen by Charlie Spegal. New Pal largely grinded out the second half and ran out the clock. But, outside of the first-round game in the rain against Zionsville, it was the only game NP played that tournament that was decided by two scores. They were a juggernaut that year. 

That said, DC has had some *really* good teams but has had the misfortune to run into some generational teams. NP in 2018, Cathedral in 2019 (which in turn was wiped out by NP in the regional), and then maybe one of Cathedral's best-ever groups the last two seasons. They're a solid, well-run program with a lot of athletes and Div. I talent that annually has a chance to make a deep run. 

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On 8/2/2022 at 1:20 PM, BTF said:

I'm not too familiar with Decatur Central. But it's good to know that they are considered "Indy area." I was just thinking the other day how lonely 5A seems to be with no Indy teams represented. It just seems normal that the road to Lucus goes through Zionsville with the right to play Cathedral. Personally? I wish that were still the case.

They're in Marion County. That's as "Indy area" as it gets. They're as much Indy-area as Snider is Fort Wayne-area. 

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On 8/3/2022 at 10:54 AM, temptation said:

Maybe its just one I am creating.  After an era of domination, New Pal came back to earth and is now playing in its class on a consistent basis.  

Wondering if Ralph's magic was due more so to a solid group coming through or if he can repeat that success.

Sorry for my lack of clarity.

2012: New Pal was 3-7
2013 (Ralph's first year): New Pal was 13-1, won a regional and went on a six-year regular-season winning streak. 
2014: New Pal went 15-0 and obliterated the state scoring & yardage records. 
2015: New Pal went 13-1 and was 5A runner-up to Snider in the craziest State Finals game ever played.  

They're *very* well-coached. Kyle Ralph sees the game incredibly well, teaches it well and has a system that's implemented all the way through the junior high. The football culture here is incredible - we have 30-40 kids a class playing in our elementary league all the way down to kindergarten.

In their early era (the 2013-14-15 teams), they didn't have any Div. I recruits. Lots of talent, but they fit together very well and had a solid QB in Zach Neligh. The 2015 team basically played 14 guys, including some guys who had solid careers at St. Francis, Marian & UIndy. 

The later run - the 2018-19 titles - had some Div. I talent, and there's more high-level recruits walking the halls now than ever. So it's been built and now talent is cycling through, but part of that is the culture that was first born nearly a decade ago. 

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15 hours ago, crimsonace1 said:

They're in Marion County. That's as "Indy area" as it gets. They're as much Indy-area as Snider is Fort Wayne-area. 

Good to know. Good to have that Indy representation. 

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On 8/4/2022 at 7:22 AM, Robert said:

Did the football gods/karma take care of Dwenger?

Not exactly sure what you mean, Dwenger is always next man up. 

 

On 8/5/2022 at 8:35 AM, Boilernation said:

A starter from Bishop Dwenger transferred to North for presumably football related reasons. Never thought I would hear that. 

Who knows why, I was just answering a question. 

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15 hours ago, Mebuck said:

Not exactly sure what you mean, Dwenger is always next man up. 

 

Who knows why, I was just answering a question. 

I thought they got a QB from Cincinnati Moeller.   Any truth that NS has trouble with the transfers from the IHSAA?  I guess I can look on the IHSAA website. 

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On 8/5/2022 at 5:47 PM, crimsonace1 said:

They're *very* well-coached. Kyle Ralph sees the game incredibly well, teaches it well and has a system that's implemented all the way through the junior high. The football culture here is incredible - we have 30-40 kids a class playing in our elementary league all the way down to kindergarten.

In their early era (the 2013-14-15 teams), they didn't have any Div. I recruits. Lots of talent, but they fit together very well and had a solid QB in Zach Neligh. The 2015 team basically played 14 guys, including some guys who had solid careers at St. Francis, Marian & UIndy. 

The later run - the 2018-19 titles - had some Div. I talent, and there's more high-level recruits walking the halls now than ever. So it's been built and now talent is cycling through, but part of that is the culture that was first born nearly a decade ago. 

Here's what I'm taking out of this post: 

  • Kyle Ralph developed a culture that works
  • Kyle Ralph has complete buy in from the community of New Pal to follow his culture
  • Football is potentially the #1 sport boys want to play at the youth level in New Pal
  • The elite level talent at New Pal is beginning to increase

Sounds pretty scary for 4A and potentially 5A football in Indiana.

My understanding is Kyle Ralph played OL at Cincinnati St. Xavier and in Chapel Hill with the Tar Heels. And his wife is from New Pal? 

I completely understand the desire to live in your wife's hometown. But, I would think at some point this guy is going to get a HS or College (Assistant) offer that's too good to turn down. 

 

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4 hours ago, Boilernation said:

Here's what I'm taking out of this post: 

  • Kyle Ralph developed a culture that works
  • Kyle Ralph has complete buy in from the community of New Pal to follow his culture
  • Football is potentially the #1 sport boys want to play at the youth level in New Pal
  • The elite level talent at New Pal is beginning to increase

Sounds pretty scary for 4A and potentially 5A football in Indiana.

My understanding is Kyle Ralph played OL at Cincinnati St. Xavier and in Chapel Hill with the Tar Heels. And his wife is from New Pal? 

I completely understand the desire to live in your wife's hometown. But, I would think at some point this guy is going to get a HS or College (Assistant) offer that's too good to turn down. 

 

Would love to see New Pal back in 5A. The more competition the merrier. I'm a little disappointed Zionsville isn't still there. 

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49 minutes ago, BTF said:

Would love to see New Pal back in 5A. The more competition the merrier. I'm a little disappointed Zionsville isn't still there. 

???

Zionsville is the 25th largest school in the state.

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On 8/7/2022 at 2:55 PM, Robert said:

I thought they got a QB from Cincinnati Moeller.   Any truth that NS has trouble with the transfers from the IHSAA?  I guess I can look on the IHSAA website. 

Dwenger had a transfer from Cincinnati last year. He graduated. He was terrible. Doubt NS has any issues with ISHAA. Fort Wayne has open enrollment. 

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1 hour ago, foxbat said:

???

Zionsville is the 25th largest school in the state.

I understand that. I just like having Indy representation in the north. It doesn't seem right to make it to Lucus without going through a team from the northern Indy burbs. 

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14 hours ago, Mebuck said:

Dwenger had a transfer from Cincinnati last year. He graduated. He was terrible. Doubt NS has any issues with ISHAA. Fort Wayne has open enrollment. 

Thank you!  The gossip is obviously stale!  🙂

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19 hours ago, Mebuck said:

Dwenger had a transfer from Cincinnati last year. He graduated. He was terrible. Doubt NS has any issues with ISHAA. Fort Wayne has open enrollment. 

I hope the poor guy isn't reading this. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thoughts after week 2:

  1. Really like the way North Side responded after losing a close one to Snider. Nobody in the SAC or 5A playoffs want to see the offense North Side ran in the 2nd half. A steady dose of 6' 190 Jontae Lambert running the ball and the Legends doing everything they can to get the ball into the hands of 4 star WR Brauntae Johnson. Those 2 playing like that will keep them in any game. 
  2. Is Decatur Central a pretender or New Pal that dang good? Kyle Ralph is the man and I feel for any 4A coach having to prepare for that team in the playoffs; however, 49-0 is still 49-0. I find it hard to believe the other 5A contenders would be embarrassed like that. 
  3. There are cracks in Merrillville's armor. 17-7 over Hobart with player issues isn't the sign of a Champion. 
  4. Mishawaka has absolutely crushed Marian and St. Joseph. The Cavemen are looking like the clear favorite in Sectional 11. Are they a legitimate threat to the survivor of Sectional 12?
  5. Anderson is will be the sacrificial lamb the 3 Fort Wayne schools hope to draw in Rd 1 of Sectional 12. Right now, I would wager the winner of Sectional 12 will represent the North in Lucas Oil
  6. Scorewise, Harrison and Plainfield appeared to be a close game. I would give Decatur the edge in Sectional 13 if they can easily dispatch of the Quakers. Again, maybe Decatur is still the favorite to represent the South, but I have hard time looking past 49-0.
  7. Originally, I would consider the winner of Sectional 13 to be the favorite over Sectional 14, but Franklin and Whiteland have impressed in weeks 1 and 2. The Mid-State is shaping up to have another great year of competition. I love how deep that conference is. 
  8. The fall of Columbus East post Bob Gaddis continues in Sectional 15. I was hoping to see the Olympians bounce back this year and there is still plenty of time for that to happen. Right now it appears the favorite in that Sectional is either Bloomington North or South.
  9. Sectional 16 is looking like it will come down to a rematch between Castle and North unless the Highlanders completely turn things around after blowout losses to 2 respectable Louisville programs. 
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54 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

Thoughts after week 2:

  1. Really like the way North Side responded after losing a close one to Snider. Nobody in the SAC or 5A playoffs want to see the offense North Side ran in the 2nd half. A steady dose of 6' 190 Jontae Lambert running the ball and the Legends doing everything they can to get the ball into the hands of 4 star WR Brauntae Johnson. Those 2 playing like that will keep them in any game. 
  2. Is Decatur Central a pretender or New Pal that dang good? Kyle Ralph is the man and I feel for any 4A coach having to prepare for that team in the playoffs; however, 49-0 is still 49-0. I find it hard to believe the other 5A contenders would be embarrassed like that. 
  3. There are cracks in Merrillville's armor. 17-7 over Hobart with player issues isn't the sign of a Champion. 
  4. Mishawaka has absolutely crushed Marian and St. Joseph. The Cavemen are looking like the clear favorite in Sectional 11. Are they a legitimate threat to the survivor of Sectional 12?
  5. Anderson is will be the sacrificial lamb the 3 Fort Wayne schools hope to draw in Rd 1 of Sectional 12. Right now, I would wager the winner of Sectional 12 will represent the North in Lucas Oil
  6. Scorewise, Harrison and Plainfield appeared to be a close game. I would give Decatur the edge in Sectional 13 if they can easily dispatch of the Quakers. Again, maybe Decatur is still the favorite to represent the South, but I have hard time looking past 49-0.
  7. Originally, I would consider the winner of Sectional 13 to be the favorite over Sectional 14, but Franklin and Whiteland have impressed in weeks 1 and 2. The Mid-State is shaping up to have another great year of competition. I love how deep that conference is. 
  8. The fall of Columbus East post Bob Gaddis continues in Sectional 15. I was hoping to see the Olympians bounce back this year and there is still plenty of time for that to happen. Right now it appears the favorite in that Sectional is either Bloomington North or South.
  9. Sectional 16 is looking like it will come down to a rematch between Castle and North unless the Highlanders completely turn things around after blowout losses to 2 respectable Louisville programs. 

Great write up. Thanks for sharing. Hard to debate any of that. Could Decatur Central be a little overrated because they reside in Indy? Just a thought, not a slight. 

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1 hour ago, Boilernation said:

The fall of Columbus East post Bob Gaddis continues in Sectional 15. I was hoping to see the Olympians bounce back this year and there is still plenty of time for that to happen. Right now it appears the favorite in that Sectional is either Bloomington North or South.

The talent pool at Columbus East was in the process of drying up after their 2017 5A state title and it completely dried up after the 2020 season. Gaddis knew what he was doing when he retired. However, it should be noted the coaching staff almost seems lost without him. A lot of the staff returned (with one of them taking over the head coaching gig), but the playcalling and just overall team management have been pretty poor. Lots of miscues early on this year by the coaching staff and it’s very noticeable by all.

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14 hours ago, Boilernation said:

Thoughts after week 2:

  1. Really like the way North Side responded after losing a close one to Snider. Nobody in the SAC or 5A playoffs want to see the offense North Side ran in the 2nd half. A steady dose of 6' 190 Jontae Lambert running the ball and the Legends doing everything they can to get the ball into the hands of 4 star WR Brauntae Johnson. Those 2 playing like that will keep them in any game. 
  2. Is Decatur Central a pretender or New Pal that dang good? Kyle Ralph is the man and I feel for any 4A coach having to prepare for that team in the playoffs; however, 49-0 is still 49-0. I find it hard to believe the other 5A contenders would be embarrassed like that. 
  3. There are cracks in Merrillville's armor. 17-7 over Hobart with player issues isn't the sign of a Champion. 
  4. Mishawaka has absolutely crushed Marian and St. Joseph. The Cavemen are looking like the clear favorite in Sectional 11. Are they a legitimate threat to the survivor of Sectional 12?
  5. Anderson is will be the sacrificial lamb the 3 Fort Wayne schools hope to draw in Rd 1 of Sectional 12. Right now, I would wager the winner of Sectional 12 will represent the North in Lucas Oil
  6. Scorewise, Harrison and Plainfield appeared to be a close game. I would give Decatur the edge in Sectional 13 if they can easily dispatch of the Quakers. Again, maybe Decatur is still the favorite to represent the South, but I have hard time looking past 49-0.
  7. Originally, I would consider the winner of Sectional 13 to be the favorite over Sectional 14, but Franklin and Whiteland have impressed in weeks 1 and 2. The Mid-State is shaping up to have another great year of competition. I love how deep that conference is. 
  8. The fall of Columbus East post Bob Gaddis continues in Sectional 15. I was hoping to see the Olympians bounce back this year and there is still plenty of time for that to happen. Right now it appears the favorite in that Sectional is either Bloomington North or South.
  9. Sectional 16 is looking like it will come down to a rematch between Castle and North unless the Highlanders completely turn things around after blowout losses to 2 respectable Louisville programs. 

Nice analysis, I think this is a pretty good summary of the situation. I will say that I think through the first two weeks of the season, 5A has looked incredibly weak. It's an interesting class in the fact that it appears wide open but pound for pound it is easily the worst class in the state right now. The only teams that have really impressed me at all are Whiteland and Franklin. DC's drubbing at the hands of New Pal doesn't make me feel confident in them at all, even if New Pal might be a top 5-10 team in the state overall. I think Whiteland makes a big statement this week and beats the Hawks comfortably. In the North, Merrillville crowned themselves 5A champions before the season even started and I think they might be realizing now it won't be that easy. I said that the North will come down to the DAC vs the SAC, and I still think that's the case, but with how Mishawaka has played, albeit not against the best competition, I think they have to be considered a legit threat to come out of the North. Especially if they get some home games with bad weather at their mud pit, I mean field. I think a big factor hurting the SAC schools is that sectional 12 is by far the hardest in 5A North, with 3 pretty evenly-matched teams. Whoever gets Anderson should count their lucky stars that they won't have 2 SAC rematches to worry about. Definitely will be interesting to see how the class plays out. 

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1 hour ago, scarab527 said:

Scorewise, Harrison and Plainfield appeared to be a close game. I would give Decatur the edge in Sectional 13 if they can easily dispatch of the Quakers. Again, maybe Decatur is still the favorite to represent the South, but I have hard time looking past 49-0.

I hadn't really followed Plainfield until this year.  They played a good game with really nice stunt packages on defense.  Passing game was good on the sidelines.  Their first score came on a short field after Harrison missed the stunt and had a punt blocked that Plainfield recovered at the 8 yard line.  After that, it took them until the end of the game to make it close.  Harrison had a couple of field goal opportunities that they didn't take including a last-play opportunity in the first half that instead turned into a pick at the goal line that could have put that game away earlier if converted.  Again, without following Plainfield, I'm not sure how they fare as a program.  One other data point that perhaps points to the program as a whole being somewhat solid is the next day, Harrison's JV played Plainfield and only won 14-8.  The previous week, they played West Lafayette's JV and literally named their score 47-0 to honor Omarion Dixon, #47 when he played at Harrison, who was one of the survivor's of the ISU football players' car crash.

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4 hours ago, scarab527 said:

I will say that I think through the first two weeks of the season, 5A has looked incredibly weak. It's an interesting class in the fact that it appears wide open but pound for pound it is easily the worst class in the state right now. The only teams that have really impressed me at all are Whiteland and Franklin. 

Incredibly? Easily? 

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2 minutes ago, scarab527 said:

Don't think what I said is controversial at all. 5A has looked terrible the first two weeks of the season. 

There's three pretty good ones in Fort Wayne alone. Slide on over, we'll go to a game together. 

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5 minutes ago, BTF said:

There's three pretty good ones in Fort Wayne alone. Slide on over, we'll go to a game together. 

I appreciate the offer and would take you up on it, unfortunately I work in Chicago and there's little chance I'd be able to make it out considering the drive time and time change. But I wasn't insinuating that there aren't good teams residing in 5A, just that in relation to the other classes I think the class as a whole is weak. Maybe what New Pal did to DC is clouding my judgment, but when a consensus top 5 team in a class gets blown out that badly by a team in the class below, no matter how good that team is, there should be reason for pause. This is obviously mostly speculation but I don't think any 5A team right now could compete with New Pal or Roncalli, and you arguably could throw in East Central and Chatard in there too.  

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