Sectional 13

[roaringthunderdlr]

The game in Lafayette should be a good one. Harrison (8-1) has a better record but Plainfield (4-5) has a better SoS and is coming off of a good comeback win against Martinsville. Harrison won the first meeting at home 22-14.

The game back home in Indy, however, could get ugly. Decatur Central (3-6) has been playing poorly as of late but should get an easy win over McCutcheon (3-6).

Thoughts on this sectional?

[foxbat]

2 hours ago, roaringthunderdlr said:

The game in Lafayette should be a good one. Harrison (8-1) has a better record but Plainfield (4-5) has a better SoS and is coming off of a good comeback win against Martinsville. Harrison won the first meeting at home 22-14.

The game back home in Indy, however, could get ugly. Decatur Central (3-6) has been playing poorly as of late but should get an easy win over McCutcheon (3-6).

Thoughts on this sectional?

I suspect that DC will have no issue with McCutcheon.  If they do, then the winner of Plainfield-Harrison will easily take the sectional title.

I'm looking forward to the rematch with Plainfield.  Should be a good measuring stick for Harrison to see how far they've come.

Harrison came out of the gate shaky this season.  I think in that first game with Plainfield, Harrison was still a bit shell-shocked from the previous week against West Lafayette at LOS.  They played well against WL, but gave up 3-4 turnovers in the second half alone ... you can't afford to spot WL 3-4 possessions.  Since then, they've gotten tighter although, as I posted in another thread, they still have a propensity to put the ball on the carpet at inopportune times.  Harrison had a clean game against Jeff with no turnovers; scoring on every possession except for two ... the last minute or so of the game when they sat on the clock after a pick for the win and the last 30 seconds or so of the first half after a Jeff kickoff.

At the beginning of the season, the conventional wisdom, and odds-makers, had Harrison as a two TD underdog to Decatur Central.  I think the odds now have them favored over DC.  I suspect that Plainfield is also favored over DC now at this point of the season too.  As I said, I'm looking forward to this re-match to see whether Harrison really has come along in their progress.  Likewise, I'm curious to see how Plainfield has improved too.  I thought they played a good first game.

[roaringthunderdlr]

57 minutes ago, foxbat said:

I suspect that DC will have no issue with McCutcheon.  If they do, then the winner of Plainfield-Harrison will easily take the sectional title.

I'm looking forward to the rematch with Plainfield.  Should be a good measuring stick for Harrison to see how far they've come.

Harrison came out of the gate shaky this season.  I think in that first game with Plainfield, Harrison was still a bit shell-shocked from the previous week against West Lafayette at LOS.  They played well against WL, but gave up 3-4 turnovers in the second half alone ... you can't afford to spot WL 3-4 possessions.  Since then, they've gotten tighter although, as I posted in another thread, they still have a propensity to put the ball on the carpet at inopportune times.  Harrison had a clean game against Jeff with no turnovers; scoring on every possession except for two ... the last minute or so of the game when they sat on the clock after a pick for the win and the last 30 seconds or so of the first half after a Jeff kickoff.

At the beginning of the season, the conventional wisdom, and odds-makers, had Harrison as a two TD underdog to Decatur Central.  I think the odds now have them favored over DC.  I suspect that Plainfield is also favored over DC now at this point of the season too.  As I said, I'm looking forward to this re-match to see whether Harrison really has come along in their progress.  Likewise, I'm curious to see how Plainfield has improved too.  I thought they played a good first game.

Both teams have undeniably gotten better throughout the season. I worry about Harrison's schedule though. Jefferson was a great win for Harrison, but Marion, McCutcheon, Anderson, Tech, and Richmond are, no offense, truly terrible teams. I think Plainfield's worst win, Greenwood, beats all of these teams (close over McCutcheon, blowout over rest). Plainfield is undeniably more battle-tested than Harrison and it could play to a possible Quaker advantage next week. Plainfield's victory over Decatur looked good at the time. It was a clean ball game for the most part and it made homecoming much sweeter. However, as Decatur worsens (they lost to Perry Meridian), the win doesn't look as good. If I had to make a chart of each teams win based on strength, I think it would go like this:

Great Wins: Harrison over Jefferson

Good Wins: Plainfield over Martinsville

Decent Wins: Plainfield over Decatur, Plainfield over Perry, Harrison over Logansport, Harrison over Plainfield

Easy Wins: Plainfield over Greenwood, Harrison over McCutcheon

Weenie Hut Jr's: Harrison over Marion, Tech, Anderson, Richmond

Edited October 20, 2022 by roaringthunderdlr