CYO Football Championship Weekend

[Cyoguru]

The Indianapolis CYO Football Championships are being played this weekend at Chatard High School. The Sunday 56AAA and Cadet games will be streamed at Indiana SRN – Indiana's Largest Webcaster of High School Sports . The tournament schedule can be found at this link. CYO (orgsonline.com)

This is always a good weekend of football. The Cadet ( 7th and 8th grade) AAA Finals St. Michael 8-0 vs St. Pius X 8-0 and AA St. Louis de Montfort 8-0 vs Our Lady of Grace/SMG 6-2 should be entertaining games.

 

 

 

[WCGrad92]

what schools are these final 4 supposed to feed into?

 

I think i found it,  St Michael East Deanery(Scecina)

St Pius X North Deanery (Chatard)

St Michael/Gabriel (Ritter)

I do not find a St Louis de Montfort except St Louis School in Batesville???

 

Grats to these 4 teams, I know the CYO league can be stacked.

[FastpacedO]

20 minutes ago, WCGrad92 said:

what schools are these final 4 supposed to feed into?

 

I think i found it,  St Michael East Deanery(Scecina)

St Pius X North Deanery (Chatard)

St Michael/Gabriel (Ritter)

I do not find a St Louis de Montfort except St Louis School in Batesville???

 

Grats to these 4 teams, I know the CYO league can be stacked.

The St. Michael Red is West Deanery (will feed into Ritter, Chatard, Brebeuf, and Cathedral)

St. Louis de Montfort is in Fishers part of Diocese of Lafayette (will feed into Guerin Catholic, Chatard, Brebeuf, and  Cathedral)

Our Lady of Grace is in Noblesville and also a Lafayette Diocese school (will feed into Guerin, Chatard, Brebeuf, and Cathedral)

Edited November 7, 2023 by FastpacedO

[foxbat]

15 minutes ago, WCGrad92 said:

what schools are these final 4 supposed to feed into?

 

I think i found it,  St Michael East Deanery(Scecina)

St Pius X North Deanery (Chatard)

St Michael/Gabriel (Ritter)

I do not find a St Louis de Montfort except St Louis School in Batesville???

 

Grats to these 4 teams, I know the CYO league can be stacked.

St. Louis de Montfort is out of Fishers.  Closest to Guerin, although Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Seton, and Maria Goretti are probably considered closer.

[Cyoguru]

Saturdays CYO Championship Results.  Lots of entertaining and close games today. Link to brackets CYO (orgsonline.com)

CYO 3rd, 34, and 4th grade football is 7 on 7 Tackle Football

3rd Grade AA Our Lady of Mount Carmel 37 St. Simon 28   3rd Grade AAA St. Barnabas 21 St. Jude 20

34 Grade AA Immaculate Heart of Mary 28 St. Louis de Montfort 13 34 Grade AAA Nativity 22 St. Maria Goretti 20

56 Grade A Our Lady of Mount Carmel 18 St. Malachy 13 56 Grade AA Immaculate Heart of Mary 16 St. Pius X 13

Sundays games will be streamed on Indianasrn.org if you want to check out some CYO Football 

1pm 56AAA Nativity vs St. Jude

2:15 Cadet AA (78) St. Louis de Montfort vs Our Lady of Grace

3:45 Cadet AAA (78) St. Michael vs St. Pius X 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Cyoguru

[Lysander]

Shout out to @Cyoguru and the St Michael Crusaders for their 14-6 Cadet AAA victory over the St. Pius Panthers yesterday in a hard fought win.  Wistfully (to me), the PA system yesterday echoed names that have been heard on Indianapolis Catholic HS football fields both currently and for some decades.  It’s a bit of a time warp to attend these great CYO games. 

Two questions for the Guru, though.

First, just how many times have the Crusaders played in and or won the Cadet Championship in the last 20 years? Seems they are always playing this time of year.

Second, and most importantly, is this most recent Championship the swan song for the Guru?

Edited November 13, 2023 by Lysander

[Sledge]

14 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Shout out to @Cyoguru and the St Michael Crusaders for their 14-6 Cadet AAA victory over the St. Pius Panthers yesterday in a hard fought win.  Wistfully (to me), the PA system yesterday echoed names that have been heard on Indianapolis Catholic HS football fields both currently and for some decades.  It’s a bit of a time warp to attend these great CYO games. 

Two questions for the Guru, though.

First, just how many times have the Crusaders played in and or won the Cadet Championship in the last 20 years? Seems they are always playing this time of year.

Second, and most importantly, is this most recent Championship the swan song for the Guru?

I read this St. Michael group is 53-1 over their 6 years in CYO. Pretty remarkable!

[Lysander]

2 minutes ago, Sledge said:

I read this St. Michael group is 53-1 over their 6 years in CYO. Pretty remarkable!

Wow, that is absolutely amazing!  Kudos again to the Crusaders.

[oldtimeqb]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:36 PM, Cyoguru said:

 

CYO 3rd, 34, and 4th grade football is 7 on 7 Tackle Football

 

2:15 Cadet AA (78) St. Louis de Montfort vs Our Lady of Grace

3:45 Cadet AAA (78) St. Michael vs St. Pius X 

 

 

 

Wait wait.  How can a 3/4th grade team properly execute a double hand-off reverse flea-flicker with only 7 players?  Blasphemy.  At least please tell me every team has a coach's kid playing QB?  That is how youth football should be played.

What is the difference between AA and AAA?  Is it team size (# of players) or school size? Maybe something else? 

[Boilernation]

Do programs like Chatard have any influence on how CYO teams are ran? I would assume a school like St. Pius X is sending a majority of their kids to Chatard based on distance. Does their coaching staff have a Chatard influence? 

[Lysander]

1 hour ago, oldtimeqb said:

Wait wait.  How can a 3/4th grade team properly execute a double hand-off reverse flea-flicker with only 7 players?  Blasphemy.  At least please tell me every team has a coach's kid playing QB?  That is how youth football should be played.

What is the difference between AA and AAA?  Is it team size (# of players) or school size? Maybe something else? 

I’ll defer to Guru but I think it’s general number of players, ratio of 7/8, 5/6 and 3/4 players on those teams and perhaps some other factors.  It’s been a few years….

[Lysander]

1 hour ago, Boilernation said:

Do programs like Chatard have any influence on how CYO teams are ran? I would assume a school like St. Pius X is sending a majority of their kids to Chatard based on distance. Does their coaching staff have a Chatard influence? 

No, there’s really no influence.  Certainly no direction as to offenses, defenses, etc. unlike, I think, at Center Grove. 

Pius is going to send kids to Chatard, Cathedral, Brebeuf and N. Central/LC.  Not sure of the split.

The coaching staff’s aren’t really influenced outside of any personal preference they might have towards a certain HS.  That said, Coach Doyle (who is a practicing attorney) got his start as a CYO coach at Pius (I believe) many years back before becoming a long time Freshman coach at Chatard and now the varsity coach.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Lysander

[SIR IRISH]

10 hours ago, Sledge said:

I read this St. Michael group is 53-1 over their 6 years in CYO. Pretty remarkable!

Interestingly enough, the St. Pius 7th grade class which makes over 20 of the players on their team, had not lost(before yesterday) since 4th grade and lost just their 3rd CYO game yesterday.  That class is stacked and will be back next year!

[Cyoguru]

11 hours ago, Lysander said:

Shout out to @Cyoguru and the St Michael Crusaders for their 14-6 Cadet AAA victory over the St. Pius Panthers yesterday in a hard fought win.  Wistfully (to me), the PA system yesterday echoed names that have been heard on Indianapolis Catholic HS football fields both currently and for some decades.  It’s a bit of a time warp to attend these great CYO games. 

Two questions for the Guru, though.

First, just how many times have the Crusaders played in and or won the Cadet Championship in the last 20 years? Seems they are always playing this time of year.

Second, and most importantly, is this most recent Championship the swan song for the Guru?

St. Michael is the only CYO team to participate in the Cadet AAA division every year since CYO started this class system in 2005. Prior there where 4 divisions and only one champion. It's difficult to win a Cadet Big division city championship. Alot of things have to go your way.

St. Michael Cadet AAA Finals appearances

Champions 2023-2022-2016-2009-1977-1958-1957

Runner up 2018-2017-2007-2006-1968

Looks like this is it for me, but I am always around. 

[Cyoguru]

1 hour ago, SIR IRISH said:

Interestingly enough, the St. Pius 7th grade class which makes over 20 of the players on their team, had not lost(before yesterday) since 4th grade and lost just their 3rd CYO game yesterday.  That class is stacked and will be back next year!

St. Pius is definitely the early favorite for Cadet next year. They have no reason not to be in the largest division next year.

[Cyoguru]

8 hours ago, Lysander said:

I’ll defer to Guru but I think it’s general number of players, ratio of 7/8, 5/6 and 3/4 players on those teams and perhaps some other factors.  It’s been a few years….

CYO uses a formula below based on numerous factors. They total up the points and put teams in classes based on the score. A team can request to move up to a larger division. I would like to see data from the teams previous seasons to assist in putting them in the right division. There is a CYO coaches meeting at the Cadet level to allow coaches to assist in making sure the teams are in the right division. Unfortunately, some coaches are not honest about their teams and remain in the lower divisions. Most do the right thing.

Criteria used for Pairing Teams into the A, AA and AAA Leagues A. Each player on a roster is worth 1 point. B. Each upperclassman on the roster is worth 2 points. For the 56 league, 6th graders and for the Cadet league, 8th graders. C. Each 2 striper on the roster is worth 3 points. D. Each 3 striper on the roster is worth 2 points. E. Each impact player on the roster is worth 1 point. An impact player is a player that is within 3 pounds of the maximum weight for a non-striper and a 2 striper. F. The size of the school is worth 0 to 10 points. (10 points for the biggest schools — above 500 students, 5 points for the mid-range schools — 350 to 500 students and 0 points for the smallest schools — under 350 students).

 

[oldtimeqb]

Thank you @Cyoguru.

I was joking, but also genuinely curious about the 3-4 league. 

I assume a smaller field? 4 linemen and three backs? 

Or is it 7v7 like a summer passing tournament? Given the Chatard and Roncalli pedigrees I wouldn’t think that would be the case.

[Lysander]

2 hours ago, Cyoguru said:

St. Michael is the only CYO team to participate in the Cadet AAA division every year since CYO started this class system in 2005. Prior there where 4 divisions and only one champion. It's difficult to win a Cadet Big division city championship. Alot of things have to go your way.

St. Michael Cadet AAA Finals appearances

Champions 2023-2022-2016-2009-1977-1958-1957

Runner up 2018-2017-2007-2006-1968

Looks like this is it for me, but I am always around. 

Just to give one some idea how difficult it is to win an Indy CYO championship, I can recall a certain AAA Cadet St. Matthew team (very well coached btw….especially since I had nothing to do with it by that time) some years back that had what later turned out to be 2 future NFL lineman (8th graders) and a University of Louisville scholarship lineman (7th Grader)…..not to mention another lineman who ended up on the Top 50 Indiana HS players All Classes his Senior year.  Literally a future D1 (plus) college line.  By the time playoffs arrived, their two primary running backs were out.  One (a later HS All-American in another sport) had broken his arm earlier in the season v. St. Simon and the other was concussed.  Regardless, they still had a backup RB who later played for Ball State as a DB…a tough, athletic kid with speed.

They lost to St. Michael in the semi-final in a 3-4 overtime game….and St. Michael later lost to St. Pius in the Championship.

That’s how tough it is to claim an Indy CYO Championship.

Guru, I’m truly sad to hear you are stepping away but have no doubt that you have had a life changing affect on these kids they will mark as definitive and guiding as they become great men, husbands and fathers.  

May God Bless you and yours, Sir.

[PHJIrish]

St. Micheal's was the class of CYO football back in 1956 when I played at Holy Cross.  We loss to them 37-0 and, iirc, that was the closest game they had that season.  Those were the days of the Perry brothers.  It seems time has changed much, except I got old, really old!

[Cyoguru]

19 hours ago, oldtimeqb said:

Thank you @Cyoguru.

I was joking, but also genuinely curious about the 3-4 league. 

I assume a smaller field? 4 linemen and three backs? 

Or is it 7v7 like a summer passing tournament? Given the Chatard and Roncalli pedigrees I wouldn’t think that would be the case.

CYO started the USA Football 7 on 7 model hoping to get more parents interested in football again, hoping to increase numbers. I admit I was not a fan at first. It has shown in a short time to be very successful so far with CYO numbers increasing. My favorite part is the weight limit is 100lbs to run the ball. The CYO 34 football rules are attached for you to check out. 

CYO 34 Rules and regulations.pdf

[Boiler Boog]

Quote

What is the difference between AA and AAA?  Is it team size (# of players) or school size? Maybe something else? 

The CYO has a formula which I wasn't a big fan of. CYO Guru touched on it but essentially, they count points for each player, player size (stripers) and school size. I always had issues with them counting the school size in the formula. You don't have to be in the school to play for a CYO team, just in the parish. It creates a weird situation where some parishes like the one I went to were medium sized but had a big school (where pretty much everyone in the parish sends their kids to school there) and got the same amount of points as a giant Parish like OLMC that draws a bigger portion of it's players from outside of the school itself. I also felt like they essentially are double counting by factoring in both school size and roster size because, in theory, if you have a big school or parish then you will have a greater number of players on your roster....but they count both in the formula. In my mind, either place based on parish size or roster size but don't count both. 

[Boiler Boog]

Quote

No, there’s really no influence.  Certainly no direction as to offenses, defenses, etc. unlike, I think, at Center Grove. 

Pius is going to send kids to Chatard, Cathedral, Brebeuf and N. Central/LC.  Not sure of the split.

The coaching staff’s aren’t really influenced outside of any personal preference they might have towards a certain HS.  That said, Coach Doyle (who is a practicing attorney) got his start as a CYO coach at Pius (I believe) many years back before becoming a long time Freshman coach at Chatard and now the varsity coach.

When I was coaching, everyone just ran whatever they knew or got help from some of the other coaches at the parish who were coaching the older teams. I had never coached before when my son started playing in 3rd grade but our team didn't have a coach, so I volunteered. I was fortunate enough to be related to the OC for East Central at the time, so I just used what they were using for their youth program. Then I just passed that down to any other new coaches who needed help and were in the same position I was when I started. I stopped being the head coach after the 6th grade year and during my son's cadet years, the new head coaches tried to model our offense in some ways on the zone blocking schemes that Cathedral uses. I know they were able to talk to the high school coaches and get help with the schemes. So, it can happen but for the most part it's just coaches running what they know how to run.

I'd imagine it's challenging Freshman year at the Catholic Schools when they bring in kids from all of these different schools who have all run different offenses. Probably takes them longer to "gel" than kids at a public school who have been running the bones of the high school offense already for a few years.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Boiler Boog

[foxbat]

14 minutes ago, Boiler Boog said:

When I was coaching, everyone just ran whatever they knew or got help from some of the other coaches at the parish who were coaching the older teams. I had never coached before when my son started playing in 3rd grade but our team didn't have a coach, so I volunteered. I was fortunate enough to be related to the OC for East Central at the time, so I just used what they were using for their youth program. Then I just passed that down to any other new coaches who needed help and were in the same position I was when I started. I stopped being the head coach after the 6th grade year and during my son's cadet years, the new head coaches tried to model our offense in some ways on the zone blocking schemes that Cathedral uses. I know they were able to talk to the high school coaches and get help with the schemes. So, it can happen but for the most part it's just coaches running what they know how to run.

I'd imagine it's challenging Freshman year at the Catholic Schools when they bring in kids from all of these different schools who have all run different offenses. Probably takes them longer to "gel" than kids at a public school who have been running the bones of the high school offense already for a few years.

I don't think that's as big a problem as some might expect.  In the 18 seasons that I coached youth ball at LCC, we had six different varsity head coaches and an interim head coach.  We always talked with the varsity coaches to ask what they wanted us doing at the youth level to help them have a better varsity.  Almost everyone of them said, teach them how to tackle and block properly and safely, teach them about working together, make things fun and meaningful for them and we'll handle the formation stuff when they get to high school.  None of them told us to run the varsity formations and comments that I heard from a couple that made me laugh were "Heck, I don't even know if I'll be running the same formations by the time these kids gets to high school" and another jokingly alluded to the fact that there wasn't a guaranteed that he might still be employed as the head coach by the time the 3rd/4th graders got to high school.

A former coaching colleague of mine and I were talking before the LCC-LaVille game and reminiscing about how our main goal, as youth coaches, was to take some kid whose parents brought them out in 3rd grade to eventually move from the 3rd/4th grade practice field, to the 5th/6th grade practice field, to the junior high practice field, to the varsity practice field and eventually the varsity game field on Friday nights ... and most importantly, to make sure that we moved the moms with them.  If Mom's not happy, ain't nobody happy and it doesn't matter what formation you are running.

[Lysander]

5 hours ago, Boiler Boog said:

I'd imagine it's challenging Freshman year at the Catholic Schools when they bring in kids from all of these different schools who have all run different offenses. Probably takes them longer to "gel" than kids at a public school who have been running the bones of the high school offense already for a few years.

Could be wrong but I'm pretty sure when Coach Doyle was running the Chatard Freshmen program prior to his becoming head coach that they didn't even run the varsity offense and defense.  My understanding was that they were serious and disciplined but really wanted to make it as fun as possible in order to retain kids in the sport. 

[Cyoguru]

47 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Could be wrong but I'm pretty sure when Coach Doyle was running the Chatard Freshmen program prior to his becoming head coach that they didn't even run the varsity offense and defense.  My understanding was that they were serious and disciplined but really wanted to make it as fun as possible in order to retain kids in the sport. 

You are correct. Coach Doyle freshman offense  was more wide open vs the Coach L toss sweep.