This might be the best week of the year for high school football. While only 25% of the teams in Indiana are still playing, most of the games feature natural geographic rivals. The players compete with so much on the line, often knowing quite a bit about their opponents.
A football sectional title might be the hardest one to get of all of the IHSAA sports. To hoist the trophy, you've got to be good, healthy, and lucky over the course of three weeks. Most of the time you've also got to deal with inclement weather, Halloween distractions, and fall break.
While I was never fortunate enough to play in the third week of the post-season, got knocked out in the semi-finals in 1994 and 1995, I know what a big deal it would've been to win one. While in high school, I always found a game to watch once I was eliminated and was always impressed by the intensity with which the games were played during the advancing levels of the tournament.
This Friday's games should be fabulous, and I'm already excited for Friday night. But before we issue the game-plan, preview the feature game, and make championship predictions, we must take one look back at a highly entertaining night of Sectional Semi-Final action on Football Friday Night.
A Defending Champion is Eliminated: We knew one of the 2008 State Champions would not return to Lucas Oil Stadium this season. Class A Champion Cardinal Ritter's move up to Class 2A has been well-documented. The two best teams in 2A this season just might be Heritage Christian and Ritter. They play in the same sectional and met at Heritage Christian last Friday. I saw the two teams play on the same field in the final week of the regular season and left the game totally pumped about the offensive talents on display.
What a difference two weeks and some cold, windy weather can make. Our photographer Scott Hudson called us from the game and said the score was 0-0 after three quarters. "Are you kidding me?" I thought. Heritage Christian has artificial turf, so I knew that mud wasn't a problem. Wind and rain did wreck havoc on both teams' prolific passing games. Ritter won the 4th Quarter, scoring a touchdown on a TD toss from Ross Hendrickson to Eddie Cmehill. They did miss the extra point, meaning Heritage was in position to win with a touchdown and extra point on their final drive. The Eagles had first-and-goal at the five yard line and looked to be in business to claim a come-from-behind victory. Instead, the Raider defense shut the door, and Jackson Kirtley's high school career came to a close with an incompletion on fourth down.
Ritter is now in position to claim a rare back-to-back, A and 2A title, but they better be careful not to overlook arch-rival Speedway this weekend.
Unlikely Finalists: For many years, Sectional 6 was all about Ben Davis. The Giants had failed to advance to the regional only twice in the last 14 seasons. When Avon upset BD in the sectional opener, 9-1 Pike took the favorites role. However, the Orioles picked up a shocking 10-7 win over the Red Devils setting the stage for an all Hendricks County Championship.
Brownsburg scored a mild upset on the road against conference rival Zionsville Friday. The Bulldogs haven't won a football sectional title since 1985. Avon did advance Semi-State for coach Dave Shelbourne in 2005, but haven't had many other deep tournament runs in recent years.
It is ALWAYS a good game when Avon plays Brownsburg, this time the match-up means quite a bit more.
Mud Bowl: Anyone who watched a high school football game this past Friday knows, it was not a great weather night. I started my night at Beech Grove High School for their game against Hamilton Heights. Midway through the first quarter, many of the Hornets black jerseys were completely brown. I never heard anyone complain, and you know that defensive players love weather like that.
I hate if the mud affected the outcomes of any games, but the difficult playing conditions ARE the same for both teams. I do want to give special props to the grounds crews at the various high schools who don't have turf. I know they have had quite a challenging time this season dealing with the excess rain on Thursdays and Fridays. Many likely put in hours of work last week getting their fields in as good a condition as possible. However, with rain like we saw Friday, unfortunately none of that work mattered. Credit everyone for persevering through difficult circumstances. Special props as well to the Fox 59 Camera Crews who managed to work together to get highlights of 13 different games, while not ruining any cameras. (that I know of)
Congrats on 11-0: Each week I scan the section of John Harrell's highly informative statistical website to see how many teams are still unbeaten. Now the post-season is underway, the list is dwindling. There are currently 13 teams with perfect records. The schools closest to Indianapolis are Monrovia, who won a thrilling 6-3 double-overtime game against South Putnam, and Indian Creek.
Unfortunately, there just aren't enough 2A teams in close proximity to Trafalgar, thus, Indian Creek must travel to Heritage Hills for the Sectional Finals. Mapquest tells me the distance is 159 miles from Trafalgar to Santa Claus. The Patriots have won a sectional championship in eight of the last nine years so it won't be easy for Mike Gillin's Braves to remain undefeated. We wish the Braves well on their long trip to Southern Indiana and hope to see them on John Harrell's list this time next week.
Speaking of Unbeaten: Delta won a Delaware Country grudge match Friday against Muncie South 7-6. Grant Zgunda's team is normally explosive, but I'm guessing the weather affected this game much like the Heritage Christian-Ritter one discussed earlier. Delta also has a challenge staying unbeaten as they take on Fort Wayne Wayne. The Generals have looked good in wins over Marion and New Haven; only allowed a safety in two tournament games.
Should Delta advance, they'll likely have a regional rematch with Fort Wayne Dwenger. Last season the Irish knocked off the Eagles 49-20 on the way to the State Finals. Not that I'm looking ahead, but it appears Delta would have to travel to Dwenger should that match-up take place.
A football sectional title might be the hardest one to get of all of the IHSAA sports. To hoist the trophy, you've got to be good, healthy, and lucky over the course of three weeks. Most of the time you've also got to deal with inclement weather, Halloween distractions, and fall break.
While I was never fortunate enough to play in the third week of the post-season, got knocked out in the semi-finals in 1994 and 1995, I know what a big deal it would've been to win one. While in high school, I always found a game to watch once I was eliminated and was always impressed by the intensity with which the games were played during the advancing levels of the tournament.
This Friday's games should be fabulous, and I'm already excited for Friday night. But before we issue the game-plan, preview the feature game, and make championship predictions, we must take one look back at a highly entertaining night of Sectional Semi-Final action on Football Friday Night.
A Defending Champion is Eliminated: We knew one of the 2008 State Champions would not return to Lucas Oil Stadium this season. Class A Champion Cardinal Ritter's move up to Class 2A has been well-documented. The two best teams in 2A this season just might be Heritage Christian and Ritter. They play in the same sectional and met at Heritage Christian last Friday. I saw the two teams play on the same field in the final week of the regular season and left the game totally pumped about the offensive talents on display.
What a difference two weeks and some cold, windy weather can make. Our photographer Scott Hudson called us from the game and said the score was 0-0 after three quarters. "Are you kidding me?" I thought. Heritage Christian has artificial turf, so I knew that mud wasn't a problem. Wind and rain did wreck havoc on both teams' prolific passing games. Ritter won the 4th Quarter, scoring a touchdown on a TD toss from Ross Hendrickson to Eddie Cmehill. They did miss the extra point, meaning Heritage was in position to win with a touchdown and extra point on their final drive. The Eagles had first-and-goal at the five yard line and looked to be in business to claim a come-from-behind victory. Instead, the Raider defense shut the door, and Jackson Kirtley's high school career came to a close with an incompletion on fourth down.
Ritter is now in position to claim a rare back-to-back, A and 2A title, but they better be careful not to overlook arch-rival Speedway this weekend.
Unlikely Finalists: For many years, Sectional 6 was all about Ben Davis. The Giants had failed to advance to the regional only twice in the last 14 seasons. When Avon upset BD in the sectional opener, 9-1 Pike took the favorites role. However, the Orioles picked up a shocking 10-7 win over the Red Devils setting the stage for an all Hendricks County Championship.
Brownsburg scored a mild upset on the road against conference rival Zionsville Friday. The Bulldogs haven't won a football sectional title since 1985. Avon did advance Semi-State for coach Dave Shelbourne in 2005, but haven't had many other deep tournament runs in recent years.
It is ALWAYS a good game when Avon plays Brownsburg, this time the match-up means quite a bit more.
Mud Bowl: Anyone who watched a high school football game this past Friday knows, it was not a great weather night. I started my night at Beech Grove High School for their game against Hamilton Heights. Midway through the first quarter, many of the Hornets black jerseys were completely brown. I never heard anyone complain, and you know that defensive players love weather like that.
I hate if the mud affected the outcomes of any games, but the difficult playing conditions ARE the same for both teams. I do want to give special props to the grounds crews at the various high schools who don't have turf. I know they have had quite a challenging time this season dealing with the excess rain on Thursdays and Fridays. Many likely put in hours of work last week getting their fields in as good a condition as possible. However, with rain like we saw Friday, unfortunately none of that work mattered. Credit everyone for persevering through difficult circumstances. Special props as well to the Fox 59 Camera Crews who managed to work together to get highlights of 13 different games, while not ruining any cameras. (that I know of)
Congrats on 11-0: Each week I scan the section of John Harrell's highly informative statistical website to see how many teams are still unbeaten. Now the post-season is underway, the list is dwindling. There are currently 13 teams with perfect records. The schools closest to Indianapolis are Monrovia, who won a thrilling 6-3 double-overtime game against South Putnam, and Indian Creek.
Unfortunately, there just aren't enough 2A teams in close proximity to Trafalgar, thus, Indian Creek must travel to Heritage Hills for the Sectional Finals. Mapquest tells me the distance is 159 miles from Trafalgar to Santa Claus. The Patriots have won a sectional championship in eight of the last nine years so it won't be easy for Mike Gillin's Braves to remain undefeated. We wish the Braves well on their long trip to Southern Indiana and hope to see them on John Harrell's list this time next week.
Speaking of Unbeaten: Delta won a Delaware Country grudge match Friday against Muncie South 7-6. Grant Zgunda's team is normally explosive, but I'm guessing the weather affected this game much like the Heritage Christian-Ritter one discussed earlier. Delta also has a challenge staying unbeaten as they take on Fort Wayne Wayne. The Generals have looked good in wins over Marion and New Haven; only allowed a safety in two tournament games.
Should Delta advance, they'll likely have a regional rematch with Fort Wayne Dwenger. Last season the Irish knocked off the Eagles 49-20 on the way to the State Finals. Not that I'm looking ahead, but it appears Delta would have to travel to Dwenger should that match-up take place.
