Crown Point vs. Warsaw or Penn

[BallinFreak]

It is going to be a great game IMO. 24-23 either way.

Pulling for CP

[Nutsy]

Also I’ll say I think LC would be better off going back to an option/Wing-T style offense. They’ve run the spread for years now and have seemingly always had mediocre offenses with it (this goes for many DAC teams and could be part of a larger discussion). Implement the flexbone/Wing-T in the middle school and youth levels. Get some continuity in the program and build it from the ground up Center Grove style. But from what I’ve heard about things over there I doubt this will ever happen.

Care to elaborate more on what DAC teams you think would benefit from a Wing T/option attack?

LaPorte/LC/Portage.

City and Merrillville will have the athletes on the outside to run the spread. Chesterton has proven they can throw the ball around (even if their run game is seemingly always bad and not physical). CP runs the spread but has run a lot of Wing-T and Single Wing concepts out of the gun this year for success. Valpo runs the spread but runs the ball north of 75% of the time I would guess. These last two teams also have giant lines to facilitate this.

The three I listed don't have the advantage either in the trenches or in skill positions like the other schools do, and the offenses I am proposing tend to mitigate these issues.

Even though they are still struggling in the NCC, Munster has been much more competitive since implementing the Flexbone. Their issues now lie with depth as opposed to being a competent football team. I think similar things would happen at any of those schools were they to pick up that offense.

Your QB has to be able to take a hit to successfully run the Flex... great offense to confuse Cover 3.


Nut

[Boilernation]

Care to elaborate more on what DAC teams you think would benefit from a Wing T/option attack?

LaPorte/LC/Portage.

City and Merrillville will have the athletes on the outside to run the spread. Chesterton has proven they can throw the ball around (even if their run game is seemingly always bad and not physical). CP runs the spread but has run a lot of Wing-T and Single Wing concepts out of the gun this year for success. Valpo runs the spread but runs the ball north of 75% of the time I would guess. These last two teams also have giant lines to facilitate this.

The three I listed don't have the advantage either in the trenches or in skill positions like the other schools do, and the offenses I am proposing tend to mitigate these issues.

Even though they are still struggling in the NCC, Munster has been much more competitive since implementing the Flexbone. Their issues now lie with depth as opposed to being a competent football team. I think similar things would happen at any of those schools were they to pick up that offense.

Your QB has to be able to take a hit to successfully run the Flex... great offense to confuse Cover 3.


Nut

Yep. Portage's base D with Pete Turpa in my day was a 4-4 Cover 3. As a DB I hated playing LC with Britton.

[Boilernation]

"Bart Ball" has played for a state title in the last 10-15 years.

Curtis has a very solid resume. Highlited by winninga Regional at New Prairie back when winning a Regional at New Prairie was unheard of. Coached Mishawaka to their only Semi-State win in 2012 as they went straight to the '74 State Championship after beating Portage in the 1st round. He's also coached Warsaw to the only Sectional Title in school history.

It looks like Curtis runs the flexbone. I remember LC punishing teams back in your day with Britton and the flexbone.

99.9% correct
We ran the Wing-T (A LOT of the same principles as a flexbone) when I played for Coach Britton at LC.

The Wing-T and flexbone look very similiar to me. And I can't even try to figure out what Kokomo runs with Selby. Looks like the Wing T but with everyone lined up directly behind the OL.

[BallinFreak]

A lot of people hated playing LC back in those Briton days.

IMO the Flexbone and Wing T philosophies are the best way to win games at the high school level. Coaches that instill those programs from the feeder schools and up usually have success.

[Dann Ellenwood]

Curtis has a very solid resume. Highlited by winninga Regional at New Prairie back when winning a Regional at New Prairie was unheard of. Coached Mishawaka to their only Semi-State win in 2012 as they went straight to the '74 State Championship after beating Portage in the 1st round. He's also coached Warsaw to the only Sectional Title in school history.

It looks like Curtis runs the flexbone. I remember LC punishing teams back in your day with Britton and the flexbone.

99.9% correct
We ran the Wing-T (A LOT of the same principles as a flexbone) when I played for Coach Britton at LC.

The Wing-T and flexbone look very similiar to me. And I can't even try to figure out what Kokomo runs with Selby. Looks like the Wing T but with everyone lined up directly behind the OL.

Very similar indeed.

[Dann Ellenwood]

A lot of people hated playing LC back in those Briton days.

IMO the Flexbone and Wing T philosophies are the best way to win games at the high school level. Coaches that instill those programs from the feeder schools and up usually have success.

[scarab527]

Good point regarding the SAC. I watch a lot of their marquee games on the Summit City Sports Network. A majority of the teams like to spread it out and throw it around. Valpo and Lowell have both won some recent Semi-State battles against the SAC with a phyiscal run game.

Agreed regarding Penn being a Top 15 team. They're no longer the program that can come down to Indy in November and beat Ben Davis, but they're still a really good program. Part of their problem is the programs you listed (Westfield/Fishers/HSE) have caught up to Penn in enrollment and talent. Back in '97 HSE was getting a beatdown by Griffith in the 4A State Title game while Penn was still a State Title contender in 5A.

Brownsburg will definately break through at some point. Too much talent in their system whether homegrown or moving across Indy/Brownsburg boundaries from the Ben Davis school district. Youth sports are huge in Brownsburg. It's a perfect system for Hart. He has a plethora of talent to work with that has been well coached/trained for years prior to hitting HS. He's won State at Evansville Reitz and Warren Central. Just can't get over the hump at Brownsburg. I'm curious to see if his son coaching down at Gibson Southern ever decides to leave 3A for a 6A school. He and Kyle Ralph would be at the top of my list if I were a Central Indiana AD. Ralph was an All ACC OL at North Carolina. The lines he builds at New Pal are crazy good. The OL he could build somewhere like Carmel would be very impressive.

If I had to bet I would say Nick Hart will end up coaching a 6A Indy area team at some point before he retires. Coach Ralph I think is at New Pal for life. I’d be shocked if he hasn’t already been offered pretty much a blank check by some of the big schools when jobs have came up. But I agree that he could turn some of those schools into complete juggernauts like what he has done at New Pal.

We’ll likely get another DAC vs SAC matchup in the 5A semi state, so we’ll see how it plays out. The Snider guys over on GID seem to think they’ve already got it won, but those guys have an overinflated opinion of Fort Wayne area football in general.

I think it would be funny with all the talk of Penn’s demise if they made a surprise run to LOS. They’d have no shot to win it, but would be ironic with the narratives around the program currently.

The ‘97 4A title game shows just how much can change in 25 years. Griffith is now a mediocre at best 3A team and HSE is a 6A power and one of the best teams in the state. HSE could beat them by 100 if they played right now if they wanted to.

Also I’ll say I think LC would be better off going back to an option/Wing-T style offense. They’ve run the spread for years now and have seemingly always had mediocre offenses with it (this goes for many DAC teams and could be part of a larger discussion). Implement the flexbone/Wing-T in the middle school and youth levels. Get some continuity in the program and build it from the ground up Center Grove style. But from what I’ve heard about things over there I doubt this will ever happen.

Ralph is from Cincinnati and played at Greater Catholic League South and Division 1 powerhouse Cincinnati St. Xavier. It amazes me he's content at 4A New Pal; however, I have read before on the GID that his wife is a New Pal native. Happy wife, happy life.

Interesting perspective regarding a Wing-T style of offense. Like you said, it's the bread and butter of Center Grove's program and the kids learn it at the youth level. They only go spread when they have a QB like they have this year in the Duke commit but you'll still see it in their offense this year. Thinking locally, Lake Central's best years were with the Wing T. Throw out the Charles Salary pop up State Finals run and LaPorte's best seasons recently were with Sharpe's Power T.

I've also heard that about Ralph, my main thought of why he'll never leave (or at least until his own children are graduated).

CG definitely has been at their best the past few years when they've been able to sling it a bit. I'll still say that no matter how much you run the ball, if you want to win a championship, you're going to need to complete some clutch passes along the way.

But I do believe a few region teams (not just DAC ones) could benefit from going away from a spread offense and reverting to more of an offense like we have been discussing. Even the Salary state title run I remember LP being at their best with him lined up in the I.

[VPISU]

If I had to bet I would say Nick Hart will end up coaching a 6A Indy area team at some point before he retires. Coach Ralph I think is at New Pal for life. I’d be shocked if he hasn’t already been offered pretty much a blank check by some of the big schools when jobs have came up. But I agree that he could turn some of those schools into complete juggernauts like what he has done at New Pal.

We’ll likely get another DAC vs SAC matchup in the 5A semi state, so we’ll see how it plays out. The Snider guys over on GID seem to think they’ve already got it won, but those guys have an overinflated opinion of Fort Wayne area football in general.

I think it would be funny with all the talk of Penn’s demise if they made a surprise run to LOS. They’d have no shot to win it, but would be ironic with the narratives around the program currently.

The ‘97 4A title game shows just how much can change in 25 years. Griffith is now a mediocre at best 3A team and HSE is a 6A power and one of the best teams in the state. HSE could beat them by 100 if they played right now if they wanted to.

Also I’ll say I think LC would be better off going back to an option/Wing-T style offense. They’ve run the spread for years now and have seemingly always had mediocre offenses with it (this goes for many DAC teams and could be part of a larger discussion). Implement the flexbone/Wing-T in the middle school and youth levels. Get some continuity in the program and build it from the ground up Center Grove style. But from what I’ve heard about things over there I doubt this will ever happen.

Ralph is from Cincinnati and played at Greater Catholic League South and Division 1 powerhouse Cincinnati St. Xavier. It amazes me he's content at 4A New Pal; however, I have read before on the GID that his wife is a New Pal native. Happy wife, happy life.

Interesting perspective regarding a Wing-T style of offense. Like you said, it's the bread and butter of Center Grove's program and the kids learn it at the youth level. They only go spread when they have a QB like they have this year in the Duke commit but you'll still see it in their offense this year. Thinking locally, Lake Central's best years were with the Wing T. Throw out the Charles Salary pop up State Finals run and LaPorte's best seasons recently were with Sharpe's Power T.

I've also heard that about Ralph, my main thought of why he'll never leave (or at least until his own children are graduated).

CG definitely has been at their best the past few years when they've been able to sling it a bit. I'll still say that no matter how much you run the ball, if you want to win a championship, you're going to need to complete some clutch passes along the way.

But I do believe a few region teams (not just DAC ones) could benefit from going away from a spread offense and reverting to more of an offense like we have been discussing. Even the Salary state title run I remember LP being at their best with him lined up in the I.

Old School smash mouth power FB...

[the dog]

Hell of a game at Penn. Missed extra point that would have tied it at 34with 5:42 left bites Penn. huge fourth and two conversion at midfield was huge as it let CP bleed clock and give Penn the ball back with 1:39 left on their own 5. Penn was able to move it to the CP27 but the long field goal attempt was not close.