10.23.07 Sectional Round One Recap, Round Two Preview
A few upsets mixed with many predictable wins have set up a very exciting second round of the IHSAA football tournament this Friday night.
Three teams lost their sectional openers after finishing the regular season 9-0, leaving 15 undefeated teams heading into the second round of the tournament. All three had their seasons end on the road; Rochester lost at Lewis Cass 28-14, Mooresville fell 21-7 at Zionsville, and Lafayette Central Catholic dropped a 28-27 decision at Clinton Central.
In addition, three teams that went 0-9 in the regular season earned their first victory this past Friday to advance to the second round. McCutcheon upset Anderson Highland 32-22, Highland knocked off Gary Wallace 30-18, and Columbia City avenged a regular-season loss to East Noble, winning 24-21.
Each year there are teams that turn things around after a number of losing campaigns. Some are able to continue that success into the postseason. Congratulations to these 20 teams for winning their first sectional contest in five years or longer:
North Miami, 34-8 over Carroll (Flora), first sectional win since 1995.
Charlestown, 49-20 over Brown County, first sectional win since 1998.
Covington, 21-6 over Riverton Parke, first sectional win since 1998.
Hammond Clark, 54-14 over Gary Roosevelt, first sectional win since 1998.
Indiana Deaf, 44-16 over North Decatur, first sectional win since 1998.
Manchester, 21-7 over Bluffton, first sectional win since 1998.
Paoli, 23-20 over Clarksville, first sectional win since 1998.
Elwood, 40-13 over Frankton, first sectional win since 2000.
Mitchell, 20-16 over Eastern Greene, first sectional win since 2000.
South Bend Adams, 48-35 over Elkhart Memorial, first sectional win since 2000.
Wheeler, 34-11 over North Judson, first sectional win since 2000.
Bremen, 34-7 over Oak Hill, first sectional win since 2001.
Culver, 25-10 over Frontier, first sectional win since 2001.
Ft. Wayne Wayne, 24-23 over New Haven, first sectional win since 2001.
Evansville Bosse, 27-14 over Vincennes Lincoln, first sectional win since 2002.
Knox, 52-0 over Hammond Gavit, first sectional win since 2002.
Lake Central, 10-7 over Michigan City, first sectional win since 2002.
Tell City, 60-22 over Sullivan, first sectional win since 2002.
Triton Central, 60-20 over Knightstown, first sectional win since 2002.
Wood Memorial, 27-26 over West Washington, first sectional win since 2002.
As Coach Bob Lovell said in last week’s blog, all games are big games at this point in the season. But when the sectional pairings were announced a few weeks back, it looked like there were going to be a large number of great matchups in the second round of the tournament. Now that we’re there, let’s look at the 19 games where both opponents have at least 7 wins.
Class 5A
Crown Point (8-2) at Merrillville (9-1) – Merrillville, the team that got on the map quickly with a Week 1 win over Warren Central, lost its only game in Week 3, in overtime, to Crown Point. The teams finished tied for the Duneland Athletic Conference title. It doesn’t get much more even than this.
Ft. Wayne Snider (9-1) at Huntington North (9-1) – Huntington North last won a sectional title in 1993, and that’s the last time the Vikings have even advanced to the championship game. Snider has gone to the sectional championship seven years in a row, with last year being the only one of the seven the Panthers didn’t win. This is a great battle for the right to play in this year’s Sectional 3 final.
Avon (8-2) at Franklin Central (8-2) – So many of the numbers match up well here, besides the same won-loss records. The one common opponent? Avon beat Perry Meridian last week 42-28, Franklin Central beat the Falcons in Week 5, 41-27. In Jeff Sagarin’s computer ratings, the Flashes rank 11th in 5A, the Orioles rank 12th. Franklin Central coach Lance Scheib has directed the Flashes to 47 wins in his seven years; Avon coach Dave Shelbourne has 47 wins with the Orioles in six seasons.
Pike (10-0) at Ben Davis (7-3) – Ben Davis is the perennial favorite in this sectional, advancing to the regional 11 of the last 12 years. But Pike has navigated its way through a difficult regular season schedule unscathed, and first-year coach Derek Moyers and the Red Devils are sure to give the Giants everything they’ve got.
Columbus North (9-1) at Center Grove (9-1) – According to the aforementioned Sagarin ratings, the Trojans are the #1 team in the state, and the Bull Dogs are #2. Arguments can be made for other teams and their deservedness of a top spot, but ratings aside, this has the makings of a highly competitive battle.
Jeffersonville (8-2) at Castle (8-2) – The Red Devils last advanced to a sectional championship game in 1998, and they beat Castle in the second round to do it. Castle knocked off Jeffersonville in 2004 on the way to their most recent sectional title.
Class 4A
Hammond (9-1) at Hobart (7-3) – Hammond has turned it around from records of 2-10, 1-10, 2-8 and 1-9 the last four years. Add in a 4-7 campaign in 2002, and the Wildcats have a chance to win as many games this season as they did in the previous five combined. Standing in their way is Hobart, who haven’t actually won a sectional title since winning 19 straight from 1979-2007, but have advanced to four championship games since then.
East Central (8-2) at Columbus East (9-1) – These two teams have won the last five sectionals between them, with the Trojans winning in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and the Olympians winning in 2004 and 2006. They met each other somewhere along the way in four of those five years. This is by no means the championship game, with a potential matchup with Shelbyville the following week, but it’s nonetheless a big game in Sectional 15 yet again this year.
Evansville Central (7-3) at Jasper (8-2) – The Wildcats have knocked the Bears out of the tournament three straight years, and four of the last five. But last year was just a 8-7 Jasper victory, and this year’s contest very likely will be a low-scoring affair again.
Class 3A
Western (7-3) at Eastbrook (9-1) – Eastbrook’s only loss this season was a 7-6 home defeat to Western in Week 2. Eight weeks later, the same teams meet on the same field with a spot in the sectional final at stake.
Crawfordsville (7-3) at Danville (9-1) – Both teams have not lost since winning their first game of the season. The Athenians opened 0-3 and have won 7 in a row since, while the Warriors lost their opener and have since won 9 straight. One of Crawfordsville’s losses was to Danville in Week 2, a competitive 28-19 contest.
Chatard (7-3) at Batesville (8-2) – This is a matchup of two six-time defending sectional champions. With this year’s realignment, Batesville moved to Sectional 22 to join Chatard. Neither team has exited the tournament in the sectional since 2000, but one will be gone on Friday night.
Heritage Hills (10-0) at Charlestown (10-0) – The Patriots have been here before…only two regular-season losses in the last 10 years, and have had at least a nine-game winning streak in nine consecutive seasons. Charlestown, on the other hand, had just seven total wins in the previous five years until this year’s 10-0 onslaught. Charlestown’s only had one close game, a 35-31 win at Brownstown Central in Week 2, and Heritage Hills’ only nailbiter was a 17-13 win over Jasper in Week 4.
Class 2A
Fairfield (10-0) at Jimtown (10-0) – The Jimmies are #1 in the Sagarin ratings in 2A, and the Falcon are #2. The teams met in the sectional championship last year with Jimtown winning 40-7, but no one is expecting a score anywhere close to that this time around. Fairfield has never won a sectional while Jimtown has 17 titles.
Triton Central (10-0) at Heritage Christian (9-1) – The Tigers beat the Eagles at home 21-14 in Week 2. Now home field advantage goes to Heritage Christian, looking to advance to a sectional final for the first time in school history. Triton Central hasn’t been to a final since 1996.
North Putnam (10-0) at Speedway (8-2) – Another matchup of two defending sectional champions. The Cougars beat the Sparkplugs in the regional last year. One of the Sparkplugs’ two losses this year was a 21-8 home defeat to the Cougars three weeks ago.
Class A
Pioneer (9-1) at Tri-County (7-3) – Tri-County’s last sectional final was in 1996, while Pioneer is the defending champion. The Panthers are riding a 9-game winning streak after losing their opener, while the Cavaliers have bounced back nicely from a late-season three-game losing streak. Look for a lot of points to be scored out along I-65 this Friday.
Clinton Central (7-3) at Sheridan (10-0) – The Bulldogs proved what kind of a team they are with the win over Lafayette Central Catholic last week. Their reward? A chance to take on an undefeated team again, this time the undisputed #1 team in Class A. Sheridan will put a 31-game overall winning streak and a 13-game postseason winning streak on the line.
Hagerstown (7-3) at Northeastern (9-1) – While Hagerstown has 9 sectional championships, Northeastern has never won a sectional – or even played in a sectional final. The Knights had back-to-back 0-10 seasons in 2004 and 2005, jumped to 6 wins last year, and now look for a 10th win and their first championship game in school history.
Those are just some of the big games this Friday. There will be plenty of excitement in the other 61 second-round matchups as well. What game are you going to see this week, and who do you think will win? Share your thoughts with fans around the state with the Indiana Sportstalk Message Boards!
