Chip Shots: Bouncing Around With Indian Summer Energy
November 5, 2022 at 2:51 a.m.
Chip Shots: Bouncing Around With Indian Summer Energy
By Chip Davenport-
Join me as I topic hop this morning.
I’ll rip the Band-Aid regarding an incorrect projection I made about the Class 3A football title. I asked who would stand in Gibson Southern’s path to a state title repeat. Well, the answer to this question is Owen Valley, also unbeaten at 11-0. Does this open the door for West Lafayette to capture the crown? I certainly think so.
While I’m on the topic of high school football – and I’m unapologetically covering old news - the Summit Athletic Conference (SAC) decided last January to open their regular season opponents to teams outside the SAC for the first time since Carroll and Homestead were booted out of their former conference subsequently joining the SAC in the 2015 season.
The opening up of two regular season games to opponents outside the SAC is great news for Warsaw Tiger gridiron fans.
The resulting realignment of the SAC means Fort Wayne Snider will be Warsaw’s 2025 season opener. The Michigan City contract’s final year is a 2024 ballgame at Fisher Field. The Tigers and Wolves are currently tied in this century’s resumed home-and-home battles at two wins apiece.
Here’s what happened in the SAC last January. It completely slipped under my sports radar.
The SAC will split into two divisions mostly based on enrollment and (a little bit) football program quality. The divisions are currently named “A” and “B.” It will be interesting if the schools will rename them by paying homage to the area’s rich football history.
“A” Division - Bishop Dwenger, Carroll, Homestead, Northrop, Snider.
“B” Division - Bishop Luers, Concordia, North Side, South Side, Wayne.
These ten members currently cannibalize each other among all nine of their regular season games.
Here’s what will change in the 2023 football season.
Two games at the start of the regular season are now open to non-conference opponents. The stronger programs will be able to move weaker SAC opponents from the opposite division off their schedule to prepare for the rigors of the postseason. It also allows all ten programs to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses before they battle league opponents.
Each division will have the four obvious in-division games plus three cross-division games in weeks 3 and 9 with one team in each division per week playing an additional cross-divisional game among the other weeks.
Week 7 will be the SAC’s rivalry week.
Warsaw’s first two non-conference foes in 2025 will be Snider in week one and Indy-area power Warren Central in week 2.
Greedy as it sounds, my mind was reeling imagining the addition of Penn and Elkhart to the Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) with a “Northern” division of Concord, Elkhart, Penn, Mishawaka, and Warsaw and a “Lakes” division of Goshen, Northridge, NorthWood, Plymouth, and Wawasee.
Although Goshen’s enrollment is significantly greater than the next largest school (Northridge) by nearly 500 students, their football program participation numbers are better suited for the smaller division.
NorthWood and Northridge postseason prep could still benefit from three cross-division games among any of the five “Northern” division teams. Warsaw and Wawasee could use the week 7 rivalry slate (like the SAC) to keep the W Trophy battle rolling.
The pushback of this idea would be, “Chip, this is a football-centric move. You must look at all 20 IHSAA-sanctioned sports.”
I still want to put it out there. It’s like asking the crazy question, “If worms could fire cannons, what would the robins do?”
I am still of good cheer with status quo because Concord athletic director Dave Preheim very resourcefully and meticulously reset the NLC football schedule for this season and the ensuing 11 years. He set up bi-annual schedule shifts to give each NLC team the experience of varied home-away game patterns, and he eliminated the possibility of seeing your final regular season opponent in the sectional opener.
As predictable as some event workers want their game schedules to be, I like the shake-up after each set of two-season matchups. Better yet, I know what my football Fridays behind the PA announcer’s mic look like through my 69th birthday (in 2033).
I’ll shift gears from football to futbol.
The Warsaw Tigers boys’ side lost a one-goal regional semifinal heartbreaker to eventual Class 3A state champion Noblesville. I took the girls’ soccer PA reigns last year and added the boys’ side to my plate in 2022.
I enjoyed watching each side more than I did the previous year, and I especially like when the athlete who scores the goal races toward the home crowd pulling on his kit in FIFA fashion.
My enjoyment is two-fold. The stands and the pitch are set up rather intimately, and the interaction is joyous, and in-your-face. The other reason I like this type of celebration is because the numbers on those kits are so doggone small it’s easier to read them when the goal scorer conveniently sprints toward the press box.
I believe I’ve found a set of field glasses that might help me see those tiny kit numbers from the press box when subs enter action on the pitch from the west sidelines of the Tiger Soccer Complex, too.
Fall seasons are closing quickly with volleyball crowning four champions today, and I already miss the fun-filled, action packed PA 2022 announcing schedule. I’m already eager for time to fly and roll into the 2023 fall scholastic athletic season.
Join me as I topic hop this morning.
I’ll rip the Band-Aid regarding an incorrect projection I made about the Class 3A football title. I asked who would stand in Gibson Southern’s path to a state title repeat. Well, the answer to this question is Owen Valley, also unbeaten at 11-0. Does this open the door for West Lafayette to capture the crown? I certainly think so.
While I’m on the topic of high school football – and I’m unapologetically covering old news - the Summit Athletic Conference (SAC) decided last January to open their regular season opponents to teams outside the SAC for the first time since Carroll and Homestead were booted out of their former conference subsequently joining the SAC in the 2015 season.
The opening up of two regular season games to opponents outside the SAC is great news for Warsaw Tiger gridiron fans.
The resulting realignment of the SAC means Fort Wayne Snider will be Warsaw’s 2025 season opener. The Michigan City contract’s final year is a 2024 ballgame at Fisher Field. The Tigers and Wolves are currently tied in this century’s resumed home-and-home battles at two wins apiece.
Here’s what happened in the SAC last January. It completely slipped under my sports radar.
The SAC will split into two divisions mostly based on enrollment and (a little bit) football program quality. The divisions are currently named “A” and “B.” It will be interesting if the schools will rename them by paying homage to the area’s rich football history.
“A” Division - Bishop Dwenger, Carroll, Homestead, Northrop, Snider.
“B” Division - Bishop Luers, Concordia, North Side, South Side, Wayne.
These ten members currently cannibalize each other among all nine of their regular season games.
Here’s what will change in the 2023 football season.
Two games at the start of the regular season are now open to non-conference opponents. The stronger programs will be able to move weaker SAC opponents from the opposite division off their schedule to prepare for the rigors of the postseason. It also allows all ten programs to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses before they battle league opponents.
Each division will have the four obvious in-division games plus three cross-division games in weeks 3 and 9 with one team in each division per week playing an additional cross-divisional game among the other weeks.
Week 7 will be the SAC’s rivalry week.
Warsaw’s first two non-conference foes in 2025 will be Snider in week one and Indy-area power Warren Central in week 2.
Greedy as it sounds, my mind was reeling imagining the addition of Penn and Elkhart to the Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) with a “Northern” division of Concord, Elkhart, Penn, Mishawaka, and Warsaw and a “Lakes” division of Goshen, Northridge, NorthWood, Plymouth, and Wawasee.
Although Goshen’s enrollment is significantly greater than the next largest school (Northridge) by nearly 500 students, their football program participation numbers are better suited for the smaller division.
NorthWood and Northridge postseason prep could still benefit from three cross-division games among any of the five “Northern” division teams. Warsaw and Wawasee could use the week 7 rivalry slate (like the SAC) to keep the W Trophy battle rolling.
The pushback of this idea would be, “Chip, this is a football-centric move. You must look at all 20 IHSAA-sanctioned sports.”
I still want to put it out there. It’s like asking the crazy question, “If worms could fire cannons, what would the robins do?”
I am still of good cheer with status quo because Concord athletic director Dave Preheim very resourcefully and meticulously reset the NLC football schedule for this season and the ensuing 11 years. He set up bi-annual schedule shifts to give each NLC team the experience of varied home-away game patterns, and he eliminated the possibility of seeing your final regular season opponent in the sectional opener.
As predictable as some event workers want their game schedules to be, I like the shake-up after each set of two-season matchups. Better yet, I know what my football Fridays behind the PA announcer’s mic look like through my 69th birthday (in 2033).
I’ll shift gears from football to futbol.
The Warsaw Tigers boys’ side lost a one-goal regional semifinal heartbreaker to eventual Class 3A state champion Noblesville. I took the girls’ soccer PA reigns last year and added the boys’ side to my plate in 2022.
I enjoyed watching each side more than I did the previous year, and I especially like when the athlete who scores the goal races toward the home crowd pulling on his kit in FIFA fashion.
My enjoyment is two-fold. The stands and the pitch are set up rather intimately, and the interaction is joyous, and in-your-face. The other reason I like this type of celebration is because the numbers on those kits are so doggone small it’s easier to read them when the goal scorer conveniently sprints toward the press box.
I believe I’ve found a set of field glasses that might help me see those tiny kit numbers from the press box when subs enter action on the pitch from the west sidelines of the Tiger Soccer Complex, too.
Fall seasons are closing quickly with volleyball crowning four champions today, and I already miss the fun-filled, action packed PA 2022 announcing schedule. I’m already eager for time to fly and roll into the 2023 fall scholastic athletic season.
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