Sports fans, get ready. We are less than a week away from the start of the IHSAA fall season.
Girls golf teams can begin their seasons on Monday, with most of the other fall sports to begin on Aug. 12. Football games are set to kick off on Aug. 18. Here’s a sport-by-sport look at the sectional groupings for Hamilton County teams, as well as what their routes through the post-season would be.
GIRLS GOLF
Sectionals
The teams from Carmel, Guerin Catholic, University and Westfield will again travel to the Ben Davis sectional, which takes place at South Grove Golf Course in Indianapolis. This sectional is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 15.
In a switch from previous seasons, Fishers, Hamilton Heights, Hamilton Southeastern and Noblesville will meet at Harbour Trees Golf Course, where the Millers will host the sectional. The date will not change; it is still set for Saturday, Sept. 16.
Regionals
Advancement: The top three teams and top three individuals not on an advancing team move from the sectional to the regional. All regionals are scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 23.
Qualifying teams and individuals from the Ben Davis sectional advance to the Roncalli regional, which this year will take place at The Legends Golf Course in Franklin. Advancers from the Noblesville sectional play at the Lapel regional, again hosted by Edgewood Golf Course.
State finals
Advancement: The top three teams and top five individuals not on an advancing team move from the regional to state.
Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel will host the girls golf state finals on Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30. This is the fourth year that Prairie View will host both the girls and boys golf state finals as part of a five-year deal between the club and the IHSAA.
BOYS TENNIS
Sectionals
Tennis teams are scheduled to host their sectionals from Wednesday, Sept. 27 to Saturday, Sept. 30. In Hamilton County, the tennis sectionals have recently taken place on Wednesday and Thursday in order to allow for rain dates.
The sectional lineup is unchanged from last year. Carmel, Guerin Catholic, University and Westfield will play at Carmel’s Todd Witsken Tennis Center. Fishers, Hamilton Heights, Hamilton Southeastern and Noblesville will play at Southeastern.
Regionals
Sectional winners will play at their respective regionals on Tuesday, Oct. 3 and Wednesday, Oct. 4. The winner at Carmel will travel up to Kokomo, while the winner at Southeastern heads down to North Central’s Barbara Wynne Tennis Center.
Semi-state
The semi-state round takes place on Saturday, Oct. 7. The Kokomo winner plays for the Culver Academies 1 championship, with the North Central winner playing for the Homestead 1 title.
State finals
Quarter-finals take place on Friday, Oct. 13 and will be hosted by Carmel and Center Grove. The winner of Culver Academies 1 and Homestead 1 will play each other in the quarter-finals at Carmel.
The semi-finals and championship match are Saturday, Oct. 14 at North Central.
SOCCER
For the first time, soccer will use a three-class tournament. With this comes a slight modification of the state tournament, although the basic structure of the post-season is unchanged.
Sectional games are scheduled for the week of Oct. 2, followed by regionals on Saturday, Oct. 14.
Girls Sectionals
Class 3A: Noblesville will host Sectional 8, with teams from Anderson, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Muncie Central and Pendleton Heights. Guerin Catholic hosts Sectional 10 and will welcome teams from Brebeuf Jesuit, Carmel, Pike, Westfield and Zionsville.
Class 2A: Hamilton Heights will travel to Yorktown for Sectional 24, along with Delta, Jay County and New Castle.
Class 1A: Sheridan hosts Sectional 37, which includes Tipton, Tri-Central, University and Western Boone.
Girls Regionals
Class 3A: The winner of the Noblesville sectional will play in the Logansport regional in the north semi-state. Guerin Catholic’s winner will travel to Zionsville as part of the south semi-state.
Class 2A: Yorktown’s sectional winner plays in the Marion regional, which is in the north semi-state.
Class 1A: Sheridan’s sectional winner plays in the Northwestern regional, also in the north semi-state.
Boys Sectionals
Class 3A: Hamilton Southeastern will host Sectional 8, with the same lineup as the girls’ Sectional 8: Anderson, Fishers, Muncie Central, Noblesville and Pendleton Heights. Carmel hosts Sectional 10, with the same lineup plus an additional team. North Central is part of his sectional, along with Brebeuf Jesuit, Guerin Catholic, Pike, Westfield and Zionsville.
Class 2A: Hamilton Heights will play at Sectional 25 in Lebanon, along with Crawfordsville, Frankfort, North Montgomery, Southmont and Western Boone.
Class 1A: Sheridan and University will play in Sectional 40, to be hosted by Heritage Christian. Other teams are Broad Ripple, International, Park Tudor and Shortridge.
Boys Regionals
Class 3A: Southeastern’s sectional winner will play at the Kokomo regional, which is in the north semi-state. The Carmel sectional winner will remain at Carmel to play in the regional, which aligns with the south semi-state.
Class 2A: Lebanon’s sectional winner travels to Greensburg, which is in the south semi-state.
Class 1A: Heritage Christian’s sectional winner plays in the Taylor regional, in the north semi-state.
Semi-state
The semi-states have been changed to resemble those of the basketball semi-states, where teams are assigned to a site after all the regional championship games have been completed. According to the IHSAA Fall Bulletin, “Team assignments will be made post Regional Championships such that consideration may be given to travel and both genders competing from the same member school,” something that often happens in soccer.
North semi-state teams will play at either Kokomo or South Bend St. Joseph, with south semi-state teams competing at either Evansville North or Lawrenceburg. All semi-state games are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21.
State finals
There will be six state championship games this year, with two taking place on Friday, Oct. 27 at Butler University. The other four games will be played Saturday, Oct. 28, at the familiar IUPUI Carroll Stadium.
CROSS COUNTRY
Sectionals
All Hamilton County schools will compete on Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Noblesville sectional, which runs at the Chinquapin Ridge Cross Country Course at White River Elementary School. Teams from Lebanon, Tindley and Tipton will also run at this sectional.
Regionals
Advancement: The top five teams advance from the sectional to the regional, along with the top 10 individuals not on an advancing team.
Sectional qualifiers from Noblesville return to Chinquapin Ridge for the regional, which is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 14.
Semi-state
Advancement: The top five teams advance from the regional to the semi-state, along with the top 10 individuals not on an advancing team.
Qualifiers from Noblesville will travel to Shelbyville for the semi-state, which is set for Saturday, Oct. 21.
State finals
Advancement: The top six teams and top 10 individuals not on an advancing team move from the semi-state to the state finals.
The state meet will again take place on Saturday, Oct. 28 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.
VOLLEYBALL
Just like soccer, the volleyball post-season tournament has been adjusted so that semi-state assignments will be made after the regional championship matches. Matches take place on Tuesday, Oct. 10, Thursday, Oct. 12 and Saturday, Oct. 14.
Sectionals
Class 4A: Noblesville will host Sectional 8, welcoming teams from Anderson, Carmel, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern and Westfield.
Class 3A: Hamilton Heights will travel to Delta for Sectional 24, joining teams from Blackford, Jay County, Muncie Burris, New Castle and Wapahani. Meanwhile, Guerin Catholic will play in Sectional 27 at Cardinal Ritter, along with Bishop Chatard, Brebeuf Jesuit, Broad Ripple, Crispus Attucks and Indianapolis Northwest.
Class 2A: Sheridan heads to Alexandria for Sectional 40, joining Elwood, Frankton, Lapel and Monroe Central.
Class 1A: University plays in Sectional 58 at Indiana School for the Deaf, along with Bethesda Christian, International, Metropolitan, Tindley and Traders Point Christian Academy.
Regionals
All games are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21.
Class 4A: The Noblesville sectional winner plays at Muncie Central, part of the north semi-state.
Class 3A: The winner at Delta will travel to Norwell, which is in the north semi-state. Meanwhile, the Cardinal Ritter winner heads to Danville, which plays in the south semi-state.
Class 2A: The Alexandria winner plays in the Taylor regional, part of the north semi-state.
Class 1A: The ISD winner will travel to Morristown, part of the south semi-state.
Semi-state
North semi-state games will be played at either Plymouth or Frankfort, with south semi-state games taking place at Columbus East or Jasper. All games will be played on Saturday, Oct. 28.
State finals
Ball State University’s Worthen Arena will host the state finals on Saturday, Nov. 4.
FOOTBALL
Sectionals
Sectional contest begin Friday, Oct. 20 in Classes 1A through 5A, although only a handful of games are scheduled for 5A. The other 5A teams and all of Class 6A receive a bye that week. Sectional semi-finals are set for Friday, Oct. 27 in all classes, with the championship games on Friday, Nov. 3.
Class 6A: Carmel, Lafayette Jefferson, Noblesville and Westfield will compete in Sectional 4, with Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, North Central and Pike in Sectional 5.
Class 3A: Guerin Catholic and Hamilton Heights will play in Sectional 26, joining Blackford, Brebeuf Jesuit, Crawfordsville, North Montgomery, Northwestern and Southmont.
Class 1A: Sheridan will compete in Sectional 44, with Anderson Prep, Clinton Central, clinton Prairie, Monroe Central, Tri-Central, Union City and Wes-Del.
Regionals
All games take place on Friday, Nov. 10.
Class 6A: The Sectional 4 winner will play the Sectional 3 winner, with Sectional 5’s winner taking on the Sectional 6 champion.
Class 3A: Sectional 26’s champion plays the Sectional 25 winner.
Class 1A: The Sectional 44 winner takes on the Sectional 43 champion.
Semi-states
All games are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 17 (note that if there is considerable distance between the two teams, the game may be pushed back to that Saturday, Nov. 18.)
State finals
The state championships will take place at Lucas Oil Fieldhouse the weekend after Thanksgiving. The Class 6A championship is set for 7:05 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24. The 1A game takes place at noon on Saturday, Nov. 25, with the 3A game immediately following.
The Noblesville girls soccer team won what was the Class 2A Sectional 8 last season. The Millers will again compete in Sectional 8, but this year it will be in Class 3A, as the IHSAA expands soccer into a three-class tournament. (Richie Hall/File photo)