Welcome to Moratorium Week.
It’s the one week of the year where Indiana high school sports shuts down to give student-athletes some vacation time. Not surprisingly, I’ve found that this is a good time to take a vacation week myself.
I certainly wish everyone a great summer. It’s a time to slow down, reflect on the previous school year and get ready for the next school year. With that in mind, I have a couple suggestions for my friends at the IHSAA.
Sectional seedings
Yes, this topic again. There have been so many calls from so many people to do something when it comes to the sectional draw in pretty much every team sport the IHSAA offers. It’s probably most pronounced in soccer, where the Noblesville and Hamilton Southeastern girls soccer teams have to meet in the sectional – sometimes in the first round! – to play a game that anyone who knows anything about soccer around here would consider a de facto state championship game.
Remember last year, when Fishers’ and Noblesville’s boys basketball teams played the sectional championship in The Mill, which was sold out? It’s a great natural rivalry, but there was more electricity to it because the Tigers were ranked No. 1 and the Millers were No. 2. Since it was a championship game, at least the draw worked out as it should – it’s just too bad Nos. 1 and 2 were playing for a sectional trophy and not a state trophy.
Is there a solution? I would like to see something along the lines of seeding the semi-state. Divide up the state into four regions: northwest, northeast, central and south. Play down to four teams in each region for the sectional, then play one game for the regional and one for the semi-state. Then the four semi-state teams are re-seeded (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3) to play for the state title.
I’m sure there may be some logistical issues with my proposal, but those could be tweaked. We have to start somewhere, even if it is just an idea.
Location, location
The Guerin Catholic baseball team won its first-ever sectional championship several weeks ago. It had been a long time coming for the Golden Eagles, as in around 20 years. With the win, Guerin Catholic was headed to its first-ever regional, where it played and beat Cathedral, one of the elite high school baseball programs in the state.
It’s a great story, except for one little issue: why did the IHSAA assign this game to the Jasper regional? I know the regional sites are determined before the season begins, but was there no way to put this game closer?
Apparently not. Two of the other south regional sites were Center Grove and Mooresville, but those sites featured Indianapolis-area teams as well. So, someone had to make the long drive, and it was the Golden Eagles and the Irish.
Perhaps it might be time for a little flexibility here. Maybe instead of designating eight sites before the season starts, the IHSAA could designate a higher number of standby sites, then determine who would be the best fit to host regional games once the sectional championships are completed.
Could that become complicated logistically? Maybe. But baseball has a different post-season schedule than the other sports, with the first games being played during the middle-to-late part of the week and the championship games taking place on Monday. By that time, there would be a general sense of who could play in what regional and the potential site hosts could plan accordingly.
It’s worth some consideration – and it would definitely boost attendance for games.
Remembering Rickie
Finally, let’s take a moment to remember the biggest Noblesville Miller fan there ever was.
Rickie Woods Jr. passed away last week. Rickie was everywhere when it came to the Millers, be it football, basketball or soccer. Whenever I was at a Noblesville game, there he was. I always enjoyed seeing and talking with him, and he always had a kind word for me.
The “Big Miller Man” will be missed, but he will never be forgotten.