Prep grid titles tied to historical glance?
Go West, young man
(Advice for the ambitious most often attributed to Horace Greeley,
a founder of the Republican party, but originally written
by John Soule in the Terre Haute Express in 1851)
In looking back over the past 22 years of IHSAA post-season football playoffs, it likely is not examining a period of time long enough to qualify for providing historical perspective. Or is it?
That 22-year period represents how long it has been since the adoption in 1985 of the current format featuring five classes and allowing every IHSAA member school to participate in the statewide gridiron tournament.
Two recent IHSAA news releases one dealing with reclassification and the other with sectional alignment shifts provoke at least a cursory glance at the past two decades-plus, especially since Franklin Central during a portion of that period has been butting heads within Class 5A (the division representing the largest enrollment classification).
Franklin Central, over time, has fashioned one of the most storied football playoff traditions in Indiana football annals since IHSAA post-season play was created for selected schools in three classes for the 1973 season. Four times the Flashes have been crowned state champions (1980, 1981, 1982 and 1990) in the 33 years of playoff history. On three other occasions, FC placed runner-up (1986, 1988 and 1989) in bids for state titles.
The four state championships and seven title-game appearances place Franklin Central in elite company.
Consider, for example:
** Only nine Indiana high schools have won more state football crowns than FC. The list includes Chatard, Roncalli and Sheridan (eight apiece); Ben Davis (seven); Cathedral, Fort Wayne Luers and Warren Central (six each); and Carmel and Penn (five apiece).
** Only eight Indiana high schools have made more State Finals appearances than the Flashes. The list includes Hobart and Roncalli (11 each), Fort Wayne Luers (10), and Ben Davis, Cathedral and Chatard (nine apiece).
From a purely numbers standpoint, it is important to note that when Franklin Central dominated for just over a decade in football, the Flashes were always one enrollment classification removed from the playoff system's largest enrollment classification. Along the way, however, reclassification bumped FC into the largest enrollment classification, where today it stands No. 16 in size among 63 Indiana high schools comprising Class 5A.
Class 5A, by the way, also represents the widest disparity in enrollment from top to bottom among all the divisions. For example, figures attached to the recent reclassification press release show that Ben Davis with 4,495 students is the largest Indiana high school, while Jennings County at No. 63 in 5A lists 1,511 students. That's a difference of slightly more than 3,000 students. At No. 16, Franklin Central is listed with 2,251 students, or about half the size of Ben Davis.
Consider, for example, the disparities from top to bottom in the other four classes:
** Class 4A South Bend Clay at 1,502 students one more student than Columbus East is the largest school, with Gary Wallace at 913 students the smallest among 62 schools. Disparity: 589 students.
** Class 3A Bellmont at 894 students one more student than NorthWood and two more than Angola is the largest school, with Glenn at 609 students the smallest among 6 2 schools. Disparity: 285 students.
** Class 2A Rochester at 608 students is the largest school, with Hammond Noll at 444 the smallest among 63 schools. Disparity: 164 students.
** Class A Eastside at 443 students two more students than Ritter is the largest school, with Indiana Deaf at 97 the smallest among 63 schools. Disparity: 346 students.
Franklin Township-based Lutheran, with 287 students, ranks No. 304 in size among the state's 317 football-playing high schools.
Some observers steadfastly will point out that there is definite strength in numbers when it comes to winning Class 5 A football championships at least since the current five-class format was instituted.
Consider, for example:
** Since 1985, only seven different Indiana high schools have captured state football titles during 22 Class 5A post-season tournament series.
Translation (or historical perspective): About 11 percent of those schools that have started out in sectional pairings have ever claimed state 5A championships.
** Of the 10 different schools with 5A football titles, four high schools Ben Davis, Carmel, Warren Central and Penn have combined for 18 of the 22 championships. And all four, it just so happens, are among the five largest Indiana high schools based on the latest enrollment figures used by the IHSAA in its recent reclassification process.
Translation (or historical perspective): A smidgen or two over 6 percent of 5 A classified football schools have harvested nearly 8 2 percent of the championships to date.
** Of the 10 different schools with 5A football titles, two Marion County high schools Warren Central in Sectional 5 and Ben Davis in Sectional 6 have combined to collect 12 of the 22 state championships.
Translation (or historical perspective): Two Marion County high schools bracketed in sectional play with all the other Marion County 5A high schools (and others outside of Marion County ) have combined to win roughly 55 percent of the 5A state championships.
** Obviously winning a sectional title is the initial step toward winning a state championship. Of the two sectionals currently containing all 11 Marion County 5A football schools, Ben Davis (16) and Warren Central (10) have combined for 26 sectional crowns.
Translation (or historical perspective): Of 44 sectional titles at stake in two sectionals over 22 years, Ben Davis and Warren Central have cornered the market, placing their school names on 5 9 percent of the sectional hardware.
While the latest IHSAA press release pertaining to reclassification had no direct impact on Franklin Central, the one regarding sectional shifts did.
The Flashes are being moved toward the west from Class 5A Sectional 5 to Sectional 6 . The new alignment includes Avon, Ben Davis, Brownsburg, FC, Perry Meridian, Pike, Southport and Tech. Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern are moving into Sectional 5 to replace the Flashes and Broad Ripple, the latter being reclassified to Class 4A.
Coach Lance Scheib and his Franklin Central coaching staff are pleased at being shifted to a new sectional. FC is excited to be in Sectional 6, Scheib says, although it will continue to be a big challenge for our program. Brian Avery, the school's athletic director, believes the new sectional alignment will produce excellent sectional crowds and revenue opportunities.
In looking at the new Sectional 6 alignment, several statistical notes (historical perspective?) are available.
Consider, for example:
** Five schools in Sectional 6 are among 143 winning high school football programs (all classes considered) in Indiana over the past 11 seasons. Heading into the 2006 campaign, Ben Davis ranked No. 7 at 117-21 and the Giants were 9-4 last fall. Avon was No. 25 at 85-29 and the Orioles were 6-5 last season. FC ranked No. 116 overall at 58-48 and the Flashes were 5-6 last season. Brownsburg was No. 119 and the Bulldogs were 3-7 in 2006, while Perry Meridian was No. 134 at 56-51 and the Falcons were 5-6 last season. Pike, Southport and Tech are not listed as winning programs during the same period.
** Against Sectional 6 schools over the past 13 seasons, Franklin Central has a combined 30-11 record, including 8-6 against Perry Meridian, 10-1 against Southport , 7-4 against Pike and 5-0 against Tech. During that same period, the Flashes have not faced Avon, Ben Davis or Brownsburg.
* In Class 5A competition, current Sectional 6 teams have captured 21 sectional titles, including Ben Davis with 16, Southport 2, Avon 1, Franklin Central 1 and Perry Meridian 1. The Flashes' one-and-only 5A sectional title came in 1993, a 14-7 victory over Warren Central followed by a 34-0 loss to North Central in regional play.
There will tend to be familiarity within Sectional 6, what with four Conference Indiana members FC, Perry Meridian, Pike and Southport among the grouping of eight schools. Avon and Brownsburg are members of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference, Ben Davis of the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference and Tech of the Indianapolis Public Schools Athletic Conference.
For schools like Franklin Central looking to succeed in the post-season, the hope for hurdling all the way to the Class 5A highest scoreboard reading at the RCA Dome (or its replacement venue) lies with the only schools other than the truly big boys that have ever done so.
Consider, for example:
** Fort Wayne Snider won the Class 5A state title in 1992. Today, Snider ranks as the No. 28 largest school in Indiana with an enrollment of 2,032.
** Bloomington South won state championships in 1993 and 1998. Today, South ranks as the No. 40 largest school with an enrollment of 1,832.
** Castle captured the 1994 state crown. Today, Castle is the No. 43 largest school with an enrollment of 1,786.
For Franklin Central, and perhaps only a handful of other schools, there is another hope. That would be the premise that there really is definite strength in numbers when it comes to winning Class 5A football championships. As pointed out, FC not too long ago was bumped up to the largest classification due to increasing enrollments. Continued township growth accompanied by an increasing number of students already has the Flashes among the largest one-fourth of the schools in 5A.
And the documented rise in size undoubtedly will continue since growth rates among the 15 Indiana high schools larger than Franklin Central with Hamilton Southeastern being one exception are not as great percentage-wise as to what is transpiring in Franklin Township relative to increases in overall student enrollment.
Strength in numbers just a premise? Or historical perspective? Ask those folks at Ben Davis (4,495 students), at Carmel (4,001), at Warren Central (3,896), at Penn (3,331). They're all pretty comfortable with their numbers, along with 18 Class 5A state football championships.
- FTONEWS.com -