Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 August 1997 — Page 3

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22,1907

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

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Indiana Idgh school football preview By STEVE HERMAN Aaaodatcd Press In a year of change, there are a few comforting constants in Indiana high school football going into the 1997 season. No matter how many players Perm lost from the previous year, the Kingsmen will be contenders for another Gass 5A championship. Ben Davis and Carmel will again battle for supremacy in central Indiana, and Bloomington South and Martinsville could be challenged by at least one Evansville team in the south. The biennial realignment of the state’s five playoff classes produced some interesting shifts, however, making 4A just as competitive as 5 A. Indianapolis Cathedral, unbeaten a year ago, could be the favorite again in 4A, but among the schools moving up to that class are three that finished in the 3A Top 10 rankings last year. One of them, Indianapolis Roncalli, will play in the same sectional as Cathedral. “It makes our sectional, which is already difficult, that much more difficult,” Cathedral coach Rick Streiff said. “The championships usually take care of themselves. We have to stress getting better every day. Right now, this team is trying to find itself.” Roncalli, Fort Wayne Dwenger and Jasper, the No. 1 team in the final 3A poll last year, all moved up to 4A. Overall, 40 schools switched classes due to changes in North Central will have added opposition in Sectional 4, which now Includes Anderson and Anderson enrollment. The only ones new to SA are Anderson and Highland, who are also new to 5A. Anderson Highland, which moved up because of die closing of Anderson Madison Heights and the increased with 261 career wins, the state’s fourth-best victory total They’re loaded. They’ve been pointing to this year for enrollments at the other two schools. of all time. two years.” Both Anderson and Highland were assigned to Sec- “However, we have good numbers and pretty good Carmel’s Greyhounds, who lost to Penn in the semistate, tipnal 4, which includes Carmel, Kokomo and Indianapo- kids. I think once we get them settled into the positions go into the new season with a new coach. Longtime lU^forth Central. Dwenger goes to Sectional 1 which they should be playing imd get some experience under our assistant Keith Fiedler replaced Jim Belden, who retired includes last year's No. 1 4A team DeKalb. Jasper moves belts, by mid-year we can be a pretty good team.’ with 283 victories and four state championships in 33 to Sectional 16, which also has Vincennes, a narrow loser The three returning fulltime starters -all three-year years as coach. to Cathedral in last year's 4A semistate. Jasper coach regulars arc guard Brian Martinic, defensive tackle Mike The Greyhounds, whose only other loss last year was Jerry Brewer is the winningest coach in state football McBride and offensive lineman Chris Williams. Two to Ben Davis, departed the Olympic Conference to join history, with 310 career victories. others, tight end Aaron Leniski and running back Shawn Ben Davis in the newest and possibly most power-laden Roncalli and Cathedral are joined in Sectional IS by McGann, started about half the games. The new quarter- conference in the state. Avon, which also lost to Cathedral a year ago. back for the Kingsmen is Kevin Nicolini, who saw limited The new Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference also “A lot of people said Cathedral had the best physical action as a backup last year. includes Center Grove, Lawrence North, Indianapolis talent in the state, at any level, and they have a lot of Ben Davis coach Dick Dullaghan said he “lost a ton” North Central, Warren Central, Terre Haute North and players coming back,” Roncalli coach Bruce Scifres of players from last year, but compared with Penn, the Terre Haute South. said. “It will be interesting. Giants have a ton of experience. “North Central’s going to be better. Carmel will be “But our approach is you can hit and tackle and block “We’ve got a pretty good nucleus of kids coming about the same. They just reload,’’Dullaghan said. “Their just as hard in Single-A as in 5A, so the class shouldn’t back,” Dullaghan said. “We’ve got four starters back on schedule is a little tougher this year, so that’s going to really matter. The basic fundamentals are not going to defense. On offense, the line looks to be the bright spot, change for them a little bit. In the past, they really didn’t change.” We’ve got three starters back in the line, along with one have the quality opponents they’re going to have in the Roncalli is led by tailback Sean Schembra, who rushed wide receiver and our fullback.” MIC. That conference isabear.” for more than 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior. The top returning player for Ben Davis is 277-pound Carmel figures to rely heavily on the running of Cathedral lost two All-State players along with rush- lineman Marcus Adams, an All-State tackle last season, tailback Shannon Polk. ingleaderDevinSchaffer.butthelrishretumatrioofkey “He changes clothes in a phone booth,” Dullaghan Under the new alignment, four of the MIC teams. Ben players among 10 starters back from their 14-0 team of a said. “He’s a great player. Not many linemen in the state Davis, North Central, Warren Central and Carmel _ are year ago. are going to be better.’ ‘ the four largest SA teams in the state. Muncie Central is All-Stater A.T. Simpson, Cathedral’s top receiver, is Other veterans include fullback Lament Logwood and the biggest 4A school, Rushville and Fort Wayne Lutheran back at defensive back; quarterback Zach Fox is coming kick returner Steve Raine. One of the biggest concerns, are the largest in 3A, defending state champion North off a 1300-yard performance; and tight end-defensive however, is at quarterback, where little-used backup Joe Montgomery and Manchester are the biggest 2A schools, end Rylan Hainje returns for the Irish. Lonneman is the early leader in a three-way race to and Knightstown is the largest in Class A. “We’re making some progress. We do have a good replace graduated Darren Phillips. Hpbait, which reached the championship game for a group of kids. It’s just a matter of chemistry and leader- Ben Davis, which like many schools added a ninth record 11th time last year, returns running back Doug ship, which is probably the same with every team,” regular-season game instead of a jamboree this year, Bloom, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards and 13 Streiff said. opens against Evansville Harrison, rated by Dullaghan as touchdowns last season. The Brickies were 12-2 last year. Eight of the Cathedral players are three-year starters, the best team in Evansville. losing to Cathedral in the 4A tide game. The only thing that kept Penn from the No. 1 ranking “That’s what eveiybody tells me, and they've got a With the moves to 4A by Jasper, Dwenger and Roncalli, last year was a midseason loss to Ben Davis- a 24-0 rout bunch of guys back,” he said. the top teams this year in 3A could be defending chamthat snapped the Kingsmen’s record 89-game regular- Harrison upset then-No. 3 Evansville Reitz and No. 8 pion Zionsville, which was unbeaten a year ago; season winning streak. Castle in the sectional last year before losing in the North Wood, which was ranked second and suffered its Penn has only three fulltime starters back, but could be regional to Martinsville. Bloomington South, which re- only loss in the semistate to Dwenger, or Lakeland, which ready for another run at the championship -its third in a turns one of the state’stop quarterbacks in Rex Grossman was ranked fifth before its only loss of the season to row- come tournament time, coach Chris Geesman said, and All-State defensive tackle Shane Moat, was ranked NorthWood in die sectional. “We graduated a pretty good group of kids, 10 of No. 1 and unbeaten before its sectional loss to Martinsville. “I think we’ll be strong at the skill positions. Offenwhom were two-year starters on back-to-back state cham- “Bloomington south is absolutely terrific,” Dullaghan sively, the big question mark will be the offensive line,” pionship teams. Those kind of players are not quickly or said. “If they ’re not No. 1, they ought to be No. 2. They' ve Lakeland coach Rex Bowser said, easily replaced,” said Geesman, who enters the season got everybody back and a hell of a bunch of skilled guys.