Today we’re looking at the Past Success of 58 Southern Indiana High School Football programs. All grouped into their 8 Sectional pairings. We’ll give our “SISN Pre-Season Rank” for each Sectional pairing, along with notes and highlighted players from the sectional group.
We’ve selected the sectionals that we wanted to cover. Sectionals that were closer to us, and easier to cover. If our operations do expand, we hope to expand to more Southern Indiana teams, and perhaps one day all Indiana teams. We do have the data for the state, so if interest for the charts below grows, and requests are made, we could possibly make some analysis for the northern part of the state as well.
Sectional 15
Columbus East, Bloomington South, Bloomington North, Seymour
“Monroe Bowl”
We’re starting off with the large classes first, this time with 5A Sectional 15. We’ll call this one the “Lake Monroe Bowl”.
There are 4 teams in Sectional 15, Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Columbus East, and Seymour. This is a relatively new pairing as all the teams are coming from a different grouping. Well, the two Bloomington teams traveled together.
Columbus East had a really weak showing last season, and the question remains if that trend will continue. We see strong trends up for the Bloomington teams, and feel that they’re the strong teams coming into the pre-season.
The Bloomington South Panthers look to replace Indiana University commit, Dasan McCullough, a 6’5″ 4 star LB/WR. While Bloomington North Cougars look to continue on the success of Senior RB Cody Mikulich. Cody has rushed for 3070 yards and 52 total TD over his tenure.
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- Bloomington South
- Bloomington North
- Columbus East
- Seymour
Sectional 23
Bedford North Lawrence, East Central, Edgewood, Greenwood, Jennings County, Martinsville, Shelbyville, Silver Creek
“Crossroads Bowl”
The East Central Trojans have a history of toppling their foes, and we do not see that stopping for 2022 in this 4A Sectional, we’re dubbing the “Crossroads Bowl”.
Is it just me, or does Sectional 23 have teams from all over the state? There’s going to be a lot of driving for this sectional.
Indiana High School Football Sectional 23 will be a battle between East Central and Silver Creek – if they improve from last season. If not BNL or Martinsville will be happy to take Sectionals from both of them. Look for Edgewood, Jennings County, and Shelbyville sitting at the bottom. Greenwood could go either way.
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- East Central
- Silver Creek
- Bedford North Lawrence
- Martinsville
- Greenwood
- Edgewood
- Jennings County
- Shelbyville
Sectional 24
Boonville, Evansville Bosse, Evansville Central, Evansville Harrison, Evansville Memorial, Evasnville Reitz, Jasper
“Evans Bowl”
Sectional 24, or what we’re calling the “Evans Bowl” – is a pairing of a bunch of Evansville schools… with Boonville and Jasper thrown in there. Evansville Memorial is the clear favorite, after bowing out in Sem-state the previous season. We’re liking what Jasper brings though, and we’ll see if they can snatch that “Evans Bowl” and hide it in Germantown.
Evansville Central had an off year in 2022, but history shows that they’re used to success. Central Coach Andy Zirkelbach is 2-8 in 2nd year at the school and 5-45 in 6th year overall. The coaching trend doesn’t look good for Evansville as they try to climb into the picture again.
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- Evansville Memorial
- Jasper
- Evansville Reitz
- Boonville
- Evansville Harrison
- Evansville Central
- Evansville Bosse
Sectional 32
Charlestown, Corydon Central, Heritage Hills, Madison, North Harrison, Salem, Scottsburg, Southridge
“Heritage Bowl”
This pairing for the “Heritage Bowl” (Sectional 32) is a difficult one to predict. There are a lot of good teams with a, you guessed it, a heritage for winning close games. These schools also represent some old towns in Southern Indiana. Historical places that have survived the test of time, and like the Sectionals namesake, that we graciously give, the Heritage Bowl will feature some great football in 2022.
Any of the teams in Sectional 32 could pull out the final win, but looking at the numbers we’re going to choose Salem as our favorite for the Sectional Title. Southridge, Heritage Hills, and Charlestown also show strong potential.
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- Salem
- Heritage Hills
- Charlestown
- Southridge
- Scottsburg
- North Harrison
- Madison
- Corydon Central
Sectional 37
Cascade, Greencastle, Linton-Stockton, North Knox, North Putnam, South Vermillion, Southmont, Sullivan
“Coal Bowl”
The Linton Miners have lost 3 years in a row to a powerhouse team in Evansville Mater Dei. But Mater Dei has moved on to torment those in Sectional 40, leaving the door open for Linton-Stockon. We’re not throwing in the towel yet on Sullivan or North Knox. I think both teams understand how tough of an opponent Linton is, year in – year out.
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- Linton-Stockton
- Sullivan
- North Knox
- Greencastle
- Southmont
- South Vermillion
- Cascade
- North Putnam
Sectional 39
Brown County, Brownstown Central, Christel House Manual, Clarksville, Eastern (Pekin), Switzerland County, Triton Central
“Hilltop Bowl”
We predict that Sectional 39 will be a battle between Brownstown Central and Triton Central. Brownstown almost won their sectional last year in 3A, while Triton barely edge out a young Paoli team before getting blown out by a talented Mater Dei team in 2022.
Triton has some real talent at a couple skill positions, mainly QB and WR. But will that be enough to compete with the Braves? Or is there another surprise waiting for us in this sectional? Brown County or Clarksville perhaps?
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- Brownstown Central
- Triton Central
- Brown County
- Clarksville County
- Switerland County
- Eastern (Pekin)
- Christel House Manual
Sectional 40
Crawford County, Evansville Mater Dei, Forest Park, Mitchell, North Posey, Paoli, Perry Central, Tell City
“Patoka Bowl”
As stated before, the Mater Dei Wildcats are a powerhouse. They have been since my high school days at Eastern Greene (’00-’04). The Wildcats were 2A Indiana Football Runner Ups last season, and they’ll be looking to continue that success into 2022. We’ll be invested heavily in this Sectional Pairing, so if you’re a fan of any of these teams, mainly the Paoli Rams, be sure to Bookmark this page, or save to your homepage if you’re on a phone.
The past few seasons for the Paoli Rams were nailbiters in the final sectional game, only to get thwarted by the likes of Triton Central. 3 times in a row.
Well, Triton is gone, but now its Mater Dei and several other good teams standing in the way of the Rams pursuit.
Paoli has one of the best running backs in Southern Indiana, in Junior Trey Rominger, but they have lost several key pieces of their O-line. They look to continue putting points on the board, but its going to be tougher.
Paoli has the best point differential in the “Patoka Bowl”, and that will continue under Rominger’s horsepower fueled runs. They will be fast and able to score on any play, but there will be gaps they will have to solve if they stand a chance against Mater Dei, North Posey and Perry Central.
“No one hits the line harder, faster than Trey Rominger at the point of contact. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Says one of the Rams coaching staff of Rominger, who has already received interest from Western Kentucky University and Indiana State.
North Posey and Perry Central are also very real contenders to go up against Evansville Mater Dei. They all know how to put up points, where North Posey has a small lead in “Points Differential” at 149 last season. It should be an interesting season in this stack Sectional Grouping.
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- Mater Dei
- Paoli
- North Posey
- Perry Central
- Tell City
- Mitchell
- Forest Park
- Crawford County
Sectional 48
Eastern Greene, North Daviess, Providence, Rock Creek Academy, South Spencer, Springs Valley, Tecumseh, West Washington
“Backwoods Bowl”
Sectional 48, or what we’re calling the “Backwoods Bowl”, because – well, we couldn’t think of anything else to come up that connected these schools together. This is yet another odd pairing of locations for Southern Indiana High School football teams, other than that they’re all out in the woods!
The Backwoods has my old school, Eastern Greene Thunderbirds, who are getting back old coach Travis Wray. Wray coached the team several years ago for one season and went 6-4. The program hasn’t had much success lately and hope the new coach can get them back to winning.
Something new is also brewing down in Springs Valley, and it can be felt from all of Springs Valleys sporting teams. We can feel a new sort of pride and athleticism emanating from the crop of players and fans in the town Larry Bird made famous.
Springs Valley is our favorites to win the Sectional 48 and be the “Backwoods Bowl” champs come the end of the season.
I’m still waiting to see if West Washington can pull it together and challenge our claim. Keep an eye out on Providence and North Daviess to have a potential to make a splash.
Pre-Season SISN Ranking
- Springs Valley
- Providence
- West Washington
- North Daviess
- South Spencer
- Tecumseh
- Eastern Greene
- Rock Creek Academy
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I feel like picking anyone other than Providence to win 48 is pretty bold.