I was on the GID, and a interesting topic was started on what we thought the chances of a 6th class being added in the next 4 years. Reading through the comments, some of which I posted, I came across an interesting comment from a Ben Davis fan that wanted to talk smack about us and about Cathedral. This is what he was saying:

I believe there are only two 4000+ schools in the state, Ben Davis and Carmel. Also, there are really only about 4-5 schools that fall in the 3500-4500 range(out of 300+ in the state). I think 2500+ is too high. There really are not that many schools that are the big. If we used your idea, I would drop it to 2100, or 2200. That would include a lot of 5A power houses that would completely demolish smaller enrollment schools in 5A.

Or teams that can't beat the bigger schools can just move down to 4A so they can dominate smaller schools, like Reitz.
Or never move up to 5A because they like dominating 4A, like Cathedral. (bdgiants02).

To see the whole thread: http://gridirondigest.net/index.php?/topic...-chances-of-6a/


Seems to tell me that they are saying we are scared to play them. Can we please figure out a way to make this game happen so we can show them otherwise???

I would love to make this game happen but not after Mac is gone l o l Look I love Reitz football, but lets be honest. It would take our best team to beat a Warren Central or Ben Davis average team. Last year might have been one of those years that we might have won, but traditionaly we will not win. I think if we played Warren Central 2000 to 2010, we win one time for sure(2009) and maybe 2007. But in all honesty I think those are the only two years we win.

I don't want to get ahead of ourselfs. We are building a great program, much like Cathedral and Dwengers but that doesn't mean we would win the MIC. I think we could finish top 3 or 4 MIC though year in and year out. And just for the record Ben Davis hsan't been that good for about 6 to 7 years.

The only problem I see is that when we beat them that either we paid off the refs; we played them in the homer bowl, we got lucky; or some other excuse as to why they lost. But never because we had more talent, were better coached / worked harder / or we were just better than they were on that day.

Just because one BD fan states something, doesn't mean that "the Indy big schools" all think the same. Reitz fans have a reputation for being touchy on that forum and I think that a lot of people on TGD throw bait out for us to bite. Don't respond and maybe they will give it up.

Part of being on top is this crap. I see it on the gridiron and the courier press. Reitz will always have to deal with this now that they are a class down. The truh is last years team would or could have won 5a state. The 1995 and 1996 Reitz teams were good enough to play with the Indy schools also. People are going to run their mouths without the facts. Hell, last year I saw a Jasper HH guy say that the turf was going to hurt Reitz and help Jsaper. He said Jasper was faster then Reitz. I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. Lets just hope Reitz can play at this level for a long time to come, so we can show the Indy guys how good our football program is.

That's the problem though. We have to catch this crap continually. Your a 4A school, your state titles are not legit because they didn't come in the "big boy" class, unlike a certain team that is in the area (that we have a winning record against) that has won 2 in the supposed "big boy" class (3A in 82, and 5A in 94). Even some folks around the city are trying to sell that. I know that part of it is brought on by the jealousy of the tradition we have, and our success at any level we have played at. That is why I wish we would schedule a Ben Davis, so we can shut their pompous fans up. They have not been that good for several years now, but they do not seem to understand that.

Ben Davis has lowered themselves to play a 3A school in the first game of the season, and their long time rivalry with Penn is coming to an end after this year. This could be done. We already have the respect of Cathedral, it should be about time to go out and take some more.

I like TP's points. I am for it, but making it happen is harder than you think.

The Ben Davis program is a shell of what they used to be. I do not consider them a major player any longer. The only programs Reitz may be inferior to most seasons would be Carmel, Warren Central, and Center Grove. I would take Reitz over all of the other 5A's this season for sure and most of the time any other season. The BD fans like to think they still matter but they are only fooling themselves. Cathderal doesn't even bother to try and schedule them.

I could not have said it any better myself. Reitz 5 out of the last 10 years would finish top 3 or 4 MIC. I agree WC, Carmel, Center Grove, Snider and maybe Cathedral are the only teams I think are playing as good if not better football then Reitz is playing right now. Lets just hope Reitz can continue to play like this. If we keep playing good the big mo will just keep buiding. My biggest fear is we drop down a notch when Mac graduates. Kinda like Mater Dei after the Schiffs left. I think Reitz will always be a top siac, but I want to be a top team in the state.

A program has to start somewhere. We have taken the strides to becoming a program. We win a state title in 07, go through a change at QB, and head coach, and proceed to go 24-2 with another state title over the last two years. Quite honestly, if we keep this up, with the new "open" enrollment of Evansville schools, we will start seeing more and more top players coming to Reitz, just building up the program even more. I like the direction the team is going, from the cub level all the way up to varsity. I have a friend who went to MD, and his son is playing cub at Reitz. I've been telling him that Reitz cub is completely different from every other school in the city in that it doesn't matter if they win, they work on teach the boys the techniques and schemes that they will use at the varsity level on defense and offense. Most schools have a complete change in offense and defense after the cub and even the freshman levels. He didn't believe me, until this year, when he called me up and said: "This isn't the same type of team that was playing when I was going to school. They told the boys that they don't care about wins and losses as cubs."

People are starting to take notice. Just wish some of it would come from the counties north of Monroe County, with the exception of WC, Cathedral, and Lowell.

While in my blue-blood mind I'd sure like to imagine we had some teams that would've done well in the MIC and 5A, and I'd love to be able to make a great argument to support that, but I think we just have to bite our tongues here. Whether coincidence or not, our post-season success coincides with our move to 4A. To the unbiased observer the score progressions below of our last 6 years in 5A just don't give us much of an argument that we would have been a highly successful 5A Indianapolis team prior to these last 3 years when we've been 4A.

2001 - lost to BD 20-61 in semistate after trailing 54-0 (that game remains very fresh in many BD fans' minds)
2002 - lost 6-32 to New Albany in sectional--New Albany lost in regional to CG 18-42--CG lost the next week 3-21.
2003 - lost 20-31 to Center Grove at home when ranked #1 in regional--CG lost the next week 0-30
2004 - lost to Harrison in sectional who then lost to Castle. Castle next lost 0-24 to Col North in regional. CN then lost 17-54 in semistate
2005 - lost to Avon at home in regional. Avon lost 14-42 the next week in semistate
2006 - lost in ot to Columbus North in regional--CN lost 0-56 the next week in semistate

Basically everbody we lost to in the 5A playoffs from '01-'06 got eliminated the following week, almost of them being clobbered the following week which doesn't bode well for how we'd have fared.

Also in 2006 - we lost in Week 2 to Lawrence North 14-21. LN went on to finish that year 5W-6L overall and 2W-5L in the MIC.

Again, not what myself and other Reitz supporters necessarily want to hear or think, but I talk to folks around the state a lot, and that perception is definitely out there. What really really hurts is that Reitz is not successful in the other sports which we do participate at the highest class level or non-classed sports. Reitz boys basketball last won a regional in 1968 and semistate in 1951. Reitz baseball has only won one regional in the IHSAA history and never a semistate. Golf, tennis, cross country, etc we just don't have the numbers to be successful at the statewide level. While the girls basketball state championship in 1981 put us in the limelight for awhile, that's been 30 years ago now and all of our girls sports have really been down for a long time now. It's very easy for the distant observer to make the connection that the only sport Reitz has seen recent post-season success is the sport that we're not in the highest class.

While maybe a pet peeve of mine, I again have to bring up our football scheduling philosophy in that we would benefit tremendously in breaking this perception by scheduling Bloomington/TH/Columbus/Indy schools in the football regular season instead of playing out-of-state schools that no one in our own state knows anything about. Unfortunately our good '07-'10 teams got no opportunities to prove what they might've done against Indy 5A's, and while my own speculation says we'd have done pretty well, it's still speculation and we as SIAC fans often turn around and take the same "big-school" speculative position on the GID that Perry Central couldn't beat North, or Linton or North Posey couldn't beat Bosse, etc.

I think how we would do against the 5A super powers would totally depend on our defense. Even in 4A, we'll go as far as our defense takes us. We now know when our defense is good, it will take us all the way to the state title. Generally, our offense has done well enough to win the big games we've lost recently. In our losses to Center Grove, Avon, Columbus North, Brother Rice, and Jasper in 08 we scored enough points to win, but our defense didn't make enough stops.

The only game where our offense was shut out was the Chatard game. Despite having Ricky Crider as a junior (I think he had nearly 200 yds rushing that game, but no TDs), we had no QB and this was our poorest team since 2000.

We coulda/shoulda/woulda won the game vs. Lawrence North. Paul had 2 or 3 wide open TD passes dropped in the endzone which was the difference in the game. That game was early in the season and I don't think it has become obvious yet that the wide receiver that dropped these passes couldn't catch a deep ball over his shoulder to save his life. It became painfully obvious after that game and Coach Hart even discussed it during one of the game film sessions at Tumbleweed. He was good at getting open running this route and Paul continued to put it right into (and out of) his hands throughout the season. This came back to bite us again in the play-offs vs. Columbus North. This player contributed in many other ways, but I never understood sending him streaking down the sideline (putting him in a position to fail) when it was known he wasn't likely to make the catch.

I totally agree with your point about using our non-conference games to play out of state teams.

Most but not all. I took a pounding over there for having Perry Central ranked higher than Central and North when the topic was started to rank the top 10 in SW Indiana. I argued my point, only to watch people tell me how wrong I was, but that does not change what I think. I believe Perry Central is a better team than Central and should be ranked accordingly. They schedule the best they can for the season, and that is all anyone can ask for a 1A program. They won't play the likes of a Central, North, or even Reitz. And it isn't because they don't want to. These teams get nothing out of playing a 1A school, although the way Central has been scheduling lately, it may happen.

I believe win/lose, or whatever class a team is in, all teams deserve respect. I may not like the team, but I will respect them. So, when something like that is brought up, you will not hear me say that a team is not as good because they are in a lower class. Do I believe that LCC team from last year could have played with or beaten any of the 4A or 5A semi state participants? No. But I'm not going to say that they were no good just because they played in 1A either.

You guys all bring up good points and speak the truth. However, you really think Perry Central would beat North? I could be wrong, but I would be really shocked if that actually happened. In the same breat Bosse lost to Providence lsat year and played North to a 7 point game so I could be wrong.

Reitz is on the right track, but playing at this level is a hard thing to do. Not only do you have to have talent but you have to have great talent. I don't know if Reitz has any little Mcintosh's in the lower levels. I think reitz has the talent to win the siac, but I'm not sure if we have the talent to win state after Mac leaves. I hope we do.

Reitz was the only team to go undefeated in 4A & 5A in 2009 and they beat the only team (decisively) that beat the top two teams that played for the 5A championship, who also was and the only team that was undefeated in Indiana 4A or 5A until they played Reitz. Reitz was the best of both classes in 2009. No one has a better claim to fame in 2009.

As for winning the top classes 16 and 28 years ago, that is light years from what high school football is now.
Reitz success in 4A just happened to coincide with the rise of the program at the time they moved to 4A. Again, they still proved they were the overall champ last year (at least of 4A and 5A).

Actually, there were five teams that went undefeated in 4A after the regular season last year (Plymouth, Dwenger, Delta, Jasper, Reitz). Of the five, two lost in sectionals (Plymouth, Jasper), one in regionals (Delta), and one in semi state (Dwenger). Cathedral was 8-1 (having lost to Cincinnati St. Xavier in the third game of the season).

Reitz was the only undefeated team in 4 or 5A. That part is true.

And as far as PC against Central goes, I made my arguments on the GID, and I will not repeat them here. It is a moot point as Central will not play them, but if they do, I believe PC is a better coached team that will play with way more heart than Central will. If you can get the game set up though, I would love to see it.

this is as crazy as bcs talk