I can remember a couple Mater Dei teams going back 8 or so years that lost to HH in the jungle. I always felt like the jungle(even though its a small stadium) was a tough place to play. I always said to myself, how I would love to see this matchup in the bowl. Then one year they came to the bowl and go pounded, and I mean pounded.

Reitz lost to Jasper in 08 and just from the stands to me Reitz looked like the more athletic team. I know I'll catch some crap for this but, Cathedral had some players last year. I'm not saying they were as athletic as Reitz(especialy up front on both sides) but they were better then 33 to 10. I think the bowl is the best enviroment in high school football. Home field advantage is huge in high school football. I bet the Jasper and Cathedral kids were just in shock to get off the bus and see 10 to 12k blue fans.

This concerns me a little with the Owensboro game. I didn't think Owensboro had a better team in 08. We just seemed like we couldn't build any momentum in that game. We just couldn't get things going. Having our first two games on the road at Henderson County and Owensboro will prepare us for the playoffs. Owensboro will be the best team we will play until the playoffs.

Do you guys think we play as well on the road?

14-2, 49-7, 42-7, 55-7, 35-6, 35-7, 52-28, 23-9. Those are the final scores of all of our games away from the bowl last year. Over the last three years, we are 20-2 away from the confines of the bowl, including 2 wins in Owensboro, a win in Jasper, and a win in Indianapolis.

And, Cathedral has played St. Xavier (OH), as well as Cincinnati Moeller and Elder (Elder plays in the Pit, and routinely draws crowds the same size as ours.) I honestly do not believe that the crowd intimidated or shocked the boys from Cathedral. Just better athletes out there for Reitz. Jasper had played us the two years previous in the playoffs, and knew what the crowd would be like.

There are advantages to having a following like we do, but I'm not so sure that the crowd has more to do with it then the actual bowl itself. Most opponents are not used to playing in a stadium that is that big.

I agree we had better talent then anybody we played last year, but I'm telling you the bowl is a x factor. Not with siac teams, but out of town teams. For example, last year at the Jasper game I talked to some Jasper parents and they were just in shock of the enviroment. You don't usually see ten to twelve thousand people at to many high school games. The Penn vs Ben Davis games of the early 00's would bring in a crowd of 5k, but not our conservative 9 to 10k.

But your probably right Cathedral was probably used to the big enviroement even though the Indy Star(in the Bathrell articale) acted like the bowl last year for the Reitz Cathedral game was a big as the recent Led Zeppelin reunion.

Playing in Louisville next year and Owensboro this year will be good preperation for the playoffs.