Sectional Preview: 2A South
Now that the Sectional draw has taken place this past weekend, we are ready to preview each Sectional heading into next week and the beginning of the playoffs. Here is our breakdown for each Semistate pod. Sectional 41: Hagerstown Champion…
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Continue ReadingNow that the Sectional draw has taken place this past weekend, we are ready to preview each Sectional heading into next week and the beginning of the playoffs. Here is our breakdown for each Semistate pod.
Sectional 41: Hagerstown
Champion Prediction: Northeastern
Northeastern is 13-7 this season and 7-0 against Sectional opponents. They have been stellar and have done a great job kind of reworking this roster and are now on a 7-game winning streak. The last week here might ell a lot as they will play Connersville and Union City. If they can play well, that could give them a ton of momentum come tournament time.
Sleeper Pick: Hagerstown
While Hagerstown is only 10-11, with two game this week, they could be over .500 by the end of it. They are also a team that has had a very tough schedule down the stretch playing teams like Lapel, Northeastern, and Shenandoah. Now, they will have to face Northeastern again in the first round and they just lost but only by 2 and in overtime. It was close enough to think they have a shot to pull the upset and with an easy second round game, could see themselves to Saturday.
Best (Potential) Matchup: Union County vs. Northeastern
These two teams just got done playing each other two weeks ago with Northeastern pulling out a 7-point win. They are two teams that have found success this year and would end up meeting in the Sectional Championship. Union County gets a bye game with the easier schedule so that might be enough to keep this potential match really close.
Sectional 42: Knightstown
Champion Prediction: Indianapolis Howe
Indianapolis Howe has been great all year long. While they dropped a couple early to Cathedral, Lawrence Central, and Culver Academies, I’m not sure anyone would blame them for that. They are 14-4 on the year and have been able to navigate a very tough schedule for a 2A team. No one in 2A has their schedule except Andrean and Gary Roosevelt and Howe has the best record by a mile.
Sleeper Pick: Triton Central
Give me the team in 1A and 2A that has a player that can drop 30+. That is Triton Central with Wyatt Felling. If he can be on for just one night, anything can happen. They have to face Howe to open things up and while difficult, not unheard of and with Irvington Prep, the only other sub .500 team in the Sectional, waiting in the second round, this is the team to watch.
Best (Potential) Matchup: Indianapolis Howe vs. Shenandoah
There are rivalries in quite a few Sectionals but not many like Howe vs. Shenandoah. These two teams don’t play each other during the season and have only played 3 times recently. And they are about as different as you could conceive. A country school vs. a city school, methodical offense vs. pressure defense and transition. But, oh the fun they will have. Shenandoah has beaten them the last two years so we will see if Howe can buck the trend.
Sectional 43: Speedway
Champion Prediction: Park Tudor
Park Tudor is having a great season, having gone 15-5 to this point and sitting in a spot to really take advantage of their draw. They didn’t get the bye game but they get Scecina and know they will face Heritage Christian with Saturday being a much easier game than their path just to get there. They already have beaten Heritage Christian so some confidence should be there for a fairly young team.
Sleeper Pick: Speedway
There aren’t great options for sleepers here as the top two teams are easy picks to win this Sectional. However, Speedway is the best of the three that got put in the top half of the bracket and if they can get past Washington and Shortridge, they have a pretty good shot here.
Best (Potential) Matchup: Heritage Christian vs. Park Tudor
These two teams have played each other a bit in the postseason off and on and outside of last year’s Sectional game, Park Tudor has been pretty dominant. This season, they are pretty evenly matched and it was just a 6-point difference when these two teams played earlier in the year with Park Tudor getting the win. Of all of the matchup scenarios in this Sectional, this is the one to watch for on Friday night.
Sectional 44: South Putnam
Champion Prediction: Monrovia
The easy pick here is Monrovia who has been great all year long. They are 15-6 and 4-0 against Sectional opponents. This season has been the third straight year they have surpasses 15 wins in a season but the last two they haven’t been able to get out of Sectionals. They haven’t won a Sectional since 1999-00 so they are due and with Cloverdale taking a step back and only South Putnam having a record over .500 in the Sectional, their chances are really high.
Sleeper Pick: South Putnam
The less obvious name here is South Putnam. They have the exact same record and look the part of a team that can play spoiler. Things are setup to be difficult for Monrovia so South Putnam should have an advantage and while these two teams haven’t played each other this year, they have a few quality wins and just enough firepower to be highly competitive. Get through the second round and the Championship game should be much easier.
Best (Potential) Matchup: North Putnam vs. South Putnam
When talking about matchups, nothing is better than rivalries and North and South Putnam do not like each other at all. These two teams have faced off twice this year and with this being a possibility of a 3rd matchup that will decide the Sectional Championship, it could be all sorts of fun. They split the first two games so even though the records are wildly different, this would be seen as a toss up.
Sectional 45: South Ripley
Champion Prediction: Southwestern (Hanover)
Southwestern is one of the best teams in the state this year and have proven themselves quite a few times. They are 21-1 and haven’t lost since December 22nd when they played two games in a day and this was the second one. They have beaten 4A teams like Columbus East and Jeffersonville and have taken care of business everywhere else. This is also a team that averages 73.5 points per game, for a 2A team that is crazy.
Sleeper Pick: North Decatur
North Decatur has the second best record in the Sectional and has played well against Southwestern, losing by just 3 points. For whoever goes up against Southwestern, it is going to be a chore but this team is the best of the bunch in this Sectional where everyone is going to be picking chalk.
Best (Potential) Matchup: Southwestern (Hanover) vs. North Decatur
While the first matchup resulted in a 3-point loss for North Decatur, the one other thing to come out of it other than the small scoring difference was the point totals. North Decatur was able to keep it to a low-60s game which is about 10 points under the average for Southwestern. If North Decatur can do that again, they have a shot.
Sectional 46: Crawford County
Champion Prediction: Paoli
Paoli has had a great season at 19-3. They have gone 3-0 against Sectional opponents and look the part of a team that can contend into late March. They are a higher scoring offense and have so big offensive games. They get a pretty reasonable draw and avoid Crawford County until Saturday.
Sleeper Pick: Henryville
This team hasn’t had a great year but they have been much better in the second half of the season and now have a 10-13 record after starting off the year just 1-9. They are 9-4 since after Christmas and have wins against all the lesser teams in the Sectional. If they can put a rally on and get through Paoli in the first round, their confidence should be pretty high and they could have a chance come Saturday.
Best (Potential) Matchup: Paoli vs. Crawford County
This is the matchup we want to see. The two best teams in the Sectional battling it out for the Championship. They play on Friday night so that will give a preview but overall, this should be a pretty close game. These two teams play about the same schedule and have about the same wins. Could go either way and that should make it entertaining possibly playing twice in 8 days.
Sectional 47: North Daviess
Champion Prediction: Linton-Stockton
Linton-Stockton is the pick here because they are one of the best teams in 2A and have been dominant all year. At 20-3, they have picked up wins against teams like Barr-Reeve, Bloomfield, and Paoli. South Knox is their only loss to a non-4A team. They got a nice draw and have a path that could lead them well beyond the first week of the tournament.
Sleeper Pick: South Knox
South Knox is a team to watch here. They drew the bye game and avoid Linton-Stockton. They are 17-6 this year and have played a tough schedule with only 2 of their losses by more than double-digits. They will be in any game and have been good to hold offenses down so they can kind of drag games out and in Sectionals, that game plan can win games.
Best (Potential) Matchup: Linton-Stockton vs. North Daviess
These two teams have both had good season and will have to endure some tough challenges to get to meet up on Saturday but if they do, there is going to be quite a bit of offense in this one. They weren’t too good in the first matchup as Linton-Stockton won but both of these teams seem to want to play quicker and get more shots up and if that is the case, there could be a lot of jumpers going up.
Sectional 48: Forest Park
Champion Prediction: Tell City
For a team that is 18-5 and give them a bye game while avoiding the two other toughest teams until Saturday, it is hard to pick against them. It would have been hard to do that against Tell City anyway as they are a really difficult team to beat this season. They have size and scoring ability and when you factor all of that in with their path, this is the team that should be sitting there prepping for Regionals.
Sleeper Pick: Forest Park
Mater Dei looks like the next best team in the pecking order but that is to take nothing away from Forest Park. They are 15-7 this year and their schedule has been trying but they have won 4 of their last 5 games. Their path isn’t easy but they should be able to get to Friday and have a good shot at Mater Dei or Tell City.
Best (Potential) Matchup: Tell City vs. Evansville Mater Dei
This is the matchup that would draw a ton of interest. Mater Dei has by far had the toughest schedule and that could account for their extra losses but both teams have some size and can be physical. This looks like it would be a grind-it-out type game for a Sectional Championship.