Changes Minimal In IHSAA Classification Proposal
By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews
INDIANAPOLIS – The IHSAA announced its sectional alignment proposals for each of baseball, softball, football, volleyball, boys basketball and girls basketball for the 2021-22 season.
Within each of the six sports, not much movement was revealed, particularly in northern Indiana.
Boys Basketball
Boys basketball saw very little movement across the state. In Class 4-A, all three changes were in the region, and in Class 3-A of note, Culver Academy moves to sectional 18.
Girls Basketball
Girls basketball saw significantly more movement than the boys. Class 4-A had a few region movements, but also Northwestern landing in sectional 7. Class 3-A had New Prairie move to sectional 18, and for those in the south, here comes Linton-Stockton, who will look to beat up on some bigger schools after torching Class 2-A for years. Central Noble comes back down to 2-A after a short stint in the 3-A bracket with Wawasee, NorthWood and Tippecanoe Valley. The sectional 20 group with those three, plus West Noble and Lakeland, will be a five-teamer like the boys have had of recent vintage.
Speaking of, Pioneer moves up to Class 2-A after state championship status, and the Panthers will land in sectional 37 with Rochester and company.
Boys Soccer
Not much going in boys soccer from the area, the biggest note is Argos moves up to Class 2-A, and will join sectional 22 with Tippecanoe Valley and company. Also of note is Whitko officially pulled its boys soccer team from eligibility after years of dormancy, which makes the sectional 37 a five-teamer that includes Lakeland Christian Academy.
Girls Soccer
Very little to-do in girls soccer in northern Indiana other than New Prairie moving from sectional 17 to 19.
Volleyball
Adjustments in volleyball won’t affect anyone locally, but some prime time programs are moving around between classes.
Sectional 9 will be absolutely loaded with the new inclusions of New Castle and Yorktown, two of the top programs in the state regardless of class. Downstate in Class 4-A, Providence will join sectional 15 as the class will be hotly contested with some powerhouse small schools moving up from success factors.
In sectional 23, former state champ and most recently state runner-up Wapahani moves up to Class 3-A, joining a stacked bracket that already has a pair of top-five programs in Bellmont and Muncie Burris.
Football
Last but not least, football also saw very little movement in its totality. Of anything regarding local teams, Warsaw is now part of a three-team sectional 3 grouping with Homestead and Fort Wayne Carroll. The change was made as Fort Wayne Snider moves back down to Class 5-A, which means one of the three teams in sectional 3 will bye into the championship game.
The other area curiosity comes from sectional 26 in Class 3-A, where Tippecanoe Valley sat right at the cut line of 2-A for attendance. As it was announced Monday, Valley will remain in 3-A, and depending on whom you ask, didn’t get the result they wanted as highly-ranked Mishawaka Marian stays in 3-A and in sectional 26. On the other side of the 3-A brackets, Indianapolis Chatard has finally moved north to Class 4-A after assaulting 3-A for years.