IHSAA Sectional Semifinals

We're already at the point in the IHSAA football playoffs that we can start to see how each bracket of the five classes are going to pan out and who will be advancing to next Friday's 40 sectional championships. There are storylines behind a majority of the 80 games slated to kickoff this Friday night around the state of Indiana. Of the 160 teams remaining in the Sectional Semifinals, 58 are ranked in their respective classes. Their are 134 of the 160 (84%) that have a .500 record or better.

More on playoff teams, by the numbers...
-- 13 undefeated teams (5A: Penn, Homestead, Warren Central, Castle; 4A: Leo, New Palestine; 2A: Wheeler, Bremen, Churubusco, Shenandoah, North Putnam; 1A: Lafayette Central Catholic, Linton-Stockton)

-- 25 under .500 teams (5A: Goshen (4-6), Lafayette Jeff (3-7); 4A: South Bend Riley (3-7), Hobart (3-7), Plymouth (3-7), Lebanon (4-6), Connersville (3-7), Evansville Harrison (2-8); 3A: Bellmont (4-6), North Montgomery (4-5), West Vigo (4-6), Salem (2-8), Gibson Southern (4-6); 2A: Manchester (3-7), Lewis Cass (4-6), Delphi (1-9), Park Tudor (3-7), Monrovia (3-7); 1A: North White (4-6), Fremont (3-7), Lapel (2-8), Cloverdale (3-7), North Decatur (3-6), Edinburgh (3-7), Wood Memorial (3-7).

More of the Inside the Numbers next week in my Sectional Championship predictions.

Sectional Semifinals predictions:
CLASS 5A
Sectional 1
Crown Point over Valparaiso
5A #12 Merrillville over Chesterton
Sectional 2
5A #3 Penn over Elkhart Memorial
Carroll (Allen) over Goshen
Sectional 3
Fort Wayne Snider over Fort Wayne North
5A #4 Homestead over Kokomo
Sectional 4
Fishers over Lafayette Jefferson
5A # 6 Hamilton Southeastern over Westfield

Sectional 5
5A #1 Warren Central over Indianapolis Tech
5A #2 Carmel over 5A # 8 Lawrence Central
Sectional 6
5A #5 Ben Davis over 5A #10 Brownsburg
5A # 9 Avon over Pike
Sectional 7
Columbus North over Martinsville
Center Grove over Bloomington North
Sectional 8
5A #7 Castle over Evansville North
5A #13 Floyd Central over Bedford North Lawrence

CLASS 4A
Sectional 9
Griffith over Hammond
4A # 5 Hammond Morton over East Chicago Central
Sectional 10
Mishawaka over South Bend Riley
4A #12 South Bend Washington over Hobart
Sectional 11
4A #16 Concord over East Noble
Northwood over Plymouth
Sectional 12
4A #9 Fort Wayne Dwenger over 4A #10 New Haven
4A #4 Leo over Marion

Sectional 13
4A #2 New Palestine over Delta
4A #6 Pendleton Heights over Greenfield-Central
Sectional 14
Greenwood over Lebanon
4A #1 Indianapolis Cathedral over 4A #8 Indianapolis Roncalli
Sectional 15
Franklin County over Connersville
4A #3 Columbus East over 4A #7 East Central
Sectional 16
4A #11 Jasper over Evansville Harrison
4A #13 Evansville Reitz over Evansville Central

CLASS 3A
Sectional 17
3A #4 South Bend St. Joe's over Culver Academy
3A #5 Mishawaka Marian over John Glenn
Sectional 18
Garrett over Whitko
3A #8 Jimtown over 3A #15 Lakeland
Sectional 19
Yorktown over Bellmont
3A #12 Western over Mississinewa
Sectional 20
3A #11 Hamilton Heights over North Montgomery
3A #3 West Lafayette over Western Boone

Sectional 21
3A #1 Indianapolis Chatard over Danville
Brebeuf Jesuit over West Vigo
Sectional 22
Edgewood over Greensburg
Indian Creek over Brown County
Sectional 23
3A #10 Heritage Hills over Salem
3A #13 Corydon Central over Charlestown
Sectional 24
Evansville Memorial over Washington
Vincennes Lincoln over Gibson Southern

CLASS 2A
Sectional 25
2A #13 Wheeler over Rensselaer Central
River Forest over North Newton
Sectional 26
2A #4 Bremen over Manchester
Rochester over Lewis Cass
Sectional 27
2A #6 Churubusco over Madison-Grant
2A #1 Fort Wayne Luers over Eastside
Sectional 28
2A #7 Northwestern over Delphi
Tipton over Benton Central

Sectional 29
2A #15 Guerin Catholic over Heritage Christian
2A #12 Shenandoah over Centerville
Sectional 30
South Putnam over Park Tudor
2A #3 North Putnam over 2A #11 Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter
Sectional 31
Paoli over Monrovia
Triton Central over Lawrenceburg
Sectional 32
2A #5 Evansville Mater Dei over Sullivan
2A #14 Southridge over South Spencer

CLASS 1A
Sectional 33
1A #8 South Newton over Winamac
Culver over West Central
Sectional 34
1A #15 Clinton Central over Caston
1A #1 Lafayette Central Catholic over North White
Sectional 35
1A #11 North Miami over Northfield
Adams Central over Fremont
Sectional 36
1A #12 Union City over 1A #4 South Adams
1A #6 Sheridan over Lapel

Sectional 37
Cambridge City Lincoln over Northeastern
1A #7 Indianapolis Scecina over Knightstown
Sectional 38
North Vermillion over Cloverdale
1A #10 Rockville over Covington
Sectional 39
North Decatur over Edinburgh
1A #9 Indianapolis Lutheran over  1A #5 Milan
Sectional 40
North Daviess over Wood Memorial
1A #3 Linton-Stockton over Eastern Greene

I would have to say that I was pretty impressed with my record for the Sectional First Round games. Going 128-27 is a pretty good number! Hopefully I can do better this week.