IHSAA Exec Committee adds Soccer Mercy Rule, tables Basketball Mercy Rule proposal
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Manchester will host a cross-country sectional while the regional will return to Culver Academy, according to minutes from the IHSAA’s June 25 meeting.
That was among the revelations from the minutes, which also included Argos hosting a Class 1A girls soccer sectional, Caston hosting a Class 1A boys soccer sectional, the tentative return of the boys tennis sectional to Culver Academy and Southwood hosting a Class 1A volleyball sectional.
No IHSAA state tournament events were held at Culver Academy in 2020-21. A question mark was placed next to Culver Academy’s name as a sectional host site this fall. Peru would host the regional, and LaPorte would host the semistate.
Girls golf (Sept. 17-20)
Warsaw sectional at Stonehenge Golf Club, Winona Lake (Sept. 18): Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley, Bremen, NorthWood, Plymouth, Triton, Warsaw, Wawasee, Whitko
Twin Lakes sectional at Tippecanoe Country Club, Monticello (Sept. 20): Pioneer, Winamac, Kankakee Valley, North Newton, Rensselaer, South Newton, Tri-County, Twin Lakes
LaPorte sectional at Beechwood Golf Course (Sept. 17): Culver, Culver Academy, John Glenn, Knox, LaPorte, Marquette Catholic, Michigan City, New Prairie, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, South Central (Union Mills)
NOTE: Regionals will be held Sept. 25, and the IHSAA state finals will be held at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel Oct. 1-2. The LaPorte and Twin Lakes sectionals feed into the Lafayette Jefferson regional at Battle Ground Golf Club. The Warsaw sectional feeds into the East Noble regional at Noble Hawk Golf Club in Kendallville.
Boys tennis (Sept. 29-Oct. 2)
Culver Academy sectional (tentative): Rochester, Culver Academy, Knox, North Judson
Warsaw sectional: Tippecanoe Valley, Columbia City, Warsaw, Wawasee, Whitko
NOTE: Regionals will be held Oct. 5-6, semistates are Oct. 9, and the IHSAA state finals will be Oct. 15-16 at Carmel, Center Grove and North Central (Indianapolis) high schools. Both the Culver Academy and Warsaw sectionals feed into the Peru regional and the LaPorte semistate.
Cross-country (Oct. 9)
Manchester sectional: Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley, Caston, Argos, Culver, Culver Academy, Manchester, North Miami, Plymouth, Triton, Warsaw
Logansport sectional: Pioneer, Winamac, Carroll (Flora), Eastern (Greentown), Kokomo, Lewis Cass, Logansport, Maconaquah, Northwestern, Peru, Taylor, Western
NOTE: Regionals will be Oct. 16, semistates will be Oct. 23, and the IHSAA state finals will be Oct. 30 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross-Country Course in Terre Haute. Both area sectionals feed into the Culver Academy regional and the New Prairie semistate.
Girls soccer (Oct. 4-9)
Class 1A, Sectional 35 at Argos: Rochester, Argos, Culver, Bremen, LaVille, North Miami
NOTE: The IHSAA did not list regional sites but noted a “format change to a mid-week regional semifinal game followed by a Saturday regional championship game.” Regional finals will be held Oct. 16, semistates will be held at Kokomo or South Bend St. Joe on Oct. 23, and the IHSAA state finals will be Oct. 29-30.
Boys soccer (Oct. 4-9)
Class 2A, Sectional 22 at Fort Wayne Canterbury: Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley, Argos, Culver Academy, Fort Wayne Canterbury, Fort Wayne Concordia, Manchester
Class 1A, Sectional 36 at Caston: Caston, Culver, Winamac, North Miami
NOTE: The IHSAA did not list regional sites but noted a “format change to a mid-week regional semifinal game followed by a Saturday regional championship game.” Regional finals will be held Oct. 16, semistates will be held at Kokomo or South Bend St. Joe on Oct. 23, and the IHSAA state finals will be Oct. 29-30.
Volleyball (Oct. 12-16)
Class 2A, Sectional 35 at Bremen: Rochester, Bremen, LaVille, South Bend Career Academy, South Central (Union Mills), Westville
Class 2A, Sectional 34 at Boone Grove: Winamac, Boone Grove, Hebron, North Judson, North Newton, Rensselaer
Class 3A, Sectional 21 at Lakeland: Tippecanoe Valley, Jimtown, Lakeland, NorthWood, Wawasee, West Noble
Class 1A, Sectional 52 at Southwood: Caston, Pioneer, Lakeland Christian, North Miami, Northfield, Southwood
Class 1A, Sectional 50 at Triton: Argos, Culver, LaCrosse, Oregon-Davis, Trinity Greenlawn, Triton, West Central
NOTE: Regionals will be Oct. 23, semistates will be Oct. 30, and the IHSAA state finals are at Worthen Arena on the Ball State University campus in Muncie on Nov. 6. Both area Class 2A sectionals feed into the Bremen regional, the Class 3A Lakeland sectional feeds into the Norwell regional, and both area Class 1A sectionals feed into the Culver regional. North semistate sites are Huntington North and Frankfort.
Football (Oct. 22, Oct. 29, Nov. 5)
Class 2A, Sectional 34: Rochester, Pioneer, Bremen, Delphi, LaVille, Lewis Cass, Manchester, Wabash
Class 1A, Sectional 41: Caston, Culver, Winamac, Lake Station, North Judson, South Newton, South Central (Union Mills), West Central
Class 3A, Sectional 26: Tippecanoe Valley, Garrett, John Glenn, Jimtown, Lakeland, Mishawaka Marian, South Bend Washington, West Noble
NOTE: Regionals will be held Nov. 12, semistates will be held Nov. 19, and the IHSAA state finals will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Nov. 26-27.
Unified Flag Football (Oct. 2)
NOTE: The IHSAA did not produce a confirmed list of schools, but IHSAA Assistant Commissioner Robert Faulkens said that more than 50 schools are expected to participate and that the IHSAA state finals will be held at Grand Park in Westfield on Oct. 16.
Soccer
IHSAA approves Soccer Mercy Rule: The IHSAA Executive Committee approved a Soccer Mercy Approval at its June meeting by a 15-1 vote.
Per the rule, a running clock will be implemented when one team gains a five-goal difference over the other. This game would never return to normal clock management. Games would end once a team took a nine-goal lead over the other after playing 20 minutes in the second half.
The only times that games would stop would be for injury timeouts, per the officials’ judgment.
Basketball
IHSAA tables Basketball Mercy Rule proposal: The IHSAA tabled a proposal for a Basketball Mercy Rule at its June meeting by a 16-0 vote.
The rule proposed a running clock after the first half when one team has a lead of 30 points or more. The clock would revert to regular game timing if the lead reverts to 20 points or less.
The clock would stop for all timeouts, the break between the third and fourth quarters and free throws in the final two minutes.
Players would receive a six-quarter allowance if the rule were to be implemented.
Wrestling
IHSAA votes down coaches’ proposals: The IHSAA rejected a proposal from the Indiana Wrestling Coaches Association to expand the state tournament from 16 to 20 wrestlers in each weight class. The vote was 16-0 against the proposal.
The Executive Committee also rejected a proposal by a 16-0 vote to allow tenths of a pound to be removed from a qualified weigh-in.
The Executive Committee also requested that the IWCA go through the Emerging Sport Process in order to add girls wrestling to the list of sponsored sports.
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