'Mr. Picker' Week 12 NW Indiana HS Football Picks

Valparaiso takes the long ride to Penn to see if they can stop the Kingsmen from winning the sectional title for a sixth consecutive season. (Photo by Mark Smith)

"Mr. Picker" - WEEK (12) TWELVE:

VALPARAISO (11-02-2018) (11-02-2018) It's sectional championship week and the games get a lot closer now that we’re in championship territory.

At least let's hope so.

I’m uneasy with some of the final scores I’ve seen in high school football this season.

Pioneer over Carroll 74-0. West Lafayette over Twin Lakes 74-0. Michigan City over Munster 74-19.
New Palestine has won games by scores of 77-0, 81-13, 76-7, 77-7 and 84-13.

Coaches. Stop it.

Once you are ahead by six or seven touchdowns in the second half, just stop scoring.

I know there are other factors. Many times you put freshmen or JV players into a game that isn't close and the freshman do well and score.

Sometimes the defense scores on a fumble or pass interception. You cant ask the boys to not score with a turnover, right? Sometimes there’s special teams' TDs on kickoffs or punts. You can't ask boys not to run a punt back for a TD.

Wrong. You can. Once the score gets to 49-0- or 56-0, give the boys orders to run into the center of the line and not score. You don’t have to score on offense if you don’t want to. Fair catch all punts when you’re seven or eight TDs ahead.

Maybe there’s a boy on your team who has never scored a TD. This will be his only chance to get into the end zone. You’ve got to get him that TD, even if you are nine touchdowns ahead. Right?

Wrong. Tell him to gain all the yards he wants, but not to score. And tell him why.
Coaches say, “I'm not coaching that other team. I can only coach my team. It's their job to stop us.

Sounds really tough, right? Sounds like a big man.

A man with swagger. A true leader.

My opinion? I feel safe saying that nobody in the history of football has ever come from 56-0 behind to win.

The truth? By the time it's 35-0, the boys on the other side have been beaten. They are hurting. They are down 40 or 50 or 60 points and they are being humiliated. Imagine you were one of those boys and how you would feel when you ram in another TD. Imagine how their parents feel.

Coaches feel they are educators and that their job is to make men out of boys. Okay. Men don’t humiliate other men, even in sport, just because they can. Too much ego is a character flaw. Run into the line. Fair catch the kicks. Fall down before you get to the goal line. 41-0 and 81-0 is the same victory.

As always, check back with me on Thursday for the Crown Point-Merrillville game and the Lowell-Morton battle. Just trying to keep you in suspense. In the meantime, a review of last week's 'Mr. Picker' results:

'Mr. Picker' WEEK-11, 2018 Football Picks in Review: Oct. 26-27, 2018 Wrong - 1; Right - 15 = 93.7%
The Pick	The Result
Boone Grove 56, Lake Station 0	Boone 47-0
Whiting 42, Gary Roosevelt 0	Whiting 48-0
Lewis Cass 27, Rensselaer 20	Cass 14-7
Eastbrook 28, Rochester 7	Eastbrook 48-20
West Lafayette 49, Twin Lakes 14	West Lafayette 74-0
ANDREAN 34, Hanover Central 14	ANDREAN 44-12
Mishawaka 42, Riley 7	Mishawaka 35-28
St. Joseph’s 34, New Prairie 28	St. Joe 42-30
Morton 35, East Chicago 6	Morton 48-9
LOWELL 35, Griffith 7	LOWELL 42-14
Adams 29, LaPorte 28	(wrong) LaPorte 33-19
Michigan City 42, Munster 7	Michigan City 72-19
Valparaiso 27, Chesterton 10	Valparaiso 55-7
Penn 28, Warsaw 7	Penn 16-7
MERRILLVILLE 28, Lake Central 7	MERRILLVILLE 42-14
CROWN POINT 17, Portage 10	CROWN POINT 12-7

Week Eleven Review: Almost perfect. And the kicker is: I was really high on LaPorte early in the season and I didn’t have faith in them in a fairly even match with Adams. In the interest of full disclosure and upon further review (I love those cliches), this was not a difficult week. A lot of teams here that won big were supposed to win big. In the first two weeks of the post-season, obviously, we’re eliminating some teams that were making their post-season debuts. From this point on, everybody is coming in off a win.

BEST PICK: Clearly St. Joe over New Prairie 34-28. St. Joe won 34-20 after New Prairie had defeated them in the regular season 44-28. It's always a tough call to go against the team that won the first time in a rematch.

WORST PICK: Obviously, Adams over LaPorte 29-28 with LaPorte winning 33-19. I thought the game would be a lot more high-scoring, and that would be tough on the Slicers who almost never throw the ball. All credit to LaPorte here. They won fairly decisively.

‘Mr. Picker’ 2018 RESULTS
WEEK (11) 15 of 16 = 93.7%
WEEK (10) 16 of 31 = 84.2%

WEEK (9) 8 of 12 = 75.0%
WEEK (8) 10 of 12 = 83.3%
WEEK (7) 10 of 12 = 83.3%
WEEK (6) 9 of 12 = 75.0%
WEEK (5) 8 of 12 = 66.7%
WEEK (4) 10 of 11 = 90.9%
WEEK (3) 9 of 13 = 69.2%
WEEK (2) 12 of 15 = 80.0%
WEEK (1) 10 of 13 = 76.1%

Playoffs (2 weeks) 31 of 35, 88.5%
Season Total (11 weeks): 117 of 147 = 79.5%

'Mr. Picker' (13 Years)
2017 (final) OVERALL: 137 of 184 = 74.4%
2016 (final) OVERALL: 119 of 170 = 70.0%
2015 (final) OVERALL: 131 of 174 = 75.2%
2014 (final) OVERALL: 131 of 176 = 74.4%
2013 (final) OVERALL: 130 of 175 = 74.2%

2012 (final) OVERALL: 137 of 177 = 77.4%

2011 (final) OVERALL: 134 of 184 = 72.7%
2010 (final) OVERALL: 135 of 184 = 73.3%
2009 (final) OVERALL: 154 of 212 = 72.6%
2008 (final) OVERALL: 145 of 193 = 75.1%
2007 (final) OVERALL: 143 of 188 = 76.0%
2006 (final) OVERALL: 166 of 217 = 76.4%
2005 (final) OVERALL: 170 of 233 = 72.9%