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Center Grove (IN) Dynasty Begins This Week


DrivenT

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Ben Davis.  Warren Central.  Penn.  Carmel.  The 4 titans of Indiana high school football, who have ruled the roost over the past 30 years in Indiana's biggest prep football division.

Center Grove High School out of Greenwood, Indiana can officially break into this exclusive club of big school dynasties when the Trojans square off against long time rival and sometime nemesis Carmel for the Class 6A State Championship Friday night.

Eric Moore's CG Trojans (12-1)  are the defending 6A state champs, and can win a second title and 3rd overall with a win over the underdog 9-4 Greyhounds this week.

Center Grove's climb to prominence began with the hiring of Head Coach Moore prior to the 1997 season.  CG made its first state title appearance in 2000, falling to the mighty Penn Kingsmen, who were in the middle of their own big school dynasty in the Class 5A division.  The Trojans finally broke thru with a thrilling come from behind 36-33 Class 5A championship win over, who else, Carmel in the 2008 title game.  Now the Trojans have their first opportunity to defend their title, and begin to build a dynasty all their own.

Moore runs the classic wing t offense, and the secret to his success is a monster feeder program that puts kids into positions at age 5 and grows them into specific position players by junior high. CG is the model for the "system" type of high school program, where the staff follows the same blueprint year after year and plugs in new personnel to maintain excellence on an annual basis.  

 The Ben Davis and Warren Central dynasties of the 90s and 2000s are well known nationally.  Center Grove, with a win this week, is on the verge of breaking into that same elite company.

 

 

 

 

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Carmel (9-4) vs. Center Grove (12-1)
GAME TIME: 7 pm ET, Center Grove field.
COACHES: John Hebert, 19-7 in 2nd year at Carmel. Eric Moore, 173-55 in 18th year at Center Grove, 221-60 in 22nd year overall.
SAGARIN RATINGS: Center Grove, 115.01, 1st overall, 1st in Class 6A. Carmel, 101.89, 4th overall, 4th in Class 6A.
LAST OUTING: Carmel defeated Penn, 21-10. Center Grove defeated Ben Davis, 42-22.
VS. COMMON FOES: Carmel 4-2; Center Grove 7-1.
OPPONENTS' RECORDS: Carmel 83-62, Center Grove 84-64.
SERIES LAST 30 YEARS: Carmel, 12-9.
LAST MEETING: Center Grove, 19-6, Sep. 2, 2016.
PREDICTION: Center Grove, 35-21.
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17 minutes ago, Coletrain06 said:

I've watched Center Grove a handful of times this year, and they are legit. A very good Football team. 

How would you say this year's team compares to last years?

Center Grove has always been a "system" driven program, not a star driven one.  But they have a legit star this year in transfer running back Russ Yeast, whose father Craig Yeast had a nice career at UK and briefly in the NFL and CFL.  Yeast is a terrific runner but even more impressive catching the ball out of the backfield and on downfield routes.  Titus McCoy is CGs "system back", starting as a peewee and growing through the system into an all state caliber player.  The combination of the two is quite lethal.  CG has solid linemen, but no big time D1 prospects.  They rarely do.  Joel Hale played 5 years at Ohio State as a NG/C, and Nate Wozniak is a 6-10 TE on the University of Minnesota roster.  

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1 hour ago, DrivenT said:

Center Grove has always been a "system" driven program, not a star driven one.  But they have a legit star this year in transfer running back Russ Yeast, whose father Craig Yeast had a nice career at UK and briefly in the NFL and CFL.  Yeast is a terrific runner but even more impressive catching the ball out of the backfield and on downfield routes.  Titus McCoy is CGs "system back", starting as a peewee and growing through the system into an all state caliber player.  The combination of the two is quite lethal.  CG has solid linemen, but no big time D1 prospects.  They rarely do.  Joel Hale played 5 years at Ohio State as a NG/C, and Nate Wozniak is a 6-10 TE on the University of Minnesota roster.  

A post with information and evidence to support the facts? Holy cow. 

 

This DrivenTguy is a keeper. 

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6 hours ago, DrivenT said:

Ben Davis.  Warren Central.  Penn.  Carmel.  The 4 titans of Indiana high school football, who have ruled the roost over the past 30 years in Indiana's biggest prep football division.

Center Grove High School out of Greenwood, Indiana can officially break into this exclusive club of big school dynasties when the Trojans square off against long time rival and sometime nemesis Carmel for the Class 6A State Championship Friday night.

Eric Moore's CG Trojans (12-1)  are the defending 6A state champs, and can win a second title and 3rd overall with a win over the underdog 9-4 Greyhounds this week.

Center Grove's climb to prominence began with the hiring of Head Coach Moore prior to the 1997 season.  CG made its first state title appearance in 2000, falling to the mighty Penn Kingsmen, who were in the middle of their own big school dynasty in the Class 5A division.  The Trojans finally broke thru with a thrilling come from behind 36-33 Class 5A championship win over, who else, Carmel in the 2008 title game.  Now the Trojans have their first opportunity to defend their title, and begin to build a dynasty all their own.

Moore runs the classic wing t offense, and the secret to his success is a monster feeder program that puts kids into positions at age 5 and grows them into specific position players by junior high. CG is the model for the "system" type of high school program, where the staff follows the same blueprint year after year and plugs in new personnel to maintain excellence on an annual basis.  

 The Ben Davis and Warren Central dynasties of the 90s and 2000s are well known nationally.  Center Grove, with a win this week, is on the verge of breaking into that same elite company.

 

 

 

 

This is great background info that I really didn't know about. Thanks

Driven, how do you feel about Kevin Wright?

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I have followed Coach Wright's career since I moved to Indianapolis in 2004.  He was at the helm of undoubtedly the greatest era of dominance in state history when his Warren Central teams won 4 state titles from 2004-2007.  Most impressive to me was the amount of D1 recruits those teams produced.  It was just unbelievable the talent they had during those years.  

I was living in Oklahoma when Coach Wright took the job at Tulsa Union.  As a guy who has moved around a few times and taken on new challenges, I admired Wright's moxie for making the move and leaving Warren at the very top of his game.  It was just a bad match in Tulsa.  They disliked him from the get go.  He can come off as very arrogant and condescending, and I think the Okie locals took that personally and ran him out of town very quickly.

Wright bounced right back, assisting at the college level for a few years and then  taking on the Carmel job, which is the biggest high school in Indiana with 4500 students grades 9-12.  Again, Wright excelled, winning a state title and the D1 recruits flowed out of Carmel during his stay there.

The move to IMG was a shocker, but very "Wright - like " if you follow his history.  Looking at it from the outside, IMG could have picked any coach in the country they wanted, and most would have taken the gig.  And they chose Wright.  

Wrights Dad Larry "Bud" Wright is all time winningest coach in Indiana High School Football history with over 400 career wins.  His brothers also coach at the high school level.  I would not be surprised to see Kevin return to Indiana at some point in the next 3 to 5 years.  I'm sure the IMG gig is probably a pressure cooker, and more and more schools are refusing to play them due to the recruiting and scholarship advantages they wield.  

Hope that helps.  

 

 

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1 minute ago, ATLien12x said:

LMFAOOO you can't be the ONLY Indiana guy. Besides, you come across pretty neutral. I didn't even know you had a team/league affiliation 

I went on the Indiana Gridirion Digest to promote this site.   There may be several others coming over as well.    In respect to high school football, I do not have a favorite.   It helps to be objective in my poll. However, when it comes to MLB, I bleed Twins baseball.

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Just now, whiteshoes said:

I went on the Indiana Gridirion Digest to promote this site.   There may be several others coming over as well.    In respect to high school football, I do not have a favorite.   It helps to be objective in my poll. However, when it comes to MLB, I bleed Twins baseball.

As a Braves fan.... rough years, bro. We gotta stick together.  Look out, 2027!!! 

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58 minutes ago, whiteshoes said:

Game 7 of the 1991 World Series is still the most intense sporting event I have ever witnessed.   Kirby refused to lose.

What was even better was watching my Reds sweep Oakland and the mighty Bash Brothers the year before. The Reds stink these days, but I still root for them. ATL, the Braves are my #2 team. (Grew up in Knoxville. Tennessee doesn't have a pro team for me to root for. So, when I was a kid I just picked the two cities closest to Knoxville. Been a fan of both ever since.) 

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