Title window still open for Linton football

By the time you are reading this in the print edition of our newspaper, Evansville Mater Dei will playing in the 2A state title game in Indianapolis. Just a couple of weeks ago, I thought Linton would be playing in that spot instead.

Linton’s 51-28 loss to Evansville Mater Dei is not something one should skim over and carelessly move on to basketball season. The Miners have now lost to Mater Dei five straight years and that is not easy for those around the program to accept.

There are ways to look at the unique situation Linton football is in.

The first is to gripe and be bitter about the advantages Evansville Mater Dei has. We all know them. They have players from all over the area as a private school.

Yet the biggest reason the Wildcats upended the season for the No. 1 Miners was probably in the schedule. Linton had not seen a team as good as Mater Dei until Semi-State. Mater Dei played teams that were at Linton’s quality for most of its regular season. It’s why the Wildcats have three losses.

Every coach in Linton from Jared Rehmel and Joey Hart in basketball, to Jacob Harden (baseball) and Scott Vanderkolk (volleyball) always tell me how important scheduling is. It is why Coach Hart will take the basketball team all over the state and out of state for games this season.

Linton tries to play a tough schedule in football too but the limitations are obvious. Linton is the quality team in the Wabash Valley but who can they play around here? Half of the teams on Linton’s schedule had no chance to even stay in the game with the Miners. Terre Haute North and South have no reason to play Linton. Same with Bloomington North and South.

Linton traveled to Boonville and South Putnam but teams are unable do long trips like that every week. Playing Sullivan is a fun game but Sullivan is not going to prepare a team for Mater Dei.

It is why I hope Linton fans take option two, stay patient and look at what the volleyball team did. For years, Linton’s volleyball team could not get past Barr-Reeve. Finally, Barr-Reeve would get promoted up to a higher class. As a result, Linton was able to make a run all the way to the state championship game in Muncie.

Mater Dei will hopefully move up to 3A in 2024. Guess who will be loaded in 2024 and 2025? Your Linton Miners. Paul Oliver will likely be the team’s quarterback and a junior. Linton will be good next year too. They could very well go undefeated again in the regular season. It is hard to see them winning against Mater Dei though now that Hunter Gennicks will be playing college ball somewhere. No joke, if Gennicks does not get an offer from a mid-major program folks need to start pestering Ball State’s offensive coordinator on social media.

The 2022 Miners did even better than I thought they would at the start of the season. I thought losing 12 seniors from 2021 would be a bigger blow. Instead, Linton held a No. 1 ranking for almost three months.

Linton has won 20 straight regular season games and finally won a 2A sectional and regional title this season. When you do that, your title window is still open. It just might take a little more time.

Nathan Pace is the Sports Editor of the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at npace@gcdailyworld.com. His “Low Budget Sports Show” airs weekly on Facebook Live.

Title window still open for Linton football

By the time you are reading this in the print edition of our newspaper, Evansville Mater Dei will playing in the 2A state title game in Indianapolis. Just a couple of weeks ago, I thought Linton would be playing in that spot instead.

Linton’s 51-28 loss to Evansville Mater Dei is not something one should skim over and carelessly move on to basketball season. The Miners have now lost to Mater Dei five straight years and that is not easy for those around the program to accept.

There are ways to look at the unique situation Linton football is in.

The first is to gripe and be bitter about the advantages Evansville Mater Dei has. We all know them. They have players from all over the area as a private school.

Yet the biggest reason the Wildcats upended the season for the No. 1 Miners was probably in the schedule. Linton had not seen a team as good as Mater Dei until Semi-State. Mater Dei played teams that were at Linton’s quality for most of its regular season. It’s why the Wildcats have three losses.

Every coach in Linton from Jared Rehmel and Joey Hart in basketball, to Jacob Harden (baseball) and Scott Vanderkolk (volleyball) always tell me how important scheduling is. It is why Coach Hart will take the basketball team all over the state and out of state for games this season.

Linton tries to play a tough schedule in football too but the limitations are obvious. Linton is the quality team in the Wabash Valley but who can they play around here? Half of the teams on Linton’s schedule had no chance to even stay in the game with the Miners. Terre Haute North and South have no reason to play Linton. Same with Bloomington North and South.

Linton traveled to Boonville and South Putnam but teams are unable do long trips like that every week. Playing Sullivan is a fun game but Sullivan is not going to prepare a team for Mater Dei.

It is why I hope Linton fans take option two, stay patient and look at what the volleyball team did. For years, Linton’s volleyball team could not get past Barr-Reeve. Finally, Barr-Reeve would get promoted up to a higher class. As a result, Linton was able to make a run all the way to the state championship game in Muncie.

Mater Dei will hopefully move up to 3A in 2024. Guess who will be loaded in 2024 and 2025? Your Linton Miners. Paul Oliver will likely be the team’s quarterback and a junior. Linton will be good next year too. They could very well go undefeated again in the regular season. It is hard to see them winning against Mater Dei though now that Hunter Gennicks will be playing college ball somewhere. No joke, if Gennicks does not get an offer from a mid-major program folks need to start pestering Ball State’s offensive coordinator on social media.

The 2022 Miners did even better than I thought they would at the start of the season. I thought losing 12 seniors from 2021 would be a bigger blow. Instead, Linton held a No. 1 ranking for almost three months.

Linton has won 20 straight regular season games and finally won a 2A sectional and regional title this season. When you do that, your title window is still open. It just might take a little more time.

Nathan Pace is the Sports Editor of the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at npace@gcdailyworld.com. His “Low Budget Sports Show” airs weekly on Facebook Live.