(11-1-26) A week after going 30-81 in the sectional openers, Indiana’s losing-record teams had a much better weekend — and twenty of them are playing for sectional titles on Friday.

Fifty-nine teams that entered Friday night’s games below .500 went 20-39 across all six classes: the Class 1A-4A sectional semifinals, plus the first sectional games for Classes 5A and 6A, which started their tournaments this weekend.

By class: 6A went 7-8, 5A went 6-11, 4A went 1-4, 3A went 1-5, 2A went 4-4, and 1A went 1-7. Eight of the twenty wins were upsets over winning-record opponents; eleven more came over fellow losing-record teams, and one came over a .500 team.

The twenty winners advance to the sectional finals on Friday, Nov. 6.

The upset of the weekend

The biggest stunner in the state came in Class 3A, Sectional 28: West Lafayette (3-7) beat unbeaten Maconaquah (10-0) 54-26, ending the Braves’ perfect season by 28 points. West Lafayette entered the tournament at 2-7 and had already beaten Northwestern in the first round.

The other seven upsets over winning-record opponents:

  • Franklin Central (4-6) 41, Decatur Central (8-1) 23 (6A, Sectional 7)
  • Evansville Harrison (4-6) 58, Bedford North Lawrence (7-3) 26 (4A, Sectional 24)
  • Linton-Stockton (2-8) 54, Tell City (7-3) 37 (2A, Sectional 40) — the only 2-8 team to win
  • Monrovia (4-6) 42, North Putnam (7-3) 32 (2A, Sectional 38)
  • Switzerland County (4-6) 49, Clarksville (7-3) 41 (2A, Sectional 39)
  • Ben Davis (4-5) 32, Avon (6-3) 10 (6A, Sectional 5)
  • Concord (4-5) 54, South Bend Adams (5-4) 28 (5A, Sectional 10)

One more win deserves its own line: Homestead (3-6) beat Northrop 26-14 in 6A, Sectional 4 — but Northrop entered at 4-4, a .500 team, so it is not counted among the eight upsets.

By the records

The teams closest to .500 did the best. Teams entering at 4-5 went 9-2 — all of them in 5A/6A, where Friday was their first sectional game. Teams entering at 4-6 went 6-6. From there it dropped off fast: 3-6 teams went 1-8, 3-7 teams went 1-3, 2-7 teams went 2-5, and 1-8 teams went 0-7.

No winless team won. Fishers (0-9), Anderson (0-9), Terre Haute North (0-9) and Pike (0-9) all lost, as did Tri-County (0-8), which fell 54-0 to Lafayette Central Catholic. No winless team survives to the finals — the same theme as the first round, when no 0-9 team won either.

The Lincoln story, settled on the field

Cambridge City Lincoln’s strange postseason is over. Lincoln advanced to the Sectional 45 semifinal on a forfeit by Indianapolis Tindley, recorded as a 7-0 win — Lincoln was winless on the field at 0-9 in the regular season, and 1-9 officially with the forfeit counted. On Friday, Tri (5-5) beat Lincoln 52-6 at Lincoln, and Tri advances to the Sectional 45 final at Knightstown.

Tri is not Tri-County. Tri-County (0-8) of Wolcott drew a first-round bye and lost 54-0 to Lafayette Central Catholic (4-6) in the Sectional 42 semifinal. LCC, which entered the tournament at 3-6 and beat Frontier 47-7 in the first round, advances to face Clinton Prairie in the Sectional 42 final.

Still standing: the twenty survivors

  • 6A (7): Lake Central (5-5), Hamilton Southeastern (5-5), Homestead (4-6), Ben Davis (5-5), North Central (3-7), Franklin Central (5-6), Columbus North (5-5)
  • 5A (6): Munster (5-5), Chesterton (5-5), Concord (5-5), LaPorte (3-7), Bloomington North (5-5), Evansville North (5-5)
  • 4A (1): Evansville Harrison (5-6)
  • 3A (1): West Lafayette (4-7)
  • 2A (4): Knox (5-6), Monrovia (5-6), Switzerland County (5-6), Linton (3-8)
  • 1A (1): Lafayette Central Catholic (5-6)

The sectional finals are Friday, Nov. 6. Among the headliners: West Lafayette travels to Hamilton Heights, Evansville Harrison travels to Heritage Hills, and LCC hosts Clinton Prairie.

One framing note, so you’re not surprised: this counts records entering Friday’s game, so teams that reached 5-5 with a first-round win aren’t in the 20-39.

Muse AI assisted