Sunday, February 24, 2008

Sectional droughts.

While the number of first-time sectional champions grows every year, so, too, does the list of schools that have never won a sectional championship. It's a paradox that's easy to explain – just consider the increase in private schools and charter schools joining the IHSAA and fielding basketball teams for the first time.

Without considering that, it's easy to say, "Oh, Trinity Lutheran (for instance) has never won a sectional championship – it must be awful, to endure such a drought!" Yes, it must be awful, the pain that goes with having never won a championship in the only two seasons you've been in existence. You could be, say, Winless Watch's alma mater, Shoals, who've been playing for almost 100 years.

So, when compiling the below list, I broke up the "never wons" into two groups:

Group I is composed of the legacy schools. These schools have been at it for decades, and have never cut down the nets on Saturday night. There are 24 of these schools remaining on the "never won a sectional" ledger.

Group II of the "never wons" are the newer schools. These tend to be, but aren't always, your private/parochial/charter schools that have sprung up like mushrooms in the last 10 years (XYZ Christian, ABC Academy, etc.) that, for better or for worse, have become members of the IHSAA and started reaching for that athletic brass ring.

I figured it was important to delineate between the two groups, to give the first group its proper due and recognize their true futility.

Anyway, this is the best I could gather from John Harrell's site. If I made an error or missed your school, I apologize – I compiled this list by hand and didn't really have a sanity check in place.

Never – Group I (legacy schools): Borden, Carroll (Flora), Churubusco, Crothersville, Culver Academy, Evansville Day, FW Canterbury, FW Keystone, Franklin County, Frankton, Hamilton Southeastern, Indiana Deaf, Indianapolis Lutheran, Lake Station, Michigan City, New Harmony, Northeastern, Shoals, Vincennes Rivet, Washington Twp., West Noble, Westfield, Westville, White's

Never – Group II (newer schools – less than 10 years of basketball)- Bowman Academy, Bethesda Christian, Clinton Christian, Covenant Christian, Elkhart Christian, Fall Creek 21st Century, Fishers*, Greenwood Christian, Guerin Catholic, Indianapolis International, Indianapolis Metropolitan, Indianapolis Tindley, Lakewood Park, Liberty Christian, Oldenburg Academy, Rock Creek Christian, Seton Catholic, Terre Haute Holy Cross, Trinity Lutheran

* - I struggled with whether to include Fishers, which actually won a sectional in its first incarnation in 1922, but Fishers v. 2.0 has been open only in the last couple of years. The original Fishers High School closed in the mid-60s and was consolidated into Hamilton Southeastern.

And now, the droughts:

1949 – 59 years: Medora

1953 – 55 years: Morton Memorial

1954 – 54 years: Mississinewa

1956 – 52 years: Eastern (Greentown)

1958 – 50 years: Howe Military

1960 – 48 years: Elwood

1961 – 47 years: Cambridge City Lincoln

1965 - 43 years: Hagerstown

1966 – 42 years: North Posey

1967 – 41 years: Wabash

1968 – 40 years: North Miami

1969 – 39 years: Mishawaka Marian

1970 – 38 years: Union (Modoc)

1973 – 35 years: Edinburgh, Griffith

1976 – 32 years: Clay City, Cowan, Hammond Morton

1978 – 30 years: Indianapolis Tech, North Newton, Seeger

1979 – 29 years: Union County

1981 – 27 years: Whiting

1982 – 26 years: Clinton Prairie, Linton

1983 – 25 years: Clinton Central, Sheridan

1984 – 24 years: Boonville, North White, Union City

1985 – 23 years: Culver, Daleville

1986 – 22 years: Clarksville, Hanover Central, Indianapolis Broad Ripple, LaVille, Mishawaka, South Vermillion

1987 – 21 years: Chesterton

1988 – 20 years: Mt. Vernon (Posey)

1989 – 19 years: Crawfordsville, Floyd Central, Frontier

1990 – 18 years: West Vigo, Wood Memorial

1991 – 17 years: Anderson Highland, Blackford, East Central, Fountain Central, LaCrosse, Tri-West

1992 – 16 years: Beech Grove, Goshen, Hobart, Indianapolis Manual, Kankakee Valley, Seymour, Turkey Run

1993 – 15 years: Lowell, South Adams, Tell City, Washington Catholic

1994 – 14 years: Center Grove, FW Wayne, Southmont

1995 – 13 years: Indianapolis Washington, Manchester, Norwell, South Dearborn, Zionsville

1996 – 12 years: Columbus East, Evansville Memorial, Gary Wallace, Logansport, Madison-Grant, New Haven, North Harrison, North Judson, Richmond , West Washington

1997 – 11 years: Brownsburg, Columbus North, Connersville, FW Dwenger, Frankfort, Lake Central, Mitchell, New Palestine, Noblesville, Perry Central, Pike Central, Woodlan

(Class basketball era begins here – schools in boldface are schools who won their first sectional championships after class basketball began)

1998 – 10 years: Cannelton, Crown Point, Eastbrook, Evansville North, Greenfield-Central, Heritage, Indianapolis Cathedral, Lawrence Central, Mooresville, Peru, Rising Sun, South Spencer, Southwestern (Hanover), Springs Valley, Yorktown

1999 – 9 years: Alexandria, Angola, Bremen, Christian Academy, Harrison (Lafayette), Mt. Vernon (Fortville), North Vermillion, Plainfield, Wapahani,

2000 – 8 years: Calumet, Charlestown, Indian Creek, Maconaquah, Michigan City Marquette, Monrovia, Munster, Princeton, Silver Creek, Southern Wells, Southport, Southwood, Union (Dugger), Warren Central, West Lafayette, Western Boone

2001 – 7 years: Adams Central, Attica, Bedford North Lawrence, East Noble, Eastern (Pekin), Greensburg, Hamilton, Huntington North, Muncie South, New Washington, Northeast Dubois, Oak Hill, Portage, Randolph Southern, River Forest, Shelbyville, South Bend St. Joseph's, South Newton, Tipton, Whitko

2002 – 6 years: Anderson, Avon, Benton Central, Bethany Christian, Castle, Crawford County, Elkhart Memorial, Gibson Southern, Greenwood, Homestead, Indianapolis Arlington, Jasper, Kouts, Lakeview Christian, Lebanon, Leo, North Putnam, Paoli, Pioneer, Rockville, Rossville, South Bend Washington, South Central (Elizabeth), Speedway, Whiteland, Winamac

2003 – 5 years: Ben Davis, Brown County, Caston, Central Noble, Eastern Hancock, Elkhart Central, FW Northrop, Gary Roosevelt, Hamilton Heights, Heritage Hills, Highland, Indianapolis Scecina, Lakeland, Merrillville, Milan, Muncie Burris, New Prairie, Perry Meridian, Salem, South Bend Riley, South Central (Union Mills), South Putnam, Southwestern (Shelby), Sullivan, Triton

2004 – 4 years: Bloomington North, Bluffton, Brownstown Central, Columbia City, Corydon Central, Delphi, Evansville Central, FW Elmhurst, Garrett, Greencastle, Hammond Gavit, Hammond Noll, Indianapolis Chatard, Indianapolis Northwest, Indianapolis Ritter, Jimtown, Knox, Lafayette Jeff, Monroe Central, North Knox, Northridge, Northview, Pendleton Heights, South Ripley, Triton Central, Vincennes Lincoln, Waldron, White River Valley

2005 – 3 years: Argos, Austin, Bellmont, Bloomfield, Concord, Decatur Central, DeKalb, Delta, FW North, Fremont, Gary West, Hammond, Henryville, Jennings County, John Glenn, Kokomo, Lapel, Loogootee, North Decatur, Northfield, Rensselaer Central, Rushville, Scottsburg, South Bend Clay, South Decatur, Terre Haute South, Tri, Twin Lakes, West Central,

2006 – 2 years: Andrean, Boone Grove, Carmel, Cascade, Centerville, Danville, Eastern Greene, Evansville Harrison, Evansville Mater Dei, Forest Park, FW Concordia, FW Snider, Franklin, Hauser, Hebron, Heritage Christian, Indianapolis Roncalli, Jeffersonville, Knightstown, LaPorte, Martinsville, McCutcheon, North Daviess, Owen Valley, Prairie Heights, Riverton Parke, Shakamak, Shawe Memorial, Switzerland County, Taylor, Tri-Central, University, Warsaw, Wawasee, Westview

2007 – 1 year: Barr-Reeve, Batesville, Bloomington South, Blue River, Brebeuf, Carroll (FW), Cloverdale, Covington, East Chicago Central, Eastside, Edgewood, Eminence, Evansville Bosse, Evansville Reitz, Fairfield, FW Blackhawk, FW Luers, FW South, Franklin Central, Gary Wirt, Hammond Clark, Harding, Indianapolis Howe, Jac-Cen-Del, Jay County, Lafayette Central Catholic, Lanesville, Lawrence North, Lawrenceburg, Lewis Cass, Madison, Marion, Morgan Twp., Morristown, Muncie Central, New Albany, New Castle, North Central (Farmersburg), North Central (Indianapolis), North Montgomery, Northwestern, NorthWood, Oregon-Davis, Orleans, Park Tudor, Penn, Pike, Plymouth, Providence, Rochester, Shenandoah, South Bend Adams, South Knox, Southridge, Tecumseh, Terre Haute North, Tippecanoe Valley, Tri-County, Valparaiso, Washington, Wes-Del, Western, Wheeler, Winchester

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