Better known for its high school basketball, Indiana high school football has also been a staple of Hoosier weekends for more than 100 years. In 1930, more than 30,000 people jammed Notre Dame Stadium to watch Mishawaka beat undefeated South Bend Central, 6–0. At the time, it was one of the largest crowds to witness a high school football game in the United States. Indiana high school football is still immensely popular, with tens of thousands now packing Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to watch six state championship games over two days in November. The following is a history of Indiana's big school state football championship.
1920–1936: The North and mythical state champions From the late 1800s through 1919, Indiana high school football teams often played fewer than five games per year and many times skipped entire seasons. Pre-1920 games often featured high school teams playing semi-pro club teams, college teams, and even intramural scrimmages. Various teams made state championship claims, but most were unfounded until organized leagues and verified games became commonplace beginning with the 1920 season. By that year, as many as 26 high schools in northern Indiana – stretching from Fort Wayne to East Chicago – were annually compiling standings and functioning as the state's first organized football conference. These northern football teams frequently defeated powerhouse teams from other states and were rarely defeated by Indiana teams from outside the league. For example, From 1921 to 1926, Gary Emerson never lost a game to an in-state team. The winner of this early super conference usually claimed the "mythical" state football championship prior to 1928. Indeed, when an Indiana mythical state championship game was played between the best teams of northern and southern Indiana (in 1923, 1924, 1927, 1929, and 1930) the northern league champion won every time.
In 1926, for one year, the league standings included power teams from around the state, including Evansville Central, Richmond, Indianapolis Tech, Marion, and Muncie, all of whom finished behind league leaders Mishawaka and Gary Emerson. In 1927, many of these same northern teams – from Elkhart to East Chicago – officially formed the Northern Indiana Conference (NIC), with its champion going on to dominate the #1 final ranking in the AP and UPI polls well into the 1960s.
By the early 1930s, the Evansville and Terre Haute areas were also well established as Indiana high school football hotbeds. Clinton (north of Terre Haute) won three titles between 1928 and 1933, and Evansville Memorial, best in the south in 1937, defeated McKeesport, champions of Western Pennsylvania, 21–0, in what some newspapers called the mythical national championship.
The following teams were widely considered the state football champions: Schools in italics are now consolidated or defunct.
1920 - Wabash4 and Mishawaka1 1921 - Gary Emerson1 and Gary Froebel1 1922 - Gary Emerson1 (2) 1923 - Gary Emerson² (3) 1924 - Elkhart (Central)² 1925 - Mishawaka1,4 (2) 1926 - Mishawaka1 (3) 1927 - Gary Froebel² (2) 1928 - Clinton³ 1929 - Gary Mann²,³ 1930 - Gary Emerson²,³ (4) 1931 - South Bend Central4 1932 - Clinton³ (2) 1933 - Clinton²,³ (3) 1934 - South Bend Central1,4 (2) and Terre Haute Garfield4 1935 - Evansville Memorial²,³ 1936 - Gary Mann5 (2) 1 NIC Champion
2 Winner of arranged post-season North-South Mythical State Championship Game 1923 - Gary Emerson 7, Muncie Central 0 1924 - Elkhart (Central) 28, Bicknell 6 1927 - Gary Froebel 70, Indianapolis Shortridge 0 1929 - Gary Mann 38, Fort Wayne Central 0 1930 - Gary Emerson 21, Logansport 7 1933 - Clinton 6, East Chicago Washington 6, tie 1935 - Evansville Memorial 13, Fort Wayne Central 0 3 Winner of Indianapolis Times and IHSAA ‘Most Outstanding Team in Indiana’ Trophy – 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, and 1935
4 Mythical State Champions named by various Indiana newspapers, according to AlmanacSports.com – 1920, 1925, 1931 and 1934
5 NIC East-West Playoff Champion - 1936 (no other claims found)
( ) Total state championships
1937–1972: The polls rule The AP and UP(I) Polls awarded Mythical State Football Championships from 1937 to 1972. Many schools went on to play postseason games after the final polls were released and many schools subsequently and rightly disputed these AP/UPI mythical championships.
1937 - Hammond 1938 - Evansville Memorial (2) 1939 - South Bend Washington 1940 - Fort Wayne North 1941 - Gary Wallace 1942 - East Chicago Washington (2) 1943 - South Bend Washington (2) 1944 - Muncie Central 1945 - East Chicago Roosevelt 1946 - East Chicago Roosevelt (2) 1947 - East Chicago Roosevelt (3) 1948 - Evansville Reitz 1949 - East Chicago Roosevelt (4) 1950 - Lafayette Jefferson 1951 - Hammond Bishop Noll* 1952 - Richmond 1953 - South Bend Washington (3) 1954 - Whiting 1955 - East Chicago Roosevelt (5) 1956 - Richmond (2) 1957 - Evansville Reitz (2) & East Chicago Roosevelt (6) 1958 - South Bend Central (3) 1959 - South Bend Central (4) 1960 - Evansville Reitz (3) & Hammond (2) 1961 - Evansville Reitz (4) 1962 - Hammond (3) 1963 - Elkhart (Central) (2) 1964 - South Bend St. Joseph* 1965 - Hammond Morton 1966 - Indianapolis Washington 1967 - Richmond (3) 1968 - Bloomington (South) & Elkhart (Central) (3) 1969 - South Bend Washington (4) 1970 - Elkhart (Central) (4) 1971 - Evansville Reitz (5)* 1972 - Bloomington South (2) ( ) Total state championships
* Evansville Reitz also went on to win a 4A smaller school state championships in 2007 and 2009, as did South Bend St. Joseph (3A) in 1995, and Hammond Bishop Noll (3A) in 1989. See Indiana High School Football Champions - Smaller Schools.
1973–present: Settling it on the field - the rise of Indianapolis football IHSAA State Tournament Champions. Over the years the largest enrollment classification has moved from 3A, to 4A, to 5A, and now to 6A. For a listing of smaller school state champions see Indiana high school football champions – smaller schools.
3A 1973 - South Bend Washington (5) 1974 - Indianapolis Washington (2) 1975 - Valparaiso 1976 - Merrillville 1977 - Portage 1978 - Carmel 1979 - Columbus East 1980 - Carmel (2) 1981 - Carmel (3) 1982 - Castle 1983 - Fort Wayne Dwenger 1984 - Brownsburg 1985 - Indianapolis Roncalli 1986 - Indianapolis Cathedral 1987 - Zionsville 1988 - Indianapolis Roncalli (2) 1989 - Hammond Noll 1990 - Fort Wayne Dwenger (2) 1991 - Fort Wayne Dwenger (3) 1992 - Indianapolis Cathedral (2) 1993 - Indianapolis Roncalli (3) 1994 - Indianapolis Roncalli (4) 1995 - South Bend Saint Joseph (2) 1996 - Zionsville (2) 1997 - Indianapolis Chatard (3) 1998 - Indianapolis Chatard (4) 1999 - Indianapolis Roncalli (5) 2000 - Heritage Hills 2001 - Indianapolis Chatard (5) 2002 - Indianapolis Chatard (6) 2003 - Indianapolis Chatard (7) 2004 - Andrean 2005 - NorthWood 2006 - Indianapolis Chatard (8) 2007 - Indianapolis Chatard (9) 2008 - Bellmont 2009 - West Lafayette 2010 - Indianapolis Chatard (10) 2011 - Indianapolis Chatard (11) 2012 - Indianapolis Chatard (12) 2013 - Andrean (2) 2014 - Tri-West 2015 - Indianapolis Chatard (13) 2016 - Fort Wayne Concordia 2017 - Evansville Memorial (3) 2018 - West Lafayette (2) 2019 - Indianapolis Chatard (14) 2020 - Indianapolis Chatard (15) 2021 - Gibson Southern 2022 - Indianapolis Chatard (16) 2023 - Indianapolis Chatard (17) 2024 - Heritage Hills (2) 2025 - Cascade
4A 1983 - (Mishawaka) Penn 1984 - Indianapolis Warren Central 1985 - Brownsburg (2) 1986 - DeKalb 1987 - Hobart 1988 - Goshen 1989 - Hobart (2) 1990 - Franklin Central 1991 - Hobart (3) 1992 - West Lafayette Harrison 1993 - Hobart (4) 1994 - East Central 1995 - Fort Wayne Wayne 1996 - Indianapolis Cathedral (3) 1997 - Griffith 1998 - Indianapolis Cathedral (4) 1999 - Indianapolis Cathedral (5) 2000 - East Noble 2001 - Jasper 2002 - Indianapolis Roncalli (6) 2003 - Indianapolis Roncalli (7) 2004 - Indianapolis Roncalli (8) 2005 - Lowell 2006 - Indianapolis Cathedral (6) 2007 - Evansville Reitz (6) 2008 - Indianapolis Cathedral (7) 2009 - Evansville Reitz (7) 2010 - Indianapolis Cathedral (8) 2011 - Indianapolis Cathedral (9) 2012 - Indianapolis Cathedral (10) 2013 - Columbus East (2) 2014 - New Palestine 2015 - Fort Wayne Dwenger (4) 2016 - Indianapolis Roncalli (9) 2017 - East Central (2) 2018 - Fort Wayne Dwenger (5) 2019 - Evansville Memorial (4) 2020 - Indianapolis Roncalli (10) 2021 - Mount Vernon (Fortville) 2022 - East Central (3) 2023 - East Central (4) 2024 - New Palestine (4) 2025 - Fort Wayne Dwenger (6)
5A 1985 - Indianapolis Warren Central (2) 1986 - Carmel (4) 1987 - Indianapolis Ben Davis 1988 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (2) 1989 - Carmel (5) 1990 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (3) 1991 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (4) 1992 - Fort Wayne Snider 1993 - Bloomington South (3) 1994 - Castle (2) 1995 - (Mishawaka) Penn (2) 1996 - (Mishawaka) Penn (3) 1997 - (Mishawaka) Penn (4) 1998 - Bloomington South (4) 1999 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (5) 2000 - (Mishawaka) Penn (5) 2001 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (6) 2002 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (7) 2003 - Indianapolis Warren Central (3) 2004 - Indianapolis Warren Central (4) 2005 - Indianapolis Warren Central (5) 2006 - Indianapolis Warren Central (6) 2007 - Carmel (6) 2008 - Center Grove 2009 - Warren Central (7) 2010 - Fishers 2011 - Carmel (7) 2012 - Indianapolis Lawrence Central 2013 - Indianapolis Cathedral (11) 2014 - Indianapolis Cathedral (12) 2015 - Fort Wayne Snider (2) 2016 - Westfield 2017 - Columbus East (3) 2018 - New Palestine (2) 2019 - New Palestine (3) 2020 - Indianapolis Cathedral (13) 2021 - Indianapolis Cathedral (14) 2022 - Valparaiso 2023 - Fort Wayne Snider (3) 2024 - Decatur Central 2025 - New Palestine (5)
6A 2013 - Indianapolis Warren Central (8) 2014 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (8) 2015 - Center Grove (2) 2016 - Carmel (8) 2017 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (9) 2018 - Indianapolis Warren Central (9) 2019 - Carmel (9) 2020 - Center Grove (3) 2021 - Center Grove (4) 2022 - Center Grove (5) 2023 - Indianapolis Ben Davis (10) 2024 - Brownsburg (3) 2025 - Brownsburg (4)
( ) Total state championships
Championships by school The schools with the greatest number of championships in all classes are: 1. Indianapolis Chatard - 17 2. Indianapolis Cathedral - 14 3. Fort Wayne Bishop Luers - 12 4. Indianapolis Roncalli - 10 4. Ben Davis - 10 6. Carmel - 9 6. Sheridan - 9 6. Warren Central - 9 9. Lafayette Central Catholic - 8 10. Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger - 6 10. East Chicago Roosevelt - 6 12. Evansville Reitz - 5 12. Penn - 5 12. Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter - 5 12. Center Grove - 5 12. New Palestine - 5 12. South Bend Washington - 5 18. Bloomington South - 4 18. Hobart - 4 18. Andrean - 4 18. Brownsburg - 4 18. Elkhart Central - 4 18. East Central - 4 18. Franklin Central - 4 18. Gary Emerson - 4 18. Jimtown - 4 18. South Bend Central - 4 18. Tri-West - 4 18. Western Boone - 4 30. Richmond - 3 30. Mishawaka - 3 30. Clinton - 3 33. Adams Central - 2 33. Blackford - 2 33. Bremen - 2 33. Castle - 2 33. Evansville Mater Dei - 2 33. Evansville Memorial - 2 33. Gary Mann - 2 33. Gary Froebel - 2 33. Goshen - 2 33. Heritage Hills - 2 33. Indianapolis Scecina Memorial 33. Indianapolis Washington - 2 33. Hammond - 2 33. Lawrenceburg - 2 33. North Montgomery - 2 33. South Putnam - 2 33. Valparaiso - 2 33. Zionsville - 2
Big school state championships by region
Indianapolis Metro - 37 Northwest Indiana: The Region - 24 South Bend/Mishawaka/Elkhart - 22 Evansville - 9 Bloomington - 4 Fort Wayne - 4 Terre Haute/Clinton - 4 Richmond - 3 Other - 3
See also Indiana high school football champions – smaller schools Indiana High School Boys Basketball Champions
References