Article published Oct 4, 2006
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MATT KOPSEA
Tribune Staff Writer
Earlier this season, St. Joseph's football coach Kevin Downey stated that the field in Class 3-A Sectional 19 was one of the toughest in the state of Indiana.
Downey proved to be a man of his word after learning his No. 7 Indians will play host to No. 10 New Prairie in the opening round of the sectional.
That's just one of several intriguing matchups revealed Tuesday night by the Indiana High School Athletic Association as part of the 34th annual state tournament series.
Action around the state gets underway on Oct. 20 and ends up on the weekend of Nov. 24-25 in Indianapolis with the playing of the five state title games at the RCA Dome.
In addition to St. Joe (6-1) and New Prairie (6-1), other first-round matchups in Sectional 19 are No. 5 Culver Military (7-0) at Lakeland (5-2), West Noble (0-7) at defending state champion NorthWood (3-4), and Tippecanoe Valley (5-2) at Marian (5-2).
"There's no such thing as an easy game in our bracket," Downey said. "You have three teams ranked in the top 10 and six with five wins or more. That doesn't even include the defending state champion (NorthWood). The team that winds up winning this thing will have definitely earned it."