If they are mpssaa approved better yet play the b team.. coach andre Robinson chat all the time about his jvs playing fh varsity... I guess now hes got his own big boy squad and he wants some of our Pretty Boy Floyd football... and me I would just love some real competition.. f an undefeated season.. play somebody...imo.. of course
Fort Hill 2019 Football Schedule 8 Games so far
- Thread starter ed r forshey
- Start date
No disrespect tho.. he (coach andre magic Robinson) said fort hill has the best coaches in the state hands down to do what they have done...
How about st Francis B team comes to town.. coach magic made the offering and was turned down by the AD... also would a st Francis b team be allowed to play in the miaa tournament? Just asking you cus you would know best..
The agreement with the MIAA, at least as I understand it, that allows the Saint Frances National Team to be an MPSSAA-approved opponent (which is what lets them play games against all other NFHS-affiliated leagues in the US) and allows them to remain in the league in all other sports prohibits them from playing in the MIAA in any capacity in football. Last year their JV team played in the MIAA A but by the JV championship game Calvert Hall refused to play them as it was proven that they were using varsity players on JV.
That is part of the reason they are fielding a B team this year, it replaces their JV team because they couldn't get any JV games and it allows them to play their less talented juniors and seniors on the B team legally and for them to still be able to play varsity football. I wouldn't expect the B team to be much more talented than an average MIAA B Conference squad. Mostly juniors and seniors who wouldn't see any playing time for their national team along with a few underclassmen who could use some more live reps before moving on up.
What I was trying to say is that I'm not sure that Saint Frances' B-team would be able to be a countable opponent for Fort Hill as there has never been a case where a school in MD has fielded 2 varsity teams in the same sport. I'm pretty sure that the MPSSAA has a rule that only one team per sport per school is considered varsity. They would have to make an exception like the FHSAA did for IMG Academy to allow them to field multiple teams. IMG is up to 6 different varsity teams in some sports now and except for the one national-level team in each sport they all tend to play local schedules against small Florida private schools.
I dont believe FH will go undefeated holidaysburg will be a hard game as will Morgantown. And on top of that there may be some of the coaching staff calling it quits.
This is the silliest idea on the board in a long time. If you've been following area football for the last decade you should know there's no way this game ever gets made. They wouldn't even consider it. They won't even play the B Team.
Exactly. And why should they? There is no gain from that whatsoever
I have spoken with the MPSSAA about this...it's crazy!
St. Frances will field two varsity football teams. Bishop Walsh is attempting to do the same exact thing in basketball.
So St. Frances will have a varsity Team A (national touring team) and a varsity Team B (players that don't see the field with the national team combined with frosh and sophomores). Any MPSSAA school can play either squad. Games against Team A will count. Games against Team B will not count. I will use Fort Hill in this reference.
Fort Hill can play St. Frances B Team. They can charge money at the gate, have the media cover it, etc. just like a real game. But the game result and stats will not be recognized by the MPSSAA. So if FH has a full 9 game schedule, playing St. Frances Team B would have them as an 8 game schedule in the eyes of the MPSSAA. Any stats (rushing, passing, scoring, tackles, win or loss, whatever) cannot be a part of the MPSSAA stat book.
Basically it would be like playing another JV team. FH varsity could play the DeMatha JV team as a regular season game but it just won't count. This opens up a can of worms that really has no end to me. I was told St. Frances can move any kid from Team A to Team B any given week just like a sophomore kid can play varsity one week and a JV game the next week.
To demonstrate the can of worms I am talking about...FH can actually get rid of freshman and JV football and form 2 varsity squads. On Friday night Team A will play their game. On Saturday they can use Team B to play another game that won't count. But at least the kids who did not see action on Friday night will get to play in this game. Team B would likely be playing teams like Silver Oak or Maryland School for the Deaf or even Hancock.
What continues to frustrate me as a person who has had to deal with the MPSSAA for over a decade with scheduling dilemmas is that the MPSSAA has been extremely strict about who their member schools can play and who they cannot. No to Germantown Academy, No to Avalon, No to Canadian teams, no, no and no. But in this situation they say OK.
What could happen (if I get my way) is that FH will continue to have frosh and JV football. But a couple of weeks here and there we may schedule a couple of varsity games so juniors and seniors who don't get to play much on Friday night can get some playing time on Saturday. Literally, these players can play 2 quarters on Friday and 2 quarters on Saturday. As an example, we may see Silver Oak on the FH schedule twice. Who monitors what players played 4 quarters in a given week should lead to another interesting duty for the MPSSAA to add to their task book.
I imagine the MPSSAA is terrified that if they say no to Saint Frances they'll end up with a whole E:60 episode trying to make them look racist like they did with the MIAA. Poggi at SFA is an extremely wealthy man and is used to getting what he wants at all costs. Their entire program is set up to try to win a national championship to satiate his ego, he's spending hundreds of thousands to try to get a little plaque from MaxPreps or USA Today.
In larger states, especially larger states without the points system, it's not uncommon for the JV's of bigger/better teams to play the varsity teams of small/bad programs. In West Texas, for example, it might make a lot more sense for a geographically isolated 2A school to play a 5A school's JV team if they are only an hour away versus trying to find a 2A school that's not in your district that might be 3-4 hours away.
This Saint Frances loophole could actually make JV scheduling a lot easier for FH and could potentially even allow schools to field B Teams with juniors instead of true JV's. It'd also be nice for schools like Hancock to be able to schedule competitive games without travelling as extensively as they do now. It would also give them a chance to still fill a full schedule and not have to worry about making the playoffs as an 8 seed and getting destroyed by FH. I still think in the near future Hancock will be moving to 8-man football, especially with Mercersburg Academy making the switch this season.
My question is since they're making this change can we also revisit the rules that ban MPSSAA schools from playing home school programs? The 3 in MD would make good schedule fillers for public schools that have a hard time finding games.
Coach magic says they are approved under .03 rule B?? Or something like that..lol.. n if your telling me they're a miaa b equivalent team and they have an opening 9/27 along with Fort Hill we should be schedule in that game right??
What's silly is this game isn't happening, what does playing a bum squad do for fort hill besides get the jv on the fie
anybody have a good reason why tho?? Because Fort Hill needs more than 50% chance that a win? It's not like they're playing the national team isn't that where all of St Francis has good players are?.. why not play the B team? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm asking why not take the game.. Fort Hill pisses around too much longer will be the only game left for 9:27
It could be the only good game left.. unless y'all like to see the running clock Javion feel by halftime... all I'm saying is play somebody that might just beat us,rather than a silver oak with a running clock.. chances are fh will win the west again regardless if they win or lose on 9/27.. regardless of who they play.. so play the team that's calling you...
Somebody thought it was a great idea to play redline back in the day(it wasn't) but they are willing to play at greenway and we need a home game.. good luck finding someone else to come to greenway in may.. if the stadium is booked play at fsu... I just feel like it's a fear of competition... rather find a cupcake good luck... I'll support local football regardless but come on man play somebody...lmaooooo
6-3, still makes the 8 team playoff tho right? I hear exactly what your saying.. and your right that's a hard 3game stretch... but its may and these cats are calling for a game.. if they think anyone else is calling good luck..
If they are calling and the game will count. Then im all for it play the game.
I'm with ya.. it all started as a joke 4years ago.. told coach maybe you will get an invite to the quad or something but fh wont play a jv team.. now that they are a mpssaa approved B team it's more than a possibility..
Yeah, I can't see them being any better than Archbishop Curley who was on the FH schedule a few years ago. From a competition standpoint I would definitely say play the game.
The only thing is what was mentioned about the stats not counting and getting no points for playing them. If it's the difference between playing a full schedule or being stuck on 8 games they should definitely play it. If they can find someone else that would count in the stat books and give you playoff points that should be the first option.
From what coach magic said they are legit with mpssaa... and willing to travel, I dont understand why anyone would dismiss it as nonsense... one it's one of the few teams left to play..two they are willing..three they are legit mpssaa wise and not that guy on TV trying to buy a football team.. most of these kids played with the Maryland Seahawks youth teams,with a coach that admires our program and how its ran... his stink is my stink, as everyone that piss moans and crystal about fort hill, have the program just dont play the competition... imo if were not trying to win 57 in a row, then play up to par.. would be a good 3 game test for fort hill, if we cant win one of the 3 we probably aren't going to win state anyway..
If the game doesn’t count towards the playoffs I don’t know how you call it legit with mpssaa. I agree it would be a good game to see played, but it doesn’t count.
Who says it doesn't? Coach magic says under rule.03 b that it does... again not being a smartass about it,just what the man told me.. but that's why I say it's legit
Upon reading this rule and the follow up interpretation in the MPSSAA Handbook, a game against a Varsity “B” team will not count. It would be the same as if playing a JV team as a Varsity “B” is considered non-varsity.
Here is the direct quote from Page 30:
“MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CONTESTS PERMITTED DURING A SPORTS SEASON
.03B
Interpretation: The seasonal limitations for each sport refer to one varsity team as well as to any under-squad teams. A school may field only one team that can be classified as “varsity”. The nomen- clature of any under-squad, i.e., varsity “B”, junior varsity, freshman, novice, etc., must so designate its non-varsity status. Accordingly, any requirements or qualifying standards to state tournaments can only be satisfied through varsity competition.”
Todd said he's already spoken with the MPSSAA about it and they confirmed that the game wouldn't count for stats or playoff points for any MPSSAA team so I was going off that.
I imagine the reasoning behind that is they don't know how to work the points system with regards to a school having two varsity programs. Honestly since no MD public school team is ever going to play the SFA national team they should just treat the SFA B team as their varsity. You only get 1A points for playing SFA anyway as they've only got about 400 in the school.
That doesn't mean that they can't play MPSSAA teams period, they can still schedule and play the games without them having recorded stats or playoff points, which is a key difference as there are several programs in MD that cannot play MPSSAA teams in any circumstances in any sport during the preseason or regular season such as Avalon and the home school programs (Central MD Christian, MD Christian, MD Freedom).
Avalon got dinged for playing 5th year seniors and the home school programs got dinged by a rule stating that all players on a team have to come from the same school. I still say that rule is ridiculous because their are MPSSAA members that don't follow that rule. The Baltimore City team playing under the name Southwestern is a co-op of about a half dozen charter schools in Southwest Baltimore. Southwestern HS has been closed for 15 years now but the combined athletics teams in that part of Baltimore still co-op as the Southwestern Sabres.
...and that he did not say, I agree it's a pretty crazy the team playing within the state will not count.. yet the team that will count wont play any mpssaa teams... seems like they have it ass backwards, but hey its mds playoff system it's been that way... thanks for some clarification cus I wasn't reading rule.03b yada yada.. I was going to ask someone more familiar...
Nah not to loose at all, more to beat a better spread of teams than the running clock games fh plays now...I honestly give two poops if they win or loose either way, as long as we see more games like MCC and less like a northern.... if were not going to play up to competition put Frankfort back on the schedule and we wont be looking for games in june....
And another question. What is an MIAA national powerhouse doing calling a 1A public school about playing a game?
Morgantown, Hollidaysburg, and Loyola brought solid teams and competitive football last year. Sprinkle in teams like that as well as playing local teams. That's how the schedule should be every season. FH should have Boonsboro and Keyser on the schedule, but unfortunately those teams dont want to play.
I think you're getting the two Saint Frances teams mixed up. This is the schedule for their national team:
Saint Frances
Week -1 24-Aug at Miami Central (FL)
Week 0 31-Aug Simeon (IL)
Week 1 6-Sep Superior Collegiate (FL)
Week 2 14-Sep at Mater Dei (CA)
Week 3 20-Sep Norland (FL)
Week 4 28-Sep at Saint Joseph Regional (NJ)
Week 5 4-Oct at Venice (FL)
Week 6 11-Oct at Life Christian (VA)
Week 7 18-Oct IMG Academy (FL)
Week 8 26-Oct Saint Thomas More (CT)
Week 9 1-Nov BYE
Week 10 8-Nov Clarkson Football North (CN)
Week 11 15-Nov Royalty Institute
The team calling about playing Fort Hill is their second varsity team, essentially just a JV team renamed as a "Varsity B" team so they can play juniors and seniors on that team and can play games against other school's varsity teams.
The only game for their B Team I have so far is Week 1 against Maryland Freedom (Home School). Those are they kinds of teams they project their B Team to be able to match up against. IMG Academy does the same thing. Their national team plays powerhouses from all over the US and their B Team (IMG Academy White) plays small 2A and 3A teams from Florida, compiling a 7-11 record in 2 seasons. IMG White lost to Melbourne Central Catholic 41-19 last year just to give a score comparison that is somewhat relevant to FH.
I really doubt frankfort wants to play. Look at keyser they wanted out frankfort dosen't even want in
Yea that was my point if we're not up to playing good competition keep the same local schedule every year... but I also understand it's hard to keep locals on.. also the whole point was the b team we were talking about doesn't count for playoff points apparently and there's no point.. I thought coach understood that's what I was asking him not just mpssaa approved but count toward points
We have a conundrum wrapped in a quandary. Playoffs that are actually 'participation' playoffs are now part of a 9 game regular season schedule that could leave quality teams like FH with only 8 regular season games - while some weaker teams, not wanting to get crushed in the playoffs, left with only 9 games... period.
This doesn't settle who should play whom; it exacerbates it. This is a typical mess when you have an utter loss of focus about what the hell you are actually trying to do. Mobility between schools and an abject, even tearful, wailing for championships has broken the system, resulting in doing what we always do: crush the weaker and make the truly talented unrewarded in their efforts.
But why should we be surprised. Hell, we have men winning championships in women's sports and young teen girls forced to shower with boys after gym class. Five thousand years of civilization has been wiped away. Our playoff system in football should be the least of our worries. Besides, good luck making it better.
This doesn't settle who should play whom; it exacerbates it. This is a typical mess when you have an utter loss of focus about what the hell you are actually trying to do. Mobility between schools and an abject, even tearful, wailing for championships has broken the system, resulting in doing what we always do: crush the weaker and make the truly talented unrewarded in their efforts.
But why should we be surprised. Hell, we have men winning championships in women's sports and young teen girls forced to shower with boys after gym class. Five thousand years of civilization has been wiped away. Our playoff system in football should be the least of our worries. Besides, good luck making it better.
Last edited:
I have no idea. But that is part of my point: this new playoff schedule makes it worse for a unique school like FH - a winning rural 1A school with depth and talent such that local schools, rightfully so, do not want to play them. This new 9 game schedule is a limitation on the number of available games in the state. And, if I am reading one of the posts correctly, FH currently has only 7 games. Outrageous, sad and so undeserving of such a quality program.
2 teams on the Eastern Shore (Col. Richardson and Washington) stuck on 8 games but neither the week FH needs. Still missing 6 schedules for PG teams and don't know about Baltimore City because I haven't seen even a preliminary schedule for them yet. Everyone else seems ok. Plenty of private schools still have scheduling problems
Howard County adding OOC games didn't help FH's cause as both North and South Hagerstown are playing HoCo teams this season. As I've said before, FH is a good 1A program which means you're playing a really good school without a lot of potential points at stake and also driving past a bunch of larger schools that are just as good to get there. Add in the fact that Northern Garrett and a lot of the local WV schools (Keyser, Frankfort, etc...) that they used to play won't play them anymore and you wind up with scheduling problems.
Even in a 9-game season, FH still needs to find 6 games as Mountain Ridge, Allegany and one of the Garrett County schools seem to be givens.The only other MPSSAA schools that needed to find more than 4 non-league games this year were Centennial, who scheduled 7 non-Howard County opponents and Hancock, who scheduled 6 against teams other than Washington County public schools.
Centennial didn't have any problems filling this schedule because they are a 3A school in Central Maryland that didn't field a varsity football team in 2018 and didn't score a single point in 10 games in their return to varsity football last year. Everyone wants to play Centennial.
Hancock is the smallest 11-man football playing school east of the Mississippi and has no problem finding games against other small, bad football programs like Hundred (WV) and Massanutten Military from VA.
I too find it amazing that a school in early June is still struggling to complete a schedule for the upcoming season. But at least some of it should be attributed to FH and specifically Coach A for his stubborn and somewhat arrogant approach towards scheduling. I mean, what other team in 1A can choose to not put a team on their schedule that they don't have at least a 50% chance of losing? I mean even the most dedicated coach or fan realizes that every once in a while you go into a game knowing that "you brought a knife to a gunfight" Doesn't mean you can't compete, doesn't mean you can't pull off an upset and win, but it does make the outcome a variable. Don't get me wrong, still think FH staff is unrivaled in the area, but how can you have the 50% mantra, and then be surprised that other schools in the area follow your lead. It would be hypocritical to think otherwise.
They need to find 1 for this season. 6 overall for each season moving forward (assuming Mountain Ridge, Allegany and one of the Garrett County schools stay on the schedule) .
If FH does not find a 9th game. With the new playoff format they still will make the playoffs and run through the 1st two games. However, they may end up on the road after that depending on how the bonus points shake out. Regardless, FH still is the overwhelming favorite in 1A.
Well, FH (in my Alco thinking) has gotten to the point that even losing a game is as bad as not continuing to win another championship. I understand how FH got there and I understand the eventual logic in that thinking. The breaking point will be either you end up playing an eight game (or less) regular season or you play a regular season where you lose half your games.
As I posted earlier, this is exacerbated by current playoff scheduling. A quality program like FH shouldn't have to face these problems. It almost doesn't matter at this point if FH is to blame. It's down to whether the student athletes will suffer.
Last edited:
