Thoughts on High School Football

[wvbossman]

Just some random thoughts on the state of high school football both locally and nationally.

1. Maryland- There playoff system is an injustice to high school football. Plain and simple take 1-16 using a similar system as WV and make it fair. Fort Hill is a powerhouse for sure but Allegany and Northern would have fared well in recent years. We may have seen a Fort Hil vs. Allegany championship in the last few years.

2. Fort Hill- A powerhouse program. Well-coached hard-working kids and a school and community that rallies around them. This period of time will go down as a great time on Sentinel history.

3. Martinsburg- Very similar to Fort Hill but with a different type of athlete and style of play. They too are well-coached, very athletic and the community and school get behind them 100%.

4. Bridgeport- See Fort Hill. Very similar in all aspects and I don't know if it would be possible but that would be a great game.

5. Nationally- I have friends who grew up in our area (WMD-EPWV) and they see an alarming trend that occurs in many places around the country. A school experiences success and kids from other schools move into that district to play for that team. Heck sometimes they don't even move they just drive past their old school to the new one. Take 1,2 or 3 kids from several good teams and place them on a great team and you have a powerhouse program that destroys the other local teams.

It's not recruiting, most coaches I know would never do that but rather the desire to be a part of the great team. It's also usually not the average athletes but rather the better kids. Is it a desire to be exposed for college recruiting, the intense desire of our society to be on a winning team or parents who want there kid to be on the best team?

What are the boards thoughts on these issues?

 

[Lagmeister]

Just some random thoughts on the state of high school football both locally and nationally.

1. Maryland- There playoff system is an injustice to high school football. Plain and simple take 1-16 using a similar system as WV and make it fair. Fort Hill is a powerhouse for sure but Allegany and Northern would have fared well in recent years. We may have seen a Fort Hil vs. Allegany championship in the last few years.

2. Fort Hill- A powerhouse program. Well-coached hard-working kids and a school and community that rallies around them. This period of time will go down as a great time on Sentinel history.

3. Martinsburg- Very similar to Fort Hill but with a different type of athlete and style of play. They too are well-coached, very athletic and the community and school get behind them 100%.

4. Bridgeport- See Fort Hill. Very similar in all aspects and I don't know if it would be possible but that would be a great game.

5. Nationally- I have friends who grew up in our area (WMD-EPWV) and they see an alarming trend that occurs in many places around the country. A school experiences success and kids from other schools move into that district to play for that team. Heck sometimes they don't even move they just drive past their old school to the new one. Take 1,2 or 3 kids from several good teams and place them on a great team and you have a powerhouse program that destroys the other local teams.

It's not recruiting, most coaches I know would never do that but rather the desire to be a part of the great team. It's also usually not the average athletes but rather the better kids. Is it a desire to be exposed for college recruiting, the intense desire of our society to be on a winning team or parents who want there kid to be on the best team?

What are the boards thoughts on these issues?

I haven't lived in Cumberland since I was 18. But I can tell you I moved my family to a different school district for a better education and when my company transferred me, the school district was the first priority.

It is what it is. So, it happens for reasons other than sports.

Make no mistake though, Fort Hill is getting the bulk of the Cumberland football talent.

 

[wvbossman]

Good point Lagmeister. I think moving for academic reasons or to a safer school si a good move but I don't always agree with moving purely for athletic reasons. It happens in other sports but the big three (football, basketball and baseball) are the main ones.

 

[towpath94]

I am actually surprised players moving between schools hasn't been as prevalent locally as it was there for a few years. The FH school territory has been blessed with a majority of the talent in Cumberland (that also works it's ass off). Even Alco's man beast lives in south end.

 

[NG Huskies Fan]

The only one I can comment on is your first point about the playoff format. The regional system needs to go, I've made my argument on this board numerous times, the WV system is just better. The counter-argument is that Maryland does not have money and travel would be too hard. Which I call BS on both, the longest distance in Maryland would be Southern Garrett to Snow Hill which is just over 5 hours and that match up would not happen every year, heck you could go decades with out it. There's just no good reason why Maryland can't go to 1-16 when WV has successfully used this format as long as I remember, yes there are still teams left out that maybe should be in, but I think it would solve a lot of the issues people on this board gripe about (mainly scheduling). You could afford to be 6-4 or 7-3 and still have a shot to get in in a top 16 format, where as the current format you have 4-6 teams in weak regions get in while teams with a winning record get left out in the stronger regions.
You also hear people want to keep the regional format but also institute a required regional schedule, then turn around and have a top 8 regional playoff. That does absolutely nothing to benefit anyone, and you'll end up with nothing but rematches and the same result--they want to see Hancock play Fort Hill, which Hancock has like 100 kids total 9-12 or something and FH has about 100 in football probably, anyone honestly think that game would be worth watching or fair? The top 16, at least you can have some very interesting and different matchups you ordinarily would not see.

Just some random thoughts on the state of high school football both locally and nationally.

1. Maryland- There playoff system is an injustice to high school football. Plain and simple take 1-16 using a similar system as WV and make it fair. Fort Hill is a powerhouse for sure but Allegany and Northern would have fared well in recent years. We may have seen a Fort Hil vs. Allegany championship in the last few years.

2. Fort Hill- A powerhouse program. Well-coached hard-working kids and a school and community that rallies around them. This period of time will go down as a great time on Sentinel history.

3. Martinsburg- Very similar to Fort Hill but with a different type of athlete and style of play. They too are well-coached, very athletic and the community and school get behind them 100%.

4. Bridgeport- See Fort Hill. Very similar in all aspects and I don't know if it would be possible but that would be a great game.

5. Nationally- I have friends who grew up in our area (WMD-EPWV) and they see an alarming trend that occurs in many places around the country. A school experiences success and kids from other schools move into that district to play for that team. Heck sometimes they don't even move they just drive past their old school to the new one. Take 1,2 or 3 kids from several good teams and place them on a great team and you have a powerhouse program that destroys the other local teams.

It's not recruiting, most coaches I know would never do that but rather the desire to be a part of the great team. It's also usually not the average athletes but rather the better kids. Is it a desire to be exposed for college recruiting, the intense desire of our society to be on a winning team or parents who want there kid to be on the best team?

What are the boards thoughts on these issues?

 

[TDHelmick]

The only one I can comment on is your first point about the playoff format. The regional system needs to go, I've made my argument on this board numerous times, the WV system is just better. The counter-argument is that Maryland does not have money and travel would be too hard. Which I call BS on both, the longest distance in Maryland would be Southern Garrett to Snow Hill which is just over 5 hours and that match up would not happen every year, heck you could go decades with out it. There's just no good reason why Maryland can't go to 1-16 when WV has successfully used this format as long as I remember, yes there are still teams left out that maybe should be in, but I think it would solve a lot of the issues people on this board gripe about (mainly scheduling). You could afford to be 6-4 or 7-3 and still have a shot to get in in a top 16 format, where as the current format you have 4-6 teams in weak regions get in while teams with a winning record get left out in the stronger regions.
You also hear people want to keep the regional format but also institute a required regional schedule, then turn around and have a top 8 regional playoff. That does absolutely nothing to benefit anyone, and you'll end up with nothing but rematches and the same result--they want to see Hancock play Fort Hill, which Hancock has like 100 kids total 9-12 or something and FH has about 100 in football probably, anyone honestly think that game would be worth watching or fair? The top 16, at least you can have some very interesting and different matchups you ordinarily would not see.

Husky, you need to rethink what you are posting here. The proposal to keep the regions but expand to 8 teams in as opposed to 4 does NOT require teams play each other in the region. In fact it accomplishes the opposite. Play whoever you want or don't want. No one cares any more as most everyone is in the playoffs. What you and many others have failed to realize, and why we have failed to changed this current system, is that the MPSSAA will in no way remove the regional set up. Move on, move past it already. We have had regions since playoffs were first formed in 1974 and so many have tried to get them dumped in favor of a 1-16 set up and have failed uncountless times. It's at this point someone has to say, OK, if we are keeping regions then at least do this.

When I hear the argument that letting 8 teams in is bad because now someone like Hancock has to play FH in the first round that is where I draw the line. Yes, it is an undesirable mismatch. But that is better than getting 8 undesirable match ups that we already see in the regular season. If Hancock doesn't want to play the game, they have the right to step out. It's no different than seeing Hancock have to play Alco in the first round of the basketball playoffs.

 

[wvbossman]

It would improve Maryland high school football if they adopted a similar system. I'm from WV and it works great here. Sports should be part of the educational process and what better way for players to learn by travelling to parts of their home state they have never seen. Some of them will never see them.

i don't buy the costs part of it. If West Virginia can afford it Maryland can. The regional representation is a weak case. I feel for Allegany and Northern, many years they have been the three best teams and the are bounced in the first two rounds.

 

[redtheperson]

I'd just like to see 3 mcc.s, friendship's Bridgeport's even a year..but with this weak set up we stay paranoid A 3 Lost season would keep us out of the playoffs, even though we are Leaps and Bounds over the rest of 1A