Watch Live Wadsworth at Fort Hill

[Tony54]

The crowds are so bad at games now. I think even the hard-core haters stopped coming.😂

 

[Tony54]

This is about as logical as I could have stated. No one lives in this area any more and we (including myself) just have to accept it. All businesses (still open or closed) deal with it. Alco and FH deal with it. Bishop Walsh struggles just to stay open, we have 4 Dapper Dan teams, 14 kids on the sidelines for many football games, etc.

Does streaming or radio dent the gate? Yes, but not significantly enough to warrant my rants. I can admit that. Does the name of the opponent dent the game? Maybe a little but that is NO WAY the main reason. Semifinal games are empty seats, good teams from Ohio, undefeated teams coming here next week from New Oxford, Morgantown, Oakdale, etc., they all have low attendance...does not matter.

Once again, no one lives here anymore and those who do stare at cell phones. Radio and TV coverage 15-20 years ago is not comparable to the 2023 Cumberland status quo.

Everything you said is a great point. Still. When you go to a game in Virginia Beach or Elizabeth city North Carolina there is a Big student section rooting for the team. I don’t see that at Fort Hill and I’m not sure why..
Cumberland used to take a lot of pride in his football teams and I really do not think that’s the case anymore.
Obviously, the kids playing care and the coaches do.

I counted 32 players on fort Hill’s team last night. Not sure I’ve ever seen that before either.

I think everyone better enjoy these times while they last because I have a feeling the tradition is dying

 

[Dwj21]

Everything you said is a great point. Still. When you go to a game in Virginia Beach or Elizabeth city North Carolina there is a Big student section rooting for the team. I don’t see that at Fort Hill and I’m not sure why..
Cumberland used to take a lot of pride in his football teams and I really do not think that’s the case anymore.
Obviously, the kids playing care and the coaches do.

I counted 32 players on fort Hill’s team last night. Not sure I’ve ever seen that before either.

I think everyone better enjoy these times while they last because I have a feeling the tradition is dying

FH had a student section for the first few games. I think the weather deterred them the last couple weeks. But that's the first time I can remember since the 90s that there was a student section.

 

[Dwj21]

I think FH’s dominance of the past decade has something to do with the crowd volume as well.

How? As a die hard lifer, that makes me want to go to the games. We need to figure out how to get more people have more pride in the red and white.

It's a tradition. We need 30 and 40 somethings to step up and pride in just how excellent FH football is. It's like nothing anywhere else in the country. We literally have something so special that you cannot find anywhere!

 

[Dwj21]

It’s just a fact. Fort Hill fans are spoiled. The crowds are bigger at the games I go to in Virginia and North Carolina . The teams aren’t nearly as good as Fort Hill also.
Plus, there’s a lot more to do down there. As Cumberland literally has nothing to do on the Friday night and people still don’t go. Fans in Cumberland are a joke. Thank God the football team still great. Just facts.
I didn’t understand why Coach Appel was always so upset about Cumberland fans but I get it now.

Cumberland has plenty to do on the weekends. That's just silly.

With the downtown being revamped, in a couple years we'll be a solid destination area and people will look to move west from the towns with "a lot more to do". With what the city is doing with looking at adding quality housing Cumberland will gain @5k in population in the next 10 years, IMO. It's happening despite the naysayers and old out of touch folks that think we need industry to survive. We do not!

 

[MCsoccerplex]

I am not speaking of Cathedral Prep from PA. I am speaking of the Catholic school from Melbourne, FL - a team, if one is honest - folks from this area never heard of prior to the game with the Sentinels. My apology for mis-stating its name.

Anyone who is honest can tell that Wadsworth has a good football program. I think it is rather cool they not only recognize players of the week from each game, but they also recognize scout team players each week.

For those who think high school football in OH isn’t anything, I’m not certain what to say. 😊

“The top 5 states that produce the most total high school football talent unnormalized for population are:

1. Texas: 362 Scholarships
2. Florida: 272 Scholarships
3. Georgia: 208 Scholarships
4. California: 202 Scholarships
5. Ohio: 112 Scholarships

And, the bottom five worst states for high school football talent by total number of D1 scholarships in 2021.

T48) New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, Maine: 0 Scholarships

T43) Wyoming, Alaska, North/South Dakota, Rhode Island, Montana: 1 Scholarship

Conclusions

By our measure, the list of best high school football states goes pretty strongly against the conventional wisdom. Most folks think that Florida, Texas, and California are king when it comes to high school football. But in reality, these three states only produce the massive number of recruits they do by virtue of being the three largest states in the country.

In reality, the deep south states tend to sit a tier above the others when it comes to scholarships per capita. In almost every way imaginable, Mississippi is king and should take the crown as the best high school football state in the country.”

https://thedatajocks.com/best-states-for-high-school-football/

 

[FHHSAHS]

I thought it was very cool how they highlighted their scout team players on their page.

In a school of 1700+ kids you can have a huge football following and still have plenty of kids for the other sports, or band, or academic teams or whatever else there is

In a school of about 700 kids (like FH and Alco) when students migrate to other sports and academic ventures you lose some of that focus. It's all just a numbers game. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm glad there are options.

But the numbers are going to stay steady for a while. The three county schools are going to stay at about the same enrollment they have been for probably the next 10 years. So before anyone starts harping on consolidation,, I'll stop you right there. It makes no sense right now when enrollments are fairly steady. And it has nothing to do with football. And it should never have anything to do with football.

 

[Tony54]

Let’s be honest. No one’s heard of Melbourne catholic, or Cathedral prep or Wadsworth
Hell the people here on the forum are probably the only one who’s ever heard of. IMG, Mater Dei, or St Ed’s.


The people in Cumberland have some thing special here and they’re letting it die.

Traditions are like culture. They take a long time to build, and they can die very fast..

I’m not plugged into the youth and middle school programs, but typically it will die there first.

 

[FHHSAHS]

The middle school programs locally are doing pretty well. As is pee wee.

 

[PowerRamRight]

Twice this fall I came through Fort Ashby on a Saturday morning, to include this past one. Huge car numbers parked at the Mineral County fairgrounds for Pee Wee games. Looking good at that level anyway.

 

[Commercial Video]

A true Fort Hill fan, Bob Oster passed away over the summer. Bob always had season tickets and drove from Front Royal, VA to almost every Fort Hill game, home or away, including the State Championship games. After the game, Bob would go home and watch the Commercial Video broadcast stream. Bob had a standing order with us for a DVD copy of every game we did to be sent to him for his personal library. “I’ve watched them all, many times” Bob would tell me. Bob ordered Patriots Championship game DVDs to see the upcoming Fort Hill Talent. We need mor Bob Osters in this world, although, I’m afraid that’s unlikely. RIP my friend.

 

[GenSneaky]

How? As a die hard lifer, that makes me want to go to the games. We need to figure out how to get more people have more pride in the red and white.

It's a tradition. We need 30 and 40 somethings to step up and pride in just how excellent FH football is. It's like nothing anywhere else in the country. We literally have something so special that you cannot find anywhere!

I’m just saying we’ve conquered the mountain. It’s not as exciting with us being the over dog. It’s become the expectation that we are state champs.


The only way we draw bigger crowds is to move up in classification. And that’s not gonna happen

 

[4inarowtopthat]

It’s just a fact. Fort Hill fans are spoiled. The crowds are bigger at the games I go to in Virginia and North Carolina . The teams aren’t nearly as good as Fort Hill also.
Plus, there’s a lot more to do down there. As Cumberland literally has nothing to do on the Friday night and people still don’t go. Fans in Cumberland are a joke. Thank God the football team still great. Just facts.
I didn’t understand why Coach Appel was always so upset about Cumberland fans but I get it now.

Like you I go to games in those states and SC, and a few WV. The difference is the student bodies. FH has maybe 100 students at the game between the players and the band, that leaves 500 leftovers that are where? Technology is everywhere and kids take their mobiles with them so that cannot be an excuse, nor can the whole town is old and dead. Why is it those 500 students are rejecting this team and staff? Is the principal inclusive, promoting loyalty and support, how about the teachers? Aside from a Saturday why aren't all youth league kids and their parents at these games? It is an odd situation that everybody is old and dieing but there are an abundance of youth league football players, who is having these babies?
I'd love an objective opinion with no skin in the FH game.
Beall02 let's compare apples to apples. Frostburg is about half the size of Cumberland with only one high school, so is MR and FH comparable population wise...probably. The enrollment numbers are close so that is a good gauge. How does a MR friday night game compare to FH?

 

[TDHelmick]

A solid point has been made here about pee wee games. My grandson plays for the Saints. I could not make his game Saturday. If I did I would have missed Wadsworth. Now if that were my own son I would have had to miss Wadsworth. Tons of parents and kids at these pee wee games lined up all down the sidelines with their canopies. Now the CAYFL Patriots are never going to play a game when FH does.

It wasn't Fort Hil's call to make the game at 1:00. When a team drives here from 4 hours away they get the game time say so to make sure their team doesnt get back after midnight. Had this game been at even like 3:00 we probably would have had double the fans, which is still tiny.

 

[FHHSAHS]

MR Friday night games are about the same attendance as you'd see at a FH game, the ones I've been to have been. Their stadium is slightly smaller (seating wise) so it looks like they have more, but I am certain its about the same number wise.