Football Scheduling High School

[Coach]

Those Portage teams may not have won Districts, but I think a lot of people still know they were top 5 teams in the state. The arguments there aren't scheduling and are the old argument of private vs public and bring up a whole different discussion. Those Portage teams were unbelievable.

[CCDevil2012]

Those Portage teams may not have won Districts, but I think a lot of people still know they were top 5 teams in the state. The arguments there aren't scheduling and are the old argument of private vs public and bring up a whole different discussion. Those Portage teams were unbelievable.

I think that’s what this post is trying to say though, were they unbelievable because of their schedule or because they were good. At some point you have need to quantify your success, otherwise you’re just partial because you’re a homer. I could see losing to a private here and there, but not 30+ years

[knowitall]

If I am Portage my goals until this upcoming season are (in order):

1. Beat Conemaugh Valley
2. Beat Blacklick Valley
3. Beat the Somerset County schools in the WestPAC
4. Beat any other teams on the regular season schedule
5. Win a playoff game.

[Skippy]

Two teams of equal talent, I’ll take the team that is battle tested and played in close games over one who has won by blowing out every team they have played every time. However, If you have superior talent you will likely win in HS sports.

I think the advantage of a tougher schedule is more mental than physical. There are some physical aspects such as not being the first time you have to cover or block a very talented opponent so you are used to play against higher level talent.


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[223113]

"Steel sharpens steel"

You've never heard someone say, "Butter sharpens steel," because it doesn't.

While some of those Portage teams were really good, I do believe their schedule hurt their chances come playoff time. I'm not a fan of the borderless all star teams competing with border-confined public schools in the playoffs. But, in my opinion, even if Portage didn't meet a Bishop in the playoffs, they wouldn't have gone as far as other small public schools that were more battle tested. Just an opinion, as that water has already gone under the bridge.

When I was a kid, my Dad and I played many games of checkers. He used to say, "If you want to get better at any game, or sport, play people that are better than you."
I rarely beat my Dad. But, now, I rarely lose to anyone else. There is wisdom in some of those old sayings.

[matko2510]

The 2007 Bellwood-Antis team entered the D6 A playoffs as the #7 seed with a record of 5-4. They lost to Tyrone, Philipsburg-Osceola, Chestnut Ridge, and Penns Valley in the regular season.

In the opening round they played #10 Juniata Valley and beat them 50-19. They then faced #2 undefeated Ligonier Valley team at Ligonier. They waxed them 26-6. They followed that by beating #11 Bishop Guilfoyle 37-7 (BG entered the playoffs at 4-5, but upset #6 Moshannon Valley and #3 Southern Huntingdon). Bellwood then went on to win the D6 Championship over #3 Purchase Line, 27-7.

They lost big next week to the eventual state champions, Steelton-Highspire who demolished teams all through 2007 and 2008.

So yeah, based on B-A's performance—and even BG—give me the competition instead of padding the win column.

This goes both ways. Sometimes a weaker schedule can install confidence and allow a team to play better than they should. I played on that purchase line team in 07 and no one gave us a chance of winning more than 3 games at the beginning of the year, since we only returned 3 starters. Had we not “upset” the first 2 teams we played that year, we probably wouldn’t have made it to the playoffs let alone the d6 final that year. At the same time the following year we went undefeated and lost in the semi finals, and playing a tougher schedule would have made us better instead of running on cruise control in a weaker than average conference that year.