Crossover LHAC

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DragonsDoExist
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by DragonsDoExist »

Shame Clearfield bumped up to 4A this year. Would have loved to seen that potential early round state matchup with PC. Clearfield is the best team in the LHAC this year IMO.
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Lefteyelouie
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by Lefteyelouie »

Would have been a good game with PC and Clearfield.

I'd lean towards thinking PC is the better team.
Goldeneagles12
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by Goldeneagles12 »

I would say PC is more complete team. Clearfield just bullies you for all 4 quarters. That's why in the second half of games they pull away from everyone. The size and physicality of the line wears teams out.
WallyPipp
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by WallyPipp »

Agreed on PC being more complete team. I just don't see Clearfield as being better than PC. I watched them both this season in person. Both have size, both play very physical, both have great athletes and speed. PC has the better QB and I think plays better defense. I would LOVE to see that game! It's a shame it can't happen.
D6sportsfan8819
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by D6sportsfan8819 »

WallyPipp wrote: October 21st, 2024, 9:03 am CoffinCorner...Really? Come on. Let's be clear. BG is a very good football team. Combination of a talented roster, well coached and sound schemes that allow their players to be successful. But, come on! People can say all they want about playing within the rules, but that doesn't make it right. You asked about facts, here's facts based upon your statement that Altoona parents would rather their athletes go to BG than Altoona. That's a fair statement and it's likely very accurate. So, now you have a private school in Altoona (city population of 42,418 per 2024 census projections) who is competing in the playoffs with the likes of Northern Cambria (population 3,435) & Claysburg (population 1,104) & Moshannon Valley (Houtzdale population 833)----you get my point. Those are numbers and that's the issue. If you take two random populations from anywhere in the world and put together a group of athletes to play any sport and one group pulls athletes from 1,000 to 3,000 people and the other groups pulls from 30,000+, I'm not even sure how you would put odds on the smaller population base being successful. In a lot of ways that's quite literally a David vs Goliath scenario. Now, here's the real kicker though...BG doesn't just have kids from Altoona!! They can and do have kids from anywhere in the whole world if they wanted to. That's being dramatic, but I don't believe it's untrue--maybe someone wants to fact check me on that? They at least have kids from probably at least 6 different communities and school districts on their roster.

This is single A HS football that we're talking about in rural central Pennsylvania! One kid can and does make a tremendous impact on a team. The right kid at defensive end can change a whole defense. The right kid on the OL can shuffle the others around and take a decent OL to being a great OL. That's why and how BG benefits so much by playing single A in the playoffs. They start with a great base in the Altoona population and then they get cherries on top every time a kid from elsewhere in Blair, Bedford, Cambria, Huntingdon, Centre, etc., counties decides he wants to rock the purple and gold too!!!

BG is very good. They play up in the regular season in the LHAC and they win regularly. They're playing larger schools than they are (by graduation numbers) so it's tough to argue against it. But, playing in the single A state playoffs is a different story. Personally, I think people could swallow the private vs public debate a whole lot easier if the privates acknowledged the advantage they have and played up in the playoffs. As was pointed out previously, this would likely result in not as many state titles, but this is HS sports. I don't think the intent is to create dynasties...right? Coach Wheeler and his staff do a great job. They still have to coach the kids up and get them to execute. They do that as well as anyone in the area. There will never be anyone who can rationalize away the idea that a school or community the likes of Northern Cambria or Claysburg or Portage or Glendale, etc., should have to compete in the state playoffs with BG and call it a level playing field. Offering that the PIAA permits it as an explanation is really just proving the point.

"Congratulations, Penns Manor. Great season you had this year, you guys scratched and clawed to stay alive and make the playoffs. In recognition of your efforts, you get to play a team that may have kids from 3-5 different counties on their roster in the first round of the playoffs." ----I don't know if Penns Manor will play BG in round one, but you get my point.

I guess we're just making sure that our leaders of tomorrow understand that life just isn't fair...

I'll finish with this thought since the topic of the PIAA rules was touched upon. I do not know the answer to this question, someone please educate me on this---If two smaller schools form a co-op I believe the PIAA requires 1/2 of the eligible enrollment from the smaller school to be included in the total enrollment of the larger school for classification purposes. It doesn't matter if the larger school gains 1, 2, 5, or 10 players from the smaller school. They have to account for 1/2 of the enrollment in classification. Is this not the same system in place for private schools? Maybe it is, I don't know the answer to that. If it's not, it certainly seems like it should be.
You can talk all you want about population size of their area. They have roughly 76 eligible boys in the school that can go out for football. And they’ve been forced up to triple A in basketball based off of a championship game run in 2019. With the same 76 player amount to draw on. They’ve gone to an academy format to get money for the school because without it, the school would be gone in less than 10 years. It’s correct they will probably coast through single A like they would have Double A until they met a team there that has won how many champions in a row, openly recruits(within the new freshman transfer rule by the way.
D6sportsfan8819
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by D6sportsfan8819 »

BoStillKnows wrote: October 21st, 2024, 3:17 pm The fact that BG is single A is an absolute JOKE! Playing in D6 1A when teams like Glendale and Claysburg have 20ish kids on the roster grades 9-12 and BG has a roster the size of some AAA or AAAA schools, give me a break!
They have 36 total boys on the roster, including freshman that are brought up for practice #’s. Yeah… that’s a massive roster.
OldD6er
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by OldD6er »

D6sportsfan8819 wrote: October 31st, 2024, 11:24 am
BoStillKnows wrote: October 21st, 2024, 3:17 pm The fact that BG is single A is an absolute JOKE! Playing in D6 1A when teams like Glendale and Claysburg have 20ish kids on the roster grades 9-12 and BG has a roster the size of some AAA or AAAA schools, give me a break!
They have 36 total boys on the roster, including freshman that are brought up for practice #’s. Yeah… that’s a massive roster.
36 on a single A roster is a massive roster. Most single A schools are lucky to have 24-28 kids. Of those 24-28 kids you have maybe 3-6 good ball players. You also have at least 3-5 kids (maybe more) that are program kids, meaning they are great kids but they will never help the team on Friday nights. Plus with injuries, ineligibilities, etc. the true single A schools are lucky to be able to practice all year with enough to field a full scout/practice team.
BoStillKnows
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by BoStillKnows »

I've seen Single A public schools in D6 have 15-17 kids (dressed) on the sidelines and full rosters of 22-25 players. 36 for Single A is bloated and a good handful of those 36 players are at the private school FOR sports! Where as most public school kids (I'm talking D6) play sports for the enjoyment of playing them not to "buy" a championship. Private school people just never want to admit the truth, it's such an unfair advantage ESPECIALLY at the smaller classifications.
D6sportsfan8819
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by D6sportsfan8819 »

If you have 15-17 kids on a sideline, then there are a few things with that. 1. You probably shouldn’t have a football team(unsafe at that few numbers, Kennedy catholic found that out). 2. In order to solve that safety factor, join a co-op to be able to have an actual football experience that is safe and fulfilling. 3. This is maybe the biggest point, we have too many school districts in this state. Merge the smaller ones that have 12-17 kids playing football with the larger schools. If you do this, you would then create the big school small school dream most people seem to have. But that makes too much sense I suppose.
CCDevil2012
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Re: Crossover LHAC

Post by CCDevil2012 »

D6sportsfan8819 wrote: October 31st, 2024, 11:24 am
BoStillKnows wrote: October 21st, 2024, 3:17 pm The fact that BG is single A is an absolute JOKE! Playing in D6 1A when teams like Glendale and Claysburg have 20ish kids on the roster grades 9-12 and BG has a roster the size of some AAA or AAAA schools, give me a break!
They have 36 total boys on the roster, including freshman that are brought up for practice #’s. Yeah… that’s a massive roster.

So 76 eligible boys and 36 of them play football????

What other school is pulling 47% of their male enrollment? By those numbers Penn Cambria, Richland, and Forest Hills should all have about 100 kids on their roster.

No one is doubting the size of the school, it’s that you guys ignore the demographic and intent that many kids have for playing there. It’s like Kennedy Catholic saying it’s unfair they’re playing 6A in basketball because they only have 40 males when half of those males are transferred there for basketball.
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