What will happen to the Heritage Conference?

[knowitall]

There is no reason for the other schools to kick Ligonier Valley out of the Heritage Conference. Someone has to be the biggest school in the conference. North Star is the biggest school in the West PAC. Are they always the best team? AA schools compete with AAA schools in the LHAC.

[hornets69]

granted, this is a football forum, but it also sounds like class A will be competing with class AAA in basketball.

.....and yes, i am aware bishop guilfoyle and bishop carroll plays AAA schools in johnstown and forest hills in basketball.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Why do they have to hire some bigtime HS coach for football? If you have limited facilities (which I am assuming Ligonier has vs. some one like Jeannette or whoever) then maybe all they need is a gimmick offense and a superior disciplined football team on defense. All I am saying is that there are ways to compete.

If they DO end up in the WPIAL, then Ligonier should take a look at HOW those top AA teams got where they are. It didnt happen overnight.

[djs11]

North Star has 204 boys. A lig/LV merged team 291. They shouldn't be allowed in the Heritage and they shouldn't want to stay. Being a big fish in a lil pond will not do them anygood come playoff time. All that aside what does the conference do? They will either have 8 or 9 teams next year. They will need to find other teams to play.

[cleaverstuart]

Take a look at how most WPIAL team with winning traditions got there......mmmmmmmmmmm.........most hire coaches who are placed into administration post, just look at most of those districts. Ligonier Valley made Ron Baldaneri give up coaching because of thier policy of administrators not coaching, but then again as pionted out to me by someone else when I said they would be the WPIAL whipping boys, they have been many schools whipping boys, a program that is over 100 games below .500 all time

[sportsfan1000]

[quote="Big Ike"]Observations:
I know there are some that are not fans of D-7, but I think D-6 could run a leauge by most classifications...Of course 4-A pretty much has moved to d-7...I would imagine it would look something like this...I am not sure how different this is from the current format.

AAA/AAAA (I guess this would be run like D-8 with a full playoff to crown the champ and respective classification members moving on to states within thier class despite who won the championship. Of course they would have to find at least four out of conference games. Not sure if this works)

State College Area High School AAAA 1028
Indian Valley High School AAA 421
Greater Johnstown High School AAA 393
Bellefonte Area High School AAA 380
Central Mountain High School AAAA 559

PIAA came out with the new playoff brackets for the next two year cycle. D6 AAA is being combined with D9AAA to form a subregion.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Cleaver, it is not about who is bigger and faster and who has the best facilities. Its about utilizing what you have and coming up with an edge. As for their adminisitrative policy, that's ridiculous and needs to be changed.

[tubmill]

Ancient Enemy,
Cleaver already knows what you said is true. He played for Coach Page at Laurel Valley. LV has excelled, despite being one of the smallest schools in the state. Little Laurel Valley has played for numerous state titles in basketball. They lost to Duquesne in the western regional in football. Their combined baseball team with Ligonier was one of the top teams in the state AAA in 1993. That team consisted of a vast majoriity of Laurel Valley players. I really believe that Laurel Valley will be history, which is so sad. However, I think that their students will be assimilated into the United school district. The Heritage will not kick out that combination. Ligonier is losing student population at a much greater rate than Laurel Valley so maybe they will be forced to consolidate with Derry, Mount Pleasant or North Star.At any rate the Heritage will probably include a United/Laurel Valey consolidation.

[pitt75]

Anceinet Enemy;

Not sure what your background is in athletics, but saying get a system that gives you an edge is very fashionable, and as with most things fashionable---not productive.

If there were certain systems that provided an edge---wouldn't every coach use that system.

Ligonier was 9-0 a few years ago in the Heritage and got handled by Bellwood (5-4) in the first round of the playoffs. Bellwood had lost to some good AA teams that year and they were a very good team, but not a good AA WPIAL team.

The difference would be this a 9-0 Heritage team is .500 in WPIAL AA
a .500 Heritage team wins 0-2 games in WPIAL AA---look at LV's history and decide how often they would have been competitive---its the Jimmy and the Joe not the X and the O.

One final thought this is not a knock on LV--players or coaches, they have had some good players in the past and good coaches (including the current one); however it is just the facts.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Not sure what your background is in athletics, but saying get a system that gives you an edge is very fashionable, and as with most things fashionable---not productive.

What the hell are you talking about? Richland took TWO SNAPS behind center in the last few seasons, and they are now a playoff team and have turned that program completely around. Is the shotgun spread not a system that gives Richland an edge? How can you possibly argue this: Running an offensive system that your opponent sees ONCE a year and has FOUR days to prep for is "not productive"? And you question MY background?

If there were certain systems that provided an edge---wouldn't every coach use that system.

NO. Many coaches are incredibly simplistic, do not actively seek to better their coaching abilities by looking around at what others are doing, and they are VERY set in their ways. Coaches are some of the most stubborn people I have ever met, and most HATE change or the prospect of it.

Listen, chuckles... if every team in the LHAC ran the same offense as Richland, wouldnt every team be prepared for Richland each week? Does Richland have better players, bigger stronger faster, than everyone else? No way! But what they do is make your defense see something, for FOUR 2-hr practices a season, that you dont see at any other time that season. How do you think Texas Tech has been so successful under Mike Leach? Was it because Leach was a marvelous recruiter, or b/c he had a system that dumbfounded their opponents, because those teams never play anyone like Texas Tech?

If Ligonier / LV has to play in the WPIAL, they CAN compete. They just have to be creative. There are reasons why those coaches at WPIAL schools are successful.

Ligonier was 9-0 a few years ago in the Heritage and got handled by Bellwood (5-4) in the first round of the playoffs. Bellwood had lost to some good AA teams that year and they were a very good team, but not a good AA WPIAL team.

So you are telling me that 11 HS boys versus 11 HS boys cannot defeat them? That's the mentality right there that will keep them as "whipping boys". Why dont you just go down to football practice and tell those kids "you inherently cant compete"? That's the most unproductive, defeatist, loser mentality that should be punishable as a felony. You will never convince me that those 11 kids playing defense at Ligonier "simply cant" keep Burrell out of the endzone just because the kids grew up in Ligonier.

Since you are questioning other people's coaching resumes, I assume you coached at Ligonier at some point. Congratulations on burying your head in the sand, deciding you inherently couldnt compete and never tried to get creative, and losing all your games in the process. I'm sure the adage that the players can sense the coaches' true feelings is all just speculation, right?