2017 High School Football

[4_tattoos]

I've been on this board a few years and don't recall ever seeing a thread for HS football. Figured it would be interesting to give it a try. Let this thread be the hub for all things high schools football. Previews, rankings, scores, trash talk, players to watch, etc.

 

So have HS camps started everywhere yet? I know in my home state (Maryland) public school camps always began on August 15th, unless there's been a change in recent years.

[4_tattoos]

Guess I'll get things going. At the moment the only Maryland state champion I can remember from last season are the 2 time defending 4A champs the Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. Pumas (long name I know). They've had 2 straight undefeated seasons and pretty much dominated every team they've played along the way. IIRC they lost a lot of core players from those 2 championship teams to graduation. Could see them fall off in 2017

 

On to my alma mater the Crossland Cavaliers... who went 1-9 in 2016. And 0-10 in 2015. And 0-10 in 2014...  Umm... no place to go but up? Unless they have another winless season I guess  *sighs* Go Cavs!!!  They showed flashes of being mediocre last season, but those flashes were few and far in between. Nobody's expecting them to do much, so maybe they can catch a team off guard if they "play down" to Crossland's level.

[Seadragon76]

Time for some education...

 

In Washington (State), there's 6 classes. 4A is not talked about here since there's no schools at that class.

 

3A is where it begins for me and the only area team here is the Kelso Hilanders. Yes, the nickname is spelled that way for a reason. They play in the Greater St. Helens League. This league has three different versions: One for 4A, one for 3A and one for 2A. Kelso tends to be good most of the time.

 

In the 2A version of the GSHL, we have the Longview schools: The Mark Morris Monarchs and the R.A. Long Lumberjacks. These two schools meet every year in the 'Civil War' game. R.A. Long has gotten the better of Mark Morris as of late, but the Monarchs have been the historically better team. Also here are the Woodland Beavers. They have their moments.

 

In 1A, we have the Castle Rock Rockets. They play in the Trico League and are looking to get better soon.

 

The meat and potatoes of the area are in 2B. The 2B Southwest Washington Football League (a combination of the Pacific and Central Leagues) is home to these teams: The Kalama Chinooks, the Whakiakum Mules, the Toutle Lake Ducks, the Toledo Indians, the Winlock Cardinals and the Ilwaco Fishermen. The reason for the merger? The Central League has 12 schools normally while the Pacific League as 9 schools with two (Pe Ell and Willapa Valley) becoming one during football season. So, it was decided to create a 20 team league with hopes that it might be easier for some of the 98 pound weaklings (like Winlock and Ilwaco) a chance to reach the postseason while giving the big boys (Like Kalama and Toledo) a chance with some real competition.

 

Lastly, at 1B is the Naselle Comets. 1B schools tend to play 8 man football because of the very small sizes of these schools. They play in the Coastal League.

 

In nearby Oregon are the Rainier Columbians and the Clatskanie Tigers. The two rivals meet in the 'Highway 30 Hootenanny' every year. Rainier is the stronger of the two schools, but that's not to say that Clatskanie doesn't have their years.

 

My alma mater is in Iowa. The Denison-Schleswig Monarchs were good when I was there, but never good enough to get over the hump. It sucks because they were that good back then, but now it's been a long time since they've seen the playoffs. It doesn't help when your district is littered with land mines like eternal arch rival Harlan, surprising state semifinalist Glenwood and always tough to beat Carroll

[Sykotyk]

At least Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia open the weekend of 8/18. Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania start the week of 8/25. And New York, which only pllays a 7-game season plus playoffs, starts 9/1.

 

[4_tattoos]

Maryland public schools season starts the weekend of September 1st & 2nd. Private & charter school leagues in MD are harder to keep track of. Once all local (Washington DC area) HS seasons starts I'll try to keep those updates coming.

[smzimbabwe]

My friend's son's team has already started the season 0-2. They start the season early up in Alaska.

[Sykotyk]

54 minutes ago, smzimbabwe said:

My friend's son's team has already started the season 0-2. They start the season early up in Alaska.

They also finish in early October as well, right?

[smzimbabwe]

11 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

They also finish in early October as well, right?

The last game on the schedule is September 29, then a couple of rounds of playoffs, the whole thing should be done by Halloween.

[Sykotyk]

22 hours ago, smzimbabwe said:

The last game on the schedule is September 29, then a couple of rounds of playoffs, the whole thing should be done by Halloween.

Gotcha. Yeah, plus with at least one team north of the Arctic Circle, finishing the season at a reasonable time is necessary. Do they still play their title games in Anchorage? Also curious how much tickets cost for their games given the unprecedented cost of travel up there.

[smzimbabwe]

1 hour ago, Sykotyk said:

Gotcha. Yeah, plus with at least one team north of the Arctic Circle, finishing the season at a reasonable time is necessary. Do they still play their title games in Anchorage? Also curious how much tickets cost for their games given the unprecedented cost of travel up there.

The championship game is in Anchorage at Anchorage Football Stadium (sounds more impressive than it is). My friend says booster clubs and support groups pay for the travel, so I don't know how much tickets cost, but I'll be sure to ask her.

[Sykotyk]

2 hours ago, smzimbabwe said:

The championship game is in Anchorage at Anchorage Football Stadium (sounds more impressive than it is). My friend says booster clubs and support groups pay for the travel, so I don't know how much tickets cost, but I'll be sure to ask her.

Thanks. I'm just curious as I'm sure cost is astronomical compared to most high schools.

 

Interesting enough, Wyoming high school athletics don't charge admission to regular season contests. It's strange in that their stadiums usually aren't fenced off or gated and the lack of a ticket window in places like Cokeville is noticeable. Only playoff games have admission, and it's much more the honor system as you can approach the field from multiple sides. Talking to someone, it's just the state felt charging admission to a public school event seemed wrong and I guess the oil and gas money the state receives handles a lot of a school's expenses for travel. Plus, in Wyoming, due to travel, many schools have 4-day school weeks.

[smzimbabwe]

He has to pay $300 to play (athletic fee), and they take one plane trip (Juneau) or ferry trip (Kodiak) a year, and while they do fundraisers, the booster club springs for the cost of the trip. They spend the night in the gym of the high school they are visiting and a road trip can take several days. His older sister is a cheerleader at the school and she has to pay for everything (travel, hotel, etc.) to go to these games, whereas he pays nothing (other than the yearly athletic fee). I went to high school in NW Washington, it cost nothing to play, and our longest road trip was maybe 50-60 miles down the freeway, which could be done in one night.

 

We were talking about this because my old high school is now charging students to play high school sports, which seems strange to me, I thought high school sports were supposed to be free, except for some basic personal equipment. That's when she told me about what he winds up paying.

[TBGKon]

Preseason for Florida high school football was last week and the regular season kicks off this Friday.

 

Regular season wraps up first Friday of November and the playoffs wrap up early/mid December depending on classification. 

[Seadragon76]

Washington and Oregon both start next week. Iowa begins this week.

 

In Iowa, the top 2 in each district move on plus two 'wild cards' (essentially the best 3rd place teams). Finals for all classes are in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls

 

For Washington, the leagues in a district (all local teams are part of District 4) are given so many slots for the regional round. Win there and it's on to state... Finals for all classes are in the Tacoma Dome.

 

Oregon uses an RPI system to rank teams. 15 teams automatically qualify with the final slot given to the highest ranked team in the RPI (Leagues are given two or three auto bids). There is usually no set site for Oregon's finals, but last year had these places:

 

6A: Providence Park

5A, 4A, 3A: Hillsboro Stadium

2A, 1A: Hermiston High School

[4_tattoos]

Maryland High School football is broken up into four classifications based on each school's underclassmen enrollment (4A, 3A, 2A and 1A). Each class is broken up into four geographic-ish regions (North, South, East & West). The top four teams from each region based on a point system advance to the playoffs (16 team playoff field per classification). First 2 rounds are regional, followed by the State Semifinals and the State Championships which usually takes place the week after Thanksgiving at the Naval Academy.

 

Regular season games start next week.

 

I'll try to remember to post the Washington Post's official High School Football Preview whenever it's available.

[Sykotyk]

8 hours ago, smzimbabwe said:

He has to pay $300 to play (athletic fee), and they take one plane trip (Juneau) or ferry trip (Kodiak) a year, and while they do fundraisers, the booster club springs for the cost of the trip. They spend the night in the gym of the high school they are visiting and a road trip can take several days. His older sister is a cheerleader at the school and she has to pay for everything (travel, hotel, etc.) to go to these games, whereas he pays nothing (other than the yearly athletic fee). I went to high school in NW Washington, it cost nothing to play, and our longest road trip was maybe 50-60 miles down the freeway, which could be done in one night.

 

We were talking about this because my old high school is now charging students to play high school sports, which seems strange to me, I thought high school sports were supposed to be free, except for some basic personal equipment. That's when she told me about what he winds up paying.

Pay to Play is actually becoming common. Some schools charge PER season, while others charge a flat athletic fee.

 

For instance, a school may charge $150 to play one sport for one season. If a student wants to play, say, Football and Basketball, it's $300. Usually there's a cap per school year. Sometimes capped at $200-$250. And sometimes they'll have a 'family cap', so one family will only pay a maximum of, for example, $300 even if they have five kids playing 12 sports.

 

The reality, though, is that if the school has a strong booster club, most of that expense is paid by the booster club or at least a portion of it is covered (no discrimination on who gets money, it's equally divided by participant. So, if the boosters can pay $92/student athlete, then the parents only need to cover the remainder. Just depends. Usually Pay to Play is used as a threat by school district as part of a ballot measure for a tax increase or renewal. Don't pass it, and we're forced to either cut athletics or charge the students some of the cost.

[Sykotyk]

8 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

Washington and Oregon both start next week. Iowa begins this week.

 

In Iowa, the top 2 in each district move on plus two 'wild cards' (essentially the best 3rd place teams). Finals for all classes are in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls

 

For Washington, the leagues in a district (all local teams are part of District 4) are given so many slots for the regional round. Win there and it's on to state... Finals for all classes are in the Tacoma Dome.

 

Oregon uses an RPI system to rank teams. 15 teams automatically qualify with the final slot given to the highest ranked team in the RPI (Leagues are given two or three auto bids). There is usually no set site for Oregon's finals, but last year had these places:

 

6A: Providence Park

5A, 4A, 3A: Hillsboro Stadium

2A, 1A: Hermiston High School

 

Iowa and Minnesota are two states that host all of their semifinal AND finals at one stadium. For Iowa, it's the aforementioned UNI-Dome, and for Minnesota it's now the newly built US Bank Stadium.

 

For Iowa, that's 12 games in 3 days (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) and UNI is always scheduled on the road. Then, for the championships, it's six games over 2 days, on Thursday and Friday (Saturday is used by UNI for a football game)

[4_tattoos]

Tomorrow night on ESPN, DeMatha Catholic HS from Hyattsville, MD travels cross country to play Bishop Gorman in Nevada. DeMatha is arguably the best high school program in the state of Maryland, as well as the Washington DC Metro area. They are usually nationally ranked and play for their league (WCAC) championship every year. Last season they had a nationally televised early season matchup hosting a nationally ranked school out of Florida which they won.

 

I'm not too familiar with Bishop Gorman. From what I've been told they are to Nevada what DeMatha is to Maryland. Since ESPN tends to televise a couple of their games every year, I guess they are also one of the best HS programs in the country.

[dfwabel]

Last year, Bishop Gorman HadTate Martell at QB. He was a Texas A&M verbal commit, but changed to Ohio State and was part of the documentary, "QB1".

 

This season, Dorian Thompson-Robinson will be QB and is a UCLA commit.

 

They're on a 54-game winning streak under the Sanchez brothers. Tony was HC until 2014, when he was hired by UNLV. His brother, Kenny, is now HC.

 

 

[MJWalker45]

Gorman had Snoop Dogg's son a couple years ago which gave them extra attention.  There's a school in Washington that had Joe Montana's kid as well that got them extra attention when I lived there.