all of these guys including Walker benefited from advantages most coaches don't have
Westinghouse is now the city league all star team, people don't realize kids choose which school they go to in the city league
Blowout state chips
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Westinghouse is now the city league all star team, people don't realize kids choose which school they go to in the city league
I could be wrong, but Prep and LaSalle weren’t included when the PCL joined the PIAA. Those two schools had to petition to join.
No, SJP and LaSalle didn't make separate petitions. They came in as integral members of the PCL. And no PCL team had "feeder schools" in 2008, the year the PCL joined.
He won with the last of Coach K's kids. Without anyone from those teams, he lost to Peters. I think it will take a little bit of time to see how good Coach LeDonne actually is at P-R.
Monessen isn't much different then Aliquippa when it comes to have a large concentration of athletic kids walking the hallways.. BVA has benefitted dramatically by being neighbors with Monessen. I'll just leave it at that.
Top 5 WPIAL Coaches
1. Cherp - sustained high end success. His scheme hasn't changed much in the last 20 years. They beat you with culture and fundamentals. I've seen him time and time again beat teams who have better athletes with what some would call a dinosaur approach to football.
2. Joe Rossi - even though he just retired, the dude could just outcoach you. When the talent dried up after his big run 4-5 years ago, he still forced you to beat him. His kids were all always prepared.
3. Eric Kasperowicz - he develops kids - period. His defense is like Cherp's offense. It's not fancy they just play well and execute.
4. Mark Lyons - proved it at Monaca and then he took his old school approach and modernized it at CV and has built an excellent program.
5. Art Walker Jr - I know NA has a ton of resources but he's produced consistently. His teams are sound and they play aggressive. With all of his resources, he still doesn't always have the best athletes. I know the school is huge but it's not like he's coaching at Reading High where you see a huge concentration athletes.
The only reasons I didn't list Warfield, who I think is an excellent coach on this list is how many times regardless of his school size does he walk into a Friday night where his roster is not as talented as the opponent? Listen - I was never impressed with Zmjanic but the dude won a ton too.
Donta Green has really built a nice program. They're way more disciplined then traditional city league schools. But, he has access to the entire city to pull kids from. He's got major challenges but he also has resources (talent) that 95% of the state doesn't have.
Even though he's got his detractors, Matt Humbert is one of the best coaches around. I know he's not winning state titles nor WPIAL titles if the Monessen kids don't transfer to BVA the past 5 years. However, he's got a great scheme on both sides of the ball. He's a great organizer too.
Even though he's never won anything major, Mark Druga is as good as any on this list. His kids are tough and he's got a great scheme on both sides of the ball.
John Ruane could easily make this list.
The new HC at Knoch, can coach. I forget his name but I've been super impressed with him as of late.
1. Cherp - sustained high end success. His scheme hasn't changed much in the last 20 years. They beat you with culture and fundamentals. I've seen him time and time again beat teams who have better athletes with what some would call a dinosaur approach to football.
2. Joe Rossi - even though he just retired, the dude could just outcoach you. When the talent dried up after his big run 4-5 years ago, he still forced you to beat him. His kids were all always prepared.
3. Eric Kasperowicz - he develops kids - period. His defense is like Cherp's offense. It's not fancy they just play well and execute.
4. Mark Lyons - proved it at Monaca and then he took his old school approach and modernized it at CV and has built an excellent program.
5. Art Walker Jr - I know NA has a ton of resources but he's produced consistently. His teams are sound and they play aggressive. With all of his resources, he still doesn't always have the best athletes. I know the school is huge but it's not like he's coaching at Reading High where you see a huge concentration athletes.
The only reasons I didn't list Warfield, who I think is an excellent coach on this list is how many times regardless of his school size does he walk into a Friday night where his roster is not as talented as the opponent? Listen - I was never impressed with Zmjanic but the dude won a ton too.
Donta Green has really built a nice program. They're way more disciplined then traditional city league schools. But, he has access to the entire city to pull kids from. He's got major challenges but he also has resources (talent) that 95% of the state doesn't have.
Even though he's got his detractors, Matt Humbert is one of the best coaches around. I know he's not winning state titles nor WPIAL titles if the Monessen kids don't transfer to BVA the past 5 years. However, he's got a great scheme on both sides of the ball. He's a great organizer too.
Even though he's never won anything major, Mark Druga is as good as any on this list. His kids are tough and he's got a great scheme on both sides of the ball.
John Ruane could easily make this list.
The new HC at Knoch, can coach. I forget his name but I've been super impressed with him as of late.
You mean the same as in the Phila. public league that folks are bitching about ?
It’s exactly the same. Only difference is the Phila public League will be forced to make changes that will make it difficult for them to have continued success. Imhotep is being forced to move up bc of the point system. Reaching the finals for consecutive years and gathering points. Yet SC have been the same times and more and sit comfortably in 2a. In basketball it’s even worst.
Not that I care ,but I read somewhere that SC utilizes a pink shirt strategy at times and several players have been held back a year to gain an athletic advantage. Again ,I dont care and not sure if this is reliable info,but thought I would mention it because SC comes up quite a bit.
I’ve heard similar stories. I’ve also heard that transfers go to a particular school while waiting for numbers at SC to be in their favor to transfer.
new- i agree- funny- 12 months ago i thought ledonne made kasper look look good- now i think that "kasper's work made ledonne look better" last year, if you know what i mean!!
Definitely true. And their “transfers” come into the district earlier to circumvent the system. The Garcia family is from Shamokin. Stone Hollenbach was from outside Williamsport. Fleming was legit but sooo many were transplants. That documentary released on them basically highlighted a kid that wasn’t from there.
steel- great post- agree- i was gonna put Rossi similar, but i was looking at current coaches- I also thought about Humbert- but he needs a few more successful years. And Green- i understand he has talent- but believe it or not- the student "pool" is not much more than NA- 20k in city Schools, 10k in NA. And- he is like 52-8 over the last 5 years, two state final appearances- more and better than Walker- Na has been 53-12 over the same time period, one state final 2nd place.
wow this is interesting- maybe the SC dominance, a big reason for this new "years of sports eligibility after 7th grade" rule- which seems crazy, but i guess i understand.
Tulla -
I looked this up because it did ring bell. They were both considered independent and made separate applications but the driving factor was to remain in the PCL and preserve the leagues integrity. Prep applied before Lasalle. I know the PIAA pursued the PCL and the PCL insisted that their league play and playoffs be preserved and the PIAA agreed.
It used to be known as a "Coal County Redshirt." It wasn't uncommon for a few select kids at schools not just SCA but throughout that region. It is more prevalent with wrestlers then football players. With that being said, you'd be hard pressed to find many in the last 15 years at SCA. The PIAA rules make it impossible to do so because they start the athlete's clock in 7th grade.
Huh? My brother in law coaches in that conference. What you just described doesn't happen.
Mikey Garcia is from Mt. Carmel. The Garcia boys all grew up and played youth thru junior high football at SCA. Stone is the big name transplant. But, in terms of families moving into SCA when kids are in elementary school, it's not that abnormal anywhere you have successful schools. However, Catawissa isn't some metropolis where real estate is easy to come by. There are hundreds of other schools in our state that are much easier to relocate to. The overwhelming majority of kids at SCA had dads and uncles playing at SCA too. It's very similar to Manheim Central in Lancaster, PA.
Garcia’s dad was a three time state champ for Mount Carmel, and literally helped cause Bucknell to drop their wrestling program. Big NCAA investigation, wild story (Easton native Bob Ferrero also a major player as the head coach). But I assumed, sounds rightfully, that he’s from that area, moved back to that area, and raised his family in the town up there with the strongest athletic programs.
you are correct sir!
BTW, Mike beat one of my best friends in the finals his senior year - Gary Whyte from West Greene.
Gary finished with 99 wins in HS. 6 of his losses came to Cary Kolat. Another came from Garcia. Talk about a tough draw.
I've said this before but Southern has benefitted greatly from people leaving Mt Carmel and Shamokin the last 20-30 years. Many star athletes who wanted to get out of those towns but stay in the area move just over the mountain to Southern district. Too many names to list but people might recognize names like Garcia and Hynoski whose father's were stars at MCA, Wisloski, Davis and Tillett from Shamokin to name a few. This is not 'transferring', it is moving the family before the kids are in HS, nothing illegal. Southern already had a tradition of winning, so combine that with great coaching and sprinkle in the occasional all state transfer like Hollenbach who I think was from Lewisburg and the Berlitz kid from Notre Dame GP to name a few and there's your recipe for domination. I still don't understand how their enrollment numbers have stayed so low with all the recent construction in that area but I'm pretty sure the Vo Tech rumors don't hold any water.
That being said, I don't expect them to win it all again in AA. They lose a lot through graduation and I didn't see the backups get nearly as much playing time at in years past. Although I already heard they are getting a star player transferring in from Danville so maybe I shouldn't count them out...
That being said, I don't expect them to win it all again in AA. They lose a lot through graduation and I didn't see the backups get nearly as much playing time at in years past. Although I already heard they are getting a star player transferring in from Danville so maybe I shouldn't count them out...
not quite the same as none of the westinghouse kids are D1 prospects, most probably won't play college football at any level
The sociology of this fascinated me, it’s half the reason I think I like high school sports. This is the Parkland story - what used to be a cow town becomes a huge spot for housing construction and a major landing spot for families leaving Allentown. So many high profile names at Parkland are families that were stars at William Allen and Dieruff in the 70s and 80s.
Derek Berlitz initially went to Notre Dame to wrestle after an elite junior high career when ND went from “we barely have a program” to “we are a top ten team in the country” over the course of three years by bringing in a billion kids from everywhere. Berlitz was originally from Hazleton, which is 48 miles and an hour and 15 minutes northwest of Notre Dame, or as some would say “outside of their traditional footprint”. It was silly, and I’m sure burdensome, and he turned out to be a much better football player than wrestler. When they had Berlitz coming in from Hazleton, Brett Ungar from Flemington, NJ (38 miles east from ND, 96 miles from his teammate at Hazleton), and Ryan Crookham, who did all of his youth wrestling in Neshaminy (67 miles south) it was a pretty impressive footprint for a school that had no feeder program, had never finished in the top 40 in the state, and is always on the brink of closing because they struggle with enrollment and are not impressive academically. And despite their shenanigans, Notre Dame hasn’t won a state duals title, and now that Faith Christian and Bishop McCourt are playing their game better than they were, they probably never will. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
99% of the state does not understand the Columbia-Montour VT model.
It is a full-time vo-tech with it's own sports teams. There are only a few of these schools in the state. Dobbins Tech in Philly and York Vo Tech in York Pa. In Pittsburgh, there used to be South Vo Tech in the City League but has now closed. I'm not sure if BOK or Mastbaum is still running in Philly either.
These schools are represented by kids in a specific geographic area - usually by county. So take York Tech. Every school in that county sends kids to that York Tech. If those kids was to play sports they play for York Tech. They receive all of their education at York Tech. They don't go back to their home school for anything. They are not counted in the enrollment #'s because the homeschool does not have access to them athletically.
The old rumor was SCA had all these kids at the C-M Vo Tech that would play football at SCA but didn't count towards there #'s. That is impossible and untrue. C-M is a AAAA football school. They used to say the school was in the SCA school district. That also is untrue. The school is located within the Bloomsburg school district.
Does having the C-M Vo Tech help SCA football - no. They can't force kids out of the HS and transfer to the Tech to reduce their #'s. The Tech doesn't allow transfers typically speaking because most trade programs are 4 year models.
I think this year finally put those rumors to rest. The new classification numbers now include all vo-tech students, not just 10% of them as they were previously counted. If SoCo had a bunch of vo-tech students, they would have jumped up to 3A this year instead of staying put.
A lot of jealousy out there. SCA for years....years!....looked different because they are. These guys are sculpted vs the many making them look almost alien. They hump out in the off-season and want to be the best. I get that people are suspicious as their success is unusual.
But who can't blame a kid for moving a few blocks north to play at Central Dauphin instead of Central Dauphin East or relocating altogether to have your son/daughter get coaching and notoriety of an order to win a scholarship?
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