Final: St. Joe's 52 - Parkland 21
- Thread starter CAMoleskinner
- Start date
About what I expected. One of the best teams in the country playing a team that finished in 5th place in its own conference. Did what they should do.
I think the Hawks let off the gas in the second half but won't change the end result.
Gonna be a litmus test for Garnet Valley and the D1 contingent next weekend.
Gonna be a litmus test for Garnet Valley and the D1 contingent next weekend.
Ha! My point with last year's 49-13 smackdown no doubt predictive.
I was all for the PCL coming in to join the party (course, I had to bite my lip when Neshaminy got turned back by the Hawks in 2013 - in the Eastern Championship - I'll never forget "The Fumble").
Yeah -- my attitude was "Come one, come all -- let 'em work it out on the field!"
At this point, though, I'm not so sure that it's exactly equitable with a decade of games to reflect on. Sure, there have been outliers but as a whole it's become expected to see The Prep take the hardware home.
So, and first of all, the PIAA needs to rethink the six class arrangement (five is plenty) while there should be a Public champ and a Private champ that can meet in the "Super Bowl" each year. Then cut the playoffs to 14 games and make the final an invitation game - a Bowl Game. Play it in Philly one year and Pittsburgh the next (still be an East - West thing) unless Hershey puts its hand up again (or maybe Mansion Park in Altoona). And maybe have the sportswriters vote for selections with three in each category. Then let's face it - the top dawg will take the bait so it will still end up being St. Joe's versus a WPIAL team anyway. Hmm - since it is open bid perhaps drop the East-West thing and just invite the top four and the highest two that say sure get to play.
A thought as the current arrangement is getting a bit routine (got to be some big brains out there who can work something out).
Alternatively stop the baby whining stuff and let kids play where they will - open up transfers for sports. So what!! Kids transfer for academics (under the radar) and no one cares but do it for sports (and a chance at a ride/free education) and people go nuts.
Please!! This is America - the land of opportunity.
I was all for the PCL coming in to join the party (course, I had to bite my lip when Neshaminy got turned back by the Hawks in 2013 - in the Eastern Championship - I'll never forget "The Fumble").
Yeah -- my attitude was "Come one, come all -- let 'em work it out on the field!"
At this point, though, I'm not so sure that it's exactly equitable with a decade of games to reflect on. Sure, there have been outliers but as a whole it's become expected to see The Prep take the hardware home.
So, and first of all, the PIAA needs to rethink the six class arrangement (five is plenty) while there should be a Public champ and a Private champ that can meet in the "Super Bowl" each year. Then cut the playoffs to 14 games and make the final an invitation game - a Bowl Game. Play it in Philly one year and Pittsburgh the next (still be an East - West thing) unless Hershey puts its hand up again (or maybe Mansion Park in Altoona). And maybe have the sportswriters vote for selections with three in each category. Then let's face it - the top dawg will take the bait so it will still end up being St. Joe's versus a WPIAL team anyway. Hmm - since it is open bid perhaps drop the East-West thing and just invite the top four and the highest two that say sure get to play.
A thought as the current arrangement is getting a bit routine (got to be some big brains out there who can work something out).
Alternatively stop the baby whining stuff and let kids play where they will - open up transfers for sports. So what!! Kids transfer for academics (under the radar) and no one cares but do it for sports (and a chance at a ride/free education) and people go nuts.
Please!! This is America - the land of opportunity.
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they would beat last years Mt. Lebanon team
maybe in two years or so they will be young again and a team can beat them
maybe in two years or so they will be young again and a team can beat them
For sure there should be fewer than six classifications. I'd prefer four but five would still be better.
I know the easiest solution might appear to be to have separate public and private classes with maybe a grand finale between the winner of both streams. But as many on here have said, there aren't nearly enough private schools (almost all Catholic) outside of the Philly area to make this work for them--and I'm not hearing anyone complaining much about Scranton Prep, PCC, Bishop Canavan, Bishop McDevitt, etc.
The big question in my mind is whether games like today's are the more the result of SJP getting a whole lot better over the years or of a drop in the quality of football being played by larger public high schools in at least some parts of PA (the Lehigh Valley this week and probably suburban Philly next week). My sense--from a distance--is that the two trends are about equal in their impact.
transferring for academics doesn't hurt anybody or put others at a disadvantage
may as well eliminate sports at most schools if only the usual suspects get the best players, why field a team at all if you have no chance to be competitive because other schools take your players?
the only people that support this are fans of schools that benefit from it
Unless the Lehigh Valley starts treating football like wrestling and it’s open borders, they’re not going to be competitive in 6A.
That said, the result of todays game is partly SJP being out of D11’s league, but also that Parkland wasn’t supposed to be there. This was a 6-4 team that caught a massive break when their first round opponent (who won the league’s regular season title) lost their QB who was the league player of the year and is an all state candidate to a broken hand in the week before the playoff game and Parkland took advantage against a team obviously reeling. Then, they played the EPC North champ who was undefeated against one of the worst schedules in 6A statewide, which always throws a wrench into seeding, and Parkland beat them handily. Meanwhile, Freedom and Emmaus played a 35-34 slugfest in the other semi (teams who were a combined 19-3) and Parkland, to their credit, beat the survivor. But the problem with conference champs is that midnight strikes, usually pretty hard.
That said, the result of todays game is partly SJP being out of D11’s league, but also that Parkland wasn’t supposed to be there. This was a 6-4 team that caught a massive break when their first round opponent (who won the league’s regular season title) lost their QB who was the league player of the year and is an all state candidate to a broken hand in the week before the playoff game and Parkland took advantage against a team obviously reeling. Then, they played the EPC North champ who was undefeated against one of the worst schedules in 6A statewide, which always throws a wrench into seeding, and Parkland beat them handily. Meanwhile, Freedom and Emmaus played a 35-34 slugfest in the other semi (teams who were a combined 19-3) and Parkland, to their credit, beat the survivor. But the problem with conference champs is that midnight strikes, usually pretty hard.
of course people complain about these schools, a "bad year" for them is losing in the district title game
the complaints are louder against SJP because their bad year is losing in the state championship
yes the teams as a whole have gotten worse, but i would bet on these SJP teams over the past decade beating most state title teams from the past