To further rouse the partisans in the public/private tussle in PA high school football, I’d like to create a fable entitled “Johnny Football”.
Johnny Football is a seventh-grader in Podunk Township, a small town in Pennsylvania that has their own small public high school, a proud school with a long heritage, but one whose enrollment has decreased over the decades due to loss of population and loss of businesses. For PIAA purposes, they are classified as a 2A school.
Johnny Football has played the sport since his flag-football days as a 4-year-old, and has grown up to be almost 6 feet tall, and 175 pounds as a seventh-grader, and can throw a football almost 50 yards in the air. He dominates all of the competition in his weight and age class as a running and passing quarterback.
Johnny Football’s parents are now looking toward Johnny’s high school years. They both went to Podunk High School, an old school which still provides a good education, but they look at Johnny’s football ability, and wonder if his gridiron prowess could lead to a college scholarship someday. Johnny has played on very competitive football programs in his young life, and his parents wonder if Podunk High’s football program, and Podunk’s league competitors, will provide enough of a challenge to their son, and possibly limit the college scholarship opportunities for Johnny.
Johnny’s parents wonder about their other options for his high school education. Because of Johnny’s football capabilities, representatives of Metropolis High School, a large 6A school in the adjoining city of Metropolis, have talked to Johnny’s parents about Johnny coming to their high school. To make it somewhat official, they would encourage Johnny’s parents to have Johnny live at Aunt Edna’s apartment in Metropolis for his high school years. They stress to Johnny’s parents that Johnny would get a better chance at a college scholarship at Metropolis High, and also that Metropolis has an academic program and a campus that is more advanced than that at Podunk High.
In addition to contacts from Metropolis High, Johnny’s parents have also been contacted by a Catholic High School about 15 miles down the road, Father Flanagan High, which has a great reputation as a football powerhouse, as well as a good academic reputation. Johnny’s parents aren’t Catholic, and aren’t very religious, but they know that Johnny would get a good education there, and would get more college offers than he would if he stayed at Podunk High. And Father Flanagan High had won several state championships in the past, back when the Catholic schools were allowed to compete for state championships against the public schools. And a lot of their graduates went on to play in college, and some in the NFL.
Johnny Football’s parents are not rich, and they scrimp and save to afford the simple pleasures in life. Paying any money for high school tuition is a concern, even though the reps at Father Flanagan High indicate that Johnny would receive a lot of financial aid if he enrolled there.
Johnny’s parents conclude that Johnny shouldn’t go to Podunk High, even though he’d be more comfortable there, attending high school with his childhood friends. The decision is now whether to have him attend Metropolis High, or Father Flanagan High. In both cases, he’d be the new kid on the block, and in both cases, he’d get a better education and play against better competition on the football field than if he stayed at Podunk. The Catholic high school would cost some money, but Johnny’s parents have had a lot of people tell him that it would be worth it, because the competition that Father Flanagan High plays is better, with some games out of state against national powers, sometimes on ESPN.
What decision should Johnny Football’s parents make? They don’t care about state championships, and maybe aren’t focused enough on Johnny’s education, but they know that he’d get a better education and have better chances at a college scholarship if he doesn’t stay at Podunk.
Back in the day when the Catholics could compete for state championships, Metropolis High always complained that Father Flanagan High recruits their players, and could get them from anywhere. The Catholic high schools would counter by claiming that living in an aunt’s apartment for 4 years is a form of recruiting as well.
But now Father Flanagan High isn’t in the state playoff system anymore, and they and other surviving Catholic high schools in the area play their own schedules, with some games out of state, and find that their ability to convince promising football players to enroll has not suffered even though a state championship trophy can no longer be won.
Moral to the story: the surviving Catholic and private high schools in Pennsylvania, whether they are in the general state playoffs, a segregated state playoff, or no state playoffs, will draw a lot of football talent to their schools from public high schools, lessening the competitive level of public high school football in the state, and that entices even more promising football talent to attend the Catholic and private high schools. And nothing has really been solved.
Johnny Football is a seventh-grader in Podunk Township, a small town in Pennsylvania that has their own small public high school, a proud school with a long heritage, but one whose enrollment has decreased over the decades due to loss of population and loss of businesses. For PIAA purposes, they are classified as a 2A school.
Johnny Football has played the sport since his flag-football days as a 4-year-old, and has grown up to be almost 6 feet tall, and 175 pounds as a seventh-grader, and can throw a football almost 50 yards in the air. He dominates all of the competition in his weight and age class as a running and passing quarterback.
Johnny Football’s parents are now looking toward Johnny’s high school years. They both went to Podunk High School, an old school which still provides a good education, but they look at Johnny’s football ability, and wonder if his gridiron prowess could lead to a college scholarship someday. Johnny has played on very competitive football programs in his young life, and his parents wonder if Podunk High’s football program, and Podunk’s league competitors, will provide enough of a challenge to their son, and possibly limit the college scholarship opportunities for Johnny.
Johnny’s parents wonder about their other options for his high school education. Because of Johnny’s football capabilities, representatives of Metropolis High School, a large 6A school in the adjoining city of Metropolis, have talked to Johnny’s parents about Johnny coming to their high school. To make it somewhat official, they would encourage Johnny’s parents to have Johnny live at Aunt Edna’s apartment in Metropolis for his high school years. They stress to Johnny’s parents that Johnny would get a better chance at a college scholarship at Metropolis High, and also that Metropolis has an academic program and a campus that is more advanced than that at Podunk High.
In addition to contacts from Metropolis High, Johnny’s parents have also been contacted by a Catholic High School about 15 miles down the road, Father Flanagan High, which has a great reputation as a football powerhouse, as well as a good academic reputation. Johnny’s parents aren’t Catholic, and aren’t very religious, but they know that Johnny would get a good education there, and would get more college offers than he would if he stayed at Podunk High. And Father Flanagan High had won several state championships in the past, back when the Catholic schools were allowed to compete for state championships against the public schools. And a lot of their graduates went on to play in college, and some in the NFL.
Johnny Football’s parents are not rich, and they scrimp and save to afford the simple pleasures in life. Paying any money for high school tuition is a concern, even though the reps at Father Flanagan High indicate that Johnny would receive a lot of financial aid if he enrolled there.
Johnny’s parents conclude that Johnny shouldn’t go to Podunk High, even though he’d be more comfortable there, attending high school with his childhood friends. The decision is now whether to have him attend Metropolis High, or Father Flanagan High. In both cases, he’d be the new kid on the block, and in both cases, he’d get a better education and play against better competition on the football field than if he stayed at Podunk. The Catholic high school would cost some money, but Johnny’s parents have had a lot of people tell him that it would be worth it, because the competition that Father Flanagan High plays is better, with some games out of state against national powers, sometimes on ESPN.
What decision should Johnny Football’s parents make? They don’t care about state championships, and maybe aren’t focused enough on Johnny’s education, but they know that he’d get a better education and have better chances at a college scholarship if he doesn’t stay at Podunk.
Back in the day when the Catholics could compete for state championships, Metropolis High always complained that Father Flanagan High recruits their players, and could get them from anywhere. The Catholic high schools would counter by claiming that living in an aunt’s apartment for 4 years is a form of recruiting as well.
But now Father Flanagan High isn’t in the state playoff system anymore, and they and other surviving Catholic high schools in the area play their own schedules, with some games out of state, and find that their ability to convince promising football players to enroll has not suffered even though a state championship trophy can no longer be won.
Moral to the story: the surviving Catholic and private high schools in Pennsylvania, whether they are in the general state playoffs, a segregated state playoff, or no state playoffs, will draw a lot of football talent to their schools from public high schools, lessening the competitive level of public high school football in the state, and that entices even more promising football talent to attend the Catholic and private high schools. And nothing has really been solved.
