15 years? I suspect a different landscape altogether. I think the publics are gonna take a hit too. Participation is down and will only continue the downward trend. Parents are taking a good hard look and pulling back across the state. I think parents are getting tired of the public school education period but that is for another time and another forum!!
My takeaway from the 2022 state championships
- Thread starter northalleghenytiger
- Start date
wow- so again, up until a week ago, i would have said, keep things the same, better to have good competition, of PCL in the state playoffs.... but
wow, all of these responses confirm what others are saying- PCL clearly "plays by different rules" than 95% of the PIAA so maybe should not be in the PIAA playoffs- just not fair to most "typical high schools in PA"
Why should they be slower, weaker, or less athletic? That’s not an advantage. Having a bigger pool of children I get it, but being bigger faster n stronger does not automatically go to them.
Nobody every disputed that and it was that way long before PIAA came calling. It’s the best league in the state and the PIAA knows that. You must be new, because this argument has been on this board for years. The irony is that before PCL was part of PIAA, the board clamored that PCL couldn’t handle the rigors of higher competition - LOL. I’m fine with the open enrollment issue, I get it, but the rest is made up nonsense. Prep would love the facilities of 95% of the public schools. See what I did there.
Rumor out of Philly has Prep thinking they wouldn’t have been up just a measly 48-0 and 35-0 at halftime in the state semis and final if they had public school facilities…
Some public schools having slightly better facilities does not even come close to prep teams having kids from multiple states
Your continued use of "multiple" when you could simply say "two" tells us something.
You are the same guy who, a couple of months ago, was predicting NA would beat SJP in the championship game, so why should we take your "it isn't fair" claims at face value?
One thing is clear: some posters on here who live in western PA seem to have fantastical notions about SJP. If you ever come to Philly, I'd suggest making your way to 17th and Girard before going even further about all of SJP's advantages.
"fantastical notions" about SJP, nope dont think so, I have multiple times said i respect what they do, my comments were about the "basic rules and practices" of the PCL being very dissimilar than the majority of HS in PA- at this point i could care less about what "prep" does, i was talking about the league
PCL best league in state- nope- dont think so, proof is in #s, WPIAL has been, and is still better
PCL "was around before the PIAA" uh well the WPIAL was around before the PCL
and the talk about players "being from 2 or 3 states" is ridiculous, does not really matter its more than just PA!! even one player from New Jersey seems ridiculous- so not only is the "boundary" beyond that of a "school district" the boundary is outside of our state?? It's the friggin PIAA... the Pennsylvania IAA...not the "ANY State IAA
Again let me bring up some of my boys from NC and we will show you how to recruit and turn the tables. But seriously open enrollment the PIAA needs. Open enrollment. Or if you are serious about football and a PA district that wants to win bring in some new blood to PA. Go after a Tommy Knotts and give him the keys to do whatever he wants
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BTW their facilities are not Slightly better they are 95% better. No one seems to comprehend the NJ kids are right over the Bridge from the Prep and Roman and have been attending school there forever.It appears folks dont want a real state champion . ONly a Public school champion.
I dont recall ANYONE crying foul when Juice Scruggs an Ohio resident played for Erie Cathedral Prep and on to Penn State.
Also if PA public’s want to win they need to pay. In states like South Carolina Georgia Alabama Texas the head football coach does not teach. He gets 100+kin salary and has assistant coaches he wants. Come on PA do this. A place like Coatsville or Pennridge Liberty North Penn and spend those tax dollars on football and blow up those facilities like they do in the Deep South and recruit players then I bet no one would be bitching about public vs private. PA is behind the curve. Look at some of the facilities just in South Carolina look at Dutch Fork Gaffney Spartanburg Byrnes Northwestern. Come on PA don’t let St Joes Prep tea bag you
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sammy- lol... I wish! Schools just do not cough up a lot of money for football- pretty sure most PA schools do not even give full time "job" to HCs, pretty sure most are 10-20 thousand- but yea, im all for more money for football!!
My comment was in response to the use of "multiple states" when the fact is the Prep gets players and students-as it has always done--from two. "Multiple" recalls some of the ridiculous statements--some on here--about the Prep having players from four or from all over the northeast. Just try for a minute to see this from an SJP/PCL perspective. They were invited to join the PIAA when anyone who cared to know--and many clearly did know--that SJP in particular had more than a hundred students from Jersey. If someone--and you are clearly one such person--who think that having one player who lives in another state should make a team ineligible for the PIAA playoffs, then there is really only one thing to do: make the case to the PIAA and ask for a rule change. Jumping up and down on a forum like this and repeating "Unfair! Unfair!" does nothing.
Again, the picture may look very different in Pittsburgh or Erie, but the reality in SE PA is different.
" may look very different in Pittsburgh or Erie "
no, different in 90% of the state ie different in the vast majority of the whole state
"jumping up and down" saying unfair, no
whining, no, frankly just trying to state points and make a case that pcl schools "play by different rules" and somehow you guys think that is not true
i really dont friggin care enough to "try to get them out of the PIAA"
im done w this topic
"Don't ...care enough" to get them out of the PIAA, but you and some others keep complaining and saying the rules should be changed.
All the schools in District 12 play by rules different from those in much of the rest of the state (but not for all private schools across the state) because none of them have the kind of boundaries public schools outside of Philly have.
I think we’re all in agreement about this. ST. Joes prep has unfair advantages, which leads them to being in the last 9 out of 10 title games.
The PIAA made a mistake combining leagues
Still waiting on NA to roll them as you stated 60 days ago … irony is Prep got rolled by Lebo last year … oh the irony and hypocrisy, you’re not whining, but you started the thread - LOL
LOL - some and slightly … Prep has none and no tax dollars … NJ is ten minutes away, students from there for 70+ years, and school has been in same location since 1851
Cmon - are you serious - WPIAL is better??!! Haven’t you read any of this thread?? That’s the basis of argument for football and now basketball - the fact is PCL had their rules before PIAA came knocking … whether WPIAL was around longer has no reference to the position … you folks will say anything like a slippery slope to make a false point
60 days ago I didn’t know how deep the rabbit hole went. St joes prep makes a mockery of the true nature of competitive sports. Lebo was one of the best wpial teams of all time and they beat a weak SJP team. Absolutely absurd
It’s the PIAA, P stands Pennsylvania. You shouldn’t be able to get kids from New Jersey
They do play by the rules given to them so you can't hate on the athletes. The student athletes at prep, ng, Imhotep, and Neumann aren't doing anything wrong but the rules need changed. Even though the Piaa allows it it is not fair and people are taking notice with the pcl. You shouldn't be allowed to put together these all star teams they are putting together. It's not good for the athletes or the fans. Can anyone even tell me the last school to win a football championship from the east in the 3 biggest classifications and before 2015 the 2 biggest classifications that wasnt a private or charter school?
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LOL the whole reason they were recruited to play at SJP is because they are bigger, faster, stronger, and more athletic
it's not like SJP or any public school with better facilities or their own field can magically turn poodles into pit bulls, you're either a pit bull or your not
those kids at SJP, they are pit bulls
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Dear PA public schools. Stop bitching and get better. Here are some ways to do that
1. Get with your AD principals and supers and get a choice transfer set up for each district
2. Vote in board members who are sports minded and will make sure $$$ is spent on athletics
3. Know that the PCL is a different animal and collaborate with other coaches in your district on how to beat them. Put the target on their backs and do whatever you must to beat them
4. Bring in some new blood to PA. Go get coaches from out of state that have different ideas and practices that may enhance football on your team or your area. PA has great coaches but an infusion of new blood may be needed. Bring in some people who could give 2 shits about thebPCL like a Tommy knotts and pay them
Now this is from a guy who lives in NC but has lost to the catholic schools here (Charlotte Catholic and Cardinal Gibbons). Now for me I want to play them again and again to learn from what we did wrong and figure out a way to beat them. Do I have to “get players” do I need a new scheme do I have to change my offseason weight program do I need more of my kids to run track do I need a new coach to make my staff better whatever it is I want to beat them and will figure that out. Again PA don’t let the PCL tea bag you. Get the parents involved have them change rules about transferring have them support new facilities it can be done. St Joes prep has raised the bar do they have advantages for sure but they have raised the bar and are not leaving will the public’s raise their bar or just throw up their hands and say unfair. I mean Jesus Christ do I have to put the Rocky speech on here
1. Get with your AD principals and supers and get a choice transfer set up for each district
2. Vote in board members who are sports minded and will make sure $$$ is spent on athletics
3. Know that the PCL is a different animal and collaborate with other coaches in your district on how to beat them. Put the target on their backs and do whatever you must to beat them
4. Bring in some new blood to PA. Go get coaches from out of state that have different ideas and practices that may enhance football on your team or your area. PA has great coaches but an infusion of new blood may be needed. Bring in some people who could give 2 shits about thebPCL like a Tommy knotts and pay them
Now this is from a guy who lives in NC but has lost to the catholic schools here (Charlotte Catholic and Cardinal Gibbons). Now for me I want to play them again and again to learn from what we did wrong and figure out a way to beat them. Do I have to “get players” do I need a new scheme do I have to change my offseason weight program do I need more of my kids to run track do I need a new coach to make my staff better whatever it is I want to beat them and will figure that out. Again PA don’t let the PCL tea bag you. Get the parents involved have them change rules about transferring have them support new facilities it can be done. St Joes prep has raised the bar do they have advantages for sure but they have raised the bar and are not leaving will the public’s raise their bar or just throw up their hands and say unfair. I mean Jesus Christ do I have to put the Rocky speech on here
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No matter what they do out east the public schools can't compete with the pcl. Especially when they are cherry picking a lot of their best players. 09 is the last public school in the east to win a title. That's insane. We don't have a private league all star conference on the western park or the state and look at the results of it. We had all public representatives with 2 of those schools winning titles.
I disagree and we can disagree. There has to be a path it’s just are districts willing to pay the price to beat them.
Or they can become a private school, join the pcl, and go get the talent. It's hard to complete when your best players are getting cherry picked.
Cherry pick them back. Build facilities have choice transfer and go after them. The time has come for PA to change and open some things up. The state needs to let kids transfer within county. I am telling g you you get the right “guy” kids will flock to that program. That is common place in the south. It can be done but what you need is some supers with some guts.
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haus,I recall several years ago The Thomas Jefferson coach complaining about the same things at ECP and didnt want to play them. I could be mistaken ,but I do remember something to that affect. Do you remember this ??
Cathedral Prep routs Thomas Jefferson in PIAA quarterfinals | Trib HSSN
Against a roster Bill Cherpak dubbed the Erie all-stars, Thomas Jefferson had to be perfect. The Jaguars weren't, and Cathedral Prep pounced. Prep quarterback Joe
tribhssn.triblive.com
Cherpak: “We're not playing on a level field, but nobody wants to hear it, so I'm not even going to talk about it anymore,” Cherpak said. “It's just not a level playing field, but that's OK. I'm proud of the way we played.”
Funny because Thomas Jefferson knocked ecp out of the playoffs that following year and ECP got forced up in classifications and hasn't been to a state title game in 5 years, minus the COVID year they had forfeits to the finals. What can you do to prep? Can't force them up a classification. No one's able to bring in the talent they are. No one's doing what the pcl is doing or the Philly privates. There isn't a private school in the western part of the state doing what the pcl is doing. Right now if you look in the MaxPreps national rankings Imhotep is #2 and Neumann # is #6. Prep will be the same in football. I can't think of a private school in the state that's doing what the pcl is. They grab top talent. There wasn't this debate before 2008 because Piaa didn't have an all star league dominating.
Stop saying that😡😡😡😡 they get players from jersey. No other state. I’m pretty sure northern Allegheny have players from the same distance. That multiple state thing is something ppl been running with to make their players feel good.
Public schools not being able to compete with pcl out east is a deeper issue. Most public school in district 12 are non- boundary so kids can choose where they want to go. That freedom waters down the public school teams. You have the choice to play where you want. Northeast have been a public power since d12 entered the PIAA. They have players from all over bigger school, better facilities and tuition free. Look at it this way…… what if PIAA says sjp couldn’t take children from 10 miles away. Could you imagine some public schools if they couldn’t get players outside of 10 miles? Who would hurt more sjp or the public schools?
Mileage is relative; ten miles in urban and suburban areas would be huge while it wouldn’t be as big of an advantage in the middle-of-nowhere PA. For reference, Downingtown-Coatesville is about 40 miles from SJP.
