Ridley????

[PAfootball2013]

Where do they go from here? Does wood stay? Does the GV guy continue to coach the O? What is that O? I’ve seen GV over the years and that looks nothing like what they did. Just wondering if my Macdade Boulevard correspondents have any news.

 

[Gang $$ Green]

This is big week for Ridley. Radnor is pretty good. However it is very conceivable that if they win this week they will be 5-3 with Upper Darby and Haverford left.

While I know many of the natives are restless especially with the offense etc if everyone is being honest this iteration not that talented. Nice 10th grade class but not great in 11th and 12th. Think Central is probably GV and Haverford and then Springfield, UD, Ridley, Radnor, Haven, Marple maybe even Lower Merion pretty darn close. And if Haverford doesn’t address some longstanding fundamental flaws throw them right in the middle of that mix as well.

 

[PanamaJack]

I have no connection to Ridley in any way, let me lead off with that.

I find it a little interesting that everyone brings up the offense. Yes, it appears they are not what Ridley used to be offensively. But, hasn't the defense allowed 90 points in the first two weeks. Wood does coach the defense, right? Are they losing every game 7-6? Allowing 55 and 35 in the first two weeks doesn't exactly scream lock down defense.

Gang Green, I do understand your point. But Haverford almost beat GV, and Ridley gave up 55 against them. Do you mean to tell me that Haverford is THAT much more talented than Ridley? With all of the kids that go to Ridley high school (in shear number of boys, I mean).

Is it possible that Ridley kids don't want to play for Coach Wood? I know he had some success at Widener, but maybe his style or scheme just doesn't work in high school?

I am not saying that Ridley is there yet, but at what point does everyone acknowledge that this just isn't working out? At what point do people start saying "This was a bad hire". As an observer of high school football in our area, I would love to hear Ridley people's opinions.

 

[Gang $$ Green]

Jack I hear you but in this instance my answer would be yes. The amount of talent staying at Haverford, Springfield, Marple etc is larger than its ever been. Two reasons. Archdiocesan schools have priced themselves into a spot where it’s too much for an archdiocesan education. Secondarily Inter AC and Preps of world have ramped up their competitiveness to such a national degree that recent kids from Central footprint who would be local studs haven’t gotten on the field at these places.

Telling you from an inside perpspective that the talent trickling down effect is real. Kid that four years ago could get on a field for a Springfield or Haverford can’t play there now. Kids that might have gotten on field as Sophs are just playing their senior year. So the depth is way better. Combine that with more of the “stars” staying home the effect is significant.

I know a lot of people think that is nonsense and Ridley should be at top with Garnet Valley every year. My opinion is talent wise this year they are middle of road. In fact tomorrow if you asked me which talent I would take to win the Radnor-Ridley game I would have to think long and hard.

It’s really not a mystery if you have watched these kids over the years. The 11th and 12th grade classes there haven’t been that successful. Just because they become varsity players why would they have bigger success now? Overall level of programs and players in Central League from top to bottom improving rapidly for reasons stated above. Also Ridley could easily be 5-3 staring down a playoff berth with wins over UD and Haverford. To me with this group be pretty damn good coaching job.

To address your question at what point do Ridley folks look at landscape and consider rather then Decker is wrong guy, Wood is wrong guy, maybe the cheese has moved slightly. I’ve said for awhile now other than Garnet Valley this league going to based upon what type of class specific talent you have whether you are in championship mix. Nobody going to avoid mediocre years.

 

[SPEED&JUMP DR.]

I, and many others , have been watching Ridley football for years , and this is clearly not Ridley football. I’m not naive enough to think they should be 3-0 , as a matter of fact I kind of saw 0-3 coming. But , I sort of go by the eye test and this is not a well coached football team. They are losing at a record pace unheard of in close to 70 years. No shame in losing to GV , but you can’t give up 55 points when defense is supposed to be your calling card. The teAm quit after the first quarter. And many failed to show up for Saturday practice the day after .

No shame in losing to Springfield , but Wood is now 0-3 against them and piled up over 100 yards in penalties, mostly due to lack of discipline- late hits , unsportsmanlike conduct , roughing the passer. Recurring theme. And not once was the player pulled aside , off the field , benched etc. . If the talent level has evened out ,then you need to play clean disciplined football and avoid mistakes. You can’t have kids chirping after every play game in game out.

Three plays against GV kind of sum up their woes . Opening kick off, the ref, loud enough for people in the stands to hear , warns the Ridley staff to back off the sideline . Ridley staff basically jakes the ref and refuses to move. Ridley gets a penalty. All the while , in this little exercise in authority, no one notices they only had 10 men on the field. Opening kickoff. First punt , another 10 men on the field , punt gets blocked. First TD, only 9 men on the field for the XP. You would go years without seeing those kind of mistakes ,let alone 3 in one game.

The way they are playing , they do not have many guaranteed wins left. They should beat Conestoga and Penncrest. LM is much improved but they should win that one. Radnor has already beaten Marple and is not a gimme, although I hear their QB is banged up. Strath Haven is running the ball on everyone and will run on Ridley UD is big and athletic and will give Ridley trouble. And Haverford hung with GV and might be playing for a share of the championship by week 10. Could they run the table and get to 7-3, anything is possible. But that might not be playoff worthy and they most likely are not good enough to reel off that many wins in a row.

Food for thought : last year Ridley fielded 18 varsity teams and went 0-18 in league champions and only 5 of the 18 had winning records. So it’s not just football that’s struggling. It’s across the board , boys and girls together.

 

[Gang $$ Green]

Speed I think that is a fair and balanced assessment. It certainly doesn’t take talent to play hard and be disciplined and have great attention to detail. I’m with you in the nothing drives me more insane then the personal foul with no correction. To me it sends two strange messages. First to the team that it is tolerated. Second to the officials that it’s almost encouraged. Once your team takes one and kid isn’t pulled off for a play almost guarantee it’s noticed by refs and chance of getting another pretty darn high. You get pretty interesting insights from hs officials who work these games.

 

[PanamaJack]

Jack I hear you but in this instance my answer would be yes. The amount of talent staying at Haverford, Springfield, Marple etc is larger than its ever been. Two reasons. Archdiocesan schools have priced themselves into a spot where it’s too much for an archdiocesan education. Secondarily Inter AC and Preps of world have ramped up their competitiveness to such a national degree that recent kids from Central footprint who would be local studs haven’t gotten on the field at these places.

Telling you from an inside perpspective that the talent trickling down effect is real. Kid that four years ago could get on a field for a Springfield or Haverford can’t play there now. Kids that might have gotten on field as Sophs are just playing their senior year. So the depth is way better. Combine that with more of the “stars” staying home the effect is significant.

Gang, I completely agree with what you are saying. But, allow me a little retort. You state that more kids are staying in district because of the growing tuition of the private schools. I believe that to be accurate. But, why wouldn't that same logic apply to Ridley? Wouldn't they benefit from this same trickle down? Or are more Ridley players playing elsewhere while other districts are retaining their talent? I don't know, which is why I am asking (I am assuming since your screenname is GangGreen you have some good Ridley knowledge).

I guess I have a hard time believing that a team that had enough talent to go 10-1 two years ago (which you can argue were the previous coach's players) has crashed enough where they would be a .500 program in the two years following. Other coaches there have been fired for having that type of record. Have kids changed that much? Where in 2 years you go from beating Garnet Valley to allowing 55 points? Maybe they are young at Ridley this year? I just never remember them being young hurting them in the past. At least not to the tune of 55 points, especially when the head coach runs the defense.

But it doesn't seem that the record is the issue. Reading Speed's post, its more about the product that is being put on the field. I haven't seen a Ridley game in a long time, but some of the things that Speed describes are not synonymous with Ridley. Arent all the things that Speed is describing a direct result of coaching, or lack there of?

Also, one thing that caught my eye. Is it common to have practices on Saturday mornings after Friday night games? I am out of the loop on that type of thing.

 

[Gang $$ Green]

Gang, I completely agree with what you are saying. But, allow me a little retort. You state that more kids are staying in district because of the growing tuition of the private schools. I believe that to be accurate. But, why wouldn't that same logic apply to Ridley? Wouldn't they benefit from this same trickle down? Or are more Ridley players playing elsewhere while other districts are retaining their talent? I don't know, which is why I am asking (I am assuming since your screenname is GangGreen you have some good Ridley knowledge).

I guess I have a hard time believing that a team that had enough talent to go 10-1 two years ago (which you can argue were the previous coach's players) has crashed enough where they would be a .500 program in the two years following. Other coaches there have been fired for having that type of record. Have kids changed that much? Where in 2 years you go from beating Garnet Valley to allowing 55 points? Maybe they are young at Ridley this year? I just never remember them being young hurting them in the past. At least not to the tune of 55 points, especially when the head coach runs the defense.

But it doesn't seem that the record is the issue. Reading Speed's post, its more about the product that is being put on the field. I haven't seen a Ridley game in a long time, but some of the things that Speed describes are not synonymous with Ridley. Arent all the things that Speed is describing a direct result of coaching, or lack there of?

Also, one thing that caught my eye. Is it common to have practices on Saturday mornings after Friday night games? I am out of the loop on that type of thing.

Panama all fair questions. First off zero Ridley affliation but lots of Delco affliation and familiarty with bunch of these kids playing now. The first point is a very important one to begin to understand how things are changing and probably really the whole key to the equation.

For years Ridley did a far better job of keeping good players in district than any other Central League team. In its heyday Strath Haven did well at this too. Ridley is the premeir program in Delco. If a kid had an opportunity to be part of that tradition they typically stayed. Recently they also had the benefit that the closest archdiocesan school in St James was the first to close. I would argue that might impact was very small because most kids in that district were already choosing Ridley over St. James for football. So Ridley may be losing some kids but for most part Ridley still getting most of their good in district players.

Where things have changed are at the other places. Kids that years ago were at Bonner, O'Hara, Carroll are at Central League programs in droves. Parents have decided too much money for archdiocesan education. Good sound foundational type players. Enough of the star type recruited kids have gone to Inter Ac or Prep and not made it on the field or at their desired position and become cautionary tales to the next kids. Kids face the decision should I go try and be a DB at Prep and get on field for my senior year or just go be the starting QB as a soph at Marple, Haverford or Radnor. More and more staying home so when Haverford, Marple, Springfield, Radnor, etc, etc are keeping their depth home and their stars home its a way bigger difference than at a Ridley where they have done great job at that for years.

I look around the Central League and I see kids playing in that league that I know would have never been there even 10 years ago. That's a great thing for the league. I think what it does is for the top half of the league it's going to be more about what you have in the current classes vs what your program is. For instance stars aligned for Haverford to be very good this year and next. After that could be tough two years. Ridley may be a little down here this year but likely at top in two years with GV. Radnor very competitive this year likely pack to middle of road the next year, etc, etc. End of day it's an opinion but one I think is fairly balanced.

I think there is a lot of traditional thinking in the Central when it comes to balance of power that quite frankly is outdated. For instance, Wood has lost to Springfield three times. Ok. The first two Springfield teams won the league. Were pretty dam good. Lost in D1 5a finals. I'd argue they likely have had the better talent in all three games. So why would Ridley win? Because they are Ridley and won 35 times in a row 10 years ago in totally different league. As Speed said it's not just football there in varsity sports. The logic in me would tell me either the talent at Ridley has dropped significantly or the teams they are playing have improved significantly. If you are honest with yourself its the latter more than the former.

Not just Ridley. Take Haverford. Community feels fairly happy they played GV tough. Why? Because traditionally back 20 years ago it was a accomplishment to go 6-5 and now 8-3 is considered great. Gotta get away from that at this point. Should have won that game. Need to win that game. Have to win games like that to step forward. That's darn hard to do and easy to write about but it's true. Almost guarantee Ricci takes Haverford talent over his this year. 20 years ago and what your program was has zero to do with today but we all allow traditions to cloud our own realities a bit, its human nature.