Rover....EPC alignment.

[Stalker]

Rover, I'm doing my usual post season review of the districts, looking at 11 now thinking how the conference might look if realigned from 2 to 3 divisions of 6 teams each. This is from the hip and simplistic. Bottom line thought was to allow members to get out of conference more, playing SOL, PCL, Mid Penn, whoever to increase interest and strengthen the programs for postseason. I have no insight to the politics, enthusiasm, etc in the district for football. In 3 we prioritize getting out of the area (conference), mixing it up. I realize excitement for the sport varies across the state. Curious of your view and if there is any energy for such a thing. Thx!

Something like this........
* 5 conference games instead of current 8-9
* 2 or 3 mandatory crossovers
* Freed up for 2 or 3 non-conf games

Alignment eg below
Red (all 6A): Emmaus, Nazareth, Freedom, Parkland, Easton, Northampton.
White: Liberty, Allen, Dieruff, 4A Beca, 4A ACC, 5A Whitehall
Blue: 4A ES-N, 5A ES-S, 6A Stroudsburg, 5A Pleasant Valley, 5A PM-E, 5A PM-W

 

[RoverNation05]

I hate the current set-up.

In other sports, they've done three divisions titled Mountain, Skyline, and Steel. Basically, that split is - the Steel are the city schools (Easton, Liberty, Freedom, Allen, Dieruff, Bethlehem Catholic) the Skyline are the suburban schools (Parkland, Emmaus, Nazareth, Northampton, Whitehall, Allentown Central Catholic) and the Mountain are the schools in the Poconos (Stroudsburg, ESN, ESS, PME, PMW, Pleasnt Valley).

Historically, the old Lehigh Valley Conference (pre-merger) used to do Divisions like you did for wrestling - divisions based on historical strength in the sport so that most of the matchups were "good-on-good". That really mattered in wrestling, because you always wanted Easton-Northampton-Nazareth-Parkland-Liberty to hit each other and not have national power Northampton wrestling ACC, Whitehall, and Dieruff every year but miss Nazareth and Easton. They've tried to kind of keep that format in crossovers.

I think the current model does a great disservice to schools that are good at football by eliminating non-conference games. Before they merged the MVC and LVC to make the current league, the LVC schools used to get good non-conference games - Easton had a stretch where they had non-conference games with CB West, Altoona, Cardinal O'Hara, Pennsbury. Liberty used to play Harrisburg and North Penn in non-conference at their apex, Parkland played SJP and Wilson West Lawn, etc. All that dried up in an effort to make ADs lives easier by having scheduling completed in all sports by the conference. It sucks.

 

[Stalker]

I hate the current set-up.

In other sports, they've done three divisions titled Mountain, Skyline, and Steel. Basically, that split is - the Steel are the city schools (Easton, Liberty, Freedom, Allen, Dieruff, Bethlehem Catholic) the Skyline are the suburban schools (Parkland, Emmaus, Nazareth, Northampton, Whitehall, Allentown Central Catholic) and the Mountain are the schools in the Poconos (Stroudsburg, ESN, ESS, PME, PMW, Pleasnt Valley).

Historically, the old Lehigh Valley Conference (pre-merger) used to do Divisions like you did for wrestling - divisions based on historical strength in the sport so that most of the matchups were "good-on-good". That really mattered in wrestling, because you always wanted Easton-Northampton-Nazareth-Parkland-Liberty to hit each other and not have national power Northampton wrestling ACC, Whitehall, and Dieruff every year but miss Nazareth and Easton. They've tried to kind of keep that format in crossovers.

I think the current model does a great disservice to schools that are good at football by eliminating non-conference games. Before they merged the MVC and LVC to make the current league, the LVC schools used to get good non-conference games - Easton had a stretch where they had non-conference games with CB West, Altoona, Cardinal O'Hara, Pennsbury. Liberty used to play Harrisburg and North Penn in non-conference at their apex, Parkland played SJP and Wilson West Lawn, etc. All that dried up in an effort to make ADs lives easier by having scheduling completed in all sports by the conference. It sucks.

Thanks Rover for the insight on other sports, configurations, etc as I'm largely football centric. I remember the 'old days, startling myself to find I've been on the board since 2001. What great games those were that could happen again with a little tweaking!
District 11 has solid, solid football that predictably gets little attention beyond their borders except at states. I'll see the game(s) on video for a fast review only, Big Ticket, team sites and so forth to see you have highly competitive teams. I know that's a big dahhhhhh to you and many of us but news (sadly) to those unfamiliar to Lehigh Valley football.
Like to see them get the word out. How hard can it be to do what you've outlined in others sports for football?

 

[D1 Transplant]

Stalk,
Even one out of district game would be fantastic. Imagine Labor Day games with District 1,3, 11, and 12 playing each other. Say four teams from each for 8 games.