I'm not an ecp guy but just a big piaa football fan. I am unbias but I love these debates and they are fun. It's also hard to say with that sjp team because they didn't play anyone last year. The best team they played was a medicore la salle team. There's no measuring stick to base them off of. I'm not going to argue that they didn't have a ton of talent though.
I think we all understand what made last year unique. but if you're saying a mediocre LaSalle team was the best team SJP beat last year, what are you saying about District 1 champion Souderton and Central York which was undefeated entering the state championship game and that had won most of its games by very wide margins? If, following your characterization, they were less than mediocre, what does that say about PA football?
Ok mediocre wasn't a good word to use but my point was they didn't play another great team. There was no out of state competition on thier schedule and they played a good not great central York team. There's no measuring stick. I would of loved to see them play thier 2019 schedule and see what they would of done.
We'll never know how they would have done. That's the long and the short of it and what gave rise to this long thread. The most impressive thing about the 2019 team was how, when everything seemed about to crumble in the game against PCC they pulled the win out of the ha5th.t without McCord and Trotter (and Rightley and, for most of the game, Leneghan).
Are you aware that st Joe Preps team last year had 9 Division 1 seniors 1 Division 2 Senior and so far 7 Division 1 underclassmen on that team. They include Clemson,Ohio State, Duke, Temple,South Carolina,Penn .Harvard Penn State [3 underclassmen offers] and many more high end offers. Bottom line is the Prep would not have been beaten by anyone in Pa. Listen ,I root for ECP , but they would not compare with that specific team. BTW ,I have the names of the players if anyone wants them. I was too lazy to type all of them LOL.
SJP lost to NP in 2010. SJP beat them in 2011 and then they didn't play one another till 2016.
Another thing....those big pads exaggerated things to the absurd when looking at film, oversizing everyone. Actually not all that long ago with some still using the big pads in the 1990s. I sure liked how I looked in them!
That's what makes good teams great. They find ways to win. Especially with their top guys out.
The younger brother Josiah could end up being better than Jeremiah IMP
I know sjp just reloads every year and never has a down year but how is next year's team going to be? They took a big hit with losing the big 3.
might be running more this year which won't be a issue and still the team to beat in 6A
Two of my posts from earlier this year. are below. One thing that's happened since the later one (the second one below) is that they've picked up an apparently very promising defensive lineman named Heard. They also have some more promising sophs (e.g. running back David Washington) than I realized. Yesterday, Keenan Nelson committed to South Carolina (disappointing PSU).
I mean, part of what happened is Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Central Catholic had to forfeit out of the tournament, the District 1 playoffs got totally jacked up by only four teams qualifying, District 11 didn’t even participate. Hats off to Souderton and Central York for beating the teams in front of them, but I don’t think in a regular year you’d see them in the state final four. Not that it would have mattered, SJP would have embarrassed all of the other teams I listed, but you have to take a lot of last seasons final results with a grain of salt.
I wasn't saying they would win but I thought they could complete with them. I think the 2017 team was every bit as talented as thier 2000 team. They were definitely loaded and would of paid to see that game. 2017 was also imo one of the most talented years for pa football. You had Manheim township, coatsville, ecp, Imhotep, sjp, Harrisburg, pine Richland, southern Columbia, wood, ect... The only other year I can think of with this many talented teams was 1999. Always love your breakdowns rover.
I wasn't saying they would win but that I thought they could complete with them. I think the 2017 team was every bit as talented as thier 2000 team. They were definitely loaded and would of paid to see that game. 2017 was also imo one of the most talented years for pa football. You had Manheim township, coatsville, ecp, Imhotep, sjp, Harrisburg, pine Richland, southern Columbia, wood, ect. The only other year I can think of with this many talented teams was 1999. Always love your breakdowns rover.
Comparing SJP to other public school teams in PA is absurd! Of course SJP "would have embarrassed all of the other teams...etc". They're a National team. No public school should ever be measured against SJP or IMG or the private school monsters of the world....in any year. Anomalies?....sure, about every 10+ years like Pine. Otherwise, why would you do that, anymore than you'd compare 12 cylinders to 4?
Stalker,
I think what makes sjp different from other private schools and makes them similar to img is they never have to rebuild or have down years.
I realize IMG is unique unto itself. And I hope the board knows I wasn't trying to demean SJP's program. But after all the talk on this topic it borders on the outlandish that anyone would in any way compare SJP to any public school in PA, anymore than you would compare NFL football to College ball or College to High School. The difference, dynamic, gulf etc is that stark.
Stalker,
Big,
Everyone gets out coached when you have that kind of talent on the field. You could switch coaches staffs from sjp and those other teams and I bet you the outcome doesn't change any.
Two Points: First, however good the talent, it doesn't win entirely by itself. SJP coaches also do a really good job with the majority of their players who don't have D1 talent. Second, coaching a high-profile program with lots of talented players brings its own challenges. I'm not saying they're greater than the challenges of coaching a team with little talent and low expectations / support, but they're not easy ones.
Tulla, True most games it really doesn't matter who's coaching because of the talent difference. I also have seen and few games in past years where teams had SJP on the ropes but, ended up losing because of coaching decisions made during the game.
I think they have a good coaching staff who does a great job but I disagree when people say they out coached those other teams. They didn't out coach central York they were just a way superior team. They were out talented.
You're making my point. When a team like SJP wins, it's put down to their talent (and recruiting). When they lose, it's often put down to the other team's coaching being better. I did a bit of it myself when I said in a post above when I suggested the loss to Marietta was at least partly a result of its being Roken's first game. (His decision, a bad one, to go into a power formation and run up the middle from about the 6 yard line after Leneghan's INT got questioned on national TV. He also made good decisions that game but they don't get remembered because SJP lost.)
I agree the Prep had too much talent for Central York and many other teams ,but they surely outcoached several others . They are so well disciplined in what they do year after year . Its a combination of talent and coaching that makes that engine go .
I think they have a good coaching staff who does a great job but I disagree when people say they out coached those other teams. They didn't out coach central York they were just a way superior team. They were out talented.
They are disciplined, they don't make a lot of silly penalties, and they don't shoot themselves in the foot. I do contribute that to good coaching but neither did central York. I could say img out coached sjp then.
Tulla, getting back late but I don't think Coatesville looked past Harrisburg in 2018. Coach Ortega is too good to allow that. But I do think it was a big surprise how much they improved since destroying them in the opener 37-6.
