Top 5 toughest schedules 2015
- Thread starter Spider 2Y Banana
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Yeah can't argue there, I was looking briefly at the WPIAL schedules of the big dogs, Shaler seems to have the toughest of the west....
Wood has to be near the bottom for their first 3 non-league games: Gratz, Prep Charter and Allentown (NJ)? Not exactly murderer's row.
Does it really matter? Every team in the PCL makes the playoffs. The schedules means nothing in terms of the post season. I doubt that Wood's schedule will have any bearing on how far they go in the playoffs. If they get by Imhotep they will be in Hershey again.
Everything pales in comparison to SJP and LS unless like new2pa you go with a Shaler type "down" program in a power laden conference like that one, the Northern 8, the SOL-National or MP-Commonwealth.
I think North Penn with LaSalle, West Catholic and Downingtown East before the SOL-N wars is a difficult run probably making the top 5.
McDowell often plays a tough slate and State College who schedules strong programs like Martinsburg, WV, Harrisburg-McDevitt, even Spring Ford before their run in the MP-C.
I think North Penn with LaSalle, West Catholic and Downingtown East before the SOL-N wars is a difficult run probably making the top 5.
McDowell often plays a tough slate and State College who schedules strong programs like Martinsburg, WV, Harrisburg-McDevitt, even Spring Ford before their run in the MP-C.
I was only pointing out the weakness of Wood's NL schedule as a comparison to the original post. We can all agree that NL schedules for the PCL are irrelevant in terms of their playoff seeding but there it's hard to argue that playing a difficult NL schedule doesn't provide some benefits. If not, LaSalle and SJP would follow the same path as Wood and schedule cupcakes.
Agree!!!
I don't think Wood's schedule is awful, but as a fan I'd like to see them be a bit more ambitious in scheduling.
Delaware Valley Charter out of league schedule is:
1. Haverford School
2. Aquinas Institute in Rochester NY
3. Friendship Academy, DC
4. West York High
5. Archbishop Spaulding from Md
1. Haverford School
2. Aquinas Institute in Rochester NY
3. Friendship Academy, DC
4. West York High
5. Archbishop Spaulding from Md
I think they did an awesome job of upgrading their schedule from previous years.
I still think it should be the same as every other catholic sport everyone competed against each other and then at the end the top team in each class goes to districts or the tip 2 teams compete in a class championship
The problem is that there's a huge gap between the top PCL teams and the weaker teams. Most games between the AAAA and AA PCL teams would be a massacre (witness LaSalle's 63-0 beatdown of Neumann-Goretti a few years ago) and would be detrimental to both teams.
From a purely competitive perspective, you're right, an uncompetitive blowout in high school basketball (or any sport) is a terrible outcome for both teams.
One key difference in football is that games with huge mismatches in terms of talent, size of players, # of players, coaching, etc. is that it creates material safety risks for the weaker team - i.e. nobody is getting concussed in a basketball blowout is risking concussion just by stepping onto the court. Another difference is that football success requires substantially more resources (more players, more coaches, more facilities, etc.) than a sport like basketball where a single elite player can completely reverse a bad team's fortunes. This means that the competitive imbalance in football is very difficult to reverse and unlikely to change.
If teams like McDevitt and NG faced 4-5 teams per year where they knew they would most likely get demolished, how long would it be before kids stopped coming out for those teams? Would the prospect of playing in the AA playoffs be a strong enough incentive to overcome the humiliation of getting blown out in half of their games? I doubt it.
Socalfan - In the Lehigh Valley, William Allen and Dieruff left the LVC for the MVC for this very reason. In an effort to save the football program and get more kids to play, they softened the schedule. The early results, particularly at Dieruff, are really promising. So I totally get why Neumann and McDevitt are playing Lasalle and SJP.
I still find it bizarre that the 4A schools don't play the 3A schools. What's the reason not to play Wood, Ryan, O'Hara every year if you're ostensibly in the same conference? And instead you're going out and trying to fill 6 weeks of non conference games? It clearly works for SJP and LaSalle, their football programs are great and they get to go out and measure themselves again the Bergen Catholics and St Ignatius of the world. But as an outside observer, I'd think something is lost by all these schools that have played each other for decades falling off of their schedules.
I still find it bizarre that the 4A schools don't play the 3A schools. What's the reason not to play Wood, Ryan, O'Hara every year if you're ostensibly in the same conference? And instead you're going out and trying to fill 6 weeks of non conference games? It clearly works for SJP and LaSalle, their football programs are great and they get to go out and measure themselves again the Bergen Catholics and St Ignatius of the world. But as an outside observer, I'd think something is lost by all these schools that have played each other for decades falling off of their schedules.
I'm not sure why the PCL does not mandate that all the AAA and AAAA teams play one another but LaSalle has regularly played against non-AAAA PCL teams in recent years (e.g. they're playing Wood for the second straight season and regularly played O'Hara and West Catholic a few years ago). I think it's likely that this trend will continue, at least for LaSalle - i.e. they will play 1 or 2 non-AAAA PCL teams every season for the foreseeable future.
I think there's a difference between football and basketball, partly owing to the fact that football is a much more of a contact sport than basketball. I understand basketball also involves contact, but the scale and the nature of the contact are different. So a football team that is much weaker than its opponent is very likely much more physically vulnerable and more likely to sustain injuries.
Take a look at college basketball where it's not uncommon for the very best teams to play a few much much weaker teams at the start of the season. The result is often a blowout. In football, a top team may play a weaker team but not usually a much weaker team from another division. Duke, for instance, opens playing Siena in basketball, but Alabama is not going to play
If the PCL mandated all AAA and AAAA schools to play one another, it would pretty much eliminate any chance the AA teams would play any AAA or AAAA team.
I would like to see SJP play a team like Wood--as they did for four consecutive seasons recently--but the SJP coaches have clearly decided that playing the kind of non-league games they play gives the program a higher profile, helps them attract kids to the school and program, and offers the best possible preparation for the big games at the end of the year. It's clearly been working, though I think there are limits (around distance and # of trips) that I'm pretty sure the coaches recognize.
The risk of injury is far much greater in football. Certainly reasonable men can see this.
This team is not in PA but DeMatha's non-league schedule is pretty stout: Miami Central last week (#2 in MaxPreps Xcellent 25 pre-season); American Heritage tomorrow (#19 in MaxPreps XCellent 25) and LaSalle next week.
Ovbisouly the risk of injury is greater in football then basketball. But im not sure there is any data that says the risk of injury is greater for a Goretti running back getting hit by a 215 LB linebacke rfrom Lasalle than a 215 LB linebacker from West Catholic.
My poinjt is that there are blowouts/bad match ups in every league/every sport. But for some reason, whenthey happen in football, everyone is looking ot change things.
My poinjt is that there are blowouts/bad match ups in every league/every sport. But for some reason, whenthey happen in football, everyone is looking ot change things.
Your first point is true but a stronger team will have a higher number of bigger/faster/stronger players so the risks are much higher for the weaker team.
There are several posts in this thread that address your second point.
