Are you ready for some football?
Welcome to the official blog on high school football for the 2013 season.
During the off-season let’s talk about players, recruiting news, teams and everything about high school football.
During the season each week let’s talk about match-ups and how teams did. Let us know what player(s) stood out each week.
2,248 Responses
@RedDawgs,
Thanks man, I was going on speculation with teams moving classes. That was kind of a hot topic at the Prep/Neshaminy game. Consensus was Ryan moving down and Wood moving up. I’m not shocked Wood stayed in AAA, was hoping for a move up though. Is there a list of some sort posted? Curiosity running on this one!
@phillyboy,
I don’t see inter-ac moving into PIAA. Stranger things have happened, but they would have to change a lot of things before they do. I see a bunch of kids going to inter-ac schools for high school and you see them over the year and their in 8th grade again. Talking about good students. I think PIAA would frown upon that.
Jive
Decisions had to be handed in yesterday. Confirmed
Ryan 3A
Wood 3A
Imhotep 3A
I meant Wood staying 3A
Wood staying 4A
@Russ,
I’ve heard Ryan is going down to AAA, and Wood up to AAAA. Don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard it quite a few times and that is the buzz around here. Probably the best time for both teams to make that move. Wood loses very few impact players, so they should give the 2014 AAAA a heck of a run. Ryan loses a bunch of impact players, so going down gives them their best shot of competing in 2014. I don’t see O’Hara or Bonner moving up, they would have no chance in the AAAA PCL. Haven’t heard anything about Imhotep moving up, but I don’t think right now is the right time for them to move up. I will tell you why next week.
@ Jive
You got a bombshell, huh? Let me venture a wild guess: the Inter-Ac is joining the PIAA.
Wow 17th and G… “Et tu Bute?”
Jive,
I wait with breathless anticipation 🙂
rumer has it the Imotep moved to 3A.. Ryan is dropping to 3A… and Caaroll and Lansdale swithed.. someone from the 3A- Wood/Ohara/ Bonner moving up to 4A or is there going to be 5 teams in the 3A next year instead of 4?
Imhotep to play AAA next year
@17th,
I don’t want to take away from the kids playing this weekend. After some thought I realize they should be getting all of the press this week. However, Sunday starts a new week. I’m still checking with my sources, but if the info I’m getting is correct, I’ve got a bombshell for you guys. Hoping for 4 good games and no major injuries this weekend. Good luck to all involved!
The D12 “open enrollment” situation will not change. If anything Charter Schools will only grow in the Philadelphia area. If you think about it they have the best of both worlds. They are private schools funded by the City of Philadelphia. The ability to educate is in question but they are not going away. As soon as Albie and his Crew win the State Championship with a legitimately developed program in 2013 or 2014; the other Philly Charters will go through trophy envy and the unscrupulous movement to win will rise to a ridiculous level.
Eventually, the PIAA is going to have to do something about D12 but don’t expect it in the near future. On the other side of the state the WPIAL is another issue until recently (2008) it was the WPIAL against the state but there were no complaints. Now it has become the WPIAL and D12 against the state and it will soon be addressed.
In another post I stated if there were all PUBS in the finals there would be no issue. I will expand on that comment, if there were all PUBS and AAAA, AAA and AA were from the D12 there would be an even bigger issue, especially if they were Charters.
@Billy Splain
Cool. My grandfather was on the schoolboard when Curry was hired. Helped him get to Berwick. So I will always have a soft spot for Curry. Wish he never would have left. Wonder how the team would have been those years.
@jive…right on.
@DanD…I’m well aware of the Felder situation..lol…I am a berwick product and grew up 3 houses away from Curry…was just bustin ya on the felder recruited remark…I actually keep in touch with him, he’s a great, great story of success out of adversity.
Thanks Billy, starting to make much more sense to me now. We have a completely different setup in Philly from the rest of the state. We might be a little misunderstood how others do it and vice versa. I’ll use Allentown as an example, no clue if they have a charter school, just an example. So I move to Allentown near Parkland. My option for a public would be Parkland, and only Parkland. If they had a charter over by Salisbury, I would have the option to apply there. I could also go to ACC, but Salisbury HS would not be an option. Where as in Philly it doesn’t matter where I live, I can go to any school that will have me. I agree with tsaf, everybody’s opinion is gonna be biased towards where they live, that’s just what we know. People in Philly are gonna say, “why can’t kids in Allentown go to any school they want”? And people from Allentown are saying, “why do you get bus fare to go to a school 15 miles away, when you could walk to school 3 blocks away”. Both legitimate points. Which is the better option? I don’t know, certainly not up to me to decide that. Just wanted to see how everybody else looks at it, so I can understand where everybody is coming from on their points. Personally, I have a kid in my local Catholic school HS. The local public is on the state top 10 list for being unsafe, and the local charters don’t offer football. I’m a big fan of having my kid close to home, so really my only option is to write the check every month.
tsaf77
Open enrollment can’t even exist in a school district with one high school. How many school districts in this state still have multiple high schools? We have open enrollment in Wilkes-Barre Area, but we only have the three high schools, not 80. I suppose a Wilkes-Barre City all star team could be assembled if all the good players decided to go to one city school. I just don’t see that ever happening. Too much politics.
Jive
In D2, we only have two (2) Catholic High Schools, Holy Cross and Holy Redeemer. We also have one Jesuit High School, Scranton Prep. There were many more Catholic High Schools a few years ago, (Bishop Hoban, Bishop Hannon, Bishop O’Hara, Bishop O’Reilly, Seton Catholic) but they were all consolidated into the two current High Schools.
As far as I know, we only have one “private school” Wyoming Seminary. They are a Prep School that goes up to the 13th grade (5th year seniors). Sem does compete in the PIAA in certain sports like Field Hockey and Basketball. But their Football team and Wrestling team (ranked 2nd the nation) play a prep school schedule and are not in the PIAA.
To answer your question, we call Sem a “Prep School” and the Catholic schools “private schools”. Like I said in another post, I know of only one Charter school in my area, and that is a grade school. Most people around here are totally unfamiliar with the charter school concept. And, to be honest, if it weren’t for this thread, I would have no clue about charters either.
@Billy Splain
Felder wasn’t recruited. He was at a Job Corps for toubled youth. SOmeone who knew the Berwick program suggested he enroll back in high school. I was just saying withouot moving to a better situation his life may be different now. That is why i don’t have a problem with kids going to private school. Berwick actually has Catholic schools only till the 8th grade. There is plenty of Berwick kids who actually make 1 hour drive to go to private schools just to go to better school system. Nobody cares because it doesnt involve big sport students. It is the kid and parents decision and if they want to better themselves let them transfer.
@Jive I think most see public as public, catholic and charter as private due to the fact that you have to apply and enroll in those schools. I do believe a lot of fans lump charter in with catholic just due to the fact that charters, like catholic, have no boundaries and many don’t realize what a charter really is. You won’t find many across the state with your view of private because outside of philly they don’t really have any.
@tsaf..good info. I do think that is where most have the problem with the cath/pub debate. A member of our forums put out these numbers: http://www.keystonesportstalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14977
@footballmom…I’m not trying to offend you. Open debate is a good thing. There’s more to talk about when it comes to football than just stats. It’s a football environment. Please respect everyone’s right to talk about any football subject. As you can tell, many don’t think it’s ridiculous. Good luck to your son this weekend.
@ Billy Splain
The number is actually generous in giving privates 18%. The number from last rotation is closer to 13% of all schools that participate in football. That number can shrink even more for this upcoming numbers analysis. All you have to do is take the time to go through the 579 schools in the PIAA and view their status, to which there are 3 (private, public and yes, charter). Isn’t it funny that the PIAA has given Charter its own category and chose not to list it with public.
The argument of this concept has been around for a long time. It hasn’t just come up, it is processing an issue with the PIAA. No matter where you are from, you will have a somewhat bias opinion. The issue revolves around the fact that yes District 12 has an “open enrollment” policy that people from the other Districts don’t understand and “most” D12 guys don’t understand why everyone else has a problem with it.
The reason everyone else has a problem and brings it up is that “Open Enrollment” doesn’t really happen much outside of D12. Sure the talent pool is filled in Philly, they have great athletes. It’s the numbers that also play a key role.
Example.
Philadelphia County has a population of 1.5 million people with 42 schools that offer football. 12 schools are private (with kids attending outside Philly County). You are also dealing with 11,100 people per square mile in Philly County. To acquire very good and talented teams is not out of the ordinary with those numbers and “open enrollment.”
To compare, look at District 2. You have 160 people per square mile without open enrollment. You couldn’t have “open enrollment” because kids would be bussed 2 hrs to school in some cases. I am not trying to inundate everyone with fuel however just showing reality.
@ OL Coach
1st, your idea of opening a Charter in D2 wouldn’t work. Maybe in Scranton or Hazleton but that is pushing it and you still wouldn’t get the numbers to be remotely close to Philly County. Come out of D12 and see the rest of society because that comment to Billy doesn’t really make much sense.
Secondly, I am not going to name students on a high school football blog. I guess you don’t work in education. Some call it recruiting others call it “Better opportunities” as the reason transfers occur in the PCL. I have stated before, I have very happy relatives after last weekend who were excited their Alma-mater made it to the final in SJP. I am happy for SJP, everyone affiliated and hope they win the state. I am fine with my relatives bragging because they don’t deny the “better opportunities” of SJP. It is what it is, just don’t deny it! It is the people that seek the “Blind Side” or ESPN 30 for 30 stories with their program and deny “open enrollment” as a means of acquiring a talented team. It’s fine, just don’t preach poverty!
Can I also argue the whole D12 AA, AAA and AAAA teams getting a BYE, absolutely! It is a fact and flaw within the PIAA. Prove me wrong on it.
Projected STATE WINNERS for P.I.A.A FOOTBALL
CLASS -A-
OLD FORGE 22
NORTH CATHOLIC 3
CLASS -AA-
SOUTH FAYETTE 30
IMHOTEP CHARTER 14
CLASS -AAA-
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 33
BISHOP McDEVITT 20
CLASS -AAAA-
ST JOSEPH’S PREP 42
PITTSBURGE CENTRAL CATHOLIC 31
anyone else with predictions for this weekend?
I think the most interesting game is the AAA one. Can McDevitt finally get over the hump or is AW too physical for them?
The othe rgame that has me intrigued is the Old Forge game. I dont know much about either squad, but i do not think NC has faced a team as physical as Old Forge.
Should be a good weekend.
@billysplain please don’t tell me to calm down. I was just making a statement on how all of this talk about recruiting is ridiculous. This fan blog should be about football.
Just one question. This may sound silly, maybe not. This is not trying to start any kind of controversy or debate, just curious about something. We all might have been locked in a debate that we all use different verbiage for. In Philly we call public schools, public schools. We also include charters as public schools (Frankford, Imhotep). We call the Catholic schools, Catholic schools (Archbishop Wood, Father Judge). And we call our private schools, private schools (Malvern, Germantown Academy). The term private school to us, in the Philly are, refers to those $30k per year schools with 5th year seniors, and not participating in PIAA. Just curious if you guys in the other parts of the state look at it the same way? Lots of times we get into these long debates and at the end we do the old “oh that’s what you guys call that, we call it this”. Like I said, I am not trying to debate anybody on this. I honestly don’t care if you call a Catholic a private, or a spoon a fork. Just curious is all.
Here’s a shout out to Boston College RB Andre Williams (Parkland 2010) and his Heisman Trophy Candidacy. Nice to see a local Eastern PA high school player get invited to NY for the show! Congrats Andre!