Comments on: Tigers Send Saints Marching Home

By: Pennsyltucky Proud

Pennsyltucky Proud — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 23:02:57 +0000

Great articles, as always, Mr. Fegley. Your posture on Pub v Priv is well-written and well-argued. The ability to recruit and offer money to attend clearly grants an advantage. Still, the families that take advantage of the opportunities available cannot be faulted, particularly the athlete that smartly uses these opportunities to transform him or herself into a student (and then utilizes this platform to get to college and then later, the real world). It should not be forgotten there are just as many of these stories as those of exploitation and waste of opportunity.
PS: Go Tigers!

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 16:27:28 +0000

Love SCA football. Great game keep up the good work. I think where you are really seeing an unfair advantage is in the Archbishop Wood and St. Joe’s Prep level, where they are either reaching or winning the state championship game. I know the same can be said of Southern Columbia and their dominance over three decades that is an unfair advantage, however, when your players are recruited from a large area and population, not to mention former parents that were NFL or NCAA standouts it seems to be a little unfair. Now, if you know anything about Southern football and you should they did have a similar scenario with Henry Hynoski but his dad was originally from the area. Liked this article and all the rest you right. Good luck Southern Columbia much success for the future. I would like to see as a true test a matchup between SCA and SJPrep at the end of the season. I know there is a huge difference in classification from AA to AAAAAA but to me the only school that can potentially matchup from past experiences and body of work is the Tigers to the Hawks. Make this matchup happen to see the true separation of programs.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 21:49:52 +0000

Good luck in AAA they need to recruit better. Oh as for the being a good person comes first. It sure looked like it when that player got ejected he was showing sportsmanship and being a good person. Also, the fans didn’t even applaud when one of the southern players got up after being hurt.

By: David G. Shipton

David G. Shipton — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 17:26:42 +0000

I take it Southern Columbia is having issues with some folks around that area regarding recruiting. Anyway, an in depth look at Neumann-Goretti roster will reveal a number of kids who came from Del Val Charter. They followed their coach to Neumann-Goretti which is natural. Also, some of the kids who transferred in are actually from South Philly which as we all know is where NG is located. NG actually lost some kids, talented kids, who transferred out after NG forfeited their last 3 games last year. It is true that Coach Albie Crosby has a following around here regarding high school football. He has been very successful as a head coach so he has earned that following. Coach Albie was brought onboard to rescue a program that was in dire straits and that’s exactly what he did. If I have a kid who is a talented football player and I see that the talent he has can maybe give him an opportunity to get a college education then I’m going to send that kid wherever I see fit to make the most of that opportunity. There is only a small window to take advantage of that opportunity so I’m going to make damn sure that I do anything and everything to ensure that my kid doesn’t get overlooked. Football isn’t the only reason that Albie has a following. He stresses the academics as well as the whole package meaning being successful as a football player isn’t the end all be all of the program. Athletics, Academics but also being a good person are the three principles he stresses to the kids with being a good person at the top. He plays by the same rules the rest of the schools play by and there is no use in distinguishing public and private here because the rules are the rules. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here to say that if the rules were to change then he would be successful then too. It’s just the way he is and the ability he has to coach up the kids would make him a success anywhere he goes. I think the same would be said in Coach Roth’s case. One thing that did stand out to me was the size of Southern Columbia’s coaching staff. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a staff with so many coaches. It looked like a college coaching staff. All I am saying is if you take an in depth look at the roster you’ll see that kids came to the school in different ways but all are legit in one way or another. Doesn’t a successful coach deserve to get kids if he has a track record of 1)get kids into college 2)win and 3)turn out good kids. I’d be willing to bet that there are probably more than a few parents who made a move into Southern Columbia’s district to maximize his kids talents. I’m also not saying it’s wrong. I may get some heat for this but I would consider it if I lived close to but not in a district and had to move to maximize my kids talents. That’s called doing whatever it takes to help my kid succeed. How many people have moved away due to their job? If you would do it for yourself then why wouldn’t you do it for your kid? What is the difference between traveling great distances and spending tons of money so that my kid can play for top notch soccer, basketball or baseball all-star teams and putting my kid in a school with a successful football program? Football is also a sport where you have to really take advantage of the season. I know there are camps and now 7 on 7 but where do you really determine if a kid can play or not. It’s not like those other sports where they are making the high school seasons almost irrelevant. Ask any college recruiter what is the most important tool he has when recruiting a kid and he’ll almost certainly tell you it’s the game film.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 16:24:43 +0000

Not sure why the non boundary schools aren’t treated the same as North Penn(Blossburg/Mansfield/Liberty), East Juniata or CMVT (to name a few). They have to include the enrollment of their feeder schools even though in some cases they only get a small number of players from them.

By: jrshooter

jrshooter — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 15:30:56 +0000

I know you had a point you were determined to make, but a 45-12 SCA blowout kind of undermines your intent. 🙂