METRO conference football?

[rocketballz]

Is the METRO Conference in the 757 area ever going to form a football conference? They play as a conference in every sport other than football. As of now Portsmouth Christian, Hampton Christian, Isle of Wight, Broadwater, and Atlantic Shores are all part of the Metro Conference that play football. For some reason, Isle of Wight plays football in the VES conference. Why not form a 5 team conference for football?

 

[JOEWM2004]

Because IWA has been playing in the VCC (not VES) for over 40 years. You can't buy rivalries like that.

 

[rocketballz]

Is Isle of Wight going to drop down to d4 this year for football or are they going to stay at the d3 level? Aren't they the only D3 school in the VCC, and all others are D4?

 

[LetsSee]

IWA will not leave VCC for football unless some serious schools come calling about forming another conference. Metro will not form a football conference because you don't know what AS is going to do from year to year. Plus you don't know if HCS is going to field a team for much longer. Look at AC, they tried to bring football back, had it one year and done. To risky to leave an established conference like the VCC.

 

[Coach Lance]

The question is one that was brought up and proposed at a meeting about a year and a half ago. A majority of these schools were playing or scheduled to play each other. with the exception of HC v IWA and Broadwater v ASCS. Both sets of games had been played in the past but were not currently scheduled. I believe it was worth the discussion but as earlier stated, IWA isn't going to leave the VCC for the Metro to give football a try and who can blame them. I wouldn't risk it either if I were in their shoes.




This post was edited on 6/20 3:38 PM by Coach Lance

 

[LetsSee]

Has AS made a proposal for joining the VCC? I know you play IWA and have played BSH in the past. Would that be a good fit for you?

 

[JOEWM2004]

If I'm not mistaken, Shores tried to join the VCC a very long time ago. I guess it didn't work and they went back to the Metro Conference.

 

[Coach Lance]

We have not attempted to join any conference since I've been here (8 Years) unless you count the previously stated proposal. Years ago we did discuss joining the VIC but it was more of an information gathering.. We would be open to discussion of joining a conference.

This post was edited on 6/24 1:27 AM by Coach Lance

 

[JOEWM2004]

This would have been almost 20 years ago.

 

[Coach Lance]

Yeah, thats a little before my time. Probably when they 1st started football here.

 

[JOEWM2004]

Probably. I remember they even scheduled basketball games for a trial run. I guess it did not work out because Shores re-joined the Metro Conference.

 

[Coach Lance]

Definitely a little easier on the travel budget and it'd bet it would have been difficult in '94 to see the lay of the land with regards to where Private School Football would go...

 

[MetroVCC6]

Sorry I'm late to the conversation-- "busy summer" would be a gross understatement!

I agree with everyone's assessment above about the non-viability of Metro football. With Hampton Christian folding their football program this year (HC Terry Harris picked up an assistant's job at HRA), that leaves four football schools and two of them have long-standing relationships with the VCC which they aren't about to give up. The willingness of Broadwater to play Fuqua (400 mile round-trip!!!) gives you a sense of what these rivalries mean to these teams. The other thing is that most of the A.D.s in the Metro Conference (the ones who don't play football) don't want their schools to get involved in football. It's always been a soccer-centered conference and unless your enrollment is at the level of an Atlantic Shores or other TCIS-sized schools, it's tough to sustain both football and boys soccer in the fall.

Also, I think I remember finding some news articles on the Atlantic Shores bid to join the VCC. It was, I think, in the 1994-95 school year and was mostly basketball-focused. Shores won their only state championship in basketball in 1993, then left the Metro to run with Ryan Academy, Coastal Christian, Teagle Christian, and their ilk. A year of that was enough and they realized filling schedules (especially for non-basketball sports) was easier with conference membership. Huguenot Academy, Commonwealth Christian, and St. Vincent DePaul were all on the verge of closing their doors (it was a tough time for private schools in general). Shores did a probationary year in the VCC in 1994-95 where they played each VCC school, but they were not invited to full membership at the end of their probation. The Steward School was admitted shortly after that and the VCC stabilized for a while. Shores stayed independent until the 1999-2000 school year when they were re-admitted to the Metro.

True, as Coach Lance points out, a lot has changed since then for private school sports in general and football in particular.