State of HS Football

[CRF4Dan]

We all love football but has anyone noticed changes? I've noticed this season that depth is a concern for a lot of coaches, even at bigger schools such as Class 5.

A topic of debate last night on social media was declining numbers.

Did you know that some schools are not fielding JV teams? Did you know that Bruton & Park View-Sterling will not be fielding varsity teams? There might be another varsity team up north that doesn't field a team because only 8 players showed up.

Our old friend Tom Garrett wrote an article about 5 years ago on the impending doom of high school football.

https://theaxisofego.com/2013/01/31/will-high-school-sports-exist-in-2043/

What are you seeing at your school? Do you see numbers dropping?

 

[757FridayNiteZ]

What IS a much bigger story is that American Football has gotten so BIG that Mexican beat our American National High School Team!!!

It's all about spin and perspective, right? If a few high schools have the majority of it's population that enjoys Soccer, that's fine. But to equate those changes into a story about the predicted death of American football is just a bit of a stretch!

The sky is not falling.

 

[otnorot]

At the other end of the scale, Battlefield had to make cuts for the first time ever:
http://www.insidenova.com/sports/fo...cle_86176f98-9afd-11e8-883d-7fd1e936e7d3.html

 

[TIDEPRIDE01]

At the other end of the scale, Battlefield had to make cuts for the first time ever:
http://www.insidenova.com/sports/fo...cle_86176f98-9afd-11e8-883d-7fd1e936e7d3.html

I made cuts my first year when I was the head football coach at Battlefield for the same reason. Not too many programs have to shell out $10,000 a year to get new helmets....not to mention they are busting out the seams in enrollments nearly 3,000+ students now...gonna build another HS that will split both Patriot and Battlefield

 

[TheDeathPenalty]

I wouldn't get to high about those Battlefield numbers. Word is that there was a chunk of kids who have little to no football experience.

 

[falcettik]

Disclaimer: my comment is opinion/anectodal, with not stats to back it up.

I think that the overall numbers have dropped for football. That is probably attributed to a host of factors that have been well discussed on this board. In this area, I can recall 12-15 years ago when some FR teams had upwards of 80-90 players (and in a few cases, even more). In the mid 2000's Westfield once had 210 come out for the first day of practice (9-12th grades). Some of those kids had no football experience or soon quit when they decided it was not for them, but the teams back then routinely had around 150-160 kids in the program on a consistent basis, usually split about 50-50 between the FR team and the Varsity/JV team. Fast forward to now and a team like WF has around 110-120 out this year (estimated) with about 70 on varsity and 40-50 on the FR team. Last year WF had to reschedule one FR/JV game, which is normally played on the same night, to accommodate a team that had so few players that they needed to bring up some of the FR to play with the JVs and therefore could not play both games on the same night-and that was not a lower tier program where this happened. I can also remember in the past that some of the lower tier school's FR teams would come to games with as few as 24-25 players. Although that is (barely) enough to have a FR team it is not a sufficient number to sustain a viable varsity program in the long run, as the kids decide football is not for them, or they don't get enough playing time, or they develop other interests or have to work, etc.

 

[SPL311U]

Since this is a fall sports forum...this isn't limited to just football. For cheerleading (yes, a VHSL sport) at a number of local schools there is no freshman team and JV squads are 1/2 the size of the 16-24 person Varsity teams (a few are coed). One of the things I think you are seeing generally, is that teams where the talent is developed at the club/AAU level see less interest from athletic kids, "just trying out" because the won't have the same level of skill or innate teamwork. (Example of this was James Madison's national champion softball team...most of those girls were playing on teams together from the age of six or seven...they knew - exactly - on every pitch how each other would react.)

 

[CRF4Dan]

Manassas Park has cancelled their season. Announced last night.

 

[mbonape1]

Manassas Park has cancelled their season. Announced last night.

Manassas Park is a 6a school? A 6a school can’t field a collective varsity team??? Wow!

 

[757FridayNiteZ]

They probably have as many people attend their soccer games as the typical football game. Not sure, but I'm just saying!

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Manassas Park is a Class 3 school

 

[CRF4Dan]

Manassas Park is a 6a school? A 6a school can’t field a collective varsity team??? Wow!

No, they are Class 3. I'm just bringing it up here because it is a relevant topic for football in general in the Commonwealth.

I read that the VHSL requires you to have no less than 25 players to field a varsity team.

 

[mmqp]

They probably have as many people attend their soccer games as the typical football game. Not sure, but I'm just saying!

At the state title game in 2005 MP only had about 1/4 the amount of fans that Giles had. Sad.

 

[TheDeathPenalty]

Demographics from other countries caused this. Kids pouring in from Central America aren't football players.