I just heard that Bruton is forfeiting all their games against Div 4 opponents in the Bay Rivers District.
Bruton
- Thread starter dringtuoti
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I had not heard this. I know the "Bruts" Panthers have had decreased numbers for a while. Remember the dirty 30 in 2009? 30 players total and a couple of feet away from winning the state championship. Brutons numbers have been down for a while, and this year, they had out 20 for practice and one week ago, I heard 1 had quit and 2 more were injured leaving them with 17 players. There was talk about cancelling the seasons.
I've mentioned this before, in a ten team 10 district, only Bruton and Poquoson are 2A. The other 8 schools are 3A and 4A (4 of them 3A and 4 of them 4A). Its incredibly tough to compete with low numbers, especially in the Bay Rivers. No disrespect to Bruton's staff which is very good, works hard, and does a good job, but they need to bring Bryan Randall back home and get him in the mix. That would boost numbers quickly in my opinion.
I've mentioned this before, in a ten team 10 district, only Bruton and Poquoson are 2A. The other 8 schools are 3A and 4A (4 of them 3A and 4 of them 4A). Its incredibly tough to compete with low numbers, especially in the Bay Rivers. No disrespect to Bruton's staff which is very good, works hard, and does a good job, but they need to bring Bryan Randall back home and get him in the mix. That would boost numbers quickly in my opinion.
I've banged this drum many times and I'll keep banging it...get rid of these stupid split districts. If Bruton is 2A then Bruton needs to be playing 2A schools, not 4A.
The asinine rules of the VHSL are killing interest in the sport just as much as anything else is.
The asinine rules of the VHSL are killing interest in the sport just as much as anything else is.
Totally agree...perhaps a dumb question, 'cause I don't know much about VHSL rules, but would the AD be able to schedule strictly 2A opponents as, say, an independent, or is every school required to be part of a conference?
I agree somewhat with this statement, as we have 3A Abingdon in the M7. However, the problem lies in what do you do with Abingdon? Abingdon is the only 3A school in deep southwest Virginia. Their closest competition in 3A is Christiansburg, which is 100 miles up 81. So, do we make Abingdon make at least a 200 mile round trip multiple times a year? I'm really not sure what the answer is...
They could definitely do this, but then they are considered "Independent" and get penalized by the VHSL by having their ability to go to the playoffs removed. And while making the playoffs should be the last of the worries for some of these schools, I have a feeling it does play a part in the decision not to take the plunge and go independent.
The finest example of this issue I can think of is 1A King & Queen..they're STUCK in a district where they have to play King William...a school that thoroughly enjoys running the score up on their opponents. King & Queen has forfeited 2 out of the last 3 games against them, but they dared to play them 2 years ago and King William ran up a 90-18 score on a school that is lucky to have 20 kids come out.
I speak only from a 1A perspective here but last season an 0-10 team made the playoffs in Region B, meanwhile a school that went 6-4 against and independent schedule had to sit at home because of these rules.
Yep there are always outliers like that and I'm not sure what the answer would be with them either.
If the VHSL would drop the idiotic rules about having to play in a set district then we could have some interesting and unique scenarios to discuss; for one, schools should have to play a minimum of 8 games against teams in their on division. And in Abingdons case, perhaps they could turn their eyes southward towards Tennessee and North Carolina to fill up those 8 slots..?
Solution. Eliminate Districts. Based on the VHSL point system at present, and it really being regionally based, eliminate districts. Back in the day, district winners automatically qualified for the playoffs. This isn't the case anymore. Therefore, simply get rid of all districts. Keep the top 8 in the region's like we do now for the point system making the playoffs.
Excellent post. Maybe best post of the year. VHSL elevator doesn't always reach the top floor.
The have these stupid districts because 3 or 4 schools don't want to leave their "own backyard to play a game". Thus VHSL screws half the state or more.
No chance you eliminate districts and not very well thought out - can you imagine the scheduling nightmare and snafus that would occur with all 300+ schools fending for themselves to find a schedule for everything from Forensics, Debate to tennis.
Bruton is more than welcome to switch districts and may do so soon. However, historically they liked being in the bay rivers because the other schools in the York division are in the Bay Rivers and their 3 closest schools (Lafayette, Jamestown, Warhill) are in the Bay Rivers plus all the scheduling basically complete. I imagine they will push to join the Tidewater or even the Tri-Rivers district. Travel will be more costly but will allow them to be more competitive across the athletic spectrum. It's not always the VHSLs fault and to my knowledge, Bruton has never petitioned to move out of a region or district. If that hasn't happened, then it's a Bruton issue and not the VHSL alignment. Psst - I haven't hear Poquoson bitc...in.
Bruton is more than welcome to switch districts and may do so soon. However, historically they liked being in the bay rivers because the other schools in the York division are in the Bay Rivers and their 3 closest schools (Lafayette, Jamestown, Warhill) are in the Bay Rivers plus all the scheduling basically complete. I imagine they will push to join the Tidewater or even the Tri-Rivers district. Travel will be more costly but will allow them to be more competitive across the athletic spectrum. It's not always the VHSLs fault and to my knowledge, Bruton has never petitioned to move out of a region or district. If that hasn't happened, then it's a Bruton issue and not the VHSL alignment. Psst - I haven't hear Poquoson bitc...in.
2A schools should not be forced to play 4A, 5A or 6A schools. If they want to play them, that's fine, but no school should be forced to play larger schools.
Incredibly well thought out in my opinion. I'm a capitalist and libertarian. I trust the individual 300 schools more than I do the VHSL. I trust the individual schools will be absolutely fine in their scheduling. Once a school played a schedule for a given year, I feel you would have actually more consistency in scheduling. Also, I think you may actually end up with less travel miles as money for schools is constantly being cut back. I have never been a big fan of "Nannyism." Needed controls and boundaries? Sure, we have that with the point system which would be just fine without districts. What would you find without districts? You would find little change in the current schedules, but it would allow for a team like Bruton to go up against more 1A and 2A schools in the future if it wished. Coaches arent stupid. Administrators arent stupid. The individual schools I trust, big "Nanny" trying to "make things fair," I don't. I also vote that way in certain November's. So, you and I have different philosophies and in my opinion, the very thought " we absolutely must have districts" lacks innovation and much thought. It wreaks of rigidity.
Since in reality, there are no district champions, there is no need for districts. I have said this from day 1 of all this new alignment. Let schools play who they want to play. Now granted some will go to Food Lion or Kroger and fill their cart with cupcakes, but some look for the weakest 1A or 2A schools they can find now.
HR6, I agree no school should be forced to play up. It's why I respect the Islanders, we get forced to do that 8 out of 10 regular season games per year. The exception is when we play Bruton, and for our one single out of district game, we choose to play up in 3A Southampton. I need to take a look at VHSL history since in went from 3 to 6 classifications approximately 32 years ago. I'm curious to see if ANY team has done what Poquoson has and that is... Play "up" in 9 out of 10 regular season contests multiple years! That's crazy, but I can assure if districts weren't around we would still play close to the same schedule as we do now. But, even we wouldn't play up 9 out of 10 contests. This is why a 7-3 Poquoson team is not a true Class 2A 7-3 team come playoff time. Some told me last year, "you guys came out of nowhere". Fact is, no we didn't. We just played a very tough schedule in regular season and I said this last year. Appo, Lee, Union, none of them, not a one beats Lafayette or Smithfield last year and against York, it would have been toss up games. All three would have been no better than 8-2 in regular season.
I also like the idea of 5 classifications instead of 6. This could possibly help a geographically isolated, buy different classification school like Abingdon.
I also like the idea of 5 classifications instead of 6. This could possibly help a geographically isolated, buy different classification school like Abingdon.
Scheduling is so easy. All you do is pick up the phone and voila done, no worries. Sorry, in reality it doesn't work that way. Schools will never do away with districts unless there is a scheduling mandate for teams in a region to play each other. Do you know how hard it is to fill a girls soccer schedule in 1A? Do you know how many schools you build relationships with and will only play a certain school in football but not basketball or vice versa. It's ridiculously tough to fill a non-district schedule already. You all arm chair ADs have no clue the amount of man hours it takes. Everyone can always do someone else's job better or their bosses job better....
I too am a capitalist and a libertarian but also a functional realist. I've been a head coach and been asked to help out with scheduling for my sport to relieve some of the workload on our AD - not as easy as you think and all I did was call all the teams from our previous year.
I too am a capitalist and a libertarian but also a functional realist. I've been a head coach and been asked to help out with scheduling for my sport to relieve some of the workload on our AD - not as easy as you think and all I did was call all the teams from our previous year.
Nobody ever stated it was easy. Nobody ever said you simply pick up the phone and whooolaa, it's done. Nobody ever said they could do the AD or bosses job better. I say, credit the ADs. They don't need big brother at the VHSL nannying over them. Nobody said it would be easy either. Also, people aren't armchair ADs "who think they can do it better." If anything, the credit and confidence is being given to the ADs. The trust is More, Far More with the ADs than with the VHSL. You are right about one thing, it is very tough to fill a non district schedule. That's because we have districts.
I respect your opinion
What do ya do to ease scheduling woes? Eliminate districts, and mandate by the VHSL that if a team is played in football (start of the academic school year in late Aug-early Sep) then those teams must be played in all sports for the given school year and that each deal with playing a school be a minimum of 2 years. That takes great pressure off the ADs right there. But, Big Nanny hates to give up control and power. There are ways to ease scheduling logistics (didn't say it would be easy or simple) while eliminating districts at the same time.
Agree. Bruton also needs to ge more than 20 players out for football. It doesn't matter which district you join, I'd you don't have enough players, then you don't have enough players.
Also,.cancelling or forfeiting against the 4A schools is nice, but it's the 3A schools in York and Lafayette, and the 2A school in Poquoson that's going to be their biggest problem. They would have been better off keeping the contest against the 4A schools and cancelling the three schools listed above.
