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State of HS Football

CRF4Dan

CRF4Dan

Richmond Region Football Writer
Staff
Dec 17, 2012
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Mechanicsville, VA
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?
 
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Wow, does Tom hit the nail on the head. Sadly, he is "scary right!"

All of the factors he discussed are undoubtedly leading the the steady decline of participants in football, but one factor will be catastrophic. Litigation.

Just last week a jury in NC awarded plaintiffs more than a half billion dollars because they believed Smithfield Foods was at fault for the odors and nuisance from a hog operation. Why do I offer this as an example? Because these people knowingly built homes or moved to subdivisions near this farming operation.

We will see the sudden end to high school football and many other high school athletics, when a jury awards a plaintiff some Un-Godly amount of money for injuries to a child. Never mind if award is warranted or not, it will be the death knell for most high school athletics. And I'll guarantee that those parents, (the plaintiffs), knowingly agreed to accept the risk to allow their child to participate.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not sitting in judgement of a decision of this type. That is not my point at all. But just as sure as I'm sitting here typing, it is going to happen, and soon. After which, all hell breaks loose.
 
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Essex Trojan1 said:
Bruton has a team. Essex just had a scrimmage with them tonight. There numbers are low though. When the offense or defense was on the field, Bruton had about 6-7 subs on the sideline.
Click to expand...

I can only relay what I was told by multiple sources including a friend within the VHSL.
 
CRF4Dan said:
I can only relay what I was told by multiple sources including a friend within the VHSL.
Click to expand...
I understand that others said they didn’t. I was just letting you know that they had a team because we scrimmage them. Maybe they got Bruton crossed up with Charles City.
 
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Could there be some confusion between Bruton, and Burton which is in Norton Va?
 
According to what I understand, Burton has 18 players. Two failed to show up for the bus yesterday and a couple got hurt. I don't know if they will make it to their season opener.
Also, I've been told that Middlesex will not field a JV team and that Deep Run and Hanover will also not field JV teams. I only know for certain that Middlesex will not have JV. Charles City will not field varsity or JV teams this year.
 
According to MaxPreps, J. I. Burton in SWVa had 35 on the roster last season, and list 24 for this year. I would think if they submitted their roster of 24 to MaxPreps, it's probably solid evidence that they are not folding their team.

I'm beginning to seriously suspect that the rumors of Bruton closing down their football team are just that, a rumor.

On this subject, what do we know for sure?
Park View, Sterling has definitely folded
Charles City has definitely folded
Manassas Park is likely to fold
Bruton is tight on numbers, but there is only this rumor

How is King and Queen doing?
 
Essex Trojan1 said:
K&Q has a team. Was told they had 17 for their scrimmage Friday.
Click to expand...
I hope they can sustain the number. That's awefully close to a "throw in the towel" number.

However, in the 90's, Kenston Forest in Blackstone played and won the state championship one year with
13 1/2 players for the game. The 1/2 was a kid with his whole arm in a cast.

I wonder if we will see another attempt by these small schools to experiment with 8 or 7 man football?

Or, flag football?
 
8-Man seems more likely as there’s already a blueprint for it out west.
 
DinwiddieProud said:
I hope they can sustain the number. That's awefully close to a "throw in the towel" number.

However, in the 90's, Kenston Forest in Blackstone played and won the state championship one year with
13 1/2 players for the game. The 1/2 was a kid with his whole arm in a cast.

I wonder if we will see another attempt by these small schools to experiment with 8 or 7 man football?

Or, flag football?
Click to expand...
K&Q has played with those low numbers for a while now. I was told they had near 30 come out for conditioning but some dropped off.
 
CRF4Dan said:
There has been talk of going to 8-man football but nothing definitive. Would not be surprised if this downward trend continues that the VHSL might move in that direction.
Click to expand...
I may be mis-understanding you Danny. Are you thinking eventual mandatory statewide 8 man?

I could see a separate sub-set of 8 man school with a separate playoff format. 8 man being purely a choice. It most likely would start from Class 1 & 2 working to set something up that is parallel to standard football, with select other schools choosing to participate.

A few private schools have dabbled with 8 man, but the problem has always been finding enough competition within a reasonable travel distance.

I'm thinking we may eventually see a hybrid of 8 man with modified rules that limit physical contact. It would be a whimpy version of football for sure, but I can envision it taking hold in some areas of the state. (Certainly not SWVa)!

Bleeding Navy and I had a long conversation yesterday about injuries. It covered a lot of topics, but head injuries was the central topic. Soccer appears to have more head trauma than any other sport. So, where is the out-cry? I have a suggestion to limit soccer injuries that is easy to enforce, and would greatly reduce head injuries. Make using the head to strike the ball illegal. I wonder why that isn't strongly suggested?
 
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DinwiddieProud said:
I may be mis-understanding you Danny. Are you thinking eventual mandatory statewide 8 man?

I could see a separate sub-set of 8 man school with a separate playoff format. 8 man being purely a choice. It most likely would start from Class 1 & 2 working to set something up that is parallel to standard football, with select other schools choosing to participate.

A few private schools have dabbled with 8 man, but the problem has always been finding enough competition within a reasonable travel distance.

I'm thinking we may eventually see a hybrid of 8 man with modified rules that limit physical contact. It would be a whimpy version of football for sure, but I can envision it taking hold in some areas of the state. (Certainly not SWVa)!

Bleeding Navy and I had a long conversation yesterday about injuries. It covered a lot of topics, but head injuries was the central topic. Soccer appears to have more head trauma than any other sport. So, where is the out-cry? I have a suggestion to limit soccer injuries that is easy to enforce, and would greatly reduce head injuries. Make using the head to strike the ball illegal. I wonder why that isn't strongly suggested?
Click to expand...

I don't know what the thought process is in regards to 8-man football. All I have been told is that it has been mentioned, floated around. I'm sure it has been suggested giving some of the issues schools are currently fighting.
 
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Essex Trojan1 said:
K&Q has played with those low numbers for a while now. I was told they had near 30 come out for conditioning but some dropped off.
Click to expand...
West Point has been playing with those kinds of numbers for YEARS. Not ideal, but you'll find out real quick who you can depend on...
 
NNDman said:
According to what I understand, Burton has 18 players. Two failed to show up for the bus yesterday and a couple got hurt. I don't know if they will make it to their season opener.
Also, I've been told that Middlesex will not field a JV team and that Deep Run and Hanover will also not field JV teams. I only know for certain that Middlesex will not have JV. Charles City will not field varsity or JV teams this year.
Click to expand...
Deep Run has JV. Lee Davis and King & Queen did not provide JV teams for scrimmage.
 
I just heard that Bruton is forfeiting all their games against Div 4 opponents in the Bay Rivers District.
 
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Monacan only dresses 40 for Varsity. Numbers were waaay down this season.
 
vam0AjnT

HanoverSports RVASN‏@hanoversports 15h15 hours ago
Special Report: Our article on high school football participation in Hanover County.
Is lacrosse to blame?
Concussions?
Is it many issues?
As posted at @804Varsity :
https://www.richmond.com/sports/plu...cle_c6526464-e955-5ac5-aa5a-bf5f30a925cb.html
 
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