Wow Matt!
- Thread starter DinwiddieProud
- Start date
That they are. I think you will see more of this as times goes on with schools choosing to play teams similar in Class size or teams they can be more competitive with.
WOW!
This is really a ground breaking move. I'm amazed that this took place without the word spreading like wildfire.
I though that this trend would have started in earnest several seasons ago. There are many teams in districts that either get their brains beat out, or dominate the smaller schools. My contention for years has been that many of these district teams, (speaking primarily of football), needed to drop their severe district matchups, and schedule suitable opponents. And Colonial Heights is a prime example.
I will say this though. With the hiring of Coach Edwards, Colonial Heights will soon cease to be most teams "easy out"!
Part of the problem, up until last season, was the Modifed Points System "bonus points" awarded for playing district opponents. With that "plus" gone, there should be little stopping schools from "checking around"!
As far as I know, there has never been a rule that said you "had" to play your full district schedule? I'm sure convenience, loyaly, and peer pressure have dissuaded most schools from daring to "step out?"
I predict this will start a trend that will be capitalized upon starting with the next cycle, two years from now.
Hermitage and Thomas Jefferson ceased as Colonial District football opponents after the 2014 season as well for this very reason. It wasn't a good situation for either team so they each scheduled opponents that made more sense competitively. I agree that this is going to start happening more often when there is more than one classification difference between the two schools. Dale is a 6A and CH is a 3A. Herm is 5A, TJ is barely 3A.
Having nothing to do with the history between the two but these two schools should not be playing each in football. Enrollments have wide gap. I still can't figure out for my life how the ADs at the 5 Richmond City Schools, Petersburg Hopewell and Colonial Heights haven't banded together to form the "Metro District." They are all city schools within 35 minutes and all have enrollments between 650-1000. It seems like a no brainer to me. For football, it would give you 7 games against teams your size and you could still play 3 games of your choosing. It would help build confidence in some of these programs that have been consistently going 1-9, 2-8, 3-7 playing a schedule chalk full of 5A and 6A schools in Henrico and Chesterfield Counties.
Is it a pride thing keeping this from happening or is it the rivalries they don't want to lose? Can someone explain why this idea hasn't come to fruition, I'm not the first to discuss this possibility.
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Excellent idea. Times change. Situations change. Circumstances change.
I think the reluctance is mostly, "because we have always done it this"! The rivalry issue can easily be addressed in the four or so OOD games. Many, if not most, of the rivalries that once were, are no longer.
The district leaders and power brokers across the state need to get their heads out of the sand and make decisions that reflect what's in the best entrance of the kids.
Hermitage has also dropped John Marshall going forward.
I hope Monacan drops George Wythe for football soon. It does us no good to beat a school by 70 pts. It can be challenging though bc we want to keep them for basketball season. I like the history of the Dominion District but we have to figure something out for football. The fact that GW plays Manchester, Monacan, Bird etc. every year is demoralizing. I think it really hurts their program and discourages participation for those kids.
I'm surprised that Bird and Manchester still play Wythe. My guess is that is has something to do with finding other games. Call me crazy, but I bet there aren't a lot of programs clamoring to but heads with Bird or Manchester. It is especially hard to find a non district game late in the season which might be where the open date would fall. You almost would have to find a private school like Benedictine, Woodberry or Bishop Sullivan.
At least Monacan is closer in classification with Wythe even though they are miles apart competitively.
At least Monacan is closer in classification with Wythe even though they are miles apart competitively.
Why not have districts based
You're onto something with better schools having a tough time finding opponents. Varina dropped Thomas Dale and the Knights couldn't find anyone in the region who had an opening in their schedule or who wanted to play them. So they TD had to go outside their region which is why they are playing Granby.
Two good points.
I think most programs like to play their OOD games up front. Which leads into point #2 below.
And yes, schools are not lined up to play the top tier teams. It basically has to come down to a hand shake agreement between AD's. "If you drop xyz district game, we will too, and then we can play each other." Which leads to "what date".
I guess these factors and a few others will prevent a "free for all". But little by little, beneficial schedule changes are going to occur.
And the dropping of district games probably will not happen very often in many areas of the state. Specifically Southwest and Southside VA. Many district games are already a marathon trip for some of these schools.
I think most programs like to play their OOD games up front. Which leads into point #2 below.
And yes, schools are not lined up to play the top tier teams. It basically has to come down to a hand shake agreement between AD's. "If you drop xyz district game, we will too, and then we can play each other." Which leads to "what date".
I guess these factors and a few others will prevent a "free for all". But little by little, beneficial schedule changes are going to occur.
And the dropping of district games probably will not happen very often in many areas of the state. Specifically Southwest and Southside VA. Many district games are already a marathon trip for some of these schools.
Talking about Monacan not playing Wythe in football but wanting them for basketball... remedy that by having separate districts for sports... Might create more headaches for AD's but it's a thought.
Talk like that may get you drawn and quartered by the state AD's!
Isn't it as simple as this? Districts are primarily useful for scheduling purposes? I know many districts still recognize a token "District Champion". And that's fine. And there is the "bragging rights" thing that is still important to some.
But, district rankings have nothing to do with anything else. So, use your district affiliation to your convenience when appropriate. But, schedule whomever the coaches and AD's want, and what is best for the kids. Across all athletic endeavors.
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"Across ALL athletic endeavors" should be the definitive statement here. Close. Affordable. Competitive.
This is how ADs think and it should be.
This is how ADs think and it should be.
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