OT: D1

[IUPNation]

District 1 has some huge schools, but they can't get past the Philly Catholic League schools in recent years. I think it's been about 20 years since District 1 won its last title. The days of the Central Bucks West juggernauts is long gone.

You mean a private Jesuit school with rich alumni.

St Joes was a nothing burger in foosball when I was in high school. The power houses were the Diocesan high schools that had strict feeder parish boundaries.

If Downingtown was still one high school they’d be pretty formidable..both made the playoffs.

[IUPNation]

Ridiculous. Playing schools that don't play by the same rules must be ridiculous for some of the public school coaches.

I went to a now closed Catholic High School in Norristown, PA. It got stomped every year by Norristown High. In fact the coach at Norristown actively recruited the best players in the Catholic CYO leagues that were part of the feeder parishes into our high school.

So yeah..nobody cried for us and our 33 game losing streak…..

[Ship69]

Some good points there. A public high school is only going to be as strong as its youth programs. Also some communities are just not destination communities so they have the kids who live there and very little option other than to develop the pee wee talent. People moving to Pittsburgh generally don't choose to live in Clairton or Aliquippa, so it makes what they're doing even more impressive, and explains how some of the nicer suburban districts are generally pretty good. I went to North Allegheny 25 years ago before it got wealthier on average than it already was, but it was already an attractive place to live. There were companies that would recommend it to a family when mom or dad was transferred to the Pittsburgh office. Having 300+ boys in each grade to choose from also helps find the best talent. Unless you are Speedy Gonzales, you're not making the 100 man roster if you're 5'8" and 160 pounds. JV doesn't stand on the sidelines. NA also has 3 middle schools, so there were 6 middle school teams that help develop kids prepping them for that 9th grade JV team. Plus a very strong pee wee league. Throw in some kids of players & coaches who chose to live in Wexford & Marshall and you're rarely going to be bad.

District 1 has some huge schools, but they can't get past the Philly Catholic League schools in recent years. I think it's been about 20 years since District 1 won its last title. The days of the Central Bucks West juggernauts is long gone.

[Ship69]

I have a close friend who is the HC of a 4A WPIAL (public) program. He often describes it as he can only play the hand he's dealt. If his best choice at cornerback is an inexperienced sophomore ... he has no other option. They don't dip in to the (pretend portal) and sign a senior DB for the season. He's also had to deal with losing 5-6 kids the past several years to Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Greensburg Central Catholic.

Probably similiar to most coaches in 4A and down, he's constantly recruiting (begging) kids to come out for the team. Their numbers are so low these days (even at the PeeWee level).

Manheim Central for years has had one of the stronger programs in District 3 and they're currently playing 4A. They were unbeaten when they played Bishop McDevitt is the district playoffs last year and got pounded. "Nice 6A team we played there," their coach quipped after that game. They managed to get within a touchdown of a somewhat weaker McDevitt team this year. I was glad to see Dallas take out both McDevitt and a Philly Catholic squad in the playoffs. Aliquippa apparently played a helluva game against Dallas in the final. They do have quite a tradition there. Just nice to see an all-public final at a 4A or above game for a change.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Some good points there. A public high school is only going to be as strong as its youth programs. Also some communities are just not destination communities so they have the kids who live there and very little option other than to develop the pee wee talent. People moving to Pittsburgh generally don't choose to live in Clairton or Aliquippa, so it makes what they're doing even more impressive, and explains how some of the nicer suburban districts are generally pretty good. I went to North Allegheny 25 years ago before it got wealthier on average than it already was, but it was already an attractive place to live. There were companies that would recommend it to a family when mom or dad was transferred to the Pittsburgh office. Having 300+ boys in each grade to choose from also helps find the best talent. Unless you are Speedy Gonzales, you're not making the 100 man roster if you're 5'8" and 160 pounds. JV doesn't stand on the sidelines. NA also has 3 middle schools, so there were 6 middle school teams that help develop kids prepping them for that 9th grade JV team. Plus a very strong pee wee league. Throw in some kids of players & coaches who chose to live in Wexford & Marshall and you're rarely going to be bad.

That's the exception for sure.

We went to high school about the same time. Back then most schools had a 9th grade team, then a JV team (that dressed varsity).

Most 4A and even some 5A teams no longer have a 9th grade team. They all dress varsity. Amazingly, many 9th and 10th graders actually play varsity. In my time 'maybe' the star 10th grader would play special teams but that was it (if that). To see 9th graders playing Friday night is just insane to me. They'd have been broken in half 25 years ago.

Locally here Indiana High routinely plays 9th and 10th graders on Friday nights. Times sure have changed.

[Fightingscot82]

I have a close friend who is the HC of a 4A WPIAL (public) program. He often describes it as he can only play the hand he's dealt. If his best choice at cornerback is an inexperienced sophomore ... he has no other option. They don't dip in to the (pretend portal) and sign a senior DB for the season. He's also had to deal with losing 5-6 kids the past several years to Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Greensburg Central Catholic.

Probably similiar to most coaches in 4A and down, he's constantly recruiting (begging) kids to come out for the team. Their numbers are so low these days (even at the PeeWee level).

Some good points there. A public high school is only going to be as strong as its youth programs. Also some communities are just not destination communities so they have the kids who live there and very little option other than to develop the pee wee talent. People moving to Pittsburgh generally don't choose to live in Clairton or Aliquippa, so it makes what they're doing even more impressive, and explains how some of the nicer suburban districts are generally pretty good. I went to North Allegheny 25 years ago before it got wealthier on average than it already was, but it was already an attractive place to live. There were companies that would recommend it to a family when mom or dad was transferred to the Pittsburgh office. Having 300+ boys in each grade to choose from also helps find the best talent. Unless you are Speedy Gonzales, you're not making the 100 man roster if you're 5'8" and 160 pounds. JV doesn't stand on the sidelines. NA also has 3 middle schools, so there were 6 middle school teams that help develop kids prepping them for that 9th grade JV team. Plus a very strong pee wee league. Throw in some kids of players & coaches who chose to live in Wexford & Marshall and you're rarely going to be bad.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Ridiculous. Playing schools that don't play by the same rules must be ridiculous for some of the public school coaches.

I have a close friend who is the HC of a 4A WPIAL (public) program. He often describes it as he can only play the hand he's dealt. If his best choice at cornerback is an inexperienced sophomore ... he has no other option. They don't dip in to the (pretend portal) and sign a senior DB for the season. He's also had to deal with losing 5-6 kids the past several years to Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Greensburg Central Catholic.

Probably similiar to most coaches in 4A and down, he's constantly recruiting (begging) kids to come out for the team. Their numbers are so low these days (even at the PeeWee level).

[Ship69]

The do have excellent recruiting. Lol

Ridiculous. Playing schools that don't play by the same rules must be ridiculous for some of the public school coaches.

[Ship69]

Aliquippa has about 100 boys in the entire school. To win 4A this year was amazing.

Had they stayed in Class 1A (where they belong) they'd have probably won an incredible amount of PIAA gold.

Steel-High from our area just won its fifth 1A championship and third in the last four years. Before the mill closed in Steelton years ago, the Rollers always used to play up with the big boys in football and basketball and were always competitive, especially in basketball. They won five state basketball championships playing above their class and were runner-up a couple of other years. They probably would have had 10 or more state titles if they'd played at 2A or 1A in basketball. Enrollment has dropped to the point now where it's hard for them to be competitive in big-school basketball, especially with the recruiting that goes on.

[Fightingscot82]

Pitt has hired Kade Bell (Western Carolina) as its next OC.

Bell is just 30 years old and runs a much faster, more up-tempo system than Frank Cignetti Jr.

Bell's dad Kirwin won the 2018 D2 natty at Valdosta State.

In other news, Lincoln Riley hired away North Dakota State's HC. Not D1, but the W&J defensive coordinator left to be head coach at Hampden Sydney. That job may attract some PSAC assistants.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Pitt has hired Kade Bell (Western Carolina) as its next OC.

Bell is just 30 years old and runs a much faster, more up-tempo system than Frank Cignetti Jr.

[Chuck Norris]

The most entertaining sporting event of the day just might be the Elite 8 women’s volleyball matchup between Pitt and Louisville. They met in last year’s Final Four with Louisville winning in 5 sets. They split 2 matches this season with Pitt rallying from 2 sets down to win the last meeting. Should be one heck of a match. H2P.

[Fightingscot82]

Yeah but North Allegheny is a rich suburban district. St Joe’s is technically in the hood. :-)

Not rich. Upper middle class majority but there are as more post War 3 bedroom house neighborhoods as McMansion ones. When I went there it was equal parts woods, small farms, and neighborhoods.

[Bart]

Aliquippa has about 100 boys in the entire school. To win 4A this year was amazing.

Had they stayed in Class 1A (where they belong) they'd have probably won an incredible amount of PIAA gold.

They likely didn't have a choice in staying 1A. Teams that go far in the playoffs for 2 consecutive years and have 3 transfers during that period will get bumped up for the next 2 years under the competitive classification formula of the PIAA. Southern is actually closer to 1A in enrollment than 3A, but hasn't bumped up to 3A despite winning 7 2A titles in a row; the reason is they haven't met the threshold of transfer students like Aliquippa. Southern has 158 boys 9-12 grades.

[IUPNation]

The do have excellent recruiting. Lol

Yeah but North Allegheny is a rich suburban district. St Joe’s is technically in the hood. :-)