Why even play in 1A if Chaminade is in it?

[PinellasFB]

On 12/12/2024 at 8:26 AM, havs54 said:

Trust me I'm the opposite of a CCC fan...they're an All Star team every year as well

Yeah as a Pinellas County football observer, CCC is part of the problem, not a victim.  Send all of those recruiting teams to the open division so I can just ignore it and watch the non-all star teams battle it out with their hodge podge rosters of luck-of-the-draw student population players.  Jesus, in Dade and Broward, half of those teams players don't even attend the school they play for due to specialty schools like Rise Prepatory School where they just send their free agents to whoever needs them.  Before you think I am ripping Rise Prepatory and other specialty schools, I do see the other side of the coin that the service they provide is maximizing their students opportunities to play at the next level and allowing them to focus upon their craft.  What I am ripping is the system that allows this to happen and what it has done to high school ball.  

[Mike E]

On 12/12/2024 at 11:20 AM, Dr. D said:

67, 40, 40, 56, 63, 70, 43, 29, 35.  The margin of victory in Chaminade's playoff games in the last two years.  While I applaud their success, anyone who thinks this is good for high school football in Florida is missing the bigger picture. 

The Open 8 is supposed to be instituted in the 2026 playoffs.  The first-round matchups this year would have been: Nease vs. Cardinal Newman; Venice vs. Jones; Gadsden County vs. Chaminade-Madonna; West Boca Raton vs. American Heritage-Plantation.   it will be interesting to see if the Open 8 actually is enacted, or if the big powerhouses will find a way to squash it.  

Here in-lies the problem. Only 3 of those 8 teams should be even considered for the open, Venice, Chaminade and American Heritage. STA lost a few games but still has not lost a championship since Jesus walked the earth. Columbus lost a few games yet were the closest thing to Venice since the first half of the season. Cocoa lost a few games but how many in a row is it for them? 

Gadsden had a surprisingly good team. West Boca couldn't win more then 1 game a season until 2 years ago and had 1 playoff win in God only knows how long. So their reward would be to get thrown to the wolves?

There are massive holes in this concept. Mostly 6A, but even 5A this year were not very good. I am including Lakeland and STA. Any other division than 5A and 6A and they don't make the finals. I can get behind promotion and relegation. But use a rolling 3 years worth of data to make the decision. One good year or one bad year should not move the needle.

The other concept no one has suggested with the open that would make it more palatable... Leave room in the standard bracket for the teams that lose in the first round of open to fall back into. This will allow them to compete as they have earned. You want the "one true" champion, fine. But punishing good teams in the name of DEI is silly.

[tampa1]

On 12/12/2024 at 10:30 AM, Perspective said:

The CCC-Berkeley game was 21-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter and CCC added a TD in the 4th quarter to make it a 28-14 final.   I'm not sure I would consider that getting 'boat raced.' 

That said, it is pretty surprising how many kids from the Lakewood area turn out the be Catholic and end up at CCC. 

has more to do with CCC being in cambell park, ext. they bring in kids and replace them with transfers. 

[PinellasFB]

On 12/17/2024 at 12:20 PM, Mike E said:

Here in-lies the problem. Only 3 of those 8 teams should be even considered for the open, Venice, Chaminade and American Heritage. S division than 5A and 6A and they don't make the finals. I can get behind promotion and relegation.  But punishing good teams in the name of DEI is silly.

You had me until you threw in the DEI stuff out of left field.  No this is not about diversity or inclusivity.  Rather, it's about fair play as clearly some teams operate on a different set of rules than most other teams in the state.  I agree that it would be equally unfair to punish West Boca, for example, for having a dream season like this year.  Therefore the simplest solution is a private school set of playoffs and divisions within private schools.  I believe other states (Texas?) do this if I am not mistaken.  This solves 90% of the problem, leaving just Venice, Central, Lakeland , MNW and whomever else I'm not thinking about as a smaller problem to deal with.  

Perhaps the easiest solution is to have an open division and teams voluntarily sign up for it?  Most of the all-star teams want to showcase themselves against elite competition so perhaps this is more important than winning a state title against Joe Public HS?  

[Mike E]

5 hours ago, PinellasFB said:

You had me until you threw in the DEI stuff out of left field.  No this is not about diversity or inclusivity. 

I took the easy way out and threw in the trigger words. I probably could have found another way to express my thoughts.