Looking back, it was even better than I had written. I was glad I was there. I know there has been some discussion about private school teams versus public school teams. It's well known that De La Salle recruits players, but they also get a lot of people to move there so their sons will play on a high profile team, inceasing their chances of getting a full ride scholarship. But they are a big school and play under much brighter lights. In Division IV, the schools are too small to really do much of what De La Salle does. Kids go to Justin Siena or Salesian or St. Patrick-St. Vincent because they live in the area and their parents pay for them to go to those schools.
The biggest reason most of those schools in Division IV are so tough is who they regularly play. Justin and St. Pats play in a league that has Division II and III schools, plus they have tough non-league games. It's no coincidence that one of the most successful public school programs, Ferndale, plays bigger schools and other tough small schools outside of their own league. To me, that's the secret. You build your program by facing tough opponents each year, opponents that are supposed to beat you.
Yes, Salesian beat Middletown last night. But it was a great game and both teams deserved to be there.
3 comments:
Good point Class A Dude..
This is why I do not care for the NCL I Interlocking schedule. These 10 teams have no choice who they play in 9 out of 10 games each year. A NCL I team has a better chance of finding an opponent now that they can play their first game during week 0 or week 1.
If the NCL I North and NCL I South are LOCKED together they should just be ONE big league. Or at least the games should be more than just Non-League Games.
I agree. I would favor a system where you play the four other teams in your division and only play 3 schools from the other division (rotating who you play in the other division each year). That would allow each team to have three non-league games. Look at college, the SEC and Big 12 are split into divisions and each plays every team in their respective division, and they rotate who they play from the other division. The template for how to do it is out there.
The current schedule for the NCL I handicaps the teams in both divisions. If some coaches in the NCL I feel the same way, I hope they start letting officials at the Coastal Mountain Conference know.
The Commissioner for the Coastal Mountain Conference is Chuck Davison and his email address is:
cdavison@saber.net
I think if we send him emails suggesting the idea -- or at least ask him if this has even come up -- we might get some traction.
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