A lot has been written in the comment section regarding private schools and a perceived unfairness. I think any discussion about enrollment and leveling the field for all is a healthy discussion as long as people try to treat each other with respect.
My thoughts:
It doesn't matter at all if a school is public or private, they each play according to the rules set out by CIF, the NCS, and their particular conference or league. I think the only time there should be a question about enrollment and a team's division is when a private school is unisex. Outside of that, the enrollment figures for private and public schools are the same when it comes to alignment in a division. For division IV, it's 400 to 699 students. Period.
Part of the allure of the playoffs is facing up against teams you hadn't seen and don't know that well. And should these games really be cake-walks? Do you want a number one or two seed to always, always reach the championship game? For those of you who don't want any private school in the division IV playoffs, try to imagine what the playoffs would look like. If you are in the NCL I North, your playoffs would look like this: 6 teams from the NCL I, John Swett, and Ferndale. And that's assuming John Swett has a .500 season or better.
I don't know about you, but that sounds boring and not very challenging (aside from having to face Ferndale, of course!). The playoffs are supposed to be difficult. Long gone are the years when an undefeated Laytonville with a pass-happy offense and a number 8 seed landed in places like Lower Lake to be chewed up and spit out by the second and third string. Today, the 8th seed can be dangerous -- and an 8th seed has won the championship before.
Of Justin Siena's 4 Division IV (Class A) section championships, 3 had to go through Ferndale. They beat Ferndale 16-14 and 13-0 in the championship game, and recently beat them 22-15 in this year's semi-final game. One of Ferndale's 11 section titles (since 1975) had to go through Justin Siena, winning that one 28-6. The biggest rout was Ferndale beating Justin Siena, a public school beating a private school. Last year, Ferndale and St. Patrick-St. Vincent had two epic battles. The Bruins won the regular season game 27-21, with Ferndale in scoring position as time ran out, but Ferndale won the section title 6-0 over the same St. Patrick-St. Vincent team.
Those were great games. What about this year? Salesian beat Middletown 22-21 by kicking a field goal with just under 3 minutes left. Salesian's defense kept Middletown's running backs bottled up, but the Mustangs still had a passing game. Middletown had a 21-13 lead when the 4th quarter began. In fact, some people have speculated that if Middletown had thrown the ball more than 16 times, the game might have ended differently.
Justin Siena was losing to Ferndale at halftime 15-14 before finally getting on top in the second half. That game may have ended differently were it not for two great plays by the Brave's punter. Middletown and Ferndale were not blown out. They struggled, yes, but they were both in the game and each could have won.
All in all, I think it was a great season and each team deserved their spot in the playoffs. But, those are just my thoughts.
14 comments:
Imagine that... a high school football playoff game coming down to the punter! Those were 2 incredible plays by that young man. I give all the credit to Justin-Siena; they are a good football team. However, I also think Ferndale needs to garner more respect for playing up a Division in the playoffs. Only 158 students this year to what... just under the D4 limit for Justin (700). All Ferndale's titles weren't D4, but many are. Second only to De La Salle for number of championships. That's pretty impressive.
Nice article too. I think one of the issues with Private vs. Public is the notion of whether the Private schools recruit players or not. I couldn't tell you one way or the other if a school is recruiting. I don't look at that closely right now. I have heard rumors. This could be considered an unfair advantage.
I have seen this argument play out year after year. In the past it has involved Menlo, Valley Christian, The Kings Academy, Sacred Heart Prep and on and on and on. In those schools I just named there was also a separate issue involved, they were not really part of the North Coast Section. They have all since been sent back to the Central Coast Section.
I think some people are just frustrated and suffering from private school fatigue. This was the 7th year in a row that one of the Big 3 private schools (Justin Siena, St. Patricks-St. Vincents and Salesian) has played in the NCS division IV championship game.
Redwood I agree with you completely, people are sick of the same teams playing but it may be due to the fact that their school doesn't make it.
And Ferndale Football alot of people do overlook the fact that you play a division up, you would destroy D-5 teams. Not trying to start anything but i have always felt that Ferndale played weaker teams and used tactics such as watering down fields to their advantage. Nonetheless Coach Jorgensen has done a EXCELLENT job of getting those boys to buy into his system and established Ferndale as a POWERHOUSE.
Hey 707 fan
I think there are a lot of cases where it has to due with their school not making it to the playoffs or advancing in the playoffs.
I do think there is a fair amount of recruiting that goes on at the Div. I and II. But it's hard for me to imagine a Div. IV or V school effectively recruiting players. If a kid has enough talent that his parents believe he has a shot at a D-1 scholarship, I think they will opt for De la Salle or maybe Cardinal Newman.
And yes, Ferndale should get a lot more respect for playing up a division. I think it's because they are so good year in and year out people forget how small the school really is. Ferndale risked the chance to play in the California State Championship game this year because they decided (as they nearly always do) to play up.
Something has changed with these Div. IV private schools since the turn of the century. It looks like there are better football players choosing to play for these smaller private schools than in the past.
Salesian has been making the playoffs off and on since 1990's. I watched them play then and I do not remember seeing the type of athletes they are putting on the field in recent years.
Was Justin Siena a championship contender year in year out before the year 2000?
How about St. Patricks?
I am not saying it is unfair or that these private schools are cheating somehow. I am just saying something has changed in their favor.
I could be wrong, but I think those are also just rumors about Ferndale watering the field. That was against Justin if I remember. My belief is it was really just rain water. It had rained a lot and our field was terrible at the time re: drainage. Especially along the visitor side. That's where all the water drains to. It has been said that Justin changed to 3/4" cleats (illegal) because they thought it was intentional. Anyway, Jorgensen isn't really like that. He could have soaked the field this year to slow down J-S. Why would he chose to play up and do that? If he really wanted to win that bad he could just stay at D5.
And Ferndale's schedule is what it is because those are the teams in their league. They schedule non-league games against much tougher opponents like Fortuna & East Nicolaus this year and SV/SP last year.
Salesian has had some good athletes lately. Jahvid Best comes to mind first. He did pretty well at UC Berkeley this past season. Justin had some physical specimens on this year's team like Justin Clayton.
Private schools are not the only ones that get singled out when they have success. These are a couple of questions that I have been asked over the years about Ferndale's football program.
Yeah they only have 150 students, but how many kids from Fortuna and Eureka attend Ferdale each year just to play football?
Or
Does anyone really know how many players on their roster are not from Ferndale?
Do I know the answers to these questions? No, I do not.
Does it matter if these students travel the 15 - 25 minutes to play football? I do not know and I do not care... it is not up to me to decide.
I just thought I would point out that these type of discussions are not limited to the private schools. You know your on top when everybody else is trying to tear you back down.
C'mon... Fortuna is barely 15 min. away. I'm sure many kids drive that far to school. This year's team had 2 players from Fortuna and one of them came because they were told they could not play football at Fortuna after being taken off the baseball team by his parents the season before. The other kid happens to be his step brother. I don't remember any kids from Eureka ever coming here. Maybe a few kids come from Fortuna or around the area each year, but again, the enrollment is never over 200 and only 158 this year. Do the math! We're not even close to some of these D4 schools as far as our pool to choose from. I don't see how that even factors in if you are considering something that is questionable. But, like you said, I guess there is always someone trying to tear you down.
I don't think private shools recruit. Maybe I am being nieve about this, but If I had a kid that was a stud and played at concord high, I would enrole him at De La Salle.
As far as private vs public is a BIG difference. I don't care what you say class a dude. You have 650boys to chose from to play football. Many of them come out to play. Then you have try outs. When was the last time any of these small public schools have had try outs? hmmm. Never. When they run out to the field with 25 players you are seeing maybe 6 to 8real athletes who will more than likely be playing both ways.
As well as these public schools have played in their conferences I am sure they can do just as well in the playoffs.
One thing you talked about class a dude that I never considered was the playoff picture without them. It could be boring. Maybe there is no better achievement at the end of the season to not only win the championship but to beat a team higher than you. But Still, my hats off to Salesion and Justin Sienna kids for playing their hearts out. It is a great memory to have. You can't take that away from them.
This is a bit off topic. Over the years I have seen some tremendous talent from most of the teams in the NCS. I think it is very unfortunate for colleges to not recognize these players. Clearlake highschool has had 1 for sure and 2 others by rumor to play for the NFL. I am sure people from the other schools can say the same about their own teams.
You have been doing a great job with this blog. I would like to see something done to help these kids get recognized.
Please start a discussion about this and lets see what we get.
I hope you realize, I have nothing against Ferndale Football. I was just listing some of the questions I have heard over the past 30+ years in the small school ranks.
If students can legally go between school districts to play football in Humboldt Co. then I have no problem with it.
I was only trying to make a point that these type of discussions are not limited to private schools.
As far as a private school having 650 boys to choose from, I'm not sure what school you are referring to. Both Justin Siena and St. Patrick-St. Vincents are not unisex schools. In fact, Justin Siena's girls vollyball team has won 3 section titles in the past 7 years (and St.Pat-St. Vin girls were in the playoffs several times the past six years.
I think trying to get some recognition for some of the stud players at Division IV would be great. We can also do our part. Case in point: I once sent an email to the defensive coordinator at New Mexico State (my alma mater) telling him about a stud defensive lineman at Middletown who was 6'8 and a monster. I got a call from him less than fifteen minutes later asking for more info. He contacted Foltmer and started a recruiting file on him. Unfortunately, the player just didn't want to go to college -- especially so far away. But I was surprised how easy it was. If you think about it, D-1 teams in smaller conferences, such as the WAC, MWC, MAC, and C-USA are always looking for that overlooked recruit. Most of those diamonds in the rough reside in one of the many small schools around the nation.
I think thats a great idea lets get these hard working boys recognized by colleges!
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