Iowa HS Football Districts
- Thread starter CyFan61
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I can only really speak for St Alberts being from SW Iowa but they had really good teams for years, they were just playing bigger schools. The 8 man teams dropping put them playing against teams they were 2 classes above 15 years ago. I was in high school in the 90's before 8 man, I went to class A school, St Alberts was 2A, fast forward to today and they are playing the same teams. That drop in competition helped them really start to build a program and now you have kids from as far away as Clarinda (90 minute drive) coming in to play.
Their biggest advantage is they have no other big private schools to compete with on this side of the River, so their range extends over a 7 or 8 county area. That and since CB is basically Omaha, they population base they draw from gives them a crazy advantage over the schools they play. It is what it is though, I'm not sure how they can make things any more even without stopping having private schools play public schools. That's an awful idea.
Its not private schools fault that kids seek them out. With kids (and parents)focusing more and more on playing college sports, there is more focus on one sport a lot of times. Thats what drives a lot of the kids to go to private schools. It's a better way to market themselves for the next level.
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Well, I'm definitely in favor of the mercy rule being expanded.
Right now, if you're down by 35 or more at halftime (end of 1st Q in 8-man) it's a running clock. In addition to that, I would like it to be that if you're down by 50 or more at the end of 3rd Q = game over. No one's coming back from 50 down in the 4th quarter, running clock or not.
It's not my fault, the fumes from the ADM plant burned off all memories of Clinton, it's for the best
Actually, I wouldn't be shocked if CVC saw slightly less embarrassing margins if they played 11-man. 8-man games can light up the scoreboard WAY more than any 11-man game. Even an above average 8-man team (like Wayne, my alma mater, for example), can put up 80 in a game. Then you had awesome teams like Springville, who put up stupid numbers (in their 11 wins, the average margin was 53.9 ppg, and they won by 62 or more in four games). 11-man teams won't score like that.
I was curious about this, so I whipped up a quick new 10-team conference to allow the private schools to play just each other in a full 9-game schedule. There is one 4A, four 3A, four 2A, and one 1A.
Burlington Notre Dame
Carroll Kuemper
Cedar Rapids Xavier
Davenport Assumption
Dubuque Wahlert
Dyersville Beckman
Iowa City Regina
Sioux City Heelan
Waterloo Columbus
West Des Moines Dowling
The travel there would be great. When Notre Dame squares off against Heelan, the visiting team would have a 5.5 hour trip home to look forward to after the game. To make it slightly more bearable, you could cut Heelan and see if they could get in with Nebraska or South Dakota schools, and add Fort Dodge St. Edmond in their place.
Needless to say, you are right and this idea is terrible. Iowa just isn't big enough to separate the private schools from the public.
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I understand where some of the anti-multiplier people are coming from, but if you're going to sit here and tell me that private schools, by nature, don't have inherent advantages over public schools, I don't know what to tell you. And I know that open enrollment exists but it costs $6k per year. https://www.educateiowa.gov/pk-12/options-educational-choice/open-enrollment
This is comedy gold coming from a Valley alum.
Why do kids come in from out of state to play at Valley?
Why do kids open enroll from the metro (among other places)?
Why does the West Des Moines schools district block division?
If private schools have "inherent advantages" over public schools, suburban schools have "inherent advantages" over metro schools.
Vally=Dowling=Heelan=Harlan when it comes to athletics advantages.
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Valley has twice as many kids as dowling and, at least since I've been watching, they've been relatively equal in terms of football. 350 at a public school is not the same as 350 at a private school. CR Xavier went to the title game last year and got bumped down to 3A. We can argue about causes and reasoning all you want but the reality is that a multiplier, at least at the upper levels, would help with parity.
I like the idea of a multiplier. Let's try it...
Since Valley is a typical public school (no advantages like those rich private schools) we'll base the top number off of Valley's enrollment, 1,832 students. Actually let's knock a couple hundred off that number and we'll use a nice round 1,600.
Now, for the private school example let's use the 3A state champ, Heelan. Heelan's enrollment is 587 but since they're rich and recruit let's bump that all the way up to 700.
Okay, let's multiply,
Heelan x 1.25 = 875
Heelan x 1.50 = 1,050
Aww **** it, let's double it...Heelan x 2.00 = 1,400.
Nope, still not to Valley's enrollment. You're probably an advocate for up-classing now, right?
What is your point here? Valley didn't split because they correctly saw that they weren't going to grow anymore, and valley's enrollment is actually decreasing right now. In a perfect world, they would make a class 5A, because there is way too much disparity in 4A. I would be in favor of a multiplier for schools with a certain level of positive net open enrollment numbers. It makes sense
Xavier has been a 3A-sized school for quite some time. They've been playing up a class for years, just like Assumption and Wahlert. So how would a multiplier have made ANY difference at the upper-class level? Here's a hint: it wouldn't. The argument for a multiplier only has any semblance of merit when you're talking about Regina/St. Albert/Don Bosco/etc. With those schools, you've got 8-man/1A/2A-sized schools in major metro areas. A 3A school doesn't have such a crazy advantage, since schools of similar size are working in population bases that are much more equal.
The bolded highlights the real problem here. Public school ******* won't be happy unless private schools are never winning championships. Never mind that public schools have won 85% of the football championships. And handful of private schools have had a lot of success over the years. Of the 25 that played football this season, only 11 were worth a ****, and even fewer were really good (Regina, Dowling, Xavier, FDSE, Kuemper, Don Bosco, Heelan). And of that group, only Regina, Dowling, Xavier and Heelan are perennial powers. Four great programs constitutes a dire problem that needs fixing?
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The point is that fooling with private school enrollment numbers by using a multiplier won't create parity. Anything less than doubling Heelan's enrollment keeps them right where they are.
Also, parity is a phantom. There will never be parity between Valley and DM East or North.
What is the reasoning behind the focus on the private schools? In 4A, privates have won a championship just 7 times in 42 years. In 3A, it's 3 times in 42 years. In 2A, 7 times. In 1A it was just 6 times, and in class A it was once. Overall that's like one out of every ten championships over time. Hardly a dominance that demands a change in the playing field.
My private school's football team was so bad all four years they didn't qualify for the playoffs one time.
My private school's football team was so bad all four years they didn't qualify for the playoffs one time.
For the sake of saving everyone the agony of scrolling through my earlier novel of a post, suffice it to say that this has been covered in detail (although there have actually been 7 Class 1A titles, plus two more in 8-man). :smile:
I think the bolded could make sense. Right now you have a total of 276 schools from Class A through 4A. Since every class is fully districted now, you could easily rearrange the numbers without dealing with conferences.
Create a Class 5A and make every class from 1A through 5A made up of eight districts with six teams each. 48 teams per class. From 1A through 5A, that is 240 schools. The remaining 36 schools would then make up Class A.
Seems cleaner that way to me although it doesn't increase parity in 4A because it essentially remains the same as it already was, just with a new name (5A), although i suppose you could make 5A the 36-school class and have 4A down through A with 48 schools apiece.
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I'd argue that the upper classes would be the ones LEAST likely to see more parity with a multiplier. Dowling and Xavier have already had plenty of success in the state's largest class, Heelan's too small to get bumped up even with a multiplier. 2A hasn't seen a domination of private schools (Kuemper was a one-hit wonder, and Beckman is usually good, but not state title good). 1A would be helped by bumping up Regina, CBSA and FDSE to 2A. The only private school in 8-man that's good right now is Don Bosco, and I'm not sure they'll stay that good. The main reason they were so good the last couple years was quarterback Jake Hogan, who was an absolute stud (who also happened to live just a few blocks away from the school and is the athletic director's son; so no recruiting going on in that instance).
Don Bosco isn't as good at baseball or even wrestling as they used to be, either. I'll never buy recruiting for their wrestling program. You can't hardly walk down the street in the Cedar Valley and not bump into a stud wrestler; it's easily the most wrestling-talented area in the state.
