Mirror Article: WPAC teams ask to leave d6

[knowitall]

This is DIRECTLY caused by Bishop McCort winning the last two D6A championships after winning two D6AA championships before that. These small towns have "magical" season only every once in awhile.. for the Portage and Bellwood people it's like BM just stole something they waited years for. Portage will be pressed to ever find a team as talented as the two they had the previous seasons, and although Bellwood may be back with another good team soon they missed out on two excellent chances to win D6. Any other year those Bellwood teams are good enough to win it, and when they finally are again the Cambria/Somerset/Westmoreland County all-star team drops to the lowest classification possible. Do you blame Gouse?, because I sure don't! Why play your hearts out all year and lie to your team that you have a shot at the championship you've NEVER won, when in the back of your minds you have to play a team that should be playing AA football and can recruit any athlete they want. This to me is logical, and if Portage is successful it won't be long until many others follow.

Winning the West PAC championship should be sufficient for schools like Portage, Conemaugh Valley (1-9) and Blacklick Valley. The truth is none of those schools should even exist anymore.

[Sideling Hill Fan]

[quote][/quote]District 5 could easily be absorbed into District 6. District 8 could easily be absorbed into District 7.

And District 6 in Classes AAA and AAAA could easily be distributed among District 3 and 7. Don't forget that part.

[knowitall]

And should be. I agree completely.

The WPIAL shouldn't be a its own district.

[say_oww]

You can posture all you want, but the bottom line is that these schools aren't happy with the situation the way it currently exists. And neither are many other schools as well. District 6 should be concerned if so many schools want to leave. I can bet that this isn't over by a long shot.

Knowitall, while I agree with many things you say, in this case you are off base. High school athletics are not out of hand. At least not any more than they ever have been in the past 20 years! You can make the generalization that life is out of hand, but it does nothing to resolve the situation or handle the greivances that exist. Regardless of how you rank athletics in the grand scheme of things there needs to be not only the appearance of fairness, but also equality. If athletics truly are not that important, then why not allow the schools to participate in District 5? If it is not that important, then what is the reason for two hours of "debate"?

The bottom line is that this is all about MONEY. Wotkowski and others want to keep the money pumping through District 6. District 5 would like to get a piece of the pie. And the schools, would not only like a chance to compete, but also would like to save a little from traveling to Blair County for all of their playoff games.

[knowitall]

Having high school kids play sixteen football games in sixteen weeks to determine a state championship is ridiculous. Worrying about whether or not you are champ of some arbitrarily drawn district is ridiculous. Complaining that another team recruits is ridiculous. School administrators should step to the plate and say enough is enough. We are here to educate our students. Football is secondary.

If I was in charge there would be no need for districts. You would play a nine or ten game schedule and then your season ends.

[say_oww]

But you are not in charge. And the schools aren't going to stop playing football or decrease the schedule because you think it is ridiculous. The issues aren't going to go away by waving your magic wand. You can call everything ridiculous, but unless these issues are addressed and plausible solutions are proposed, many individuals such as all of us will spend way too much time debating them. What is truly ridiculous is that there are so many complaints, but those in power chose to ignore the masses.

What is also ridiculous is that District 6 could have so much power. I mean those who voted it down are what - ADs or coaches. This type of an issue should be addressed by the school boards or at least the school administrators. Low-level employees should not have the power to approve or deny anything of such scale.

[usatf oldguy]

Have to agree with say ow it is a money issue.It isn't anything else,balancing the districts number wise and travel wise makes good finacial sense to the school districts involved.If you get close to the same number of teams from each district the playoffs could become more balanced.I think district 6 likes the cash flow.I personally wouldn't have a problem with a total reorganization of the districts to try to cut down on travel expenses.That is a pipe dream though!

[Muddlehuddle]

You can posture all you want, but the bottom line is that these schools aren't happy with the situation the way it currently exists. And neither are many other schools as well. District 6 should be concerned if so many schools want to leave. I can bet that this isn't over by a long shot.

Totally agree!