Heritage Conference 2017

[Crimson's Ghost]

Maybe there's a church in Homer City the family wants to be closer to. 

[DCor50]

Congrats to LV alum and starting TE at UCONN, Alec Bloom on being named to the Mackey Award watch list. How awesome is that? A Heritage Conference player considered as one the best in the country. Thought this should be mentioned. Good luck Alec!

[JTMcMahonLV]

LV has two players in major division one football right now. Exciting times to be a rams fan. I expect LV to be sitting atop the heritage at the end of the season once again this year, even with the "signing" of the blairsville transfer to homer

[NightHawk99]

Rumor has it that Dakota Sunday will be starting quarterback at Homer Center with the loss of Jeese Beaker. Smart move??

[ChrisKentRam]

What did everyone think about the interviews from media day on the gazette website? How about the preseason coaches poll? 
A couple take-aways for me.  
1. Ligonier will win the conference again. I was surprised Dougherty wasn't going to be the QB when I heard the rumor in the offseason, but it looks like that is going to be the case. 
2. Homer is going to have a nice team. Adding Sunday from Blairsville to the mix really helps their team. 
3. Penns Manor is going to have a really nice field.
4. Purchase Line should be an interesting team. Definitely have talent, but it seems like the players liked the former coach. Hopefully they get off to a good start, or else it could be interesting. 

[Steve92]

lgb87cape...that's a good one...haha...weakest conference in the area...you made me spit out my coffee when I read that...if you think the Laurel Highlands is far superior, think again...they have BG at Single A(who recruits)...they have BM in Double AA( who recruits and got dismantled by LV last year)...AAA was dreadful last year for the LHAC and then you have Jtown in AAAA...how many teams are in the District playoffs for them?  3or 4?  They win  D6 title out of 3 teams!  Get over yourself.  The Heritage had 2 out of 4 remaining in D6 A last year.  Then HC got smacked by BG(who recruits) just like everyone else.  The Heritage doesn't have any private schools but competes very well come November.  

I'll take LV to win the Heritage going away and repeat as D6 AA Champs.  They have 8 starters back on a very fast and stingy Defense that allowed less than a TD a game for 15 games.  The entire D line is back, 2 LB's are back and 2 DB's.  It'll be very hard to replace Smith and Parrish, but with a great Defense they shouldn't have any shoot outs.  Plus, with Tutino and Daugherty they'll be hard to stop.  Homer Center will be very good as well.  A lot returning and well coached.  I expect Purchase Line to be at the top too.  But it is baseball season, so let's focus on that for a minute or two.

BG really needs to step up that recruiting game.  Three years ago they had no one move in for religious or academic reasons.  Then they win a state championship and get a freshman and sophomore lineman from Altoona.  A second state medal gets them no interest.  After a 3rd championship they finally score a prize in a top local running back and a lineman from outside the district.  In the meantime their football pipeline continues to bleed athletes at all grade levels to the Altoona school district.  At least two of last year's freshman football players are transferring to Altoona.  Let's see, that's 3 state championships and 4 incoming players, two of which transferred before they were starting at the varsity level at their previous schools.  Their recruiting effort just can't keep pace with the urban public schools.

[Fballrules17]

BG does not need to recruit. They have the best situation of any private school in the state, They get to play up in conference, playing 2A, 3A, and even 4A teams so that they can have 2 or 3 competitive games per regular season (All while playing their home games in the best Single A facility in the state). Then they can simply steam roll Single A teams in the district and eventually the state, while emptying their bench every single play-off game so the entire 55 man roster gets to play. It's a pretty sweet gig. Last season BG beat 7 Single A teams by an average score of 53-3, with the exception of Clairton, who had 2 or 3 DI kids but could not match BG's superior size and depth.

I've got news for you. No SIngle A team will come close again this year, or for the foreseeable future. BG has more upperclassmen (Juniors and Seniors) than most Single A teams have on their roster. You may ask why a private from the WPIAl can't compete with that? Well, GCC, Imani, Bishop Canevin, and OLSH all have rosters under 30. Each of those teams have 2 or 3 athletes that are exceptional but none can match BG's size and depth. Why? competition. Those schools all compete with other schools, Serra Catholic, North Catholic, Shady Side, and Seton La Salle for players. (I'm not even including PCC, Because they are at the very top of the food chain.

Who does BG compete with in the Altoona Metro Area (around 120,000 people) for players? no one.

I know, I know the Altoona Parochial League, after a 25 year drought (1987-2012) started producing an enormous amount of talent that has produced (after 2017) around a 60 game winning streak and four straight state titles.

If I were a single a team in District 6 I wouldn't even enter the D6 tournament. I would end the season with a Bowl game, the Westpac and Heritage already do it. Just end the season there. Give BG a four week bye to the state title. Maybe eventually they'll decide to move up. I doubt it though.

[Steve92]

FBR 17,
With the exception of the 4 players I alluded to above, BG's roster doesn't include anyone who comes from outside the same geographic/demographic area from which the team has drawn for many decades. They've always had some kids move into the school from Altoona High and lost some going the other way. Most of the transferees aren't football players, some are. And they've always drawn the families that went to the two Catholic elementary schools in Hollidaysburg.
I agree with you that they should be moving up in class. They have nothing left to prove in Single A, certainly not this year. Failing to move up only shows that they're chasing records, not testing themselves against worthy competition.

[ChrisKentRam]

Here's a crazy idea. In the Heritage Conference thread, how about we talk about oh say... The Heritage Conference.

[ISlapCats]

1 Ligonier Valley
2 Homer Center
3 Purchase Line
4 Northern Cambria
5 Penns Manor
6 United
7 Blairsville
8 West Shamokin
9 Marion Center
10 Saltsburg