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Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 16th, 2013, 7:02 pm
by hornets69
QuoteTheRaven wrote:I think Portage has a quality quality program but it is not among the elite in D6 Class A. Portage puts together great season after great season but can't seem to go anywhere in the playoffs. In my oppinion D6 Single A is broken up into 2 levels: ELITE and CONTENDERS.
ELITE: Bellwood-Antis, Bishop McCort, Bishop Carroll
CONTENDERS: Portage, Bishop Guilfoyle, Juniata Valley, Penns Manor, Blairsville, Homer Center
(*I'm comparing this to year-in-year-out finishes, not just this year)
Schools like Portage and Juniata Valley are very similar because they seem to have the same type of success. They are a smaller Class A D6 school that generally dominate they're competition in the regular season and then when they go up against one of the ELITES or another quality CONTENDER they lose in the playoffs. There is no shame in this. But it just proves that the quality of competition increases in the playoffs. This is another classic case of where I think the PIAA should break up the 4 Classifications (A,AA,AAA, and 4A) into 6 Classifications (A,AA,AAA,4A,5A, and 6A) like it is in most other states. This would make it A LOT fairer for teams like Portage and Juniata Valley (who are smaller numbers or have less of a talent level than the "ELITES") to play teams more on their level.
Teams Like Bellwood-Antis, Bishop Carroll, and Bishop McCort would now be AA. Enabling smaller schools like Penns Manor, Portage, and Juniata Valley to be true Single-A schools. I think you would see A LOT more competitive playoffs if this happened. I'm NOT SAYING that smaller teams like Portage and JV can't beat the best of the best some years but most of the time they fall short. I feel that this state wide would be the best solution for A LOT of teams on A LOT of levels and would also help the "PRIVATE vs. PUBLIC" debate because it would force most of your "PRIVATE" schools to play atleast AA because of numbers.
prior to danny ferens, I think penns manor had 1 winning regular season (above 500) in the last 25 years years or so. look at all of his talent and he was only able to get 1 district championship for them.
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 16th, 2013, 8:00 pm
by SevenTwo
Agreed, prior to Danny Ferens PM wasn't even very successful in the Heritage. It was nice to see how successful they were this year without him and hopefully he started a tradition of excellence at Penns Manor.
Homer-Center has always been a solid team, though. As were Laurel and Ligonier before the merger.
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 16th, 2013, 8:09 pm
by konjo78
In bill packers 8 years 7 winning records
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 16th, 2013, 8:15 pm
by knowitall
Youngbuck is funny.
1. A new coach? Why? Portage went 8-1 in the games that really mattered.
2. Portage could apply to join the Heritage. The LHAC wouldn't want them and have no opening. Portage would be a perennial doormat in the LHAC. Playing better competition doesn't make you a better team.
3. And just who had an open week the week Portage "sat home"? Meyersdale is the only team that I was aware of. A bye week is not punishment. It gives a small school's players a week to heal. Was Berlin punished last week by having the week off?
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 16th, 2013, 8:57 pm
by SportsFan04
Although I cannot comment on getting a new coach. I'm curious to know in what sport playing better competition does not make a better team or individual? In my opinion this is one of the reasons ligonier will never do anything I'm the playoffs. Constantly playing mid grade A competition does not prepare you for AA playoffs. This is the the same reason coaches send good wrestling teams to good tournaments or the move up freshman to varsity. The entire purpose of the regular season is to prepare you for the post season and if you are not going to utilize that then you aren't going to succeed. I also tend to agree that for these reasons Portage did waste that off week. I don't know who was available but if it is true that they just did not want to travel because this was a scheduled home game then in my opinion the administration failed to do everything they could to prepare their team. Sometimes taking a loss against a good team out weighs beating up on a bad team just to get a win. Just my thoughts.
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 17th, 2013, 7:39 am
by knowitall
Would Bishop Carroll and Forest Hills have won last night had they played better competition this year?
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 17th, 2013, 8:19 am
by d6footballfan
Agree with Coach and Raven - the idea that another coach will be able to do better is total lunacy. Gouse is a good coach and Smith from JV gets the exact same garbage from their fans, and they are both too lucky to have them. What keeps them motivated to coach at these smaller schools with ungrateful and unrealistic fans is beyond me.
Oh and BTW, I cant think of a better, more secure way to get your biggest offensive asset (which is speed and quickness) in open space than the jet sweep. Oh I forgot every year these small A schools must have a recruitable QB, or a massive line, or a crushing ground game to rely on instead of that jet sweep O.
C'mon man, get real
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 17th, 2013, 10:23 am
by Husker33
Smith just lost his job at JV
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 17th, 2013, 10:35 am
by QuoteTheRaven
Husker33 wrote:Smith just lost his job at JV
Is this a fact??? I havent heard any outcome of what happened after the Huntingdon game
Re: Portage Football
Posted: November 17th, 2013, 10:52 am
by d6footballfan
interesting if Smith did lose his "job". He is a teacher in the district and football is a collateral to him. And if he did in fact lose "his job" as coach, can't wait til the next coach gets to try their hand at what Smith has been very good at with limited resources to work with. I think we will all see after the fact, those who are most critical will get what they want, and see it isn't always greener in other pastures. JV is in for some lean years to come in football. I almost cant wait to say I told you so in a year or two.