Ken Lantzy 2013

[Crimson's Ghost]

I know how the game went haha, Richland was far and away the better team. But the scoreboard said otherwise. I guess my whole thing is, I'm a stickler for a good article title. And the way I was reading into it, "Richland dominates McCort 17-10" haha. If I saw that in a paper I'd chuckle a bit.

[El-Moldo]

....Bias in the paper?
....Want to get back to the 13 all-area kids from Richland for a minute. Honestly, doesn't anyone think that it is unusual that ONE particular team had 13 players on the Tribune 1st and 2nd all-area team? According to the Tribune all-area edition (of which I am referring), there were 50 kids selected to the 1st team, 2nd team, offensive player of the year and defensive player of the year. Soooo...of the 50 selected, 13 were Richland Rams. That means that the OTHER 25 teams collectively only had 37 kids picked. Richland therefore had 26% of the selections. Again, unusual???? Were the Richland players REALLY that good to have so many selected, or were the players on the other 25 teams just bad?
....roaminthehalls stated that the area coaches picked the all-area team. Al contrare, mon ami. According to the Tribune article, "The majority of the coaches in the 26-team coverage area were given the opportunity to PROVIDE INPUT regarding the selection process, including lists of their OWN players as well as those on the teams WHICH THEY PLAYED AGAINST OR WATCHED. Sports staff members involved IN THE PROCESS were sports editor Mike Novak, Mike Mastovich, Shawn Curtis, and Cory Isenberg".
....Thirteen kids from ONE school on the area all-area team??? And NO bias???? Seriously, were the players on the other 25 teams really that bad if a few more than 37 couldn't make the team? You decide.

[Coach]

They deserve 13 in my mind... Why? They beat the teams with the other kids and went to the western final.

[Crimson's Ghost]

They aren't the first Tribune based team to go to the Western Final. 13 does seem a bit much, but a lot of those kids had thr numbers to back it up. Hey, its their paper, they can do it however they want!

[El-Moldo]

Let's face it, you are often as good as the kids you play with. Let's say that Richland had 7 LEGITIMATE area all-stars on their team. Is it possible that the other 6 were riding the coattails of the 7 GOOD teammates??? Meanwhile, a real good area player from Ferndale for example, gets NO recognition because he's playing with 10 other schmucks. Doesn't good teammates make you look good too, maybe even better than you are? And what about stats? Didn't Richland's runningback score 6 touchdowns in one game against some weak sister? I'm tellin' ya, 13 all-stars on one team, not to mention how many honorable mentions there were from Richland, seems ridiculous, when kids from 25 other schools were in consideration.

[Manfred]

I gotta say, the man has a point. 13 is an absurd number from 1 team. 5, certainly. 7 or 8, possibly. But 13? C'mon, MAN!

[sppawfan]

How many make first team and how many make 2nd team? That is the total of kids for 1st and 2nd from all teams combined. How many does the tribune pick for 1 and 2. Is it 11 offense and 11 defense 1st team and vise versa for 2nd team. So is it 44 total 1st and 2nd teamers and richland had 13 kids make it out of 44??

[wallpaper]

13!!!That's absurd!! Richland should have had 22. Eleven on offense and 11 on defense.

[El-Moldo]

....What? No all-star kicker or punter??? That should be 24.
....As per sppawfan's question, here is the breakdown:
....offensive player of the year (1)
....defensive player of the year (1)
....1st team offense (12) - 1 QB, 3 WR, 2 RB, 5 OL, 1 specialist
....2nd team offense (12) - see above
....1st team defense (12) - 3 DL, 4 LB, 4 DB, 1 P/K
....2nd team defense (12) - see above
....Total 50 players selected all-area from 26 teams

[Richland_Fan]

....What? No all-star kicker or punter??? That should be 24.
....

We punted less than 10 times the whole year so we'll give you that one, but ya, our kicker was pretty awesome too. Thanks!

Seriously though, look at maxpreps at the stats for the state in both team and individuals. Richland has lots of individuals in top 10 for whole state and team is in top 5 for nearly all, if not all, for AA. It was really a good team with some very good individual efforts too. (and yes, I realize not all teams use maxpreps, i.e. Aliquippa, and the stats are self-reported, but Richland's stats are realistic as opposed to some I saw).