BleacherCoaches.com

Ramblers, Rockets pacing title chase...

Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum.

Rockwood is still in its football infancy. Windber is a longtime power. But the two schools now share something in common: Each has a bye in the first round of the District # 5 Class A playoffs.

The pairings, which were announced on Sunday, have Windber (8-1) as the top seed in the district. The Ramblers are in the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.
Rockwood, which is in just its second full season as a varsity program, is the second-seeded team. The Rockets (7-2) played an independent schedule this season, heavy on schools from Maryland and West Virginia, meaning that there will be little familiarity with their second-round opponent.

The District # 5 playoffs kick off Friday night with sixth-seeded Tussey Mountain (3-6) playing third-seeded Northern Bedford (6-3) at 7 p.m. The Panthers beat the Titans 34-0 in Week 3.

The winner of that game will play at Rockwood on Nov. 12. Rockwood's field does not meet district standards for hosting a playoff game, so the Rockets will play on a neutral field in the second round.

Fourth-seeded Meyersdale (5-4) hosts No. 5 Berlin (4-5) at 7 p.m. Saturday. Berlin beat Meyersdale 14-13 in Week 2.

The winner of that game will advance to face Windber on Nov. 11.

Windber rolled through most of the regular season before losing a 22-21 heartbreaker to Portage in the final game of the year, when the Mustangs scored on a two-point conversion in overtime.

Ramblers coach Phil DeMarco wasn’t sure whether he would rather have a bye week or have his team get right back into the mix.

“I’ve been asked that before,” he said. “I’ve never experienced it. I guess from getting some kids healed up, it’s a good thing. We have a couple kids dinged up from the game, so I guess it’s a good thing. We just have to make sure the kids are ready. We’ll just have a week of practice as normal as possible and take Friday off, then begin getting ready for the next opponent.”

It shouldn’t take the Ramblers long to get to know their next opponent. Windber beat Berlin 46-0 in Week 5 and Meyersdale 22-7 in Week 7.

“We’ve played both of them in the regular season,” DeMarco said. “We have a lot of game tape on them. What we do shouldn’t be a surprise to them and what they do shouldn’t be a surprise to us. You have to stick with what got you there.”

Rockwood got to the playoffs thanks to its powerful offense. The Rockets scored at least 30 points in five of their nine games. Adam Rullo, who shares coaching duties with Jonathan Hale, said that it took some time for the team to find its stride.

“You’ve got to thank the boys,” Rullo said. “They’ve stuck with us and been really patient with us. Our offense is a little confusing at first. Our school is really supportive. The fans our behind us the whole way.”

Even Rullo was impressed with the progress of the young program.

“This is our second year coaching,” he said. “Both years we’ve made the playoffs. Last year we were the fourth seed. Here we are in second place. We’re that much closer to a District # 5 championship.”

"THE CHOPS".

Does anyone else find that disturbing?

I mean... How could you actually feel good about going into the playoffs at 3-6, 4-5, and even 5-4? District 5 needs to join in with something because the only team that really stands out as a team that belongs is Windber.

Another point... Conemaugh Valley, the D6A 8th seed, beat Berlin (D5A 5th seed) 50-0 last week. And I believe they beat Meyersdale also.

In Conclusion
I think that something needs worked out here. Teams are going 7-2 and then struggling to make the last seed in D6A and then you have teams 3-6 as a shoe-in in D5A. It's messed up. I'm sure some football/politician/brainiac could figure some why of leveling things out because it is consistently this way. What if we pulled a WPIAL and played a couple extra weeks of playoffs to let in 10-12 seeds from D5/6A? Just throwing stuff out there.

Anyone else feel this way?

Yea ! I agree.

The District #5 is pretty much ho-hum, when it comes to a lot of good teams. Heck! if these teams where in the W.P.I.A.L., they wouldn't even smell a win, except for Say: Windber. I can't figure out why District #5, High school sports aren't in better shape ??? Kids must not put a whole lot of emphisis on sports in general. nor do they care that much...

I went to Windber & even lived there for 33-1/2 years, played sports too.Sports in Windber are a large part of being a priority.
Nothing wrong with that. It helps build character, poise & leadership, for later in life...

"THE CHOPS".

Chops,

Refresh my memory! Who does the D5 winner face? D3 or 4?

Whoever it is, they will NOT be prepared for that type of play and will be DESTROYED. You can quote me on that, and I don't think anyone would disagree. But hey, at least they can win the district a million times and not go any farther. That's more than those 7-2 and 6-3 D6 teams that never made it to the playoffs.

Chops, we have to remember that the legacy of football in Windber has been simmering since the 1920s and 1930s. Football was the one way out of Windber for many a boy for years and there were coaches who pushed their players into College programs throughout the state. I had the pleasure of talking to Earl Edwards, ex North Carolina State and Penn State coach who remembered Windber quite well from the 50s. Windber was always the premier act in D5 and they took on everybody. There were many teams that would never schedule Windber and Windber would not have entertained scheduling. Changes in population demographics have not been kind to the Ramblers nor to many of the schools in both D5 and D6. Johnstown and Altoona were a couple of state powerhouses in the past and Windber played them regularly. Many people in the area have either forgotten these facts or their envy of Windber's past clouds their acceptance of the great football traditions given to the area by some of these great football programs. I know what I am writing here will not set well with many local fans but the facts speak for themselves.

As for District 5 -- it is an extremely small district made up of only three very low population counties. One of those counties has no football program at all. Windber just happens to be virtually in District 6.

I agree with flakjacket that the present playoff system leaves much to be desired. I have expressed my opinion in the past that the District concept should be scrapped. Only conference winners, second place finishers and those with the best records should be eligible for the playoffs. There should be seedings based upon conference finishes and final records. Districts should play no part in the selections. Interclassification play should carry no extra weight and these games should be nonconference. There are approximately 140-145 schools in each of the classifications and it should be easy enough to form enough 6-8 team conferences from which to determine the best 32 teams in the east and west from each classification. Nonconference games could be scheduled to fill either a 9 or 10 game slate. One problem is the politics played between the larger groups of schools in the state. The powerful WPIAL has always been a major player in any negotiations and its desires had to be satisfied before anything could go forward. For any changes to take place the PIAA must have total control and the outdated District concept must go away. It will never happen so Pennsylvania will forever be stuck with its arcane system. Even after 17 years Pennsylvania is a relative newcomer to football playoffs and could learn much from other parts of the country. I am sure I will be taken to task for my opinions and suggestions but maybe the discussion will move someone to act.

OH... almost forgot one of my "other" ideas.

Why don't they use the "Somerset Rule" as I like to call it. For those of you who don't know, Somerset is considered District 6 even though it is technically in D5.

This could mean that the D6 WestPAC teams would play in the D5 playoffs since their conference is mostly D5. What if...?

The playoff discussion has been discussed extensively...read about it in the other threads flak.

There is really nothing D5 can do because D7 got its wish for an extra week or only 4 teams would make it.

Last year the 5 and 6 seeds BOTH won their games as Windber was upset by a fairly new North Star team.

Most year's it wouldn't be like this...

Anyway, read the other threads for all your explanations.

Yeah, that's it. The D5 kids just don't care -- and everybody knows the coaches are inferior. Least that's what the WPIAL purists have been telling for years. That plus the fact that we're morally inferior our here in the sticks and we kiss our mothers and kick our dogs or vice versa.

I'm not sure why we don't bring home a slew of state championships each year, but I'd assume it's a little more complicated -- maybe even socio-economic.