Millard South Football

I barely follow HS sports other than looking at scores. Scores like 45-6 seem to be the norm anymore. It's a far cry from what it used to be.
 
Class A is a mess.

Scores from Class A last week: 57-0, 60-0, 65-0, 54-0, 33-17, 62-7, 45-17, 63-0, 65-0, 42-3, 63-7, 42-14, 31-16, 58-3

That being said, Lincoln High is 4-2. And it seems odd that a Class A school can have so many "injuries" that they can't play.
 
I feel the sentiment of going out there and fighting no matter what, even if you gotta take your lumps... but at the same time there is very little value, and certainly no competition, in this game being played. For a little comparison, Millard South beat Lincoln Southeast 77-0, and the very next week, Southeast beat Lincoln High 57-0.

The Millard South kids would learn nothing from playing this game. The Lincoln High kids would only learn how to endure adversity and unfairness, and let's be honest, most Lincoln High students are already accustomed to dealing with that.

In a time when kids can enroll in whatever school they choose and some schools prioritize recruiting for specific programs, Millard South (and a handful of other schools in the Omaha metro, although MS is easily multiple touchdowns better than anyone else in the state) have done very well. But it has created such a competitive imbalance that HS football in Omaha and Lincoln is simply not fun.
 
High school football is broken at all levels in the state imo. Our small D1 school plays 8 man and have had games against teams who have opted down from class C to 8 man football even though they have way more kids than necessary to play 11 man football. The games have been less than competitive to say the least. I'm not sure what the solutions are because the NSAA can only do so much if the teams want full schedules though. I can say participation in our area is plummeting.
 
I think HS FB in all states is having issues. I do think NSAA made some changes to help this situation. I heard it on the radio a few weeks back on 1620.

It is hard for football to succeed everywhere when overprotective parents will not let them play.
 
Hilltop said:
High school football is broken at all levels in the state imo. Our small D1 school plays 8 man and have had games against teams who have opted down from class C to 8 man football even though they have way more kids than necessary to play 11 man football. The games have been less than competitive to say the least. I'm not sure what the solutions are because the NSAA can only do so much if the teams want full schedules though. I can say participation in our area is plummeting.
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Participation percentages are definitely a huge issue. With no solution. It just the new normal most places.

As far as the teams option down, I'm sure there are a lot of different scenarios. But there are currently only five schools that are opting down to 8-man. They are ineligible for the playoffs. And none of them has beaten a team with a winning record. Only two of them have beaten a team with more than one win. So it's not like they're really beating up on teams that aren't getting beaten up by teams that have the enrollments to be 8-man teams.
 
I'm kind of on the fence.

My understanding is that there has actually been very little recruiting (this is what has been alleged). I've been told by people I know that most of these kids have been together since middle school. This group of dads has been able to accomplish what so many, at least in my area, have tried. Get a group of talented kids together and keep them together. Most of the time these dad initiatives fizzle out due to pride and ego. They held it together from what I've been told. I guess they have added players, but it's not as prevalent as some believe.

But there is also a problem in Class A. Why go out and get slaughtered? The "take it like a man" argument to me seems weak. What valuable life lessons does a kid learn when they go out and are down 35 points in the first quarter? How does that translate to real life? To me it's not about getting beat. It's not even a competition. I get the "quit" aspect of it, but I think it's more than that.

I don’t have a solution. I don’t know what people want NSAA to do.
 
Mavric said:
Participation percentages are definitely a huge issue. With no solution. It just the new normal most places.

As far as the teams option down, I'm sure there are a lot of different scenarios. But there are currently only five schools that are opting down to 8-man. They are ineligible for the playoffs. And none of them has beaten a team with a winning record. Only two of them have beaten a team with more than one win. So it's not like they're really beating up on teams that aren't getting beaten up by teams that have the enrollments to be 8-man teams.
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I was only aware of a couple. Is there somewhere to see a list of them?

They may not be juggernaut type of teams but when they have literally double the enrollment, it isn't right for either team imo. I have heard discussions that they are going to 3 classes for 8 man next year based on enrollment. I think that will help a lot.
 
gobiggergoredder said:
My understanding is that there has actually been very little recruiting (this is what has been alleged). I've been told by people I know that most of these kids have been together since middle school. This group of dads has been able to accomplish what so many, at least in my area, have tried. Get a group of talented kids together and keep them together. Most of the time these dad initiatives fizzle out due to pride and ego. They held it together from what I've been told. I guess they have added players, but it's not as prevalent as some believe.
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Eh ... kind of depends on which lens you want to see "recruiting." If you can take a lot of the best athletes from a city the size of Omaha and get them to all go to the same high school, that's the same thing as recruiting. Maybe in a different vein than the coach/school recruiting but the effect is the same. I doubt they all decided to go to Millard West because it's the closest to their house.

gobiggergoredder said:
But there is also a problem in Class A. Why go out and get slaughtered? The "take it like a man" argument to me seems weak. What valuable life lessons does a kid learn when they go out and are down 35 points in the first quarter? How does that translate to real life? To me it's not about getting beat. It's not even a competition. I get the "quit" aspect of it, but I think it's more than that.

I don’t have a solution. I don’t know what people want NSAA to do.
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People want to point their fingers at the NSAA. But it's really Option Enrollment that has allowed this to happen. That's a state legislature issue that the NSAA can do nothing about.
 
Hilltop said:
I was only aware of a couple. Is there somewhere to see a list of them?
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NSAA Football Classifications

Hilltop said:
They may not be juggernaut type of teams but when they have literally double the enrollment, it isn't right for either team imo. I have heard discussions that they are going to 3 classes for 8 man next year based on enrollment. I think that will help a lot.
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Pointing to enrollment doesn't prove anything. As has been discussed, it's participation that's the problem. South Sioux City is in Class A. They played Class C2 Yutan this year, probably because that was someone who agreed to play them that they wouldn't get pummeled as badly. Yutan beat them 28-0.

Edit: South Sioux City has NINE TIMES the enrollment of Yutan.

Those teams opting down have also gotten beat badly. Johnson County Central got beat 54-8. Wakefield is winless and only one of their games has been within three touchdowns. Tri County has beaten two team fairly badly but those two teams have combined to win one game - those teams are getting pummeled by everyone. Tri County has gotten blown out three times. Same with West Holt. It's not right for those schools to have to play 11-man where they would be getting beaten even worse just because they don't have boys out for football.
 
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Mavric said:
NSAA Football Classifications



Pointing to enrollment doesn't prove anything. As has been discussed, it's participation that's the problem. South Sioux City is in Class A. They played Class C2 Yutan this year, probably because that was someone who agreed to play them that they wouldn't get pummeled as badly. Yutan beat them 28-0.

Those teams opting down have also gotten beat badly. Johnson County Central got beat 54-8. Wakefield is winless and only one of their games has been within three touchdowns. Tri County has beaten two team fairly badly but those two teams have combined to win one game - those teams are getting pummeled by everyone. Tri County has gotten blown out three times. Same with West Holt. It's not right for those schools to have to play 11-man where they would be getting beaten even worse just because they don't have boys out for football.
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Many Private schools win on participation vs enrollment. Also smaller towns on the outskirts of larger areas.
 
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