Anyone have sons/daughters playing tonight? Friday Night Lights!

[Tenacious E]

South's freshmen, and even their varsity do some degree, do not care about gap responsibility. They just come upfield hard, more than SEP last night. It makes for feast or famine on that side of the ball, both ways.

So curiosity killed the cat. From an objective standpoint, how does our fort dodge scout team D hold up to our O? Based on what my son tells me it seems like a pretty good steel on steel matchup because it is basically first team D reshuffled to a 4 linebacker scheme. I would think what the O faces on Thursday would be a refreshing change of pace from what my kid tells me you have them trying to block (he does admit the D generally knows what is coming so they have an unfair advantage). so it should should get ugly quick but he says the staff is saying #44 is a stud. I am sure #44 is but I can’t imagine one guy does anything in the grand scheme of things. like I noted earlier we lost to fort dodge last year. I know my kid in particular wants to show it was a fluke. light ‘em up and go jags!

 

[mthawkeyes]

Like most teams that run a 3-4, Fort Dodge blitzes one or more pretty much every play. Their front is more about shooting gaps rather than controlling them. It can frustrating on offense because they can make some plays, but they're also vulnerable to giving up a big play. It also helps that our quarterback consistently gets the ball out on time and into the right space, which a pretty rare for a freshman. I would like to think that our scout defense is giving a better look than the offense will actually see on Thursday. They had fun just jetting upfield playing scout D, but were able to transition back to playing gap responsibility during team D.

On offense, they like to move #44 around and get him the football. He's a solid player who runs hard and he's definitely their key player and we just need to identify him before every snap. If we play sound in gaps and coverage, we should be fine. They have a nice 2-deep beater out of trips that we haven't seen this year and also like to run a shallow cross out of slots. They run a boot pretty similar to what we've seen from M'town and SEP the last two weeks and we did a good reading and covering those. If we have eye discipline and read keys, we should be able to take care of their passing game and have a free hitter when they run the ball. We've run base defense with only minor tweaks on all but about 10 plays through 6 games. The kids understand their reads and responsibilities and generally execute them pretty well. We still have some single dogs, a zone blitz, and 3rd and long auto blitzes that we can go to and execute if we have problems.

All of that being said, they're still a bunch of immature 9th graders who may be prone to having inflated egos. Our goal as coaches is to keep them grounded and focused on winning every play rather than thinking ahead about how the whole game or season might play out. Just win the next play and the end result will take care of itself.

 

[Tenacious E]

Like most teams that run a 3-4, Fort Dodge blitzes one or more pretty much every play. Their front is more about shooting gaps rather than controlling them. It can frustrating on offense because they can make some plays, but they're also vulnerable to giving up a big play. It also helps that our quarterback consistently gets the ball out on time and into the right space, which a pretty rare for a freshman. I would like to think that our scout defense is giving a better look than the offense will actually see on Thursday. They had fun just jetting upfield playing scout D, but were able to transition back to playing gap responsibility during team D.

On offense, they like to move #44 around and get him the football. He's a solid player who runs hard and he's definitely their key player and we just need to identify him before every snap. If we play sound in gaps and coverage, we should be fine. They have a nice 2-deep beater out of trips that we haven't seen this year and also like to run a shallow cross out of slots. They run a boot pretty similar to what we've seen from M'town and SEP the last two weeks and we did a good reading and covering those. If we have eye discipline and read keys, we should be able to take care of their passing game and have a free hitter when they run the ball. We've run base defense with only minor tweaks on all but about 10 plays through 6 games. The kids understand their reads and responsibilities and generally execute them pretty well. We still have some single dogs, a zone blitz, and 3rd and long auto blitzes that we can go to and execute if we have problems.

All of that being said, they're still a bunch of immature 9th graders who may be prone to having inflated egos. Our goal as coaches is to keep them grounded and focused on winning every play rather than thinking ahead about how the whole game or season might play out. Just win the next play and the end result will take care of itself.

I love that last paragraph. The hope is that they take that to the classroom and life. Never as good/bad as you think you are and just win the play/day/test/project. And it is always interesting to hear an actual coach with actual knowledge talk Xs and Os. Football is so much more cerebral than most realize. Also, he didn’t tell me about the burner receiver. I don’t remember that kid from last year so that is good to know... anyway thanks again for sharing and for the time you give to the boys. I can remember back to all of my high school football teams and they were certainly impactful in many ways.

 

[Tenacious E]

Like most teams that run a 3-4, Fort Dodge blitzes one or more pretty much every play. Their front is more about shooting gaps rather than controlling them. It can frustrating on offense because they can make some plays, but they're also vulnerable to giving up a big play. It also helps that our quarterback consistently gets the ball out on time and into the right space, which a pretty rare for a freshman. I would like to think that our scout defense is giving a better look than the offense will actually see on Thursday. They had fun just jetting upfield playing scout D, but were able to transition back to playing gap responsibility during team D.

On offense, they like to move #44 around and get him the football. He's a solid player who runs hard and he's definitely their key player and we just need to identify him before every snap. If we play sound in gaps and coverage, we should be fine. They have a nice 2-deep beater out of trips that we haven't seen this year and also like to run a shallow cross out of slots. They run a boot pretty similar to what we've seen from M'town and SEP the last two weeks and we did a good reading and covering those. If we have eye discipline and read keys, we should be able to take care of their passing game and have a free hitter when they run the ball. We've run base defense with only minor tweaks on all but about 10 plays through 6 games. The kids understand their reads and responsibilities and generally execute them pretty well. We still have some single dogs, a zone blitz, and 3rd and long auto blitzes that we can go to and execute if we have problems.

All of that being said, they're still a bunch of immature 9th graders who may be prone to having inflated egos. Our goal as coaches is to keep them grounded and focused on winning every play rather than thinking ahead about how the whole game or season might play out. Just win the next play and the end result will take care of itself.

Good game - 47-0 when we were still in the 3rd with a continuous clock and really It wasn’t that clean of a game up to that point... so Monday is the good Waukee team I hear. Since they still feed into the same high school I would assume they run the same schemes as the other Waukee team?

 

[mthawkeyes]

Good game - 47-0 when we were still in the 3rd with a continuous clock and really It wasn’t that clean of a game up to that point... so Monday is the good Waukee team I hear. Since they still feed into the same high school I would assume they run the same schemes as the other Waukee team?

We had a couple of stupid plays that brought back TDs and sooner or later that type of thing can really hurt you. Our offensive line played better overall (not just physically but with regard to assignments). It might seem funny to criticize the defense when our starters only gave up one first down, but we had a couple of missed tackles and a couple of blown coverages that could really cost us against a couple of the teams that we have left. When we do miss a tackle, we run to the ball with good angles and have gotten fumbles that way a handful of times this year. We'd rather make them earn a TD with a 10-12 play drive and give them an opportunity to make their own mistakes.

As for Prairieview, they won a close game against SEP that SEP should have won, and lost a close game against Ankeny that PV should have won. Their defense is similar to SEP and Ankeny with a 40 under front that comes upfield. A lot of teams bring an 8th man into the front against us, but we're good enough throwing the ball this year that we don't see that as much. We've been able to run cover 3 beaters and our receivers and RBs are good enough blockers that we've still been able to run the ball against 8.

They generally don't have a TE, but they have a kid (#87) that will be a FB, HB, or SL. They rarely run the ball without him as a lead blocker, so their formations are a pretty strong key for their run/pass tendencies. They go empty quite a bit, either 3x2 or 4x1, and like to send at least 3 vertical. They run smash a lot, and if the deep corners are covered the QB runs. Rarely looks at the hitches. The QB is their best runner so the pass rush will have to get home and wrap up, and we'll need to make sure that we have someone accounting for him when they go empty.

 

[Tenacious E]

We had a couple of stupid plays that brought back TDs and sooner or later that type of thing can really hurt you. Our offensive line played better overall (not just physically but with regard to assignments). It might seem funny to criticize the defense when our starters only gave up one first down, but we had a couple of missed tackles and a couple of blown coverages that could really cost us against a couple of the teams that we have left. When we do miss a tackle, we run to the ball with good angles and have gotten fumbles that way a handful of times this year. We'd rather make them earn a TD with a 10-12 play drive and give them an opportunity to make their own mistakes.

As for Prairieview, they won a close game against SEP that SEP should have won, and lost a close game against Ankeny that PV should have won. Their defense is similar to SEP and Ankeny with a 40 under front that comes upfield. A lot of teams bring an 8th man into the front against us, but we're good enough throwing the ball this year that we don't see that as much. We've been able to run cover 3 beaters and our receivers and RBs are good enough blockers that we've still been able to run the ball against 8.

They generally don't have a TE, but they have a kid (#87) that will be a FB, HB, or SL. They rarely run the ball without him as a lead blocker, so their formations are a pretty strong key for their run/pass tendencies. They go empty quite a bit, either 3x2 or 4x1, and like to send at least 3 vertical. They run smash a lot, and if the deep corners are covered the QB runs. Rarely looks at the hitches. The QB is their best runner so the pass rush will have to get home and wrap up, and we'll need to make sure that we have someone accounting for him when they go empty.

Yeah they did have a long pass play or two that could have done damage... Thanks for the insight the scouting of these teams is rather remarkable. I would not envy another team trying to scout our offense. Not sure how you really stop it unless you come up aces gambling all game. As for the defense I suppose there are problem moments but even when a kid makes a mistake there are usually a few more nearby that can track the ball carrier down and either erase the mistake with a forced fumble or limit it so we can reset. All in all quite a team that will be fun to track through the years. Thanks again for responding.

 

[mthawkeyes]

Yeah they did have a long pass play or two that could have done damage... Thanks for the insight the scouting of these teams is rather remarkable. I would not envy another team trying to scout our offense. Not sure how you really stop it unless you come up aces gambling all game. As for the defense I suppose there are problem moments but even when a kid makes a mistake there are usually a few more nearby that can track the ball carrier down and either erase the mistake with a forced fumble or limit it so we can reset. All in all quite a team that will be fun to track through the years. Thanks again for responding.

Unless you're just flat out better man-for-man, you need 8 run defenders because we attack every gap out of all sets. That means we see 3-deep coverage most of the time and we have a big fast receiver (and some other good ones) and a QB who can get them the ball. You need to practice against our offense without a football so that LBs will read their offensive line keys. You saw last night what happens when they chase where they think the ball is going instead of reading the OL. Basically what we've been seeing is DL coming upfield and 1-2 LBs blitzing almost every play. They're hoping to get us behind the sticks and it works sometimes, but it also opens gaps and if they guess wrong or fail to execute we break off a big play.

 

[Tenacious E]

Unless you're just flat out better man-for-man, you need 8 run defenders because we attack every gap out of all sets. That means we see 3-deep coverage most of the time and we have a big fast receiver (and some other good ones) and a QB who can get them the ball. You need to practice against our offense without a football so that LBs will read their offensive line keys. You saw last night what happens when they chase where they think the ball is going instead of reading the OL. Basically what we've been seeing is DL coming upfield and 1-2 LBs blitzing almost every play. They're hoping to get us behind the sticks and it works sometimes, but it also opens gaps and if they guess wrong or fail to execute we break off a big play.

My last 2 cents are that I thought the refs had an off night. They got away with a lot of blocks in the back. Which if you're not going to call that whatever but don't bring back a punt return for a touchdown when there is one on our end. I also was not sure what happened on that one play were 74 got called for blocking someone too hard I guess? We scored anyways but Fort Dodge cant say they got hometowned by the refs.

 

[Tenacious E]

Unless you're just flat out better man-for-man, you need 8 run defenders because we attack every gap out of all sets. That means we see 3-deep coverage most of the time and we have a big fast receiver (and some other good ones) and a QB who can get them the ball. You need to practice against our offense without a football so that LBs will read their offensive line keys. You saw last night what happens when they chase where they think the ball is going instead of reading the OL. Basically what we've been seeing is DL coming upfield and 1-2 LBs blitzing almost every play. They're hoping to get us behind the sticks and it works sometimes, but it also opens gaps and if they guess wrong or fail to execute we break off a big play.

I was just checking the schedule to make sure I had the right location for the game tonight and it looks like the Roosevelt game for Thursday is cancelled. Odd timing and too bad because the weather looks great that night.

 

[mthawkeyes]

I was just checking the schedule to make sure I had the right location for the game tonight and it looks like the Roosevelt game for Thursday is cancelled. Odd timing and too bad because the weather looks great that night.

They just cancelled this morning. At least we still have nine games without that one.

 

[Tenacious E]

They just cancelled this morning. At least we still have nine games without that one.

Yeesh. Lucky to pull that one out but maybe for the best long term. I record my kid’s plays and he asked to watch the tape and he’s already done so. He owned a couple of plays he could have done better with. He’s committed to correcting mistakes and agrees that getting serious about the weight room in the off season to just get more physically dominant/in shape is important. I think we finish strong against the south next week and have momentum going forward.

 

[mthawkeyes]

Yeesh. Lucky to pull that one out but maybe for the best long term. I record my kid’s plays and he asked to watch the tape and he’s already done so. He owned a couple of plays he could have done better with. He’s committed to correcting mistakes and agrees that getting serious about the weight room in the off season to just get more physically dominant/in shape is important. I think we finish strong against the south next week and have momentum going forward.

Things got a little crazy. A combination of self-inflicted wounds (turnovers, penalties, and blown coverages) along with their QB and a couple of receivers making plays. We didn't do a very good job of reacting to the things we saw in practice last week. Thursday's game being cancelled gives us time to work on the factors that we can control and hopefully play well on both sides of the ball next week. Our goal is still to learn from mistakes and win the next play. If they only take one thing with them after the season, I hope it's that.

 

[Tenacious E]

Things got a little crazy. A combination of self-inflicted wounds (turnovers, penalties, and blown coverages) along with their QB and a couple of receivers making plays. We didn't do a very good job of reacting to the things we saw in practice last week. Thursday's game being cancelled gives us time to work on the factors that we can control and hopefully play well on both sides of the ball next week. Our goal is still to learn from mistakes and win the next play. If they only take one thing with them after the season, I hope it's that.

We didn't just shoot ourselves in the foot, we unloaded a full clip. Have to hand it to Waukee though they didn't give up and they made plays. Their quarterback was super impressive. I'm not an ISU fan but he reminds of Brock Purdy where he is fast enough to get out of trouble and but then he keeps his eyes up field and all of his throws while scrambling were on the money. There were a couple of plays where after he somehow scrambled out of pressure he could have kept it and ran and he started to do it but then lobbed it over the defender right before he got to the line of scrimmage. Just hard to defend. And of course 87 was a beast.

 

[Tenacious E]

Things got a little crazy. A combination of self-inflicted wounds (turnovers, penalties, and blown coverages) along with their QB and a couple of receivers making plays. We didn't do a very good job of reacting to the things we saw in practice last week. Thursday's game being cancelled gives us time to work on the factors that we can control and hopefully play well on both sides of the ball next week. Our goal is still to learn from mistakes and win the next play. If they only take one thing with them after the season, I hope it's that.

What a season. Thanks again for coaching. And just so I know, when does winning edge start? Is it in the mornings instead of after school?

 

[mthawkeyes]

What a season. Thanks again for coaching. And just so I know, when does winning edge start? Is it in the mornings instead of after school?

It was a fun bunch of kids to coach. The offensive line made enormous progress as a running blocking unit and didn't allow a sack all season. Didn't finish plays on the defensive side as well as we would have liked, but we did a good job of getting aligned and communicating. Needed to be better on the goalline, something I will learn from and focus on next year. I think these guys understand that having a good 9th grade season is just a step on their journey as a team. While the 2's were playing, I heard 1's talking about lifting, trying earn some playing time on varsity next year, and future playoffs/state championship. Whether the last thing happens for them or not, they're doing the things that are going to reward them with good life skills and positive memories, so we're at least getting that part right.

The two classes above these guys are smaller in terms of numbers, so a few of them will probably make the leap to varsity next year. It's a lot faster game, so there's a lot of growth to be made. The 8th and 7th grade classes are pretty deep and talented, and should be able to support and complement this class when they are seniors.

Winning edge is a summer program. Athletes should be enrolled in Strength and Conditioning for PE. If your son isn't, have him switch his PE class for second semester. Also, he can check with Coach (Nate) Smith to see what they are doing before and after school.

 

[Tenacious E]

It was a fun bunch of kids to coach. The offensive line made enormous progress as a running blocking unit and didn't allow a sack all season. Didn't finish plays on the defensive side as well as we would have liked, but we did a good job of getting aligned and communicating. Needed to be better on the goalline, something I will learn from and focus on next year. I think these guys understand that having a good 9th grade season is just a step on their journey as a team. While the 2's were playing, I heard 1's talking about lifting, trying earn some playing time on varsity next year, and future playoffs/state championship. Whether the last thing happens for them or not, they're doing the things that are going to reward them with good life skills and positive memories, so we're at least getting that part right.

The two classes above these guys are smaller in terms of numbers, so a few of them will probably make the leap to varsity next year. It's a lot faster game, so there's a lot of growth to be made. The 8th and 7th grade classes are pretty deep and talented, and should be able to support and complement this class when they are seniors.

Winning edge is a summer program. Athletes should be enrolled in Strength and Conditioning for PE. If your son isn't, have him switch his PE class for second semester. Also, he can check with Coach (Nate) Smith to see what they are doing before and after school.

Thanks! He is in the strength and conditioning PE and I didn't realize winning edge was specific to the summer. I will have him check with Coach Smith. He is sad football is over but he is motivated to get in the weight room. And yes, finishing plays was a problem. Injuries didn't help and you have to tip your hat to RJ/22 as he's just a hell of an athlete, but you have to make plays when they are presented to you.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

Since it looks like there are a few still watching this thread. I have a gripe with the playoff system.

Again my team is Tri-Center. We are in class A. Our non-district games were 3 1A opponents and only 1, A team. We beat the A team handily. We crushed one of the 1A teams, but lost to the other two. The two teams we lost to have a combined 3 losses between them. I’m laying this all out because there are only 6 at large playoff spots and they are auto birth by RPI, so playing good teams matters. The teams we lost to are #10 and #13 in their class in RPI, so pretty solid teams.

Now we enter district play. We lose our first game to Woodbury Central, #5 in RPI. WC is 7-1, with their only loss to a 1A school. They haven’t and won’t lose in the district and will deservingly receive the auto playoff spot for winning the district. After our loss to Tri-Center checked in at #24 RPI.

Our boys have now won three straight in the district and are about to win our fourth tonight. We will be 4-1 in the district and in 2nd place. So now it all comes down to RPI. We’ve worked our way back up the RPI rankings to #16. We are now sitting on the bubble.

Here is where I have an issue. 2 of the 3 teams we beat in district were, at the time, one loss teams (both to Woodbury Central) and the were ranked in the top 10 in RPI. Westwood Sloan was 8th. Lawton Bronson was 7th when we beat them. We Beat LB 35-12. We beat WS 28-8. Westwood Sloan, who now has 2 losses in the district to our 1, and is in third place in the district, is ranked #12 in RPI. There is a bizarre chance, depending on scores of opponents and their opponents that Westwood Sloan makes the playoffs and Tri-Center does not. So the 3rd place team in the district would get the spot over the 2nd place team, who beat them head to head by 20 points. All it would take tonight is for them to beat Lawton Bronson. They are for sure in. Lose and they could fall out. But even that’s not guaranteed because LB is ranked 20th. It’s not clear that WS would drop more than 4 spots with a loss. Even if we win tonight, since we are playing a team that is 2-6, that actually hurts our strength of schedule.

Granted, win and I still think we are in. However if the 17th or 18th ranked teams win, they could jump us solely based on their opponents schedule. It’s crazy. It would be a huge disappointment to our boys who worked their butts off in the off season and this season to turn around a program that was in the toilet for the past several years.

What I will say is this, there is absolutely no good reason to ever play a team from a higher class. It’s not worth taking a loss, and our boys got banged up with back to back games against really good, bigger, faster, stronger teams. Then we entered district play beat up.

 

[Tenacious E]

Since it looks like there are a few still watching this thread. I have a gripe with the playoff system.

Again my team is Tri-Center. We are in class A. Our non-district games were 3 1A opponents and only 1, A team. We beat the A team handily. We crushed one of the 1A teams, but lost to the other two. The two teams we lost to have a combined 3 losses between them. I’m laying this all out because there are only 6 at large playoff spots and they are auto birth by RPI, so playing good teams matters. The teams we lost to are #10 and #13 in their class in RPI, so pretty solid teams.

Now we enter district play. We lose our first game to Woodbury Central, #5 in RPI. WC is 7-1, with their only loss to a 1A school. They haven’t and won’t lose in the district and will deservingly receive the auto playoff spot for winning the district. After our loss to Tri-Center checked in at #24 RPI.

Our boys have now won three straight in the district and are about to win our fourth tonight. We will be 4-1 in the district and in 2nd place. So now it all comes down to RPI. We’ve worked our way back up the RPI rankings to #16. We are now sitting on the bubble.

Here is where I have an issue. 2 of the 3 teams we beat in district were, at the time, one loss teams (both to Woodbury Central) and the were ranked in the top 10 in RPI. Westwood Sloan was 8th. Lawton Bronson was 7th when we beat them. We Beat LB 35-12. We beat WS 28-8. Westwood Sloan, who now has 2 losses in the district to our 1, and is in third place in the district, is ranked #12 in RPI. There is a bizarre chance, depending on scores of opponents and their opponents that Westwood Sloan makes the playoffs and Tri-Center does not. So the 3rd place team in the district would get the spot over the 2nd place team, who beat them head to head by 20 points. All it would take tonight is for them to beat Lawton Bronson. They are for sure in. Lose and they could fall out. But even that’s not guaranteed because LB is ranked 20th. It’s not clear that WS would drop more than 4 spots with a loss. Even if we win tonight, since we are playing a team that is 2-6, that actually hurts our strength of schedule.

Granted, win and I still think we are in. However if the 17th or 18th ranked teams win, they could jump us solely based on their opponents schedule. It’s crazy. It would be a huge disappointment to our boys who worked their butts off in the off season and this season to turn around a program that was in the toilet for the past several years.

What I will say is this, there is absolutely no good reason to ever play a team from a higher class. It’s not worth taking a loss, and our boys got banged up with back to back games against really good, bigger, faster, stronger teams. Then we entered district play beat up.

Frankly, I do not understand why they restrict the field for the playoffs other than not wanting to play when it's too cold. Give the top teams a bye and have a "wild card" "play in" type situation for borderline and mid-level teams. Gives kids more opportunities to play.

 

[BeepBeepInMyJeep]

Frankly, I do not understand why they restrict the field for the playoffs other than not wanting to play when it's too cold. Give the top teams a bye and have a "wild card" "play in" type situation for borderline and mid-level teams. Gives kids more opportunities to play.

I don't think we really need to go back to the 32, there's only 40-50 some odd teams in each class. They don't want to do the championships on Thanksgiving weekend, they want to keep them the week before, which is fine with me. So when there were the 32 team playoffs, they would do first round usually on the Wednesday that followed the last regular season game, then 2nd round on the Monday that followed, and then have the three weekends left before Thanksgiving for the last three rounds. It's better for attendance, interest, and competitiveness of the playoffs to keep it at 16. Plus, there's the obvious, having them play with only 2-3 days rest and preparation really isn't good for the kids (or probably the coaches). Making the playoffs is something a team can now look back on as an accomplishment.

 

[Tenacious E]

I don't think we really need to go back to the 32, there's only 40-50 some odd teams in each class. They don't want to do the championships on Thanksgiving weekend, they want to keep them the week before, which is fine with me. So when there were the 32 team playoffs, they would do first round usually on the Wednesday that followed the last regular season game, then 2nd round on the Monday that followed, and then have the three weekends left before Thanksgiving for the last three rounds. It's better for attendance, interest, and competitiveness of the playoffs to keep it at 16. Plus, there's the obvious, having them play with only 2-3 days rest and preparation really isn't good for the kids (or probably the coaches). Making the playoffs is something a team can now look back on as an accomplishment.

Fair points.

 

[StormHawk42]

Since it looks like there are a few still watching this thread. I have a gripe with the playoff system.

Again my team is Tri-Center. We are in class A. Our non-district games were 3 1A opponents and only 1, A team. We beat the A team handily. We crushed one of the 1A teams, but lost to the other two. The two teams we lost to have a combined 3 losses between them. I’m laying this all out because there are only 6 at large playoff spots and they are auto birth by RPI, so playing good teams matters. The teams we lost to are #10 and #13 in their class in RPI, so pretty solid teams.

Now we enter district play. We lose our first game to Woodbury Central, #5 in RPI. WC is 7-1, with their only loss to a 1A school. They haven’t and won’t lose in the district and will deservingly receive the auto playoff spot for winning the district. After our loss to Tri-Center checked in at #24 RPI.

Our boys have now won three straight in the district and are about to win our fourth tonight. We will be 4-1 in the district and in 2nd place. So now it all comes down to RPI. We’ve worked our way back up the RPI rankings to #16. We are now sitting on the bubble.

Here is where I have an issue. 2 of the 3 teams we beat in district were, at the time, one loss teams (both to Woodbury Central) and the were ranked in the top 10 in RPI. Westwood Sloan was 8th. Lawton Bronson was 7th when we beat them. We Beat LB 35-12. We beat WS 28-8. Westwood Sloan, who now has 2 losses in the district to our 1, and is in third place in the district, is ranked #12 in RPI. There is a bizarre chance, depending on scores of opponents and their opponents that Westwood Sloan makes the playoffs and Tri-Center does not. So the 3rd place team in the district would get the spot over the 2nd place team, who beat them head to head by 20 points. All it would take tonight is for them to beat Lawton Bronson. They are for sure in. Lose and they could fall out. But even that’s not guaranteed because LB is ranked 20th. It’s not clear that WS would drop more than 4 spots with a loss. Even if we win tonight, since we are playing a team that is 2-6, that actually hurts our strength of schedule.

Granted, win and I still think we are in. However if the 17th or 18th ranked teams win, they could jump us solely based on their opponents schedule. It’s crazy. It would be a huge disappointment to our boys who worked their butts off in the off season and this season to turn around a program that was in the toilet for the past several years.

What I will say is this, there is absolutely no good reason to ever play a team from a higher class. It’s not worth taking a loss, and our boys got banged up with back to back games against really good, bigger, faster, stronger teams. Then we entered district play beat up.

I was just talking about this today with someone. The intention is good in that there are sometimes 3rd place teams in districts that are more deserving of a playoff nod than 2nd place teams. So I’m glad some of those teams will make it. However, the friction is what you described in that they don’t weight playing up or down a class. I’m gonna bet that changes in the future. Beating a 7-2 team in class A shouldn’t mean the same as beating a 7-2 team in 2A.

So it’s not perfect but it’s better than 32 teams and I think slightly better than the old top 2 auto qualifier system.

The question is whether the IAHSAA actually does something to address shortcomings or just let it stay as is.

I could get behind a 24 team system for 8 man through 3A. 4A hardly ever has any parity so they’d be fine staying at 16.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

Im not an advocate of 32 teams. 50% of the teams should not make the playoffs. I’m good with 16. My issue is with the RPI. At least factor in record in the district and head to head. Our team has 1 loss in class A. One. And that loss is to the #5 team in RPI. A team that has 2 losses in class A, both in district AND lost head to head 28-8 does not deserve a playoff spot ahead of us.

What sucks is we need them to pick up their 3rd loss just to move ahead of them in RPI.

 

[SSG T]

So my kids' old school won a game tonight...

 

[Pinehawk]

Now that is a shootout.

 

[MepoDawg#]

Im not an advocate of 32 teams. 50% of the teams should not make the playoffs. I’m good with 16. My issue is with the RPI. At least factor in record in the district and head to head. Our team has 1 loss in class A. One. And that loss is to the #5 team in RPI. A team that has 2 losses in class A, both in district AND lost head to head 28-8 does not deserve a playoff spot ahead of us.

What sucks is we need them to pick up their 3rd loss just to move ahead of them in RPI.

Keep it at 16 teams. Adjust the RPI so a teams record is weighted heavier than their opponents record.

 

[SSG T]

Now that is a shootout.

Baxter won on a 35 us TD pass with no time on the clock, then got the 2pt conversion (they have no kicker).

A couple of other notes

Damman is about 5'9, 140lbs

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

Update. Tri-Center made it in! 15th in RPI. Hinton fell out of the top 16 with their loss. That’s how close it was. We drew a game vs the #9 RPI with South O’Brien. Lucky draw IMO. Tri-Center has not made the playoffs in 7 years. TC has not won a playoff game in its history.

My son at DE had 14 tackles Friday night. 9 of the solo. Proud Dad!

 

[Cougar63]

Is Kennedy capable of winning it all? I know we lost to Valley, but it sounds like that was shooting ourselves in the foot. Could Kennedy knock off the big boys and face Valley in the finals, and beat them?

 

[Tenacious E]

Is Kennedy capable of winning it all? I know we lost to Valley, but it sounds like that was shooting ourselves in the foot. Could Kennedy knock off the big boys and face Valley in the finals, and beat them?

Iowa football championships, in my opinion, result in who was lucky enough to have the freak born into the system. Tavian, Dwight, etc. dowling has wrecked this by collecting freaks born into other systems. Since they stole Gavin Williams from SE Polk and I’m sure various other best athletes in other systems, they will likely win it again. Unless you tell me Kennedy has anyone on their team, especially at a skilled position at offense, who holds offers from power 5 schools.

 

[bojihawk44]

Update. Tri-Center made it in! 15th in RPI. Hinton fell out of the top 16 with their loss. That’s how close it was. We drew a game vs the #9 RPI with South O’Brien. Lucky draw IMO. Tri-Center has not made the playoffs in 7 years. TC has not won a playoff game in its history.

My son at DE had 14 tackles Friday night. 9 of the solo. Proud Dad!

See you guys on Friday. Should be a good game.

 

[bojihawk44]

Update. Tri-Center made it in! 15th in RPI. Hinton fell out of the top 16 with their loss. That’s how close it was. We drew a game vs the #9 RPI with South O’Brien. Lucky draw IMO. Tri-Center has not made the playoffs in 7 years. TC has not won a playoff game in its history.

My son at DE had 14 tackles Friday night. 9 of the solo. Proud Dad!

Also, you're kid is a pretty damn good player. Congrats.

 

[bojihawk44]

Despite the "lucky draw" South O'Brien dominates Tri-Center 43-6. Onto face West Hancock at Britt in the quarterfinals.

Nothing like playoff football.

 

[StormHawk42]

Urbandale squeaking by Centennial is a pretty big upset in 4A.

 

[bojihawk44]

BTW @HawkeyeShawn your son is a really good player. He better be playing somewhere next year, he'd be great at a D2/D3/NAIA school.