Youth Football- HS and Younger (1 Viewer)

[Chadstroma]

I just saw this on Maxpreps and thought it was interesting to share.

The Top Ten Best States for HS Football:
1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Pennsylvania
5. Ohio
6. Illinois
7. Louisiana
8. Georgia
9. Alabama
10. Michigan

The data includes number of NFL players, number of HOF players, number of All Pro 1st team picks, number of pro bowl players and number of full time starters.

I could see that for all time - interesting though that this year, the top ranked TX high school is #13 in the nation (per MaxPreps rankings) and the only one fro TX in the top 25, while California has 4 in the top 10, 6 in the top 25 with the top northern California school ranked at #19. Shift in dynamics that we could see this get flipped in the not too distant future?

Bosco and Mater Dei have consistently been in the top 10 if not #1 and #2 overall the last several years, but it's like an arms race here in Southern California for the football talent.

The landscape has changed over the last.... not sure exactly when.... but Mater Dei isn't just getting kids from around the larger Santa Ana area and not just California like it use to. Kids are moving there from all over. I assume Bosco is the same. IMG is built on that and I am just waiting for more IMG's to pop up through the country of schoolw built around sports as a boarding school.

Rankings can be funny for HS. As much as they are fun to talk about and I follow it in IL more because of the interest of my son and his eventual landing spot, they are inherently "bad" at the HS level. No one is watching all these games to make a subjective determination and the data is not good enough to make an objective determination with all the variables.

 

[acarey50]

I just saw this on Maxpreps and thought it was interesting to share.

The Top Ten Best States for HS Football:
1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Pennsylvania
5. Ohio
6. Illinois
7. Louisiana
8. Georgia
9. Alabama
10. Michigan

The data includes number of NFL players, number of HOF players, number of All Pro 1st team picks, number of pro bowl players and number of full time starters.

I could see that for all time - interesting though that this year, the top ranked TX high school is #13 in the nation (per MaxPreps rankings) and the only one fro TX in the top 25, while California has 4 in the top 10, 6 in the top 25 with the top northern California school ranked at #19. Shift in dynamics that we could see this get flipped in the not too distant future?

Bosco and Mater Dei have consistently been in the top 10 if not #1 and #2 overall the last several years, but it's like an arms race here in Southern California for the football talent.

The landscape has changed over the last.... not sure exactly when.... but Mater Dei isn't just getting kids from around the larger Santa Ana area and not just California like it use to. Kids are moving there from all over. I assume Bosco is the same. IMG is built on that and I am just waiting for more IMG's to pop up through the country of schoolw built around sports as a boarding school.

Rankings can be funny for HS. As much as they are fun to talk about and I follow it in IL more because of the interest of my son and his eventual landing spot, they are inherently "bad" at the HS level. No one is watching all these games to make a subjective determination and the data is not good enough to make an objective determination with all the variables.

The majority of the "high schools" in the top 20-25 are either private schools or the academies like IMG. I do wish they would separate the football rankings out to separate those schools from "high schools" like they can do for basketball.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Well, been away for a bit. My sons team is on a hot streak, won the last three games. My son has not given up a sack since early in the season, he has been playing very good. He put together his mid-season highlight video on Hudl, then posted on Twitter for coaches to see. We visited Miami of Ohio a few weeks ago, the oline coach asked if he was putting a video together for him to see, which he has now done.

My son has open invites to Wyoming, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, South Dakota, North Dakota State, Army (West Point). We have to decide on making visits to some of these schools. Wyoming and Army would be flights that we pay for, but the others would be driving distance. I think my son really wants to look at Army and North Dakota state. We'll see where things go. I am not sure if posting my kids highlight film but it is available.

Two more weeks until the playoffs start, we should be able to win the next two weeks, then see where things go from there.

That is awesome!

Has he figured out any schools that he would like to go to that has not yet received and invite from?

He is very open. I can see he gets a smile on his face with Army. He has a teammate (senior) who committed to Army and another kid who is now a college freshman who is at Army. My son and him have texted each other about the invite and he would like to visit. We did take the tour of Minnesota State and he really like the place. So we will see what direction things go. He has to dedicate himself to lifting once the season is over to get stronger.

Does your team have a strength coach that they work with? One of the coaches for our program is our S&C coach who oversees the in season lifting and all of the offseason lift programs - and this is for all levels of the program, not just varsity.

Also got to make sure he is eating enough to support getting stronger and growing - often times that is the even bigger limiting factor is that so many of the kids do not eat near enough to support their goals.

No our team does not have a strength coach, the head coach. To add to the problem all summer our weight room was shut down for repairs. My son has taken to more time spent in the weight room, at night he has started to go more often after practice. My wife and I have offered to pay for a personal trainer to work with weekly but he has to put in the work.

At the end of the day if he gets his schooling paid for the investment will likely put us ahead.

 

[Chadstroma]

No our team does not have a strength coach, the head coach. To add to the problem all summer our weight room was shut down for repairs. My son has taken to more time spent in the weight room, at night he has started to go more often after practice. My wife and I have offered to pay for a personal trainer to work with weekly but he has to put in the work.

At the end of the day if he gets his schooling paid for the investment will likely put us ahead.

With the interest he is getting now the money spent on a personal trainer would be well spent money as long as he is committed. Worst case scenario- he gets in even better condition and best case it helps open up more doors for him and is paid back in scholarships.

 

[mdstarnes]

I just saw this on Maxpreps and thought it was interesting to share.

The Top Ten Best States for HS Football:
1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Pennsylvania
5. Ohio
6. Illinois
7. Louisiana
8. Georgia
9. Alabama
10. Michigan

The data includes number of NFL players, number of HOF players, number of All Pro 1st team picks, number of pro bowl players and number of full time starters.

I could see that for all time - interesting though that this year, the top ranked TX high school is #13 in the nation (per MaxPreps rankings) and the only one fro TX in the top 25, while California has 4 in the top 10, 6 in the top 25 with the top northern California school ranked at #19. Shift in dynamics that we could see this get flipped in the not too distant future?

Bosco and Mater Dei have consistently been in the top 10 if not #1 and #2 overall the last several years, but it's like an arms race here in Southern California for the football talent.

The landscape has changed over the last.... not sure exactly when.... but Mater Dei isn't just getting kids from around the larger Santa Ana area and not just California like it use to. Kids are moving there from all over. I assume Bosco is the same. IMG is built on that and I am just waiting for more IMG's to pop up through the country of schoolw built around sports as a boarding school.

Rankings can be funny for HS. As much as they are fun to talk about and I follow it in IL more because of the interest of my son and his eventual landing spot, they are inherently "bad" at the HS level. No one is watching all these games to make a subjective determination and the data is not good enough to make an objective determination with all the variables.

The majority of the "high schools" in the top 20-25 are either private schools or the academies like IMG. I do wish they would separate the football rankings out to separate those schools from "high schools" like they can do for basketball.

At least around here (Illinois), public "high schools" have become pretty similar to the college transfer portal. There are tweets after tweets of high school kids posting the new public high school they'll be attending next year to play basketball (primarily) and football. I guess more power to the parents if they are able to meet boundary requirements, but kids moving around is getting pretty crazy. Having a kid transfer in or enroll and take your minutes at a private school is a risk you're signing up for when you choose one of those schools. Having that happen at a local public high school is starting to become the norm.

 

[acarey50]

I just saw this on Maxpreps and thought it was interesting to share.

The Top Ten Best States for HS Football:
1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Pennsylvania
5. Ohio
6. Illinois
7. Louisiana
8. Georgia
9. Alabama
10. Michigan

The data includes number of NFL players, number of HOF players, number of All Pro 1st team picks, number of pro bowl players and number of full time starters.

I could see that for all time - interesting though that this year, the top ranked TX high school is #13 in the nation (per MaxPreps rankings) and the only one fro TX in the top 25, while California has 4 in the top 10, 6 in the top 25 with the top northern California school ranked at #19. Shift in dynamics that we could see this get flipped in the not too distant future?

Bosco and Mater Dei have consistently been in the top 10 if not #1 and #2 overall the last several years, but it's like an arms race here in Southern California for the football talent.

The landscape has changed over the last.... not sure exactly when.... but Mater Dei isn't just getting kids from around the larger Santa Ana area and not just California like it use to. Kids are moving there from all over. I assume Bosco is the same. IMG is built on that and I am just waiting for more IMG's to pop up through the country of schoolw built around sports as a boarding school.

Rankings can be funny for HS. As much as they are fun to talk about and I follow it in IL more because of the interest of my son and his eventual landing spot, they are inherently "bad" at the HS level. No one is watching all these games to make a subjective determination and the data is not good enough to make an objective determination with all the variables.

The majority of the "high schools" in the top 20-25 are either private schools or the academies like IMG. I do wish they would separate the football rankings out to separate those schools from "high schools" like they can do for basketball.

At least around here (Illinois), public "high schools" have become pretty similar to the college transfer portal. There are tweets after tweets of high school kids posting the new public high school they'll be attending next year to play basketball (primarily) and football. I guess more power to the parents if they are able to meet boundary requirements, but kids moving around is getting pretty crazy. Having a kid transfer in or enroll and take your minutes at a private school is a risk you're signing up for when you choose one of those schools. Having that happen at a local public high school is starting to become the norm.

Happening here all the time. A lot of them are kids that went to a private school initially, and either were not as good as they thought they were or got recruited over, transferring back to their "home" school. If not accompanied by a valid change of residence, it's a 30 day sit out period. If it's their second transfer, it's a one year sit out period. Coupled with all of the parents holding their kids back, it's gotten real crazy.

 

[Chadstroma]

I just saw this on Maxpreps and thought it was interesting to share.

The Top Ten Best States for HS Football:
1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Pennsylvania
5. Ohio
6. Illinois
7. Louisiana
8. Georgia
9. Alabama
10. Michigan

The data includes number of NFL players, number of HOF players, number of All Pro 1st team picks, number of pro bowl players and number of full time starters.

I could see that for all time - interesting though that this year, the top ranked TX high school is #13 in the nation (per MaxPreps rankings) and the only one fro TX in the top 25, while California has 4 in the top 10, 6 in the top 25 with the top northern California school ranked at #19. Shift in dynamics that we could see this get flipped in the not too distant future?

Bosco and Mater Dei have consistently been in the top 10 if not #1 and #2 overall the last several years, but it's like an arms race here in Southern California for the football talent.

The landscape has changed over the last.... not sure exactly when.... but Mater Dei isn't just getting kids from around the larger Santa Ana area and not just California like it use to. Kids are moving there from all over. I assume Bosco is the same. IMG is built on that and I am just waiting for more IMG's to pop up through the country of schoolw built around sports as a boarding school.

Rankings can be funny for HS. As much as they are fun to talk about and I follow it in IL more because of the interest of my son and his eventual landing spot, they are inherently "bad" at the HS level. No one is watching all these games to make a subjective determination and the data is not good enough to make an objective determination with all the variables.

The majority of the "high schools" in the top 20-25 are either private schools or the academies like IMG. I do wish they would separate the football rankings out to separate those schools from "high schools" like they can do for basketball.

At least around here (Illinois), public "high schools" have become pretty similar to the college transfer portal. There are tweets after tweets of high school kids posting the new public high school they'll be attending next year to play basketball (primarily) and football. I guess more power to the parents if they are able to meet boundary requirements, but kids moving around is getting pretty crazy. Having a kid transfer in or enroll and take your minutes at a private school is a risk you're signing up for when you choose one of those schools. Having that happen at a local public high school is starting to become the norm.

IHSA has enforced rules even to the extreme. There was a story about a wrestler that was banned last year for what seemed like a perfectly legit change moving in with a family member. HR599 was introduced as a legislative effort to push back against IHSA power. For transfers there is supposed to be a bona fide change of residence and transferring to play a sport would not be allowable under those rules.

 

[acarey50]

I just saw this on Maxpreps and thought it was interesting to share.

The Top Ten Best States for HS Football:
1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Pennsylvania
5. Ohio
6. Illinois
7. Louisiana
8. Georgia
9. Alabama
10. Michigan

The data includes number of NFL players, number of HOF players, number of All Pro 1st team picks, number of pro bowl players and number of full time starters.

I could see that for all time - interesting though that this year, the top ranked TX high school is #13 in the nation (per MaxPreps rankings) and the only one fro TX in the top 25, while California has 4 in the top 10, 6 in the top 25 with the top northern California school ranked at #19. Shift in dynamics that we could see this get flipped in the not too distant future?

Bosco and Mater Dei have consistently been in the top 10 if not #1 and #2 overall the last several years, but it's like an arms race here in Southern California for the football talent.

The landscape has changed over the last.... not sure exactly when.... but Mater Dei isn't just getting kids from around the larger Santa Ana area and not just California like it use to. Kids are moving there from all over. I assume Bosco is the same. IMG is built on that and I am just waiting for more IMG's to pop up through the country of schoolw built around sports as a boarding school.

Rankings can be funny for HS. As much as they are fun to talk about and I follow it in IL more because of the interest of my son and his eventual landing spot, they are inherently "bad" at the HS level. No one is watching all these games to make a subjective determination and the data is not good enough to make an objective determination with all the variables.

The majority of the "high schools" in the top 20-25 are either private schools or the academies like IMG. I do wish they would separate the football rankings out to separate those schools from "high schools" like they can do for basketball.

At least around here (Illinois), public "high schools" have become pretty similar to the college transfer portal. There are tweets after tweets of high school kids posting the new public high school they'll be attending next year to play basketball (primarily) and football. I guess more power to the parents if they are able to meet boundary requirements, but kids moving around is getting pretty crazy. Having a kid transfer in or enroll and take your minutes at a private school is a risk you're signing up for when you choose one of those schools. Having that happen at a local public high school is starting to become the norm.

IHSA has enforced rules even to the extreme. There was a story about a wrestler that was banned last year for what seemed like a perfectly legit change moving in with a family member. HR599 was introduced as a legislative effort to push back against IHSA power. For transfers there is supposed to be a bona fide change of residence and transferring to play a sport would not be allowable under those rules.

California is the same, athletically motivated transfers are not "allowed", but there are always workarounds.

All tracked on the CIF website - for the 2024-2025 school year, there were 7,811 transfer requests. Thus far for the 2025-2026 school year there have been 4,056

 

[mdstarnes]

If you're talking about the Marian Central wrestler, that story is crazy. The wrestler's parents gave up legal guardianship to the wrestling coach's mom. The kid then lived with the wrestling coach's mom to be in the mile limit boundary to attend the private school. The IHSA weren't huge fans of that. I suppose legally giving your parenting rights away is one work around, but come on...

acarey50 is 100% correct on kids coming "back" to home schools, too. The powerhouse athletic schools are always recruiting varsity athletes. So, playing on a lower level as a freshman doesn't mean a ton. Unless you're a stud, those schools are actively looking for a better version of you the entire time you're there.

 

[acarey50]

Solid win for the freshmen yesterday, 24-7 victory. Puts them at 6-1 overall, 2-0 in league and while nothing is a given, our first two opponents were likely our toughest league opponents, so we should be in the driver seat for a league championship over the next 3 weeks.

1st quarter we got going okay moving the ball, but stalled out just past midfield. Defense came on strong and held them to a 3 and out. We got a FG to start the scoring, then in the 2nd quarter we got a pick 6 to go up 10-0. They then had a nice sustained drive right at the end of the 2nd quarter. They had a breakaway run and our DB made the TD saving tackle at about the 4 yard line. First play the run wide and we bottle it up. 2nd play the try a run up the middle and my son came through from MLB to stuff the run. Third play they tried to come up off the LT and my son again came in with the tackle, but took a helmet to the ankle and had to come off for the 4th and goal play. Unfortunately that's when they were able to punch it in. Not sure my kid getting hurt on that play changes anything, but he was definitely zoned in at the time.

Third quarter our RB got free and broke off a ~65 yard TD run to put us up 17-7. And we were able to punch it in on a 2 yard TD run in the 4th for the final score.

For my son, after the helmet to the ankle, took him out on offense so that he could rest it/get treatment when the offense was on the field, but he finished the game on defense. Definitely sore today with a nice bruise on the outside of his lower leg just above the ankle. Hopefully that' all it is and a few days of rest/treatment is enough.

Hope all of you have fun/successful games this weekend.

 

[Chadstroma]

If you're talking about the Marian Central wrestler, that story is crazy. The wrestler's parents gave up legal guardianship to the wrestling coach's mom. The kid then lived with the wrestling coach's mom to be in the mile limit boundary to attend the private school. The IHSA weren't huge fans of that. I suppose legally giving your parenting rights away is one work around, but come on...

acarey50 is 100% correct on kids coming "back" to home schools, too. The powerhouse athletic schools are always recruiting varsity athletes. So, playing on a lower level as a freshman doesn't mean a ton. Unless you're a stud, those schools are actively looking for a better version of you the entire time you're there.

That might have been it... but the article I read about it went in and explained the situation. I remember specifically seeing the title and thinking shenanigans but then reading it and thinking, oh that seems legit, sounds like IHSA is over playing their hand based on appearances.

 

[Chadstroma]

Varsity was officially eliminated from playoffs so my older boy is done. I am not bummed about it at all. If they snuck in they would have been matched up against a juggernaut of a team and the chances of pulling a miracle win would be extreme while the chances of getting pummeled would be high. Swim starts for both of the boys (season already started a couple of weeks ago) with a meet Sunday and then hit up practices next week.

The little guy wrapped up last practice yesterday and has a game set for Sat.

 

[Chadstroma]

And that does it for us. Today was a trainwreck of a game. We knew we would be missing three kids today- two of them being key players. That took us down to 15 total players. Then, we found out our starting WR and backup QB who gets a fair number of snaps at QB every game was sick and out. So, three key players gone and down to 14 total players.

One of the key players we missed out on was our little giant. This kid last year as a third grader showed up for the first day of practice and went to one of our coaches on the 3/4 team and said he didn't know where he was supposed to go and the coach sent him to the JV team. And last year, with the year almost over, I was telling my son he needed to recruit his friends in his grade because there was only 3 of them from his grade for this year... he stopped me and said there is 4 of us... I said, no, you, Rich and Steve.... and he said and Grant too. No, Grant is in 4th grade. No he isn't Dad... lol After practice on Thursday his Dad said "Sorry for taking half of the total weight of the team". We haven't quite got all of his potential out of him but he is the biggest kid in the league (both tallest and by weight). On defense, he was our nose tackle and all year long no one even tried to run up the middle on us. 100% was off tackle runs or wider. First play of the game, they ran right up the middle for a TD on us.

We had to move kids around with the three key players missing and our offensive line was a patchwork and no where near ideal. They were not blocking and our QB (my son for the first three Q's) and our RB's couldn't get anywhere. My son threw an INT early- he didn't set his feet and hurried a throw because he was getting demolished. He was upset and when he came off the field I told him "Look, it is going to be a long day for you today. I don't care about the score, I don't care about whether you make a play or not. All I care about is you getting tough and keep fighting." he collected himself and went in for the rest of the game playing tough and fighting. Later, in the game, when they moved the other QB in they put him at TE. On one particular play, he drove their DE back by a good 5 yards- disengaged and hit a LB that was going into pursuit. It was impressive and honestly the best blocking I had seen all year long from anyone.

We got a couple of fumble recoveries on a couple of their long drives that helped stopped the bleeding but it wasn't ever close. 28-0. But the boys did show some fight in the second half which was good to see after getting pummeled and largely having given up in the 1st half.

Football is done for us this year. Next year my oldest will be the upper classman on varsity- he expect him to be the focal point for the offense at RB and to play likely LB on defense. My little guy moves up to JV as an under classman. This may or may not be the end of my coaching football. This year, they changed JV HC to someone I think would want me to coach with him versus the last guy apparently did not as I offered to help if they needed me and he basically ignored it but on the other end, the new HC is pretty well respected and he asked several coaches that did not have kids on the team anymore to stay and help. How many may end up deciding not to do that anymore or continue, I have no idea. If they return everyone they have a full staff and there is no need for me but I will let the HC know I am available if needed.

Swim starts tomorrow for my boys as the season already started and they will be in a meet tomorrow. Then basketball will start early November.

Looking forward to reading updates on the rest of you guys up to the end of your seasons. Good luck

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

My son's team won pretty handily Friday, up 35-0 at half which is the magic number for running clock. Came out with running clock the whole second half. My son played all first half and one drive in the second half. He had a very good game.

One more regular season game then playoffs start. The next game is for second place in the conference and the likelihood of hosting a first round game. The team in first place in our conference is ranked #1 or #2 in the state dependent on the ranking system, they are a juggernaut.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

And that does it for us. Today was a trainwreck of a game. We knew we would be missing three kids today- two of them being key players. That took us down to 15 total players. Then, we found out our starting WR and backup QB who gets a fair number of snaps at QB every game was sick and out. So, three key players gone and down to 14 total players.

One of the key players we missed out on was our little giant. This kid last year as a third grader showed up for the first day of practice and went to one of our coaches on the 3/4 team and said he didn't know where he was supposed to go and the coach sent him to the JV team. And last year, with the year almost over, I was telling my son he needed to recruit his friends in his grade because there was only 3 of them from his grade for this year... he stopped me and said there is 4 of us... I said, no, you, Rich and Steve.... and he said and Grant too. No, Grant is in 4th grade. No he isn't Dad... lol After practice on Thursday his Dad said "Sorry for taking half of the total weight of the team". We haven't quite got all of his potential out of him but he is the biggest kid in the league (both tallest and by weight). On defense, he was our nose tackle and all year long no one even tried to run up the middle on us. 100% was off tackle runs or wider. First play of the game, they ran right up the middle for a TD on us.

We had to move kids around with the three key players missing and our offensive line was a patchwork and no where near ideal. They were not blocking and our QB (my son for the first three Q's) and our RB's couldn't get anywhere. My son threw an INT early- he didn't set his feet and hurried a throw because he was getting demolished. He was upset and when he came off the field I told him "Look, it is going to be a long day for you today. I don't care about the score, I don't care about whether you make a play or not. All I care about is you getting tough and keep fighting." he collected himself and went in for the rest of the game playing tough and fighting. Later, in the game, when they moved the other QB in they put him at TE. On one particular play, he drove their DE back by a good 5 yards- disengaged and hit a LB that was going into pursuit. It was impressive and honestly the best blocking I had seen all year long from anyone.

We got a couple of fumble recoveries on a couple of their long drives that helped stopped the bleeding but it wasn't ever close. 28-0. But the boys did show some fight in the second half which was good to see after getting pummeled and largely having given up in the 1st half.

Football is done for us this year. Next year my oldest will be the upper classman on varsity- he expect him to be the focal point for the offense at RB and to play likely LB on defense. My little guy moves up to JV as an under classman. This may or may not be the end of my coaching football. This year, they changed JV HC to someone I think would want me to coach with him versus the last guy apparently did not as I offered to help if they needed me and he basically ignored it but on the other end, the new HC is pretty well respected and he asked several coaches that did not have kids on the team anymore to stay and help. How many may end up deciding not to do that anymore or continue, I have no idea. If they return everyone they have a full staff and there is no need for me but I will let the HC know I am available if needed.

Swim starts tomorrow for my boys as the season already started and they will be in a meet tomorrow. Then basketball will start early November.

Looking forward to reading updates on the rest of you guys up to the end of your seasons. Good luck

It sucks losing players, but has to feel good seeing some of the players play hard even when they are down. When my son was a freshman and they were playing a top team, I just told my son to keep fighting don't show any quit.

 

[Chadstroma]

And that does it for us. Today was a trainwreck of a game. We knew we would be missing three kids today- two of them being key players. That took us down to 15 total players. Then, we found out our starting WR and backup QB who gets a fair number of snaps at QB every game was sick and out. So, three key players gone and down to 14 total players.

One of the key players we missed out on was our little giant. This kid last year as a third grader showed up for the first day of practice and went to one of our coaches on the 3/4 team and said he didn't know where he was supposed to go and the coach sent him to the JV team. And last year, with the year almost over, I was telling my son he needed to recruit his friends in his grade because there was only 3 of them from his grade for this year... he stopped me and said there is 4 of us... I said, no, you, Rich and Steve.... and he said and Grant too. No, Grant is in 4th grade. No he isn't Dad... lol After practice on Thursday his Dad said "Sorry for taking half of the total weight of the team". We haven't quite got all of his potential out of him but he is the biggest kid in the league (both tallest and by weight). On defense, he was our nose tackle and all year long no one even tried to run up the middle on us. 100% was off tackle runs or wider. First play of the game, they ran right up the middle for a TD on us.

We had to move kids around with the three key players missing and our offensive line was a patchwork and no where near ideal. They were not blocking and our QB (my son for the first three Q's) and our RB's couldn't get anywhere. My son threw an INT early- he didn't set his feet and hurried a throw because he was getting demolished. He was upset and when he came off the field I told him "Look, it is going to be a long day for you today. I don't care about the score, I don't care about whether you make a play or not. All I care about is you getting tough and keep fighting." he collected himself and went in for the rest of the game playing tough and fighting. Later, in the game, when they moved the other QB in they put him at TE. On one particular play, he drove their DE back by a good 5 yards- disengaged and hit a LB that was going into pursuit. It was impressive and honestly the best blocking I had seen all year long from anyone.

We got a couple of fumble recoveries on a couple of their long drives that helped stopped the bleeding but it wasn't ever close. 28-0. But the boys did show some fight in the second half which was good to see after getting pummeled and largely having given up in the 1st half.

Football is done for us this year. Next year my oldest will be the upper classman on varsity- he expect him to be the focal point for the offense at RB and to play likely LB on defense. My little guy moves up to JV as an under classman. This may or may not be the end of my coaching football. This year, they changed JV HC to someone I think would want me to coach with him versus the last guy apparently did not as I offered to help if they needed me and he basically ignored it but on the other end, the new HC is pretty well respected and he asked several coaches that did not have kids on the team anymore to stay and help. How many may end up deciding not to do that anymore or continue, I have no idea. If they return everyone they have a full staff and there is no need for me but I will let the HC know I am available if needed.

Swim starts tomorrow for my boys as the season already started and they will be in a meet tomorrow. Then basketball will start early November.

Looking forward to reading updates on the rest of you guys up to the end of your seasons. Good luck

It sucks losing players, but has to feel good seeing some of the players play hard even when they are down. When my son was a freshman and they were playing a top team, I just told my son to keep fighting don't show any quit.

One of the kids, he intentionally half bleeps it.... I mean, you can directly call him out and yell at him to hustle and he will still walk most of the times... decided to wake up and got off a block and made a nice tackle late in the game. He got up and did a flex. It was nice to see him actually have some energy in a game even if it was the last game when we were getting spanked.

In the game, they quickly laid down and let them beat us with our line just not doing (either offense or defense). Some more questionable decisions by our DC where even our HC looked over to me and asked why were putting our star defender who has played MLB all season long at DE among them as well as not playing my son on defense for the majority of the game. I didn't push it because our normal backup wasn't there so it made sense to protect him by not playing him on defense but it is what it is. I won't have to deal with the DC in coaching again. He will not coach JV in two years- I will make sure of it.

Overall, we did well for having the smallest team in numbers and outside of our one big kid being consistently undersized. The other teams we were playing really were not playing 3rd graders like we were as we didn't have much of a choice. Plus, only 5 of the 18 kids had played tackle football before. Coming out with two wins with that considered is pretty good in my book. Outside of the conflict with the DC (not just with me) it was an enjoyable staff to coach with and we mostly were all on the same page. Most importantly, all of the boys seemed to enjoy the game/team and everyone improved.

My nephew has his season going still for HS. They dropped the last two games and their QB went down mid 2nd Q clearly in discomfort with his throwing shoulder. I don't know what it was or how bad but watching him on the sidelines, I am doubtful he comes back. Once their backup went in, the offense could not get anything going. I am not sure how deep they can go without their starting QB.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

And that does it for us. Today was a trainwreck of a game. We knew we would be missing three kids today- two of them being key players. That took us down to 15 total players. Then, we found out our starting WR and backup QB who gets a fair number of snaps at QB every game was sick and out. So, three key players gone and down to 14 total players.

One of the key players we missed out on was our little giant. This kid last year as a third grader showed up for the first day of practice and went to one of our coaches on the 3/4 team and said he didn't know where he was supposed to go and the coach sent him to the JV team. And last year, with the year almost over, I was telling my son he needed to recruit his friends in his grade because there was only 3 of them from his grade for this year... he stopped me and said there is 4 of us... I said, no, you, Rich and Steve.... and he said and Grant too. No, Grant is in 4th grade. No he isn't Dad... lol After practice on Thursday his Dad said "Sorry for taking half of the total weight of the team". We haven't quite got all of his potential out of him but he is the biggest kid in the league (both tallest and by weight). On defense, he was our nose tackle and all year long no one even tried to run up the middle on us. 100% was off tackle runs or wider. First play of the game, they ran right up the middle for a TD on us.

We had to move kids around with the three key players missing and our offensive line was a patchwork and no where near ideal. They were not blocking and our QB (my son for the first three Q's) and our RB's couldn't get anywhere. My son threw an INT early- he didn't set his feet and hurried a throw because he was getting demolished. He was upset and when he came off the field I told him "Look, it is going to be a long day for you today. I don't care about the score, I don't care about whether you make a play or not. All I care about is you getting tough and keep fighting." he collected himself and went in for the rest of the game playing tough and fighting. Later, in the game, when they moved the other QB in they put him at TE. On one particular play, he drove their DE back by a good 5 yards- disengaged and hit a LB that was going into pursuit. It was impressive and honestly the best blocking I had seen all year long from anyone.

We got a couple of fumble recoveries on a couple of their long drives that helped stopped the bleeding but it wasn't ever close. 28-0. But the boys did show some fight in the second half which was good to see after getting pummeled and largely having given up in the 1st half.

Football is done for us this year. Next year my oldest will be the upper classman on varsity- he expect him to be the focal point for the offense at RB and to play likely LB on defense. My little guy moves up to JV as an under classman. This may or may not be the end of my coaching football. This year, they changed JV HC to someone I think would want me to coach with him versus the last guy apparently did not as I offered to help if they needed me and he basically ignored it but on the other end, the new HC is pretty well respected and he asked several coaches that did not have kids on the team anymore to stay and help. How many may end up deciding not to do that anymore or continue, I have no idea. If they return everyone they have a full staff and there is no need for me but I will let the HC know I am available if needed.

Swim starts tomorrow for my boys as the season already started and they will be in a meet tomorrow. Then basketball will start early November.

Looking forward to reading updates on the rest of you guys up to the end of your seasons. Good luck

It sucks losing players, but has to feel good seeing some of the players play hard even when they are down. When my son was a freshman and they were playing a top team, I just told my son to keep fighting don't show any quit.

One of the kids, he intentionally half bleeps it.... I mean, you can directly call him out and yell at him to hustle and he will still walk most of the times... decided to wake up and got off a block and made a nice tackle late in the game. He got up and did a flex. It was nice to see him actually have some energy in a game even if it was the last game when we were getting spanked.

In the game, they quickly laid down and let them beat us with our line just not doing (either offense or defense). Some more questionable decisions by our DC where even our HC looked over to me and asked why were putting our star defender who has played MLB all season long at DE among them as well as not playing my son on defense for the majority of the game. I didn't push it because our normal backup wasn't there so it made sense to protect him by not playing him on defense but it is what it is. I won't have to deal with the DC in coaching again. He will not coach JV in two years- I will make sure of it.

Overall, we did well for having the smallest team in numbers and outside of our one big kid being consistently undersized. The other teams we were playing really were not playing 3rd graders like we were as we didn't have much of a choice. Plus, only 5 of the 18 kids had played tackle football before. Coming out with two wins with that considered is pretty good in my book. Outside of the conflict with the DC (not just with me) it was an enjoyable staff to coach with and we mostly were all on the same page. Most importantly, all of the boys seemed to enjoy the game/team and everyone improved.

My nephew has his season going still for HS. They dropped the last two games and their QB went down mid 2nd Q clearly in discomfort with his throwing shoulder. I don't know what it was or how bad but watching him on the sidelines, I am doubtful he comes back. Once their backup went in, the offense could not get anything going. I am not sure how deep they can go without their starting QB.

Our team ran into a qb issue early in the season. Once the coaches settled on a qb we took off.

In my prior post I posted my kid's mid season highlights if anyone would be interested, but I deleted it, just didn't want to seem like "that dad". But there is a lot of pride watching my son play especially when he fights through an injury and helps his team.

 

[nirad3]

My son, after playing only sparingly last week, played a TON this past Saturday. He finished with three tackles and a fumble recovery (playing mostly DE but some DT). Also played well on offense (he plays TE) but didn't have any catches. His team runs probably 70% of the time, and most passes are WR screens.

 

[acarey50]

My son, after playing only sparingly last week, played a TON this past Saturday. He finished with three tackles and a fumble recovery (playing mostly DE but some DT). Also played well on offense (he plays TE) but didn't have any catches. His team runs probably 70% of the time, and most passes are WR screens.

Get him going for those pancake blocks. My son's team is heavy run (many freshman teams are) and when we do pass it is mostly short yardage/screens, so lots of opportunities for the OL and TEs to get some blocks in, and we make sure they get recognized for it. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but our guys had 2 "perfect" games with no holding penalties, the QB never got touched, and we were averaging close to 8 yards a carry. We had the OL, the other TE and the QB and RB over for a BBQ to reward them for the hard work and make sure they knew that what they were doing was not going unnoticed.

Make sure you hype him for blocking as much as anything else he does on offense. It doesn't always get the glory when done right, but it's the first thing noticed when done poorly.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

My son, after playing only sparingly last week, played a TON this past Saturday. He finished with three tackles and a fumble recovery (playing mostly DE but some DT). Also played well on offense (he plays TE) but didn't have any catches. His team runs probably 70% of the time, and most passes are WR screens.

Get him going for those pancake blocks. My son's team is heavy run (many freshman teams are) and when we do pass it is mostly short yardage/screens, so lots of opportunities for the OL and TEs to get some blocks in, and we make sure they get recognized for it. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but our guys had 2 "perfect" games with no holding penalties, the QB never got touched, and we were averaging close to 8 yards a carry. We had the OL, the other TE and the QB and RB over for a BBQ to reward them for the hard work and make sure they knew that what they were doing was not going unnoticed.

Make sure you hype him for blocking as much as anything else he does on offense. It doesn't always get the glory when done right, but it's the first thing noticed when done poorly.

Great to hear you reward the o-line, being an o-line parent have come to terms there are little stats to be kept outside of what you posted.

My sons mid-season highlight film below, a few pancakes.

 

[Kuz]

My son, after playing only sparingly last week, played a TON this past Saturday. He finished with three tackles and a fumble recovery (playing mostly DE but some DT). Also played well on offense (he plays TE) but didn't have any catches. His team runs probably 70% of the time, and most passes are WR screens.

Get him going for those pancake blocks. My son's team is heavy run (many freshman teams are) and when we do pass it is mostly short yardage/screens, so lots of opportunities for the OL and TEs to get some blocks in, and we make sure they get recognized for it. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but our guys had 2 "perfect" games with no holding penalties, the QB never got touched, and we were averaging close to 8 yards a carry. We had the OL, the other TE and the QB and RB over for a BBQ to reward them for the hard work and make sure they knew that what they were doing was not going unnoticed.

Make sure you hype him for blocking as much as anything else he does on offense. It doesn't always get the glory when done right, but it's the first thing noticed when done poorly.

Great to hear you reward the o-line, being an o-line parent have come to terms there are little stats to be kept outside of what you posted.

My sons mid-season highlight film below, a few pancakes.

Mid-Season highlight

Looking good!

 

[Chadstroma]

My son, after playing only sparingly last week, played a TON this past Saturday. He finished with three tackles and a fumble recovery (playing mostly DE but some DT). Also played well on offense (he plays TE) but didn't have any catches. His team runs probably 70% of the time, and most passes are WR screens.

Get him going for those pancake blocks. My son's team is heavy run (many freshman teams are) and when we do pass it is mostly short yardage/screens, so lots of opportunities for the OL and TEs to get some blocks in, and we make sure they get recognized for it. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but our guys had 2 "perfect" games with no holding penalties, the QB never got touched, and we were averaging close to 8 yards a carry. We had the OL, the other TE and the QB and RB over for a BBQ to reward them for the hard work and make sure they knew that what they were doing was not going unnoticed.

Make sure you hype him for blocking as much as anything else he does on offense. It doesn't always get the glory when done right, but it's the first thing noticed when done poorly.

Great to hear you reward the o-line, being an o-line parent have come to terms there are little stats to be kept outside of what you posted.

My sons mid-season highlight film below, a few pancakes.

Nice. He made several of those plays cleaning up his assignments

 

[acarey50]

@Fantasy_Freak How did you guys do last week? Did you get that win and hopefully a home playoff game?

For my son, we won big, 45-14. He got cleared to play on Wednesday afternoon after being held out then limited in practice by the trainers because of the helmet to the ankle in the previous game. He really was limping badly over the weekend, but with lots of treatment and being held out, was feeling good on Wednesday and showed no signs of a limp on Thursday. And I think that little bit of rest really helped him - though he is chalking it up to my wife making pumpkin bread and him munching on that during the day of the game. Either way, they had him on essentially a pitch count for offensive snaps, but full go for defense. And that paid off with likely his best defensive game of the season. First play of the game he came down off the tackle and just blew up the RB for a 5 yard loss, and that essentially set the tone for most of the game. I was working the chain gang, so I could hear their coaches talking (very nice group of coaches, 3 of them were teachers that had been on the varsity staff many years earlier that came back for another season because the guy they coached under was retiring, so they all decided to work together with the freshman).

Come mid 3rd quarter, and there is a play where my kid gets through again and make a strong tackle on the RB. Knocked the wind out of the RB and he had to come out for a few plays. One of the coaches asked me if that was my son, I said yes, and he was very complimentary of him, noting what a clean hit it was, how he was doing a great job reading the plays and just playing strong. Said it reminded him of how his son played when he was in high school. At the end of the game he asked for my son's name so that he could call him out by name in the handshake line, which I thought was very nice of the coach to do.

I believe my son ended up in the neighborhood of 10 solos, several more assists and a fumble recovery.

2 more games left. Both should be wins for us based on the scores that have been put up in their other games, but of course you never know. But, if we can pull them off, it will be the first time in a very long time that a freshman team at our school has won league, much less gone undefeated in league. Our boys really want that first game of the season back.

 

[Chadstroma]

@Fantasy_Freak How did you guys do last week? Did you get that win and hopefully a home playoff game?

For my son, we won big, 45-14. He got cleared to play on Wednesday afternoon after being held out then limited in practice by the trainers because of the helmet to the ankle in the previous game. He really was limping badly over the weekend, but with lots of treatment and being held out, was feeling good on Wednesday and showed no signs of a limp on Thursday. And I think that little bit of rest really helped him - though he is chalking it up to my wife making pumpkin bread and him munching on that during the day of the game. Either way, they had him on essentially a pitch count for offensive snaps, but full go for defense. And that paid off with likely his best defensive game of the season. First play of the game he came down off the tackle and just blew up the RB for a 5 yard loss, and that essentially set the tone for most of the game. I was working the chain gang, so I could hear their coaches talking (very nice group of coaches, 3 of them were teachers that had been on the varsity staff many years earlier that came back for another season because the guy they coached under was retiring, so they all decided to work together with the freshman).

Come mid 3rd quarter, and there is a play where my kid gets through again and make a strong tackle on the RB. Knocked the wind out of the RB and he had to come out for a few plays. One of the coaches asked me if that was my son, I said yes, and he was very complimentary of him, noting what a clean hit it was, how he was doing a great job reading the plays and just playing strong. Said it reminded him of how his son played when he was in high school. At the end of the game he asked for my son's name so that he could call him out by name in the handshake line, which I thought was very nice of the coach to do.

I believe my son ended up in the neighborhood of 10 solos, several more assists and a fumble recovery.

2 more games left. Both should be wins for us based on the scores that have been put up in their other games, but of course you never know. But, if we can pull them off, it will be the first time in a very long time that a freshman team at our school has won league, much less gone undefeated in league. Our boys really want that first game of the season back.

The pumpkin bread sounds like a smart way of getting Mom to make more. Well played little acarey... well played!

Always nice to have opposing coaches that see beyond the matchup and see the kids.

Great game for him!

 

[nirad3]

My son's 12U team has been invited to play at SoFi stadium in a few weeks! Their season will effectively be over so this is just going to be an "exhibition", but man, what a great experience for the boys (and parents too!)

 

[Kanil]

My son's 12U team has been invited to play at SoFi stadium in a few weeks! Their season will effectively be over so this is just going to be an "exhibition", but man, what a great experience for the boys (and parents too!)

That's so cool. I remember when I was 10 or so getting to play an exhibition at the old Mile High against a team from the local Air Force base. One of the highlights of my time playing.

Edited to brag:
First defensive play of the game I caused a fumble and my little brother returned it for a touchdown. My favorite play of all time.

 

[glvsav37]

My son's JV team won their 1st game of the season last night and they partied like it was a super bowl win. We are far from a powerhouse team and lack of talent aside, I shake my head at some of the play calling. But the kids work hard and it was great to get a little reward out of it last night.

Backstory: This was my son's first year (10th grader) on the team...actually even touching a football. He's been an ice hockey kid since he can stand and plays at a pretty competitive level of travel ice hockey. He made the decision to try football bc he became friends with a few of the kids last year and they coaxed him into it. The tough part is that hockey and football season align and he was already going to be stretched thin. But we figured we would work it out.

So summer ended with 2 a days for football and then to the rink for hockey. Weekends we had times where we were literally going from a FB game here on long island straight to NJ in his gear for a hockey game. He worked his way up to starting CB, now don't get me wrong, he still has a lot to learn and I watched him run around clueless and on his back maybe more then in the play, but all tat goes away with the win. Thankfully the schedule gods worked in our favor and the only FB game we will miss is next week, and then home for the season finale. He's talking about playing next year, and we may downshift hockey levels next year to give him some more time to rest. But we will see what next year brings.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

@Fantasy_Freak How did you guys do last week? Did you get that win and hopefully a home playoff game?

For my son, we won big, 45-14. He got cleared to play on Wednesday afternoon after being held out then limited in practice by the trainers because of the helmet to the ankle in the previous game. He really was limping badly over the weekend, but with lots of treatment and being held out, was feeling good on Wednesday and showed no signs of a limp on Thursday. And I think that little bit of rest really helped him - though he is chalking it up to my wife making pumpkin bread and him munching on that during the day of the game. Either way, they had him on essentially a pitch count for offensive snaps, but full go for defense. And that paid off with likely his best defensive game of the season. First play of the game he came down off the tackle and just blew up the RB for a 5 yard loss, and that essentially set the tone for most of the game. I was working the chain gang, so I could hear their coaches talking (very nice group of coaches, 3 of them were teachers that had been on the varsity staff many years earlier that came back for another season because the guy they coached under was retiring, so they all decided to work together with the freshman).

Come mid 3rd quarter, and there is a play where my kid gets through again and make a strong tackle on the RB. Knocked the wind out of the RB and he had to come out for a few plays. One of the coaches asked me if that was my son, I said yes, and he was very complimentary of him, noting what a clean hit it was, how he was doing a great job reading the plays and just playing strong. Said it reminded him of how his son played when he was in high school. At the end of the game he asked for my son's name so that he could call him out by name in the handshake line, which I thought was very nice of the coach to do.

I believe my son ended up in the neighborhood of 10 solos, several more assists and a fumble recovery.

2 more games left. Both should be wins for us based on the scores that have been put up in their other games, but of course you never know. But, if we can pull them off, it will be the first time in a very long time that a freshman team at our school has won league, much less gone undefeated in league. Our boys really want that first game of the season back.

We won, 30-20. My wife and I were out of town for a preplanned mini-vacation and missed the game. We ended up getting the 4 seed in our bracket but now play the same team as last week. Strange how that worked out, but hey it is what it is. Last night my son and the rest of the offense spent a few hours at a coaches going through video. If we win we play the #1 overall team in the state. Not much confidence in that game. We will see how things work out.

 

[Chadstroma]

My son's JV team won their 1st game of the season last night and they partied like it was a super bowl win. We are far from a powerhouse team and lack of talent aside, I shake my head at some of the play calling. But the kids work hard and it was great to get a little reward out of it last night.

Backstory: This was my son's first year (10th grader) on the team...actually even touching a football. He's been an ice hockey kid since he can stand and plays at a pretty competitive level of travel ice hockey. He made the decision to try football bc he became friends with a few of the kids last year and they coaxed him into it. The tough part is that hockey and football season align and he was already going to be stretched thin. But we figured we would work it out.

So summer ended with 2 a days for football and then to the rink for hockey. Weekends we had times where we were literally going from a FB game here on long island straight to NJ in his gear for a hockey game. He worked his way up to starting CB, now don't get me wrong, he still has a lot to learn and I watched him run around clueless and on his back maybe more then in the play, but all tat goes away with the win. Thankfully the schedule gods worked in our favor and the only FB game we will miss is next week, and then home for the season finale. He's talking about playing next year, and we may downshift hockey levels next year to give him some more time to rest. But we will see what next year brings.

That is a lot of hard work. Good for him and for catching on quickly to being new to football.

I have coached a couple of kids whose primary sport is hockey. That and wrestling seem yo be the two sports that translate well to help with the learning curve... well above flag football... at least at the younger ages. The aggressiveness and physicality of the sports just seem to assist with coming to tackle football. Also for wrestling how to place your body and position others to take them down or to avoid them of course but the kids coming from wrestling or hockey seems to have the easiest in transitioning to football for 1st year players. This year, I got one of the boys on last years bball team to play where hockey is his primary. He is a tiny little guy but came right in and picked up football well... a couple of brain dead "I have no idea what he was doing" moments at corner but did well overall.

 

[acarey50]

@Fantasy_Freak - Good luck to your son and his team in the playoffs. Do they start tonight, or is there a bye week before playoffs start?

For my son, they won easily yesterday, 39-0. Other team didn't even get a first down. League game that just wasn't a good matchup, though the other team had a few decent players. I think as a team our defense had 4 INTs and a fumble recovery, and everything else was a 3 and out or turnover on downs. Offensively we moved the ball well, mainly our rushing attack, but we did throw a bit as well. Stat wise my son had a solid game - probably 5-6 tackles on defense (almost had a big sack, but the QB just barely slipped out when he got a hand on him), 3 catches for about 30-35 yards and a TD on offense, and on two plays he had big downfield blocks that sprung the RB for big gains. The only bummer for this game is that the kid they had running the clock didn't really know what he was doing, so it was running for most of the game, not stopping when it should have. Referees didn't really care, at one point telling our coaches (the visiting team) that they can go find someone to run the clock then. It really shortened the game, which meant it took a while for us to get points scored, and when we were able to get the backups in, there wasn't a ton of time for them, as even though they were in for pretty much the entire 4th quarter, it was just a running clock. At one point they ran off almost 3 minutes of game time during an XP and setting up the ensuing kickoff after we scored a TD. Just a bummer that they couldn't get more game time because of the apathy of the refs - I don't even blame the kid they had running the clock, though it would be nice if they at least found someone with some semblance of understanding of what they were doing.

One game left for the freshman team. On paper, it should be an easy win, though the team we play is apparently more physical than this last team, word is they are probably similarly skilled. If we win, we will be undefeated in league (none of the coaches can remember the last time we had a freshman team go undefeated in league) and 9-1 overall (similarly, as they don't keep a ton of records on the freshman teams, the last team that did similarly record wise was I believe the 2012 freshman team that went 8-2)

My son will also be suiting up for the last 2 varsity games. No expectation that he will play, though as we have been essentially eliminated from qualifying for CIF, I suppose there is always the chance they decide to give some of the younger kids a little game experience as prep for next year. I think the more likely scenario is extra time for any seniors that don't get regular minutes.

 

[Chadstroma]

My nephew's team played the team that was ranked usually either 1 or 2 (I think I saw one ranking where they were 3). They dropped two games earlier in the season- one really tough 1 point OT loss and then another one that they got down a tad and then their QB got knocked out of the game and then one of their key WR's a little later and just could not get anything going offensively. They ended up beating the powerhouse team to either win or win a share of the conference title which is the first time since 1995. Apparently, the powerhouse was missing their QB (committed to USC) and another player.... I think DL? Committed to Navy and they got their QB back who was basically a game time decision on going or not. My nephew is a backup safety that doesn't get a ton of time but that is cool for him to go out as a senior with the team doing something it hasn't done since I was in HS.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

@Fantasy_Freak - Good luck to your son and his team in the playoffs. Do they start tonight, or is there a bye week before playoffs start?

For my son, they won easily yesterday, 39-0. Other team didn't even get a first down. League game that just wasn't a good matchup, though the other team had a few decent players. I think as a team our defense had 4 INTs and a fumble recovery, and everything else was a 3 and out or turnover on downs. Offensively we moved the ball well, mainly our rushing attack, but we did throw a bit as well. Stat wise my son had a solid game - probably 5-6 tackles on defense (almost had a big sack, but the QB just barely slipped out when he got a hand on him), 3 catches for about 30-35 yards and a TD on offense, and on two plays he had big downfield blocks that sprung the RB for big gains. The only bummer for this game is that the kid they had running the clock didn't really know what he was doing, so it was running for most of the game, not stopping when it should have. Referees didn't really care, at one point telling our coaches (the visiting team) that they can go find someone to run the clock then. It really shortened the game, which meant it took a while for us to get points scored, and when we were able to get the backups in, there wasn't a ton of time for them, as even though they were in for pretty much the entire 4th quarter, it was just a running clock. At one point they ran off almost 3 minutes of game time during an XP and setting up the ensuing kickoff after we scored a TD. Just a bummer that they couldn't get more game time because of the apathy of the refs - I don't even blame the kid they had running the clock, though it would be nice if they at least found someone with some semblance of understanding of what they were doing.

One game left for the freshman team. On paper, it should be an easy win, though the team we play is apparently more physical than this last team, word is they are probably similarly skilled. If we win, we will be undefeated in league (none of the coaches can remember the last time we had a freshman team go undefeated in league) and 9-1 overall (similarly, as they don't keep a ton of records on the freshman teams, the last team that did similarly record wise was I believe the 2012 freshman team that went 8-2)

My son will also be suiting up for the last 2 varsity games. No expectation that he will play, though as we have been essentially eliminated from qualifying for CIF, I suppose there is always the chance they decide to give some of the younger kids a little game experience as prep for next year. I think the more likely scenario is extra time for any seniors that don't get regular minutes.

We start tonight. Thanks on the well wishes. If we win we play the #1 team in the state, not very confident, in fact my son and I are looking into airline tickets so he can visit University of South Dakota for the following week.

Good luck for the following games yourself.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

My son’s team won their first playoff game last night 34-6. Opponents only td was an interception returned for a td. We had our second blocked field goal attempts returned for a td this season. In fact the play is up for play of the week on a local tv station, link to the tv reporting below.

My son had a really good game, several pancake blocks to clear the way for some long runs. We tend to pass first but our running game is what moves the ball.

Next Friday we play the #2 team in the state. It will be a tough game, but great experience for the boys.

Plays of the week

 

[MAC_32]

It took until October, but our now 13 year-old found something positive to take away from this season. While his development at wide receiver was 0, less than if I want to be hyperbolic, he became quite the CB over the final few games.

At this age, through high school really, many offenses try to get their more developed play makers out to the boundary as cornerbacks are just physically over matched. While that is also true for our pint sized 7th grader, dude channeled some inner-Napoleon in his final 3 games. Opposing quarterbacks targeted him once every game. And never more than once. One time it was a post, another a corner, and lastly a hitch-and-go and each time he was on an island with the safety shadowing the opposite side - stride for stride in the hip pocket and gave the WR no space to make a play. They wouldn't target him again. Instead they'd try to get the ball out fast and force him to make a play with the ball already in his hands. This worked early in the season, variety of reasons, but his discipline was on display late in the season - commit to sealing the edge, force him inside, then combine with that side LB to make the tackle. Lost yardage the 2 times they tried it in the finale then they stopped testing him.

So while I'm still frustrated with his non-role in the offense, shared as much with the coach too (pained me to do it but he'd been unsuccessfully advocating for touches all season), he's now equipped to play (well) on both sides of the ball instead of a pass catcher only. Now we just need to get some meat on his bones.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

It took until October, but our now 13 year-old found something positive to take away from this season. While his development at wide receiver was 0, less than if I want to be hyperbolic, he became quite the CB over the final few games.

At this age, through high school really, many offenses try to get their more developed play makers out to the boundary as cornerbacks are just physically over matched. While that is also true for our pint sized 7th grader, dude channeled some inner-Napoleon in his final 3 games. Opposing quarterbacks targeted him once every game. And never more than once. One time it was a post, another a corner, and lastly a hitch-and-go and each time he was on an island with the safety shadowing the opposite side - stride for stride in the hip pocket and gave the WR no space to make a play. They wouldn't target him again. Instead they'd try to get the ball out fast and force him to make a play with the ball already in his hands. This worked early in the season, variety of reasons, but his discipline was on display late in the season - commit to sealing the edge, force him inside, then combine with that side LB to make the tackle. Lost yardage the 2 times they tried it in the finale then they stopped testing him.

So while I'm still frustrated with his non-role in the offense, shared as much with the coach too (pained me to do it but he'd been unsuccessfully advocating for touches all season), he's now equipped to play (well) on both sides of the ball instead of a pass catcher only. Now we just need to get some meat on his bones.

Your son making himself open to a variety of positions could go far. I know when my son visited Miami of Ohio, the o-line coach spoke to my son about being open to playing center, he said having the ability to play various positions could get you a opportunity to play much quicker.

Good luck in the offseason.

 

[acarey50]

My son’s team won their first playoff game last night 34-6. Opponents only td was an interception returned for a td. We had our second blocked field goal attempts returned for a td this season. In fact the play is up for play of the week on a local tv station, link to the tv reporting below.

My son had a really good game, several pancake blocks to clear the way for some long runs. We tend to pass first but our running game is what moves the ball.

Next Friday we play the #2 team in the state. It will be a tough game, but great experience for the boys.

Plays of the week

Good luck tonight in playoffs @Fantasy_Freak (well, Fantasy Freak Jr. )

Keep us updated on how they do

 

[acarey50]

Our last freshman game is this afternoon. On paper, it should be a win for us, which would mean we go undefeated in league and 9-1 overall - let's hope the boys show up ready to play and not thinking ahead to trick or treating.

As mentioned previously, my kid was one of two freshman (the other being the freshman RB that is up as a kicker) pulled up to the varsity roster. Well, last night he made his varsity debut. We were up 35-0 at half time and the game went running clock for the second half. We were emptying the bench from the mid way point of the 3rd quarter. Early 4th quarter we get a decent drive going but stall out around the 20 yard line. Out comes the kicking team... with my kid there as the long snapper *, and the other freshman out as the kicker. Clean snap, good hold and the kick was good.

* Background - the starting long snapper is a junior and good friend of ours - his older brother is the same age as my oldest, and they played sports together since 3rd grade. All week he's been telling the coaches that they need to get my son at least a snap. As the drive is going on, I see him talking to my son, and he was the first to run out and congratulate him after the made FG. Come to find out that he had told my son to go out no matter which team (1st team, etc.) they called for, he'd take any heat for it if anything came down. So fun to have the support there.

Figured that would be it as he was only brought up to be a backup long snapper. But then, other team is making a drive, and the linebacker coach sends him in for a 4th down play. Need the stop so they can get the last of the bench a couple offensive snaps. He ends up making the tackle to stop the drive, and it allowed us to have one last series where we were also able to get one of the seniors who had been injured a few games back a couple snaps in his final game.

Fun times. He said he was definitely a bit nervous for the first play under the lights. But super excited and the smiles he and the teammates on varsity that had been pulling for him had told a thousand words.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

My son’s team won their first playoff game last night 34-6. Opponents only td was an interception returned for a td. We had our second blocked field goal attempts returned for a td this season. In fact the play is up for play of the week on a local tv station, link to the tv reporting below.

My son had a really good game, several pancake blocks to clear the way for some long runs. We tend to pass first but our running game is what moves the ball.

Next Friday we play the #2 team in the state. It will be a tough game, but great experience for the boys.

Plays of the week

Good luck tonight in playoffs @Fantasy_Freak (well, Fantasy Freak Jr. )

Keep us updated on how they do

Definitely. Thanks for the well wishes. My kid is pretty excited for the game. The team we play has passed the ball a total of 45 times in 9 games. They are very run orientated, running an offense where the quarterback has several options to hand the ball. Almost a version of the Wing T. We get a running back returning this week who broke his collarbone very early in the season, last season he had 1500 all purpose yards, might surprise our opponents tonight.

My son, wife and I were kind of pissed off yesterday. Turns out when the meeting to discuss all conference players our coach ended up missing most of the meeting, showed up 2 hours late. Ended up my kid didn't get voted for all conference.

We kind of put it behind us, made arrangements to travel to South Dakota next week to visit campus, coaches, and football game about an 8 hour drive for us. If my son wins tonight we can leave next Saturday at 3 am and get there with time to spare. My kid and his teammate are pretty excited to go.

Thanks again definitely keep you in the loop tonight.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

Our last freshman game is this afternoon. On paper, it should be a win for us, which would mean we go undefeated in league and 9-1 overall - let's hope the boys show up ready to play and not thinking ahead to trick or treating.

As mentioned previously, my kid was one of two freshman (the other being the freshman RB that is up as a kicker) pulled up to the varsity roster. Well, last night he made his varsity debut. We were up 35-0 at half time and the game went running clock for the second half. We were emptying the bench from the mid way point of the 3rd quarter. Early 4th quarter we get a decent drive going but stall out around the 20 yard line. Out comes the kicking team... with my kid there as the long snapper *, and the other freshman out as the kicker. Clean snap, good hold and the kick was good.

* Background - the starting long snapper is a junior and good friend of ours - his older brother is the same age as my oldest, and they played sports together since 3rd grade. All week he's been telling the coaches that they need to get my son at least a snap. As the drive is going on, I see him talking to my son, and he was the first to run out and congratulate him after the made FG. Come to find out that he had told my son to go out no matter which team (1st team, etc.) they called for, he'd take any heat for it if anything came down. So fun to have the support there.

Figured that would be it as he was only brought up to be a backup long snapper. But then, other team is making a drive, and the linebacker coach sends him in for a 4th down play. Need the stop so they can get the last of the bench a couple offensive snaps. He ends up making the tackle to stop the drive, and it allowed us to have one last series where we were also able to get one of the seniors who had been injured a few games back a couple snaps in his final game.

Fun times. He said he was definitely a bit nervous for the first play under the lights. But super excited and the smiles he and the teammates on varsity that had been pulling for him had told a thousand words.

My son had that happen his freshman year. Got minutes when o linemen were struggling or when game was out of reach. It helped immensely because he was not intimidated last year nor during the playoffs last season. Great for development.

Good luck today.