19 replies to this topic

[Northwestsports]

I could probably find this somewhere but its easier just to ask. Do all the MAC schools have Jr Hi football ? If not which one don't? Thanks

[Mo-Problems]

Yes, all MAC schools that have a football program have JH football. New Knoxville doesn't have a football program.

[Bobby]

And as far as I know, all have separate 7th and 8th grade teams.

Edited by Bobby, 03 December 2015 - 05:36 PM.

[Northwestsports]

Ok Thanks just wondered

[Hagen]

Does MLocal/Coldwater dominate them or are the junior high standings fairly balanced?

[BlueJay]

Nope. They are usually fairly balanced.

[flounder]

Ask 'Bucki'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[paperboy]

Hagen, on 04 December 2015 - 08:19 AM, said:

Does MLocal/Coldwater dominate them or are the junior high standings fairly balanced?

When ML won state in 2012 the seniors had won only one (out of 15 or so) games in junior high.

[waterloowonder]

Do the MAC schools have 5th and 6th grade programs? I have a tendency to believe 5th and 6th grade programs drive a lot of kids away from football due to poor coaching the extreme size differentials of kids at that age.

[BlueJay]

No they do not. Delphos has a midget football program for 9-12 year olds. It includes kids that go to both Delphos schools.

[Miggy]

Along the same line of questioning, what kind of success do the MAC teams have at the JV and Frosh levels? Is it about winning or do they play everybody and hope to find some "diamonds in the rough?"

[Bigdogg79]

Ft Recovery and Parkway also have 5th and 6th grade teams. My thoughts are you are better off not having tackle football until junior high. Unless you have people knowing what they are doing, more harm will come from it than good. I also see a day coming soon where the liability issues surrounding head trama for children will elminate contact football in the youth programs.

[PG OSU Alum]

So are Ft Recovery, Parkway and Delphos the only MAC schools that have programs below 7th grade? Do any of these 3 schools have programs for 3-4 grade.

[fortfan]

Fort Recovery no longer has 5-6 grade tackle football. I think they have flag football instead.

A few kids play in Portland Indiana if they REALLY want to play that young.

Edited by fortfan, 07 December 2015 - 10:42 AM.

[fortfan]

Miggy, on 06 December 2015 - 10:52 AM, said:

Along the same line of questioning, what kind of success do the MAC teams have at the JV and Frosh levels? Is it about winning or do they play everybody and hope to find some "diamonds in the rough?"

I know FR rarely has a large JH team-so everybody plays and kids play multiple positions. Couple years ago Anna had like 45 8th graders.

[Common Sense]

Not from a MAC school, but I feel another reason for their success is they DON'T have soccer. Many D6-D7 schools try to have boys soccer and football, while it may create more participation for your boys in sports, it kills football numbers. Those kids who are freshmen/ sophomores don't want to be tackling dummies, so they play soccer where they can get a varsity letter, then some come back to football their jr. and sr. years. The lag in not playing two years kills the skill level.
Another reason the MAC schools are so successful- coaching. Most have staffs that are together and have been together for years. They lift, train and work to be good, and it shows.

[Bluetiger76]

Common Sense, on 07 December 2015 - 03:23 PM, said:

Not from a MAC school, but I feel another reason for their success is they DON'T have soccer. Many D6-D7 schools try to have boys soccer and football, while it may create more participation for your boys in sports, it kills football numbers. Those kids who are freshmen/ sophomores don't want to be tackling dummies, so they play soccer where they can get a varsity letter, then some come back to football their jr. and sr. years. The lag in not playing two years kills the skill level.
Another reason the MAC schools are so successful- coaching. Most have staffs that are together and have been together for years. They lift, train and work to be good, and it shows.

Bingo!!!

[Northwestsports]

Bluetiger76, on 07 December 2015 - 03:29 PM, said:

Bingo!!!

We have Bingo at Liberty-Benton and I don't think it helps. But I do feel it has more to do with coaching than soccer nobody around here had soccer 15 yrs ago and there were still few state titles in the area.

[Bluetiger76]

Northwestsports, on 07 December 2015 - 09:10 PM, said:

We have Bingo at Liberty-Benton and I don't think it helps. But I do feel it has more to do with coaching than soccer nobody around here had soccer 15 yrs ago and there were still few state titles in the area.

Hey big boy....I didn't see you at bingo this year.

[youthcoach]

Anna also has youth football. All the mentioned teams have 3rd-6th grade tackle football. Im a WBL guy but my step son played youth football for Parkway (Kevin Flaugher). Most of the WBL youth teams are in the Junior Buckeye League. They do it a bit different. They have a JV team which is 3rd and 4th graders and a Varsity team which is 5th and 6th. They also do NOT have weight limits to play, only weight limits to run the ball (no more than 120 lbs for varsity and 105lbs for JV).

Someone mentioned soccer and others mentioned not having youth football due to injuries. I coached for 8 years and honestly never had any major injuries. We did have a broken arm once but that was just a fluke getting an arm between two helmets. If coached properly kids can safely play at that age. I actually did have one kid years ago that would not stop hitting/leading with his head. It was a daily occurrence for me to tell him to go sit out. I would not let him practice/play due to his inability to listen and stop using his head. If kids are taught properly (at every level of football), it can be a sport without major injury.

On the soccer comments and at least in the WBL, if we didn't have youth football we would most likely not have football at all. Soccer is HUGE in the WBL. We lose a ton of kids to soccer. If they started soccer early and we didn't have football, they would most likely stay in soccer because of the investment they already have in it. Flag football is also a great thing to have for kids below 3rd grade. When I coached a Bath youth team, we had 14 flag teams of K-2. When that was at it's peak, we would annually have about 130 kids in our youth football draft. As soon as the flag football program went south, so did our draft numbers, drastically. We had 3 youth teams at bath and with the decline in flag and the rise in soccer, I ended up shutting my team down (Cairo Bobcats) that had been around since the 1950's. Just not enough kids. So my point is, at many schools if you don't have youth football you won't have Jr. High or even HS football at some point. Soccer has taken over.


Great season for the MAC by the way. Congrats.

Edited by youthcoach, 11 December 2015 - 08:23 AM.