Recent content by xyz1

According to Strib, Apple Valley is in 6A after all and Coon Rapids is in 5A. And according to MSHSL website Apple Valley is in 5A for football in 2025, so I don't know what to believe.

I'm not going to pretend I've broken down film on Ersery's techniques or anything and don't have strong opinions pro or con on what Tice said, but while Tice's reputation for buffoonery has a pretty solid factual basis, if there is any topic on which he has some credibility it's offensive line...

Throw out hockey and football (which is something of a recent development - they were 6-2, albeit against a weaker 6A schedule, as recently as 2019) and Hopkins is generally competitive with those schools. Basketball is obviously the one where they have the most success but they're respectable...

Having 48 in each of the top two classes, so there would be six-team sections and the first playoff round could include byes, and allowing joint 5A and 6A scheduling, would go a very long way in generating a higher number of competitive games and fewer blowouts.

Yes, it is somewhat subjective, but the system has a lot of subjectiveness now, with how they’ve granted some scheduling relief to the bottom half of 6A, and in how they set the two-year scheduling cycles. If trying to have competitive games is at least a minor consideration, limiting 6A teams...

Fair point - I meant "bottom half" in terms of their realistic ability to compete. The Lakeville schools punch above their enrollment size as affluent suburbs with well-run and extensive youth football programs; I'm thinking more of places like Hopkins, Park, Roseville, and Burnsville, as well...

This is absolutely right, and the rigid class scheduling is a big part of the problem. If the bottom half of 6A was allowed to play 5A teams it would be better for everyone.

SJU had an enrollment of 1462 in 2023. A quarter of that would be 365, and while their roster is big it's not nearly that big. One can quite legitimately argue that an influx of transfers changes Division III football from what it has traditionally been and not in a positive way, but...

Never had lights - college night games were pretty rare in that era. Those of us who attended games there have very fond nostalgic memories of the stadium, but by modern standards it would seem like an absolute dump were you able to travel back in time and visit it.

There are also Saturday games; this year in the weeks after Labor Day and before MEA compressed the schedule there were at least 4 games every Saturday, and as many as 9. I can reasonably believe that even that degree of reduction in the number of games on Fridays makes a difference in ensuring...

Obviously not a factor at this point of the playoffs with not nearly as many games to cover, but the primary driver of the non-Friday games in the regular season is the referee shortage, as I think we've discussed on here.

So much for Two Rivers . . . Loses 35-31 to Apple Valley. Playing a schedule of completely overmatched teams may not have been all that beneficial.

There are games that offer nothing but embarrassment and potential injury and would be better off not being played . . . but you need to be careful with that philosophy. A few years back my son's team was a #6 seed against a #3 seed that had put them into running time in the fourth quarter just...

To be fair to Hopkins the school isn't nearly as big as Wayzata, Minnetonka, or Eden Prairie, and faces all sorts of demographic and socioeconomic challenges that the schools surrounding it don't have to nearly the same degree. The idea of every team in every sport making the postseason has...

Limiting the number of playoff teams - you could let nonqualifiers play each other for a 9th game - would solve that problem and also increase the number of teams that have the chance to end the season with a win or at least a somewhat positive experience. It's less of a problem in the smaller...