Minnesota High School Football Section Championship Matchups

[disco]

Lmao this isn't professional sports where everyone is on a roughly level playing field. Enrollment and demographics mean certain schools will never be able to give the biggest schools competitive games.

Do you really want Eden Prairie to roll current 3A teams 105-0 when we smash them into the same class? That isn't fun for the winners, losers, or viewers. The goal of HS sports is competitive matchups. This doesn't mean everyone wins, it just means you are competing with other teams at your skill level where there are chances to win or lose, not get steamrolled every week.

Using the example of Jefferson, they got knocked down a class, still haven't won a state championship. But going 3-4 is a lot more fun for the players than going 0-7 and losing by 50 every game. I remember when I went there, the team dwindled to about 30 players because no one wanted to play to get wrecked every week.

Fewer classes will cause schools that are outmatched to fold programs, which isn't good for anyone.

I understand the need for classifications in football. But I think there is a tendency to go too far.
Texas, which is basically the mecca of high school football, only has six classes. Here are the breakdowns with enrollment number and number of schools in the class. So they actually have one LESS class than Minnesota.


6A 2190 and Above
252 Schools

5A 1150 - 2189
252 schools

4A 505-1149
182 schools

3A 225 - 504
211 schools

2A 105 - 224
187 schools

1A 104.9 and below
142 schools

 

[disco]

Meanwhile, what about actual games involving High School football teams.............

In SW MN, couple of good matchups:
Sect 3/9-man: Mt Lake Area vs Hills-Beaver Creek
Sect 5-A: Minneota vs BOLD
Sect 2-AA: Blooming Prairie vs Maple River
Sect 3-AA: Jackson County Central vs Pipestone
Sect 3-AAA: Fairmont vs Waseca

And now, a short rant. During the regular season, a lot of teams offered free streaming video of their games. But, for section Finals games being played at SW MN State in Marshall on Friday, the MSHSL stepped in and said schools and/or radio stations could not offer their own video. But, if you want to watch on streaming video, you can buy a 1-day pass from Prep Spotlight TV for ............$30.

FWIW - a 1-day pass to watch 4 games in person is $10.

Likewise - used to have free streaming video of state Quarter finals and Semi-Finals. Now, if you want to watch - you guessed it, pay a juicy fee to Prep Spotlight.

Typical of the MSHSL to do something to piss off fans. I think that's pretty crappy of them.

My cousins played for Mountain Lake Area, so I have to root for them.

 

[Ope3]

I understand the need for classifications in football. But I think there is a tendency to go too far.
Texas, which is basically the mecca of high school football, only has six classes. Here are the breakdowns with enrollment number and number of schools in the class. So they actually have one LESS class than Minnesota.


6A 2190 and Above
252 Schools

5A 1150 - 2189
252 schools

4A 505-1149
182 schools

3A 225 - 504
211 schools

2A 105 - 224
187 schools

1A 104.9 and below
142 schools

Does that include Texas 6 Man football?

 

[disco]

Does that include Texas 6 Man football?

Good question. I guess I'm assuming that the 1A would be those schools, but I don't know. Under 100 students in 9-12 is only 25 per class, and if half are girls, thats a pretty small number of kids who could play.

 

[Gopherit]

Meanwhile, what about actual games involving High School football teams.............

In SW MN, couple of good matchups:
Sect 3/9-man: Mt Lake Area vs Hills-Beaver Creek
Sect 5-A: Minneota vs BOLD
Sect 2-AA: Blooming Prairie vs Maple River
Sect 3-AA: Jackson County Central vs Pipestone
Sect 3-AAA: Fairmont vs Waseca

And now, a short rant. During the regular season, a lot of teams offered free streaming video of their games. But, for section Finals games being played at SW MN State in Marshall on Friday, the MSHSL stepped in and said schools and/or radio stations could not offer their own video. But, if you want to watch on streaming video, you can buy a 1-day pass from Prep Spotlight TV for ............$30.

FWIW - a 1-day pass to watch 4 games in person is $10.

Likewise - used to have free streaming video of state Quarter finals and Semi-Finals. Now, if you want to watch - you guessed it, pay a juicy fee to Prep Spotlight.

I would add Gopher commit Tony Nelson's TMB Panthers vs. #1 team in Class A Murray County Central.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I understand the need for classifications in football. But I think there is a tendency to go too far.
Texas, which is basically the mecca of high school football, only has six classes. Here are the breakdowns with enrollment number and number of schools in the class. So they actually have one LESS class than Minnesota.


6A 2190 and Above
252 Schools

5A 1150 - 2189
252 schools

4A 505-1149
182 schools

3A 225 - 504
211 schools

2A 105 - 224
187 schools

1A 104.9 and below
142 schools

Looked further and they actually have 12 state champs as each Class has two divisions. https://www.uiltexas.org/football/state/results

 

[60's Guy]

I could look it up but was surprised to see no Caledonia...what happened to them. They steam rolled everyone for a number of years.

 

[disco]

Looked further and they actually have 12 state champs as each Class has two divisions. https://www.uiltexas.org/football/state/results

So they do. I stand corrected. And it looks like 1A=six man football.

 

[disco]

I could look it up but was surprised to see no Caledonia...what happened to them. They steam rolled everyone for a number of years.

They went 5-5 this season after not having lost since 2014 (WOW!)

 

[Ope3]

I could look it up but was surprised to see no Caledonia...what happened to them. They steam rolled everyone for a number of years.

Head Coach retired. Youngest King sat out the season.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Typical of the MSHSL to do something to piss off fans. I think that's pretty crappy of them.

My cousins played for Mountain Lake Area, so I have to root for them.

have to ask - who were your cousins?

 

[MaxyJR1]

Saw an 11-0 team in Wisconsin was disqualified for using an ineligible player during the season.

 

[State of Football]

Well if you actually look at the SLP boundary ... it would seem like it has the largest area of Blaine, perhaps by far. That of course doesn't mean it covers the most homes, nor does that take into consideration kids who are afraid of/don't want to go down there.

But you've got Club West, Sports Center, TPC, The Lakes .... all of those are supposed to send their kids to SLP. Guessing a lot try to pull connections in Centennial to open enroll over there for middle and up.

Redneck Riveria.

 

[Some guy]

I could look it up but was surprised to see no Caledonia...what happened to them. They steam rolled everyone for a number of years.

Their coach may have retired after his last son rolled through but I’m not sure

 

[Some guy]

Saw an 11-0 team in Wisconsin was disqualified for using an ineligible player during the season.

In Minnesota they’d just be an 8 seed and not used him In Playoffs

 

[State of Football]

Typical of the MSHSL to do something to piss off fans. I think that's pretty crappy of them.

My cousins played for Mountain Lake Area, so I have to root for them.

Or ask schools for more $. Sounds like a good solution. The MSHSL doesn’t make decisions for Regions. They operate autonomously and also need to pay their billls. You sound cheap.

 

[disco]

Or ask schools for more $. Sounds like a good solution. The MSHSL doesn’t make decisions for Regions. They operate autonomously and also need to pay their billls. You sound cheap.

Not at all. But in this day and age, it can't cost much for a school to stream their games online. The small high school by my cabin in Wisconsin streams their games for free, and that's by no means a district with money (and it's a low budget deal, but it's still there). The post I replied to said this was the work of the MSHSL - not the region, so either that's true or not - I'm going by what was posted. If a school wants to provide their fans a way to watch from a distance and not charge, they should be able to do so.

 

[disco]

have to ask - who were your cousins?

Check your messages.

 

[Ope3]

So right now, there are 30 teams in 6A. 29 are the largest by enrollment, plus Totino-Grace is moved up (and Coon Rapids is moved down despite enrollment.) We won't consider Totino for this argument.

The largest school in 6A, Wayzata (3396), is nearly twice the size of the smallest, Lakeville North (1780).

Park Center, which has enrollment of 1669, not much smaller than Lakeville North, plays Richfield (891) under district scheduling. Also almost twice the size.

I'm sure if I dig, I can find others, but enrollment disparities like the ones you mention already exist. Would you add more classes?

Unless I am missing something, 6A is back to 32 teams, and includes Coon Rapids. Looks like they avoided the Mercy Rule/running clock vs EP.

No byes as in years past.

 

[Ope3]

If I could give my two cents, I think the way 6A does playoffs is horrible. I currently play for a school that was an 8 seed, meaning we had to play a one seed our playoff game and we got our butts handed to us. I don’t see the reason why the top seeds don’t have a bye and the 8 plays the 5 and the 7 plays the 6. I don’t think an 8 has ever beaten a 1 in the playoffs, and they way they keep getting bigger I don’t think they ever will. Pointless if you ask me.

While I have empathy for the plight of the #8 seeds, your proposal to give the top seeds a bye would actually take 7 weeks to play to conclusion. There would be 6 teams left in each bracket, meaning the #1 & #2 seeds would get a double bye.

It would actually take longer to play than all the other classes, or require three rounds played 3 or 4 days between them. Following MEA Wed, it would have to be something like Tue-Sat-Thur-Mon-Sat-Fri-Fri.

The alternative would be to start the season 2 weeks before Labor Day or extend it 1 week beyond Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[mnsports1]

Not at all. But in this day and age, it can't cost much for a school to stream their games online. The small high school by my cabin in Wisconsin streams their games for free, and that's by no means a district with money (and it's a low budget deal, but it's still there). The post I replied to said this was the work of the MSHSL - not the region, so either that's true or not - I'm going by what was posted. If a school wants to provide their fans a way to watch from a distance and not charge, they should be able to do so.

Only in the regular season. Only the WIAA has the rights to stream playoffs because they run them. It costs a school $200 to stream the playoffs but it can be passed to the viewers for free.

 

[GFBfan]

Head Coach retired. Youngest King sat out the season.

Head Coach is still there. The King kid didn't play and according to this ARTICLE a couple others were also not out. Watched a couple of their games on the internet this season and for the first time in a long time they looked like a normal HS football team.

 

[disco]

Only in the regular season. Only the WIAA has the rights to stream playoffs because they run them. It costs a school $200 to stream the playoffs but it can be passed to the viewers for free.

Then they must have been passing them on for free, because it was definitely a playoff game I saw.

 

[Some guy]

Unless I am missing something, 6A is back to 32 teams, and includes Coon Rapids. Looks like they avoided the Mercy Rule/running clock vs EP.

No byes as in years past.

That is true in playoffs, but coon rapids and brainerd play 5a regular season schedules

 

[State of Football]

Not at all. But in this day and age, it can't cost much for a school to stream their games online. The small high school by my cabin in Wisconsin streams their games for free, and that's by no means a district with money (and it's a low budget deal, but it's still there). The post I replied to said this was the work of the MSHSL - not the region, so either that's true or not - I'm going by what was posted. If a school wants to provide their fans a way to watch from a distance and not charge, they should be able to do so.

It has nothing to do with the cost of the stream. It has to do with the potential for loss revenue to the Region / Section. There's a cost to host any game. Football is on average $4,000 a game. Police and EMT's / trainers are twice the cost they were 2 years ago.

Like any athletic organization. Football, basketball, and hockey in our state pay for all of the other non-revenue sports.

 

[disco]

It has nothing to do with the cost of the stream. It has to do with the potential for loss revenue to the Region / Section. There's a cost to host any game. Football is on average $4,000 a game. Police and EMT's / trainers are twice the cost they were 2 years ago.

Like any athletic organization. Football, basketball, and hockey in our state pay for all of the other non-revenue sports.

Ok, I didn't think of the cost to put on the game. I do understand that.

 

[MplsGopher]

Unless I am missing something, 6A is back to 32 teams, and includes Coon Rapids. Looks like they avoided the Mercy Rule/running clock vs EP.

No byes as in years past.

According to this, for whatever it is worth: https://www.maxpreps.com/high-schoo...coon-rapids,mn)/football/previous_seasons.htm

It looks like CR became 6A in 2012 (probably the first year of that), then was 5A in 2016, and now is back to 6A this year.

Interesting rotating cast of coaches, as well. Not sure who Nick Rusin is, but he was only HC for one season and guided them to their, by far, best season in 2019.

note: this link https://www.coonrapidsfootball.org/page/show/2012255-coaching-staff shows Rusin as still the coach, so I'm not sure how accurate the other link is for coaches.

 

[disco]

According to this, for whatever it is worth: https://www.maxpreps.com/high-schoo...coon-rapids,mn)/football/previous_seasons.htm

It looks like CR became 6A in 2012 (probably the first year of that), then was 5A in 2016, and now is back to 6A this year.

Interesting rotating cast of coaches, as well. Not sure who Nick Rusin is, but he was only HC for one season and guided them to their, by far, best season in 2019.

note: this link https://www.coonrapidsfootball.org/page/show/2012255-coaching-staff shows Rusin as still the coach, so I'm not sure how accurate the other link is for coaches.

I haven't found Max Preps to be all that accurate for a number of things, so I'd tend to believe the school's site.

 

[MaxyJR1]

According to this, for whatever it is worth: https://www.maxpreps.com/high-schoo...coon-rapids,mn)/football/previous_seasons.htm

It looks like CR became 6A in 2012 (probably the first year of that), then was 5A in 2016, and now is back to 6A this year.

Interesting rotating cast of coaches, as well. Not sure who Nick Rusin is, but he was only HC for one season and guided them to their, by far, best season in 2019.

note: this link https://www.coonrapidsfootball.org/page/show/2012255-coaching-staff shows Rusin as still the coach, so I'm not sure how accurate the other link is for coaches.

Coon Rapids was pushed down to 5A in 2016 due to the free and reduced meal numbers. They had a good class go through and were able to get to the state semi-finals in 5A. The coach is a grad of Blaine and has put some stability into the program. The Community really struggles with numbers for youth sports as it's a very transient community.

 

[Some guy]

Coon Rapids was pushed down to 5A in 2016 due to the free and reduced meal numbers. They had a good class go through and were able to get to the state semi-finals in 5A. The coach is a grad of Blaine and has put some stability into the program. The Community really struggles with numbers for youth sports as it's a very transient community.

Every school has free and reduced factored into their classification calculation.

after it was factored in, they were 6a and then moved down to 5a anyways.
I guess those Hopkins and Armstrong kids were just too rich to get the same schedule as coon rapids