“Wait, so you’re in what district?”
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Every coach I talked to before the proposed district realignments for the 2010-11 football seasons Wednesday was a little nervous/anxious about how everything would shake out.
But now that it’s over, it was a whole lot of much ado about nothing. Nobody I talked to seemed to be angry, just a whole lot of “eh.”
Everything will be finalized at an OSSAA board meeting Aug. 11.
Until then, some things that caught the Boneman’s eye from each class.
In 6A, it’s District 6A-3 that has me curious. Supposedly an “east” district, half the teams are teams us “westerners” are familiar with.
Norman, Putnam West, Shawnee and Southmoore are all in the district to go with Jenks, Broken Arrow, Muskogee and Sapulpa.
Intrigued by 5A-1. Carl Albert and Guthrie stay together, but you add in Deer Creek and El Reno. And as Antlers coach Grant Gower said: “It’s the Suburban Conference plus Southeast and Ada.”
Noble and Western Heights will also be in 5A-1.
The question in 4A was which team, Bishop McGuinness or Douglass, would be making the move from 4A-1 to 4A-2.
Your answer: Douglass. Essentially, the Trojans are just taking the spot vacated by Star Spencer’s move to 3A.
Good balance at the top with the Irish and Clinton in 4A-1 and Douglass and Glenpool together in 4A-2.
Thought 3A was actually pretty balanced. No “super” district, but still a “super” class. If you had to twist my arm, I’d say 3A-3 is the tops: Bethany, Centennial, Heritage Hall, John Marshall, Newcastle, Kingfisher and Justice Alma Wilson.
Actually seeing 2A laid out doesn’t look impressive. Who knows who will be good in two years, but seems like Millwood and Lincoln Christian should be fighting it out for a gold ball. Cupboard looks a little bare in 2A.
District A-7 is still the toast of the class. Tough to top a district with Morrison, Woodland and Hominy.
The 10-team districts in Class B are strange to look at. But if last year holds to form, look for B-1 to reign supreme. Garber, Laverne, Canton and Ringwood are just some of the stalwarts in that district.
And in Class C, will District C-4 start becoming a real threat? It seems that a lot of the teams from that district flame out early in the playoffs. There are a lot of the same names there, so it’ll be interesting to see.
Well, been a fun time in Tulsa but time to head back to Oklahoma City. Fellow chum Ryan Aber will be at the boys basketball games and the football game.
Football coaches out in full force…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Remember how I wrote Monday was kinda slow? Well, not so much Tuesday. Knew it was a good sign when the first couple of coaches I saw Tuesday were of the football variety.
It didn’t slow down all day, and there were a lot of interesting news and notes from Day 2 of the coaches clinic in Tulsa.
A lot of the discussion is surrounding the re-districting (which will happen Wednesday at 3 p.m., for those wondering).
Purcell coach Mike Wilson said the fact there are 57 teams in the “super” 3A is going to really put a strain on scheduling.
“You’re looking at seven-team districts and that is going to cause a problem,” he said. “I think it’s a poor way to split it up, but we’ll find out.”
Another interesting fact comes from “my boy” Grant Gower of Deer Creek. Apparently, the Antlers can’t stop growing.
Deer Creek’s ADM has it right in the thick in 5A at just under 900 students. Gower told me Deer Creek will have 966 students this year.
Not only that, but plans for more elementary and middle schools are underway. It wouldn’t shock him if a few years from now, Deer Creek is up in 6A.
It’s a good point, but the problem right now with Deer Creek is the football stadium is of a 3A quality. And the press box, well, let’s not even go there.
“That thing would survive the second coming,” Gower said. “Nothing can tear that down.”
Either way, sounds like a real exciting time to be a part of the Deer Creek family.
Moving to Edmond North, and it’s tough to get that smile off of head coach Jeremy Dombek’s face right now.
After a disappointing 4-6 season (and losing its final two games to miss out on the playoffs), Dombek thinks this is his best squad since coming to the Huskies.
And why not? With Joe Aska and Qua’Don Henderson touching the ball and on the field at the same time, don’t be surprised to see Edmond North in the conversation in 6A.
Aska and Henderson didn’t see much time together on the field last year, but that won’t be the case this year.
And it doesn’t stop defensively as cornerback Xavier Smith has committed to Missouri. Smith enters the season as one of the best. He’s going to be a three-year starter and Dombek said there’s not much more Smith can do at this point in terms of learning the position.
Going east, had a chance to check up with McLoud and Eric Cardin. The Redskins are going to be hurting. Can’t believe the names Wayland Moore, Cody Phipps and Cody Ferrell won’t be there anymore.
Dillon Endecott, a DE-turned-QB, is going to lead the way.
McLoud is also the home of the ever-growing powerlifting championships and will be again this spring.
Cardin said 124 schools participated last year, and the numbers keep going up because some of the larger schools are now getting into it. The small schools have always been on board.
Wednesday will, of course, be busy with the districts but also hoping to see some more basketball coaches. Not too many around thus far.
***
And if you know me, you know I was at tennis Tuesday night. The Boneman is in awe of how beautiful the Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa is.
Wow.
Players of the year: Andrea Lewis, Bishop Kelley, and Duncan Fugitt, Edmond Memorial. Coach of the year: Skip Griese, Ada.
Had to check up on my summer stars. Putnam North’s Chris Haworth and Heritage Hall’s Julie Labarthe, Sarah Bowen and Carissa Villaflor are all doing well, according to their coaches.
I could watch Bishop McGuinness’ Katelyn Connelly and Lewis play all day. What a good match for the supposed “exhibition.”
Lewis won, 8-6, but I had to keep reminding myself to walk around and talk to people instead of just being camped out there.
Day 1 in the books…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
A rather uneventful Day 1 from the OCA’s coaches clinic in Tulsa. Don’t remember from last year if that was the case as well, but it didn’t feel like there were as many coaches.
Then again, the setup is vastly different from how it is in Oklahoma City. Displays are scattered throughout the Marriott.
Didn’t see too many football coaches around but did catch up with Kingfisher coach Jeff Myers. And after talking to him about how this year’s team is, quickly turned the conversation to the “super” 3A class in 2010.
“Whoever wins that will definitely have deserved it. It’s going to be a dogfight every week.”
No doubt about that. In most cases in the playoffs, if you’re a top seed, you’re banking on winning comfortably in the first and second rounds.
After that, who knows? But if 3A pans out the way it should, not only will just about every playoff game be crazy in terms of intensity, but there will be a lot of perennial playoff contenders who probably won’t make the cut.
There should be more football and basketball coaches later in the week as it was a pretty slow day in that department.
That doesn’t mean I did find time to talk with people as two of my “babies,” swimming and tennis, here their coaches association meetings.
Big difference in tennis is coaches will be allowed to coach their players at all times as long as it doesn’t interfere with the flow of play.
This was tested out last year and worked during the regular season. It wasn’t utilized at regional and the state tournament.
The OTCA and the OSSAA have approved it, so that will be a new wrinkle. Don’t know why it took this long. I’ve never understood the whole “no coaching” during a tennis match. Where else could you see that?
As for swimming, the biggest cause of concern coming last year’s state tournament was the overcrowded-ness of it all.
Problem solved as Class 6A and 5A will be split up for the finals. The prelims will run the same way.
But for the final, 5A is going to start at 10:15 a.m., followed by 6A at 4:15 p.m. Yep, that means a long day for anyone who has to cover both of them (namely me), but it also means a long day for any coach that does both as Edmond coach Steve Riggs pointed out. He’s not one of them, but there are a few such as the Lawton trio of schools as well as Mid-Del (Midwest City, Del City and Carl Albert).
Also went to the swim meet. Swimming and wrestling have got to be the two sports where you don’t know what kind of shape the kids will be in.
There’s no cutting weight or anything like that and for some of them, it might be like four or five months since they’ve hit the pool or mat.
It was the first time it was at Bixby. Not bad for a school venue and appreciate the support the Bixby staff gave me in making sure I had everything I needed.
Altus coach Linda Wiginton was named the Coach of the Year while Jill Enge of Edmond Memorial and Nelson Head of Union were named the Girls and Boys Swimmer of the Year.
And for the record, the East won both portions of the competition.
All-State schedule…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Doesn’t All-State week feel like the official beginning of the upcoming school year, or is it just me?
Since us from the Oklahoma City area are making the trip to Tulsa, I guarantee you the Boneman will get lost driving at least once next week.
To go with all the coaches clinic activities, there will be a slew of all-state games.
So as a little precursor of what’s to come, here’s the schedule:
Monday: Golf at 8:30 a.m. at Mohawk Park GC; Small Baseball at 4:30 at J.L. Johnson Stadium (Oral Roberts); Large Baseball at 7 (same location); Swimming at 6 at Bixby High (that’s where I’ll be).
Tuesday: Tennis at 5:30 at the University of Tulsa (that’s where I’ll be); Small Volleyball at 6 at Broken Arrow High; Large Volleyball at 7:30 (same location); Wrestling at 8 at Union High.
Wednesday: At Oral Roberts’ Mabee Center – Small Girls Basketball at 7; Large Girls Basketball at 8:30.
Thursday: At Oral Roberts’ Mabee Center – Small Boys Basketball at 7; Large Boys Basketball at 8:30.
Friday: to cap it off, Football at 8 p.m. at Union High (that’s where I’ll be).
Cheerleading will also go on for the basketball and football events as well.
And before all of that, there will be a Hall of Fame ceremony Sunday at the Southern Hills Marriott Hotel in Tulsa at 6:30.
Ten coaches will be enshrined in the OCA Hall of Fame: Phil Elerick (Cashion); Leo Smallwood (Rattan); Jarel Hansen (Shattuck); Chris Gillespie (Talihina); Dan Crookham (Tulsa Edison); Bill Blankenship (Union); Edward “Buck” Chatham (Lone Grove); Alan Simpson (Byng). And being recognized for Distinguished Service: Charles St. John (Vian).
Class 3A the place to be…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
It would have been easy (but painstakingly long) to list all the teams moving up from Class 2A to 3A for football, starting with the 2010 season.
When you’re making a jump for 32 teams to 57 teams, it feels like the most-balanced class has been created. And of course, a lot of the top 2A teams from the previous seasons, will be making the move up.
Seriously, take a look at the list. That class didn’t need a “star” team like Star Spencer to drop into its lap.
Since the Bobcats did, now look at what we have in 3A: Star Spencer, Tuttle, Heritage Hall, Cascia Hall, Chandler, Kingfisher, Sequoyah-Claremore, Purcell, Metro Christian, Purcell, Eufaula, Weatherford. That’s even leaving out some schools like Newcastle and Bethany, among others.
Very interesting stuff. Schools with some of the lower ADMs in the class (Beggs, Verdigris, Riverside, Nowata, Westville) are going to have to climb quite a mountain.
Briefly spoke with Ryan Aber (who is on vacation but still kinda working, ha), and Morrison caught his eye.
Morrison, of course, won the Class A state championship last year in its first season playing 11-man ball. The school’s ADM is 147.14. Technically, it could have moved back to Class B as the highest ADM there is Depew at 149.65.
Another eyebrow raiser is Santa Fe South. The last four years SFS has been in 3A but with an increase of 21 students (from 494 to 515), all the sudden Santa Fe South hasn’t just jumped 3A but is firmly in 4A.
Also, Del City continues to get closer to the 5A line. The school lost 27 students from last year. It is still comfortably ahead of Bixby and Shawnee in 6A (1,352 to 1,245), but the gap is closing.
The football classifications are not set in stone. In fact, if you checked the OSSAA site Wednesday, you’ll notice a big TENTATIVE has been placed on the top of the sheet.
Talking with the OSSAA’s David Jackson, “it is good to go for today.” He said they want to get it out there early so the association and the schools can work together and fix the mistakes. There really is no rush, but it’s fun to start playing fantasy with some of the potential playoff scenarios in the classes.
I’m not completely done, but here is a small sample of the teams moving up or down for this next season:
Moving up: Shawnee and Bixby (5A to 6A); Grove and Tulsa Central (4A to 5A); Heritage Hall, Metro Christian, John Marshall, Little Axe and Atoka (3A to 4A); Pocola and Stroud (2A to 3A).
Here’s where it starts getting a little hazy for me. Preston, Crowder, Snyder and Pioneer are what I have for A to 2A. From B to A, I gots Garber, Pond Creek-Hunter, Sasakwa, Strother and Chattanooga.
Moving down: Tulsa Memorial and Tulsa East Central (6A to 5A); Harrah and Stilwell (5A to 4A); Bethel, Hugo, Marlow and Victory Christian (4A to 3A); Frederick and Washington (3A to 2A).
Again, gets a little fuzzy: From 2A to A, there’s Howe, Rush Springs and Wright City. From A to B, it’s Frontier, Verden, Agra, Coyle and Waukomis.
Not completely done, so I’ll update it later.
Throw it out to the readers. Out of all the changes, what’s the biggest, most important, etc?
Enrollment numbers shaking things up…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in, hope everybody is doing fine. We’re just getting ready for the fall season to begin just like everybody else.
In the meantime, the OSSAA released the newest Average Daily Membership report this week, and there were definitely some movers.
The changes go into effect for all sports this season, except for football. Football will change next season.
Up top, the biggest news is the addition of Shawnee and Bixby to Class 6A. Tulsa East Central and Tulsa Memorial will both be dropping to 5A.
Since Shawnee is the old stomping grounds, spoke with softball/baseball coach Todd Boyer and boys basketball coach Ron Arthur about their feelings on moving on up.
Arthur said the biggest difference is the size of the players. Shawnee was already a pretty small team for a 5A school, but it just became a little bit smaller with the bump up.
He also said the biggest thing is really a mental block. “The mentality is something we’ll have to deal with. Sometimes you get caught up with the number before the “A,” and you can’t do that.”
It’s not just a challenge for the players moving up, it’s also a challenge for the coaches to get the kids prepared right, Arthur said.
The Boyer family seems like it’s been in Shawnee for ages, and Todd Boyer is taking the transition in stride.
He said the only real noticeable difference for baseball is a depth issue. Class 6A schools normally just have more depth than most of the other schools.
Boyer was around when Shawnee made this jump in the early ’90s from 4A to 6A and subsequent drop to 5A.
Other things that caught the Boneman’s eye:
With Tulsa East Central and Tulsa Memorial dropping, how loaded is 5A for boys basketball? That’ll be some kind of battle if teams like Carl Albert and Guthrie can maintain their levels of success. Throw in Tulsa Edison and Kelley, and that’s a pretty intimidating group right there.
Harrah might be one of the biggest benefactors of the latest shake up. The Panthers were right at the fringe of 5A and are now the second-highest enrollment school in 4A, which should help out an already-proven girls basketball squad under Curt Knox. Add Washington in that mix, too, as the Warriors are dropping to 2A.
As for football, one thing that stands out to me is Star Spencer going down to 3A. The Bobcats have been formidable at 4A for a while. 3A will turn into a real dogfight with teams like Cascia Hall, Heritage Hall, Tuttle and Kingfisher, among others.
Bishop McGuinness staying at the top of 4A I’m sure will get the conspiracy theorists going again. The ADM for the Irish is 686.84, while Southeast (the lowest school in 5A) is at 702.20.
Still in the process of figuring out every school that either dropped or moved up with the latest numbers. Try to have that done Thursday.
Top football ADM’s by class for 2010-11: 6A – Broken Arrow, Tulsa Union, Jenks, Owasso, Mustang. 5A – Tulsa East Central, Booker T. Washington, Tulsa Memorial, Claremore, Tahlequah. 4A – McGuinness, Harrah, Miami, Tecumseh, Stilwell. 3A – Star Spencer, Locust Grove, Idabel, Weatherford, Roland. 2A – Comanche, Morris, Kansas, St. Mary, Jones. A – Hominy, Fairview, Crescent, Drumright, Hulbert. B – Depew, Dewar, Pond Creek-Hunter, Merritt, Geary. C – Cement, Coyle, Goodwell, Temple, Webbers Falls.
