We'll step away from all the Xavier-centric discussion this time to talk about some of the other former MVC schools, and the changes they'll be facing on the football field this fall.
Districts really shook things up. Cedar Rapids Washington and Prairie got placed in a separate district from fellow Cedar Rapids-area schools Jefferson, Kennedy and Linn-Mar. Iowa City City High and Iowa City West got put in different districts - Iowa City West, in fact, is in a district with three Quad City-area schools and Dubuque Hempstead ... nary another corridor opponent in the group. So yeah, it's weird.
Also, because there are only 46 schools in 4A in the entire state, the districts have only 5 or 6 members, instead of the 7 or 8 in all the other classes. That means only 4 or 5 games will be the deciders for playoff qualification. It's just bizarre that the District 7 and 8 teams will make the playoffs based on the outcome of less than half a season. It's conceivable (very, very unlikely, but still mathematically possible) that a district could end up with playoff qualifiers featuring records of 1-8, or 2-7. A particularly odd result could have the district champion sporting a dandy 4-5 record, with all three other qualifiers sitting at 2-7. Bleah.
The district setup for former MVC teams looks like this: District 5 includes Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Linn-Mar, Cedar Falls, and both Waterloo East and Waterloo West. District 6 holds Cedar Rapids Washington and Cedar Rapids Prairie, Iowa City City High, Burlington, Muscatine and Ottumwa. District 7 features Iowa City West, then Davenport North, Davenport Central, Pleasant Valley, and Dubuque Hempstead. District 8 has Dubuque Senior joining former MAC teams Bettendorf, Davenport West, North Scott, and Clinton.
Anyway. As far as looking ahead to some of the former MVC teams and their prospects for 2014, I have to think CR Washington is set for a good year. Their incoming seniors have been terrific since they were sophomores, they featured a darn good sophomore team last year, the program is building momentum, and they were the only MVC team to have a win against Xavier since 2011. They do have always-tough City High in their division, but the rest of that group (Prairie, Burlington, Muscatine, Ottumwa) doesn't quite seem up to that level. Plus, Wash only has one long road trip this year, closing the season at Burlington.
CR Kennedy and Iowa City West are both breaking in new head coaches, so who knows how that's going to shake out. I believe both the new coaches are from within the school, so I wouldn't look for any dramatic changes or problems adapting to the players, but it's still going to be different without Tim Lewis and Brian Sauser around. Kennedy has been a consistently good program for a long time, and I don't see that changing ... plus they have a favorable district, with Cedar Falls and then a bunch of programs trying to get better (CR Jefferson, Linn-Mar, Waterloo West and Waterloo East). Iowa City West has a lot of travel with that strange Quad City-Dubuque district, and probably one of the toughest non-district schedules you'll see anywhere (Kennedy, West Des Moines Valley, CR Washington, City High, and Bettendorf. Yikes).
Linn-Mar had a rough season last year. The glory days of 2009 and 2011 seem awfully long ago. But they were pretty young last year, and will be returning some experienced players this fall. They only need to finish ahead of two of Jefferson/Waterloo East/Waterloo West to make the playoffs.
I still keep hoping CR Jefferson can turn the corner and start on the upward trend. As the winner of the first state football championship game in 1972 (and until Xavier's win in 2006, the only Cedar Rapids school to hold a state football championship), it's a proud program that's fallen on pretty tough times over the past 10 years or so. They did show some signs of life last season, but their offense was basically Layne Sullivan, and he's graduated. The young coaching staff seems optimistic and hopeful, and there have been some significant infrastructure upgrades, so ... perhaps the J-Hawks will get a few wins this fall. I don't think they'll finish last in District 5 (Waterloo East is a program in turmoil, losing their head coach again and having almost none of their top players returning this year), but it'll take some progress for them to make the playoffs.
Prairie ... I don't know what to think about these guys. They did lose quite a few seniors, but they do return Iowa State recruit Bryce Meeker, who is still a big force up front. I like coach Mike Morrissey's offensive approach, which is a lot of fun to watch (and probably play). They had a great playoff run in 2012, but were just 5-5 last year. They are in a tough district with Wash and City High, but have a great shot at the playoffs again this season.
That's a quick look at some of the area 4A schools as they adapt to districts. Things are going to be strange ... but you still have to make things happen on the field. Stay tuned. A look at Xavier's upcoming season is on the way.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Friday, June 20, 2014
Did Xavier blow up the MVC?
The quick answer is no. In fact, the correct answer is no ... but there are a lot of background factors and decisions that played into the creation of 4A football districts in eastern Iowa, and therefore the effective dissolution of both the Mississippi Valley Conference (MVC) and the Mississippi Athletic Conference (MAC), at least as far as football goes.
First off, this all nearly happened over two years ago. All other classes of football in Iowa had played under a district scheme since 1992. The 4A schools continued with conferences - in addition to the MVC and MAC, there were the Missouri River Athletic Conference (Sioux City and Council Bluffs areas) and the Central Iowa Metro League (everybody else, from Fort Dodge and Mason City, through the Des Moines area, to Ottumwa). Conferences made their own schedules and governed their own schools, and the state used a point system for playoff qualification.
By the 2011 season, several of the schools in central and western Iowa were looking for a better way to schedule. Travel was killing some of these schools. With only five teams in the MRAC, those schools had to fill their schedules with teams from the CIML, which entailed a lot of expensive and time-consuming travel. There was an infamous situation (and I think this was in 2011) where Marshalltown had to travel to one of the Sioux City schools for a game on a Thursday night. That meant the Marshalltown kids faced a nearly four-hour bus ride home after the game, then were expected to be in class on Friday morning.
So, after the 2011 football season, the state was asked to consider moving the 4A teams to a district setup statewide. After forming a committee, receiving input from the 4A schools, and much discussion, the state decided to bring districts to the west side of the state only for 2012. The MVC and MAC, which didn't have the travel problems faced in the west, would remain intact. This seemed to work well for the 2012-13 seasons.
However, in late October 2013, members of the MAC brought up the idea of bringing districts to the east side as well. I am not certain as to exactly why this topic reappeared, but speculation seems to center on the lack of playoff success MAC teams were finding versus MVC squads. Since 2009, MVC teams were 25-13 vs MAC teams in the playoffs, and five of those 13 MAC wins were Bettendorf alone. As an example of the MAC's playoff difficulties, teams from that conference went 1-6 against MVC teams 2009's first round. Since the MAC had only 10 teams, they played nothing but a round-robin schedule against each other. The MVC's 14 members meant schedules changed every two years, with the schools seeing a wider range of opponents. Perhaps this was seen as an advantage in preparing for postseason play, and the MAC schools were looking to vary their schedules ... hence, districts.
By and large, the MVC schools seemed to be leaning against change. As in 2011-12, much discussion ensued, although this time the state association stayed on the sidelines and let the conferences try to work things out. Ideas of cross-conference play were floated (giving the MAC teams a chance to play MVC teams during the regular season), but not everyone was happy with that idea - I have heard Davenport Assumption was solidly against that plan, while Xavier said their continued MVC membership was contingent on the conference remaining as-is, with no out-of-conference games.
By December, the MAC had decided their only option was to go to district play for football in 2014. Assumption had announced their intention to drop to 3A football, and the MAC realized they didn't have any other choices. This posed some problems ... namely, who would they play, other than themselves? If the MVC remained set, there were simply no other 4A teams available to play the teams along the Mississippi (except perhaps Ottumwa, but that's about it).
Immediately following that, Dubuque Wahlert announced they were dropping out of 4A (and therefore the MVC football schedule) to play as a 3A school for 2014-15. Here's another issue in all this: Wahlert, Assumption and Xavier had been playing above their school size for quite some time. Iowa defines 4A schools as those with BEDS enrollment numbers above 700 (that's in grades 9-11), and then adds the members of the 4A conferences are 4A by virtue of their conference membership. Wahlert and Assumption had been far from that 700 number for years and years; Xavier might have breached that in the mid-to-late 2000s, but had fallen back below 700 for the past several years. None of the three fit the criteria for a 4A school, except for the conference membership.
So, once Wahlert said they were out, Xavier immediately followed. Xavier had always insisted they would remain in the MVC and 4A as long as the MVC didn't change members or outside scheduling ... Wahlert's departure meant the MVC had changed, and Xavier made the decision to play in their proper class by school size (3A). That pretty much meant district play was the only option remaining for the east side of the state. In January the MVC talked about trying to remain as a 12-team conference, but considering the nine MAC teams were basically homeless and looking to fill out their schedules, I can't believe the state athletic association would have let that stand. So ... the state was asked to create districts for 4A throughout the entire state for 2014-15.
That's a quick summary of how things went down, as far as I have insight to them. This next year is going to be very different, not only for Xavier but for all the former MVC and MAC teams. I'll take a look at the upcoming season, well ... coming up.
First off, this all nearly happened over two years ago. All other classes of football in Iowa had played under a district scheme since 1992. The 4A schools continued with conferences - in addition to the MVC and MAC, there were the Missouri River Athletic Conference (Sioux City and Council Bluffs areas) and the Central Iowa Metro League (everybody else, from Fort Dodge and Mason City, through the Des Moines area, to Ottumwa). Conferences made their own schedules and governed their own schools, and the state used a point system for playoff qualification.
By the 2011 season, several of the schools in central and western Iowa were looking for a better way to schedule. Travel was killing some of these schools. With only five teams in the MRAC, those schools had to fill their schedules with teams from the CIML, which entailed a lot of expensive and time-consuming travel. There was an infamous situation (and I think this was in 2011) where Marshalltown had to travel to one of the Sioux City schools for a game on a Thursday night. That meant the Marshalltown kids faced a nearly four-hour bus ride home after the game, then were expected to be in class on Friday morning.
So, after the 2011 football season, the state was asked to consider moving the 4A teams to a district setup statewide. After forming a committee, receiving input from the 4A schools, and much discussion, the state decided to bring districts to the west side of the state only for 2012. The MVC and MAC, which didn't have the travel problems faced in the west, would remain intact. This seemed to work well for the 2012-13 seasons.
However, in late October 2013, members of the MAC brought up the idea of bringing districts to the east side as well. I am not certain as to exactly why this topic reappeared, but speculation seems to center on the lack of playoff success MAC teams were finding versus MVC squads. Since 2009, MVC teams were 25-13 vs MAC teams in the playoffs, and five of those 13 MAC wins were Bettendorf alone. As an example of the MAC's playoff difficulties, teams from that conference went 1-6 against MVC teams 2009's first round. Since the MAC had only 10 teams, they played nothing but a round-robin schedule against each other. The MVC's 14 members meant schedules changed every two years, with the schools seeing a wider range of opponents. Perhaps this was seen as an advantage in preparing for postseason play, and the MAC schools were looking to vary their schedules ... hence, districts.
By and large, the MVC schools seemed to be leaning against change. As in 2011-12, much discussion ensued, although this time the state association stayed on the sidelines and let the conferences try to work things out. Ideas of cross-conference play were floated (giving the MAC teams a chance to play MVC teams during the regular season), but not everyone was happy with that idea - I have heard Davenport Assumption was solidly against that plan, while Xavier said their continued MVC membership was contingent on the conference remaining as-is, with no out-of-conference games.
By December, the MAC had decided their only option was to go to district play for football in 2014. Assumption had announced their intention to drop to 3A football, and the MAC realized they didn't have any other choices. This posed some problems ... namely, who would they play, other than themselves? If the MVC remained set, there were simply no other 4A teams available to play the teams along the Mississippi (except perhaps Ottumwa, but that's about it).
Immediately following that, Dubuque Wahlert announced they were dropping out of 4A (and therefore the MVC football schedule) to play as a 3A school for 2014-15. Here's another issue in all this: Wahlert, Assumption and Xavier had been playing above their school size for quite some time. Iowa defines 4A schools as those with BEDS enrollment numbers above 700 (that's in grades 9-11), and then adds the members of the 4A conferences are 4A by virtue of their conference membership. Wahlert and Assumption had been far from that 700 number for years and years; Xavier might have breached that in the mid-to-late 2000s, but had fallen back below 700 for the past several years. None of the three fit the criteria for a 4A school, except for the conference membership.
So, once Wahlert said they were out, Xavier immediately followed. Xavier had always insisted they would remain in the MVC and 4A as long as the MVC didn't change members or outside scheduling ... Wahlert's departure meant the MVC had changed, and Xavier made the decision to play in their proper class by school size (3A). That pretty much meant district play was the only option remaining for the east side of the state. In January the MVC talked about trying to remain as a 12-team conference, but considering the nine MAC teams were basically homeless and looking to fill out their schedules, I can't believe the state athletic association would have let that stand. So ... the state was asked to create districts for 4A throughout the entire state for 2014-15.
That's a quick summary of how things went down, as far as I have insight to them. This next year is going to be very different, not only for Xavier but for all the former MVC and MAC teams. I'll take a look at the upcoming season, well ... coming up.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
How do football divisions work?
There are so many changes coming for the Cedar Rapids Xavier football program this fall. How do you replace 10 starters on one of the top defenses in the state? Can they find star performers to step in at quarterback, running back and receiver? Will they bounce back from two consecutive championship game losses, including a good thrashing from Dowling last November? But the huge change is: How do they adapt to playing a 3A schedule, instead of the 4A competition they've faced since the school opened in 1997? And how do these division thingys work?
I'll discuss the entire process of the conference/division change in a later post, but I thought I would start with an overview of how divisions work in Iowa high school football. Prior to 1992, all schools in the state played football in conferences. Playoff qualifiers were determined by a somewhat arcane point system, where you earned points for victories, and bonus points for playing teams that finished with a winning record. You also took a point penalty if you played a team from a smaller class; this pretty much ended any 4A team ever scheduling a smaller school, regardless of rivalry history or location.
In 1992 the state instituted a district system for all classes except 4A. The big schools remained in their conferences, setting up their own schedules and using the point system for playoff qualifiers. All the other classes, though, were regrouped into districts. This effectively ended athletic conferences (as far as football goes - all district groupings and schedules are determined by the state), and opened up more scheduling options while simplifying playoff qualification.
So, Xavier fans, who have known nothing but 4A conference football and playoff point systems for the entire history of the school ... how does this new world work?
Each class has its members divided into 8 districts. Classes 3A through 1A have 56 schools, so 7 teams per district. Class A has 62, so there are two 7-team districts and six 8-team districts. Eight-player football has 64 (yes, that is now the largest class for football in the state), hence eight 8-team districts. The large schools in 4A have only 46 members for 2014-15, so they end up with six 6-team districts and two districts with only 5 teams.
The only games that matter for playoff qualifying are district games. For Xavier, in a 7-team 3A district, that means their record in the six district games is what matters (against Solon, Central Clinton-DeWitt, Maquoketa, Western Dubuque, Dubuque Wahlert and Marion). The other three non-district games are, basically, "exhibition" games. I mean, they count for your overall record, but they don't matter one way or another for playoff purposes. The games against Dowling, Davenport Assumption and Iowa City Regina are purely for pride ... you could lose all three of those, yet go 6-0 in district games, and you'd be the undefeated district champion.
Okay, so ... since each class has 8 districts, and each class also has 32 playoff qualifiers, the math is pretty easy. Finish in the top 4 of your district (based on your district record alone), and you are in the playoffs. You'll notice those two 4A districts with only five members are playing the entire season to knock just one of those teams out of the playoffs ... well, that happens when you qualify 32 teams out of only 46 total. If you'll remember, in 2012 one of the west-side 4A districts was able to get a 1-8 Mason City team into the playoffs (in a five-team district, Mason City's one win was against a district foe that ended up 0-9. Therefore, they finished in fourth place and qualified for a first-round fast exit from the playoffs).
As far as playoff pairings go, the state is going to do things differently for the 2014-15 seasons. In past years, districts were "paired" for playoff purposes. Let's say Districts A and B were defined as paired. The champion of District A would play the 4th-place finisher in District B in the first round (likewise the champion of B would play the 4th-place team of A). Those victors would then play the winners of the 2nd-3rd place games between A and B in the second round, with those winners playing for the right to go to the semifinals in the Dome. So, each "pair" of districts would only be able to send one team to the semifinal round.
This year, it's different. The state will adjust matchups in each round based on travel, instead of sticking to a district pairing. So while the champion of District A might still play the 4th-place team in District B in a first round game, the champion of District B might play a 4th-place finisher from District C, if there was less overall travel involved. Likewise, Districts A and B are no longer locked together throughout the first three rounds ... second and third round pairings will be adjusted on the fly, depending on who advances and how travel can be minimized.
So, that's it in a nutshell. A rather long nutshell, but still ... For Xavier fans unfamiliar with the district process, this should serve as a good primer. Only district games count for playoff purposes, and there aren't any set "brackets" anymore as far as playoffs go, they'll be adjusted to lessen travel.
Next up: a discussion and history of how districts replaced the MVC and Xavier ended up in 3A.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Howdy, everyone! It's time to go live with my fresh, new, exciting, life-changing, benchmark-creating, earth-shattering blog.
Yep. All true.
Anyhow, I intended to start this as a way to add more information/discussion/insight to what I do on the air every fall with KMRY Radio in Cedar Rapids, covering the Xavier Saints football team. I do still intend to do that ... but I'll probably also toss in some ruminations about life, politics, travel, the arts, and whatever else might be leaking out of my brain at any one time.
There are big changes this season with the Saints moving to 3A football, playing in a district. The old Mississippi Valley Conference schools that stayed in 4A are also facing the changes of district play ... that will be a topic for me as well. And yes, I realize it's June, forcripessake. Never too early to talk football.
If you happen to stop by, I hope you enjoy.
Scot
Yep. All true.
Anyhow, I intended to start this as a way to add more information/discussion/insight to what I do on the air every fall with KMRY Radio in Cedar Rapids, covering the Xavier Saints football team. I do still intend to do that ... but I'll probably also toss in some ruminations about life, politics, travel, the arts, and whatever else might be leaking out of my brain at any one time.
There are big changes this season with the Saints moving to 3A football, playing in a district. The old Mississippi Valley Conference schools that stayed in 4A are also facing the changes of district play ... that will be a topic for me as well. And yes, I realize it's June, forcripessake. Never too early to talk football.
If you happen to stop by, I hope you enjoy.
Scot
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