The current, disappointing state of parochial HS football

We all bring a different perspective and knowledge of the parochial high school game to this board, Bick. I suspect mine goes back further than most, over 50 years. My father, my older brother, my kids and I all played. I briefly coached and have treated players since the '80s. I’ve followed the game closely for decades, even when I was in school back east. Christ, I flew in from the East Coast to watch Loyola’s playoff championship game in 1975 (and I still fume that the goddamn flight was delayed).

Most don’t understand what has been lost in the last few years. They don’t understand what the parochial game did for the kids and the high schools and even the parents. The decades long rivalries, the traditions, the lifetime friendships, the ebb and flow of the programs (both public and private), etc. How beneficial it was for an average high school "athlete" to be able through sustained effort make himself a valuable contributor to a team, while in the process learning what determination and tradition and loyalty and community striving are all about. Things that that average high school kid could carry into adulthood. That was the value of the game, what it did for kids who otherwise would likely not have learned those arduous, priceless lessons.

As obsessive a fan as I have been of parochial football, I admit that a few parochials – we all know who – have totally f’d up the game for everyone else. Their programs are now a part of the school business plan, an advertising tool, a destination for prima donna administrators, coaches and snowplow parents. Kids are still just kids and they follow the lead. And now there is no parochial competition. There is a shocking lack of loyalty, community, and integrity. The other kids can look around and reasonably ask themselves “What is the fornicating point? No matter how hard we work, a boat load of recruits or transfers from East San Elsewhere are going to reload for the club teams and bury our asses again next year.” There is no light or hope for success at the end of the tunnel for the vast majority of these kids. Why did it have to be this way?

I know I’m a broken record. I don’t blame you for diplomatically asking me to shut my f’n mouth. But I’m still pissed and will remain pissed. I see the integrity and value that has been lost and I see the tawdry reasons for it as well as the attempts to obfuscate the reality.  Every now and then it builds up, like a volcano.

As the saying goes, Ex nihilo nihil fit......................................Luca

And by the way, I do see that whole transfer business starting to slow down as kids realize they really don't have to go to parochial school U in order to get seen.

Kids might be seeing the light and staying at the local school. Especially when parochial school X has shown a history of doing what you just said. Might be why a public school ended up with an SEC offered incoming freshman. Just a guess.

Hope so anyway.

Pretty much all the public programs do to my knowledge with the exception of Corona Centennial, Mission Viejo and perhaps Narbonne.

It was the parochials that screwed it up for everyone else. I find myself drawn more to the public programs now because they represent true high school football, including CDM. But I can't get myself as attached to them because I don't have the historical ties to any of them like I do the traditional parochial teams that my father and my kids and I played for and against........................Luca

Just "liking" this post isn't enough. Yet, I can't really add to it, because it's perfect. Post of the Year. I'll just say Amen, Amen, Amen!

Assuming the issue here is blatant recruitment (and I agree this is flat out wrong), what % of the kids xfering would you estimate would be considered so? Would it be safe to stipulate you don't have a problem with kids wanting to xfer out of their own volition because a certain program had developed a reputation for having the best program?

One slight correction...Doug Butler preceded Beuerlein, and was the QB that upset Edison in '81 on the way to the semifinals. The QB that followed Beuerlein was Eric Buechele, who won the CIF Title as a junior in '83.