FB FRIDAY: Rivalry Week a casualty of cooperative changes

Oct. 19—Next week is the final week of the regular season, which means one thing: It's Rivalry Week.

One of the better things of the original Schuylkill/Colonial Football Cooperative setup is that it allotted Week 10 as Rivalry Week. The cooperative purposely established the schedule to have backyard rivals square off and other local trophy games played in Week 10 as a capper to the regular season.

In Schuylkill County, that meant the Damato-Szematovicz Trophy game between Shenandoah Valley and Mahanoy Area, the Route 61 Rivalry game between Blue Mountain and Schuylkill Haven, the Backyard Brawl between Minersville and Nativity, the Route 209 Trophy game between Jim Thorpe and Lehighton and other rivalry games such as Tri-Valley/Williams Valley and Pottsville/North Schuylkill were all scheduled for Week 10.

With the Heartland Conference also scheduling the Coal Bucket game between Mount Carmel and Shamokin for Week 10, it created a lot of enthusiasm, extra school spirit and some great matchups in the area over the past few years.

That won't be the case in 2024.

Perhaps the lone casualty of the new Schuylkill/Colonial Football Cooperative alignment is that several rivalry games that had been Week 10 staples the past few years will now be played earlier in the season.

Blue Mountain and Schuylkill Haven, for example, will square off next Friday at Rotary Field in Schuylkill Haven, then clash again at Rotary Field to open the 2024 season since Week 1 is the designated non-conference week in the new cooperative schedule.

Most of the Colonial League rivalry games, and the Jim Thorpe/Lehighton, Pottsville/North Schuylkill and Mahanoy Area/Shenandoah Valley games will remain in Week 10 of the new schedule since they already fit into the division schedule.

In addition to Blue Mountain/Haven, current Week 10 rivalry games that will be played on other dates include Minersville/Nativity (Week 8) and Tri-Valley/Williams Valley (Week 5).

One new interesting schedule quirk for Week 10 is Nativity vs. Marian in a battle of the county's two Catholic schools.

Tri-Valley athletic director Rick Otto said he liked the change, especially if Williams Valley drops back down to Class A for the next two-year cycle. It was tough for both teams to play in Week 10, then possibly again a week or two later in the District 11 playoffs.

Blue Mountain athletic director Doug Morgan also was in favor of the move, especially since the Clash of 61 game with Pottsville — which has bounced around several times over the years — will be played Week 9.

After opening the season with Schuylkill Haven, Blue Mountain closes the season with North Schuylkill, Pottsville and Tamaqua, which is good from a revenue standpoint.

"I had some influence on the schedule and some of my requests were able to be granted," Morgan said. "I really wanted Haven and Pottsville to be beginning and end of the season. They are our biggest gates and I am hoping by playing Haven first, both communities will be excited for a Week 1 backyard rival game and fill the stands.

"With Pottsville and the Clash of 61, our biggest big school rival, I wanted it near the end and hopefully have two teams that are competing for a spot in the District 11 championships. Also, seeing the likes of North Schuylkill, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Tamaqua (back on our schedule) is very important for just some good old-fashioned Schuylkill League football."

Cooperative Pros

Last week's Football Friday feature broke down the changes in the Schuylkill/Colonial Football Cooperative — the switch from four divisions to three, the move to a 9-9-10 alignment, the inclusion of the nine Schuylkill League small schools in the same division with Pine Grove and how the schedule was formed.

There are a lot of positives and some negatives to the move, some more obvious than others.

First, a look at the pros:

—Reduced Travel — For the teams in the Schuylkill League, this is the biggest benefit and leads into the next couple of items.

For the 10 teams in Division C — Mahanoy Area, Marian, Minersville, Nativity, Panther Valley, Pine Grove, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Williams Valley — they basically don't have to travel outside of Schuylkill County for a game after Week 1.

(Yeah, I know Williamstown is in Dauphin County and Lansford is in Carbon County, but they're just over the lines).

For the Schuylkill League teams in Division A, the only real road trips are to Bangor and Southern Lehigh. Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Northwestern Lehigh are the other Colonial League teams in Division A and are quick trips for Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill, Pottsville and Tamaqua.

—Fan Attendance — The reduction of travel should increase the attendance at games, in several ways.

One, I constantly heard from fans over the past 2-3 years that going to see Team X play Team Y in the Lehigh Valley or the Slate Belt on a Friday night was "too far."

I feel their pain ... when I did the feature on the Colonial League schools two years ago, it took me an entire day to visit all of them. That drive up Route 512 to Pen Argyl and Bangor is a killer. And Palisades ... well, there's just no easy way to get there. Cool Pirate Ship, though.

Two, I think fans are more willing to go see, and get more excited about, matchups between two local schools. A prime example of that is when I covered a Nativity-Williams Valley game two years ago and a bunch of Schuylkill Haven fans were there because they didn't feel like driving to see the Hurricanes play in Palmerton.

Finally, the Colonial League schools don't travel well. The amount of fans at North Schuylkill when the Spartans hosted Blue Mountain in Week 2 compared to the number of fans when Northern Lehigh and Notre Dame-Green Pond played in Fountain Springs a few weeks later was drastically lower.

"The amount of fans that have been showing up for the games against other local teams compared to the games against the Colonial League teams is night and day," Minersville coach Justin Frantz said. "The kids get more excited for the local games also, which makes it more upbeat all week in practice. We all do our best to get our teams excited for each game no matter who we play, but it's easier to get them fired up for the local games."

—Increased Revenue — A reduction in travel costs and more fans at the games not only helps the school districts, but their booster programs as well.

People have to eat. Fact. And most football fans eat Friday night supper at the concession stand prior to the game. Sports writers, too.

It's a simple equation — the more people that are at the game, the more people that have to eat; the more money the concession stand makes, the more money the booster club has to buy things for the players, band members and cheerleaders; the more attractive participating in football and band is, the more of those "fringe" or "on the fence" students get involved in those activities; the more students involved, the better the depth, the better the team.

"The huge negative with the out-of-Schuylkill League teams is they don't bring many fans," Morgan said. "As we all know, football is the huge revenue-maker and when some schools that don't have a rivalry with us play us, they don't come north to help with this problem.

"The competition may be present on the field, but the money at the gate and our concessions is not seen and with that it puts an enormous burden not only on our athletic budget, but in turn hurts our booster groups monetarily. When it hurts our booster groups, that trickles down to not being able to support our athletes and coaches."

—Sub-varsity games — Nearly all of the area's football programs have made the transition from midget football to junior high football for their seventh- and eighth-grade players. This gets them into the school program earlier, but gives the ADs one more thing to schedule and maintain during what is already a busy fall sports season.

The Schuylkill/Colonial cooperative schedule builds in the JV and junior high games. More league games and fewer non-league games means the ADs have less to worry about when trying to schedule those sub-varsity contests.

Cooperative Cons

—Crossover games — One element of the new schedule is a "crossover" game between Division A and Division B. This game, which doesn't count in the league standings, gives each nine-school division nine games against league opponents, meaning they only have to schedule one non-conference game in Week 1.

I'm not sure how the crossover games were determined — if it was random, by enrollment or requested by individual schools — or if they will change every two-year cycle.

No one told me ... but I didn't ask, either. But some schools got traditionally tougher opponents.

The crossover matchups: Lehighton/Palmerton, Blue Mountain/Palisades, Pottsville/Wilson, North Schuylkill/Notre Dame-Green Pond, Tamaqua/Salisbury, Jim Thorpe/Catasauqua, Southern Lehigh/Saucon Valley, Bangor/Pen Argyl and Northern Lehigh/Northwestern Lehigh.

The last three of those matchups are backyard rivalry games, so I see the fit. If you're North Schuylkill, though, keeping Notre Dame-Green Pond while adding Class 5A Southern Lehigh, Class 4A Bangor and fellow Class 3A title contender Northwestern Lehigh to the schedule is a tough draw.

—Enrollment numbers — The new divisions were configured before the numbers for the next two-year PIAA cycle were submitted and released.

The new method for counting students in regard to vocational-technical students is sure to greatly alter some schools' numbers. Thus, some schools will most likely be in different classifications.

Will that affect anything? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see when the numbers for each sport come out next month.

—Power Rating Issues — There was some concern from some of the bigger schools about potential Class 3A teams Pine Grove and Panther Valley being in the small-school division.

Another thing to look at is those two schools and Class AA teams like Schuylkill Haven having a schedule of mostly Class A teams. How will that affect the power ratings? Will playing smaller schools hurt the Cards, Panthers and Hurricanes when all those numbers shake out?

Personally, I don't think so. Of course, we have to see which schools are in which classifications, first.

District 11, EC Playoff Posturing

Entering Week 9 play tonight, only three area teams had locked up District 11 playoff berths — Minersville (A), Schuylkill Haven (AA) and North Schuylkill (3A).

Blue Mountain (4A), Tamaqua (3A) and Williams Valley (AA) are in excellent shape, while Lehighton, Jim Thorpe and Pine Grove are battling it out for two spots in Class 3A.

In Class A, Minersville is followed by Nativity, Marian and Tri-Valley, with Northern Lehigh in fifth. The four teams all have tough games the next two weeks, so that order could change. Only four teams get into the Class A field.

In District 4, Mount Carmel is in the Class AA bracket, while Shamokin has opted out of the District 4 playoffs so the Indians can play in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

If the season ended today, Shamokin would host Pottsville in the EC Class 4A title game, while Hamburg and Upper Dauphin, both on the outside looking in at the District 3 Class 3A playoffs, would tangle for the EC Class 3A championship.

SCFCA All-Star Game Set for Thanksgiving Eve

The annual Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association North/South Senior All-Star Game will be held Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. at Schuylkill Haven's Rotary Field.

Pine Grove's Dave Shiffer and his staff will guide the South stars, while Shenandoah Valley's Ed Moran and his staff will direct the North. Admission will be $5.

Players from Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Mahanoy Area, Marian, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Shenandoah Valley and Tamaqua make up the North squad, while players from Blue Mountain, Minersville, Nativity, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Tri-Valley and Williams Valley take part for the South.

Contact the writer: Lboyer@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6026; @pubsportsboss on Twitter