As many as five private schools can win state championships this weekend, which could renew calls for the separation of private and public schools. The IHSA has come out against it, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that enough public schools will ultimately band together on the issue.
I guess I didn't know this was such an issue. And why would it be?
Turns out, four private schools, Loyola, Montini, Nazareth and Bishop McNamara won the 8A, 6A, 5A and 3A state titles while four public schools, Glenbard West, Phillips, Tri-Valley and Arcola captured the 7A, 4A, 2A and 1A crowns. So, for you non-math majors, that's exactly half. Impressive, but hardly dominant.
What's more, Palatine and Prairie Ridge almost ended up in the 8A and 6A finals instead of Loyola and Montini. Where were the private schools in 7A? Mount Carmel and Benet were both knocked out in the second round.
I went back and looked at the last five years, and in each of them three out of the eight classes -- less than half -- were won by private schools. And, if you'll notice, many of the same names keep popping up.
2014: 7A Providence, 6A Nazareth and 5A Sacred Heart-Griffin.
2013: 7A Mount Carmel, 5A Sacred Heart-Griffin and 2A Newman Central Catholic.
2012: 8A Mount Carmel, 5A Montini and 3A Aurora Christian.
2011: 7A Rockford Boylan, 5A Montini and 3A Aurora Christian.
2010: 6A Rockford Boylan, 5A Montini and 2A Newman Central Catholic.
My opinion? Leave it alone; it's working just fine.
P. S. Seven out of the eight contests this year were blowouts. Does that mean anything? In the previous two years, half the games were decided by a touchdown or less. Macht nichts.
Will Montini ( my alma mater, and my Sister's employer ) be moved up to 7A next year? Will Nazareth be 6A ( they won 6A last year and 5A this year ) ?
ReplyDeleteNot sure about Nazareth but I think I heard Montini would move up. I would think teams would want to prove they could win in the higher classes. Montini, for one, has shown it can play with the big boys in 8A. Too bad Glenbard West didn't opt to move up. Hilltoppers against Loyola would have been interesting.
ReplyDeletePer the letter of the IHSA rule, Montini and Nazareth will not move to a larger class because they did not win the SAME class two consecutive years.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with the privates winning half of the classes is that privates do not comprise 50% of all high schools in IL playing football, so from a statistical standpoint, privates are disproportionately winning. The numbers say there must be some type of advantage to drawing players from a non-boundary area.
A school needs to petition to a higher class before the season starts and GW did not know whether they would be 7A or 8A. They cannot petition to 8A once its determined they are a 7A school after week 9.
Ok thanks for that clarification. But I think they don't have to win, just play for the title.
ReplyDelete