Bisonguy06 wrote:I'll give you Shiloh, Ryan, Trinity and Oak Grove being a 'problem' if you're a fan of the traditional 'B.' But you don't reinvent the wheel for four schools. Nobody has beef with Our Redeemer's and Williston Trinity right now. Nobody seems to have a beef with passive recruiting when those kids transfer to public schools, either. And literally no one in North Dakota has ever said, "Rugby is proof that we need a three class system." It's not OK for Shiloh Christian to send both its boys and girls to state in the same year, but it's awesome that Parshall and LaMoure did the same thing. Complaints about the 'B' boil down to FOUR PRIVATE SCHOOLS. If you drew up a plan for four schools to play for their own trophy, it would probably be pretty popular. Run with that idea.
We supposedly have this group of big Bs that are ready to join the parochials and move up and form the middle class in a 3 class or hybrid system. Well let's look at the field this year. I'm going to give you seven of the biggest B's in the state, and let's see if they robbed a bunch of small schools from state tournament appearances.
Watford City, Central Cass, Grafton, Beulah, Lisbon, Stanley, and Kindred. They're all big B's. They all play AA football. Guess what else these schools have in common?
None of their boys teams made the state tournament this year
None of their girls volleyball teams made the state tournament this year (fall of 2014)
The Kindred girls basketball team made state and took 2nd place.
This group batted 1 for 21 in state tourney appearances this year.
Let's throw in four more of the biggest B's: Rugby, Carrington, Bottineau, Des Lacs-Burlington. Rugby went 1 for 3 in state tourney appearances with a home run at 'the B.' The other three schools struck out.
11 of the biggest 'B' schools combined to go 2 for 33 in state tournament appearances this year. Two for thirty three! We want to move them up and out of B... why?
Another thing is, look at the past. I'll be straight up honest, I might be moving the goal posts a bit here, so read at your own risk. But this is important. Remember that whatever we propose would still affect almost every other activity that the NDHSAA sponsors including the ones that don't get the fan support that basketball gets, like speech, one-act, track, and golf, and wrestling.
Dickinson Trinity, Carrington, Kindred, Grafton, Lisbon, and Central Cass each had one runner in the 2014 boys 100 meter dash final. 6 of 8 spots to big Bs. For team rankings, Kindred took the top spot, Carrington, Rugby, Grafton, and Shiloh Christian all joined Kindred in the top 10. For 14 schools to take half of the top 10 spots is a bit of a big deal.
In Girls' Track, Carrington, Watford City, Central Cass, Kindred, Lisbon, and Dickinson Trinity dominated the top 10 team spots.
5 of the top 10 teams in Boys' Golf last year were of your big 14: Dickinson Trinity, Central Cass, Oak Grove, Rugby, and Beulah. The Medalist was from Rugby, just to hammer the point home.
In terms of fine arts, 6 of the fourteen state titlists in speech were from your big 14.
Kindred, Lisbon, Rugby, Carrington, Beulah, Central Cass, and Shiloh Christian, all of which which are of the group you said, went to state One-Act this year. Assuming that the 14 schools you mentioned are the "problem schools" that we bash on this site, putting 7 of them there is actually way out of proportion, especially when you consider that there are between 80-90 other class B teams.
Then, last year's state boys tournament field had Rugby, Shiloh, Oak Grove and Beulah and was won by Oak Grove.
In girls, well, the Bishop Ryan three-peat speaks for itself. The last 5, that's right, FIVE, state champions have been of your big 14. That's not even counting the other members of the field.
You can throw your stats in my face all you want, but I'll throw some back at you. There are a disproportionate amount of appearances in state events that go in favor of the big Bs. Some will say that the kids work harder and the students in smaller towns should work harder if they want to compete. Those who say that should remember that we are a farming state and a large number of kids in small schools don't have the time to invest in school sports. And then we run into the "participation trophy" problem. I don't support giving everyone who shows up a trophy. That's not right. I don't like that big towns get a competitive advantage.
One solution that I know has been brought up on this site a couple of times is merging the South Dakota and North Dakota High School Leagues. And it's not a bad idea. While it would probably mean switching to a three class system in favor of SD's plan, it's not a bad idea. Maybe the travel might get a bit out of hand, but Class A teams make trips across the state once or twice a year already. And who knows, it might bring on board more fans of North Dakota sports. Because it combines the state tournaments of two of the most rural states in the country, more college scouts might show up and it could help raise awareness of a rising star in the Dakotas.