New 4A District Alignments...

[screwloose]

Pretty straight forward.

 

[woodsiding]

I think they did a pretty good job in the east.
District 5: Wash and CF, jeff could beat one of them to sneak in.
District 6: PV returns a lot of speed in their backfield and will be heavily favored.
District 7: Bett is a heavy favorite. The City High Muscatine winner will be in
District 8: Kennedy returns alot of skill players, not much on the line. ICW returns 2 great receivers, LM will be improved

 

[Hawksince73]

I think they did a pretty good job in the east.
District 5: Wash and CF, jeff could beat one of them to sneak in.
District 6: PV returns a lot of speed in their backfield and will be heavily favored.
District 7: Bett is a heavy favorite. The City High Muscatine winner will be in
District 8: Kennedy returns alot of skill players, not much on the line. ICW returns 2 great receivers, LM will be improved

Kennedy also loses Dralle and Beyer, who played six different positions depending on the situation.

 

[tnobd]

With 8 team districts in the other classes..I guess no 3A or below opponents past the first two weeks for 4A?

 

[KidSilverhair]

Good point - all the other classes will be playing nothing but district games from Week 3 on, so the 4As will have to fend for themselves.

 

[MarionHawk]

I'm hearing that Linn-Mar will break the CR coalition (of not playing a non-4A team) and request to play CR Xavier for the next years. I see no reason why CR Xavier wouldn't make the same request.

 

[woodsiding]

I've heard that the CR schools would be willing to play Xavier at Kingston but won't ever bring a team back to Xavier... which if you've seen where Xavier plays and accommodations for the visitors, that's completely fair.

 

[La_Fleur]

I've heard that the CR schools would be willing to play Xavier at Kingston but won't ever bring a team back to Xavier... which if you've seen where Xavier plays and accommodations for the visitors, that's completely fair.

For the sake of the higher ups within the CR public schools, I hope that's not accurate. Why would Xavier ever agree to that and why would any administrator think they would?

 

[KidSilverhair]

That's kind of a weird rumor. The two-year cycle is home-and-home, it's not like a school can choose an opponent and opt out of that. Expecting any opponent to give up a home game, even for a neutral field? Who would honestly think that would fly?

I suppose some AD might be floating that story to say, "We're not saying we won't play Xavier because we don't like Xavier. We're saying we won't play at their field. Otherwise, sure, we'll play them all day long!" Look, the CR teams can play whomever they want. They can fill their schedules with nothing but 4A teams, that's fine. They don't owe Xavier anything. It seems odd to leak this story that they'd play Xavier but only at "acceptable" fields. What exactly are they trying to cover for? Just say you only want to play 4A schools, and you're good.

Now the first time Washington or Kennedy schedules CP-U or Clear Creek-Amana or Marion, then they'd need a cover story.

 

[woodsiding]

Well, I guess that's the point. None of the CR schools are reaching out to Marion, CPU, or Clear Creek-Amana. There is little reason to, the non-district games a quite easily filled with quality 4A match-ups. And Xavier is no different than the aforementioned 3A schools except that they would like to play CR schools. What's the motivation for CR schools to play them?

 

[PNation]

In my opinion the state should come in and do something about Xavier's 25 foot crown on their field. When sitting in the pressbox you are at the same level as the center of the field.

 

[MarionHawk]

Well, I guess that's the point. None of the CR schools are reaching out to Marion, CPU, or Clear Creek-Amana. There is little reason to, the non-district games a quite easily filled with quality 4A match-ups. And Xavier is no different than the aforementioned 3A schools except that they would like to play CR schools. What's the motivation for CR schools to play them?

I think the motivation for CR/Marion school to play CR Xavier is "money". The gate and concession sales for a game with CR Xavier would be much higher than having a game against Pleasant Valley or Clinton as some examples. And they wouldn't lose anything in terms of quality of play with Xavier having a pretty good football program.

On the record, I'm fine with the CR schools and Linn-Mar not playing CRX but I think there's a pretty large financial motivation to do so.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Also, travel, which by extension means money, too. It costs more to run buses from CR/Marion to the Quad Cities or Ottumwa or Burlington than it does to go cross-town to Saints Field. You'll also make your parents and fans somewhat happier if they can stay in town for an away game instead of driving a few hours round-trip and not getting home until midnight or later.

There are some factors that would make scheduling Xavier more attractive than a distant 4A school. It's all in what each individual program values and the choice they want to make, which is totally up to each school and that's just fine. Just like MarionHawk, I can understand the point of view of CR/Marion 4As choosing not to play Xavier - but there are certainly motivating factors that could also make that choice go the other way.

 

[Hwkfn1]

4A schools not choosing to play Xavier probably has more to do with the way they have been treated by Xavier then anything. I was at a game a few years ago and as the opposing team walked off the field, the Xavier fans lined the exit and chanted "I believe we just won." I was very shocked that Xavier administration allowed that to happen. I guess I don't feel bad for Xavier when the local CR schools won't play them.

 

[KidSilverhair]

I will be the first one to say that many Xavier students and parents aren't all that Catholic or Christian-like when it comes to competition. They'd like to think they're a cut above, but by and large they're not all that different from any public school. (That said, I do believe Xavier has won more than their share of MVC sportsmanship awards, so take that for what you will.)

But seriously? That's why the CR schools don't want to play Xavier? Because some kids (almost certainly kids) chanted a not-even-obscene remark when the team left the field? Is it all rainbows and hugs and friendly waves when Kennedy and Wash get together at Kingston now? What color is the sky in these schools' world?

I won't claim Xavier fans are any more sportsmanlike or less rude as a group than any other school's group of fans, because they aren't. But this instance - I just can't see that being the main reason why a school wouldn't want to play them. Unless they want to set up a schedule of 9 intrasquad games ...

(You'd think a school would want to play them so they could beat them on the field and turn their attitude back upon themselves - which ironically would have been a good move for the 4A schools in 2014, because Xavier was very beatable that season.)

 

[KidSilverhair]

And please don't take that last comment as being supportive of fans chanting anything at the team they just beat. That's rude and classless, no matter who you are. Fans should - should - always cheer in support of their team, not against their opponents or the officials.

 

[cidhawkeye]

In a journey to Xavier for a game the fans seemed good, the officiating a little spotty but not unusually bad. The field itself wasn't what I would call decent. The crown is bad and the turf quality was bad according to the players and that came after a victory so no sour grapes on that one. The visiting fans accommodations were so-so. I would be surprised if that is the actual reason CR schools don't play them.

 

[Rembrandt52328]

4A schools not choosing to play Xavier probably has more to do with the way they have been treated by Xavier then anything. I was at a game a few years ago and as the opposing team walked off the field, the Xavier fans lined the exit and chanted "I believe we just won." I was very shocked that Xavier administration allowed that to happen. I guess I don't feel bad for Xavier when the local CR schools won't play them.

You know that kind of thing happens at every school, especially heated rivalries. In 2009 when Kennedy beat Xavier in the playoffs, I was standing behind my daughter who was a Xavier Cheerleader and one of the Kennedy players coming off the field stuck his face, helmet on, right in her face and yelled "Cry it up Bitch". Followed by a couple of other players. I didn't really believe what I heard and by the time I did the kids were in the locker room and I was more concerned about my Child.

 

[Hwkfn1]

My kids aren't old enough to play football! I just simply mentioned a possible reason why the 4A metro schools wouldn't play Xavier.

 

[PNation]

I think the biggest reason that CR schools won't play Xavier is that they blame them for the ending of conference football for eastern 4A schools. Plus I read on the metro sports report on how much more those games benefited Xavier compared to the 3 public schools played so they really didn't want to.

 

[screwloose]

I think PNation nailed it with the conference comment. I'm surprised Davenport Assumption and Dubuque Wahlert haven't received a similar amount of disdain from their former conference mates. Maybe they do, it might not be as vocal.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Particularly since both Assumption and Wahlert had far more to do with ending 4A conference football in the east than Xavier.

I've gone through this many times - it was the MAC (driven by Assumption) that brought up district play in the fall of 2013. It was Assumption (along with Xavier) that refused to go along with the idea of MVC-MAC cross-conference scheduling, which might have kept the conferences alive. It was Wahlert that first announced they were dropping to 3A - Xavier said all along that if the MVC didn't change its structure (members or scheduling) they would remain in the conference and play 4A.

So the metro schools can blame Xavier all they want, but it's misplaced blame, in my opinion. Frankly, if they don't want to play Xavier for whatever reason, they don't have to play them. That's how it goes, and I'm not interested in "forcing" them to schedule each other. I think there are decent monetary/travel/playoff system issues that would argue in favor of more games between metro schools, even between classes - but I am not an AD.

 

[screwloose]

I was looking at 4A the other day, as it pertains how things were split. The Mason City going east and Newton joining again in the west looks like a two-year deal. Come 2018, when IC Liberty joins and, presumably, all three Iowa City schools will be at the 4A level, they will obviously be on the eastern side, pushing Mason City back to the west and Newton back to 3A. I'd suspect that 4A West moving forward will look almost identical to how it was prior to these next couple years.