Kansas football and 8-team districts
Aug. 5, 2008 @ 12:16 p.m. by Joannaby joanna
Garden City football coach Mike Smith e-mailed me his survey this morning, so I was filling out his schedule when I realized that the Buffs have an open date in Week 2.
Smith said that they tried to find someone to play them from the four-state area and couldn’t find anyone. That’s when he put in his plug for eight-team districts.
I’m not surprised that Garden City is a proponent of the plan. But the plan hasn’t gotten much support from the rest of the state and a major reason why is eight-team districts would make leagues non-existent for football. I don’t think that the majority of the coaches want to lose the history of the leagues.
But I understand why a school like Garden City (or Dodge City or Liberal) would be a proponent. The school has to travel so far to play games in any sport because there just aren’t many 5A or 6A schools in the area. Class 6A-District 8 is Maize, Goddard, Dodge and Garden. Liberal has played teams in New Mexico, Wyoming, Oklahoma just to fill a schedule.
The City League has tried to work with the western schools _ Southeast, East and North play Dodge CIty, while Northwest plays Garden City.
What are your thoughts on 8-team districts? Are leagues that important?
August 5th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
So they’re seriously not going to have a week 2 game? That stinks.
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August 5th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
League play is almost completely unimportant allready,yes losing the history would stink but i would be completly in favor of 8team distrists right after they combine 5a and 6a so we can have a “real” state champion !
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August 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I’m all for it. A couple games to get started, then a seven team district. How many leagues get all their games in anyway. All-League teams could easily be replaced by All-District teams without batting an eye.
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August 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
If it weren’t for how much I like the AVCTL setup right now I’d be all for it too.
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August 5th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
And, get ready for some really long bus rides for Wichita schools, as there are going to be many drives to Garden, Dodge, Liberal, and Hays on the horizon for the 5A and 6A schools if they keep the 32 team per class format.
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August 5th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Actually I think if you were looking at the 8 schools furtherest west
they wouldn’t be Wichita Schools You Have Garden ,Dodge,Liberal,Hays,Great Bend,Goaddard,Maize,
Valley Center I am not sure if that is totally right but all are further west then Wichita schools.
Your question to are leagues more important?My answer is yes they are .Kids usually know and see alot of the kids in league play,they are not just games but history,bragging rights,kinda like Apple Pie and Chevrolet.Rivalries are years old at Southeast it was Kapaun we lived next door to alot of these kids.Same with Northwest and Carroll. Kapaun v.s Carroll.WOW. This is what these kids talk to eachother about the rest of the year.
On the other hand I understand Western Kansas teams problems.
When they say they go to Oklahoma , Colorado to play games it actually not as far in most cases as coming to say Maize. I think Liberal is like 10 miles from Ok. line
I agree with combining 5A and 6A BUT only the top 32 teams total make it to Playoffs,then take 32 best records 1 plays 32 and so on
and best record is home ALWAYS,thats what schools work for.That asures you the best State Champ .May not have any teams from some areas but that just means they are one of the top 32 teams.
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August 5th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I said that you’d have Wichita schools going to Garden if you didn’t combine 5A and 6A.
And if you seeded 1 through 32 like that you’d have HUGE logistical nighmares with Liberal going to play St. Thomas Aquinas and stuff like that. It would cost a ton of money for trasportation and many times a Friday night game wouldn’t be feasible.
I think that I like it how it is. If you combine 5A and 6A you’ll have teams with 550 kids 9-11 potentially playing schools with 1800 kids 9-11, and I think that is just a bit over the top. I certainly don’t think the format is bad, though I would like to see a combined site for the championship like Missouri has.
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August 6th, 2008 at 5:10 am
I’m all for it..it would make it harder to get to the playoffs.
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August 6th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
What league history? The AV-CTL was formed about six years ago. That’s not what I call a very long history. Eight team district formats makes more of the season meaningful.
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August 6th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Out is Western Kansas leagues sometimes consist of 3A to 8-man schools. No league history in football. The town where I live has been in three different leagues in the last twenty years, so there is not a bit of history there. Our biggest rivals have been our district teams and those have changed alot. 8 team districts makes sense.
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August 6th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I ‘m not talking about the teams that bounce from 8-man to 2A and back. Or teams that don’t have people around them.I’m not trying to be rude but people that live way out in Western Kansas have choice to live there and have always know the school situation.Everyone has a chance to live where they want.I can only speak for where I’m from (Wichita)and we do have alot of history and rivalries here. So , back to the question..Thats why Leagues are important to ME.
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August 7th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I am not talking about teams that bounce back and forth either. The Mid-Continent League is a good example. 3A to 1A and 8-Man to 11-Man across the league. Come live in Western Kansas, life is good out here. Oh-by-the-way, Smith Center is in the Mid-Continent League.
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August 7th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Been in 3 different leagues ,that is bouncing from 1 league to another.I think we have been in the same league since around 1970
Thats 40 years in 1 league.I know western Kansas is nice ,just not for me.I also realize Smith Center is in Mid- Continent League but we won’t get into that right now. Question was what r thoughts on 8 team districts and 5A-6A.
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August 18th, 2008 at 9:16 am
I completely agree with the Coach. These leagues in Kansas for the most part are a joke. Teams winning by 30,40 and 50 points every season against the same school is… just rediculas. Why not CHANGE and be like some other states where Schools have districts only and can schedule whomever they want to for the other games. Then you can have teams like Andale play a 5A powerhouse or Garden Plain Vs. Andale. This would also help kids in recruiting because they would be able to schedule tougher competition to play against. I have seen Garden Plain,Conway and Cheney beat the sknott out of people in their league for yrs, IT’S NOT EVEN WORTH PAYING THE MONEY TO WATCH. I truely believe the schools would make more money at the GATE if you have more competitive games to go watch!!!!
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