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Mike White's high school sports chat: 09.03.24
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PCCVikes
11:44
I watched Central on TV and it seemed like they only had 40-50 kids dressed?  They use to take up the whole sideline with 90+ kids.  Is enrollment down?  Kids transferring with new staff?  Transfer rule having an effect?
Mike White
11:47
I don't know. I wasn't there so I don't know how many they dressed. I saw their first game and it seemed like they had a lot of players on the sideline. All I know if their roster lists almost 80 players. So no, I don't think there is any problem with them not getting enough players.
Stewey
11:47
With a lack of schools participating, isn’t it past time for the City league joined the WPIAL?
Mike White
11:49
Pittsburgh Public Schools looked at that a number of years ago and decided against it. However, a few schools did play in the WPIAL for a few sports, like soccer, baseball and softball. Allderdice still plays in the WPIAL in a few sports. I agree, it might be nice for them to join the WPIAL. But the WPIAL would have to accept them.
Pittfan
11:49
Hi Mike. I'm hearing Kyshawn Robinson's hip injury might be pretty severe. Do you happen to know how bad it is?
Mike White
11:49
I did a story on it. He will be out for the season. It was bad enough to have surgery.
Quips
11:49
So mad the Quip Belle Vernon game didn’t finish. Quip was gonna destroy them. No more Martin for BV back to reality hahaha
Mike White
11:49
Oh well, we'll never know.
ChrisG.
11:50
Said, one of the many factors. And in today's day and age I do think kids stop playing because their peers/classmates are getting publicity while they are not. And with so much talk about recruiting and stars if kids don't see that attached to them, they will just stop playing a sport and maybe influences them to concentrate on one sport. Ask some coaches, I would be curious if they feel the same that it isn't one of many factors that has lead to decline in participation and specialization.
Mike White
11:56
Sorry I think you're way off base. I do talk to loads of coaches. Never once have I heard them say a kid quit because he wasn't getting publicity. Sure, kids quit because they might not be playing as much as they feel they should, or their parents think they should play more. Some kids feel they should be recruited more. Many reasons. There are so many other things to do nowadays. But according to National Federation of State High School Associations, last year the U.S. had more kids playing sports than ever. EVER!!! Yes, number of football players has declined. A number of factors involved in that. But the number of participants in some sports has risen. And with all the web sites and social media these days, more kids get exposure than ever before. I mean, c'mon. Every kid is "blessed" to talk to a college and maybe get an offer. They get to post that everywhere for everyone to see.
Wpial Steve
11:56
Is Central Valley immune to lightning? Can you tell me how Aliquippa, Ambridge, Rochester and Moon all had to cancel (Beaver postponed to Saturday) because of lightning, but Central Valley had a force field up and got their entire game in on Friday night?
Mike White
11:57
Sorry, I wasn't there and I'm not Joe DiNardo.
Blackhawk Bob
11:57
Do you see any current young football coaches sticking around like some of the legendary coaches of years past. I think Cherpak at TJ maybe the end of the line. Just due to changing times ?
Mike White
11:57
I've written stories on this. Coaches just don't stick around long like they used to years and years ago. This is true in many sports.
Bob The Builder
11:58
Top 5 Bands in the WPIAL? I say Char Valley, Bethel, Seneca, North Hills are for sure in it.
Mike White
11:58
I'd go Donnie Iris definitely No. 1. No one even close. Followed by the Clarks.
Wpial Fan
11:59
It was nice to see Derrick Davis score a touchdown for Pitt on Saturday. Does not seem like there is a first round pick in the WPIALS future but a good amount of solid players
Mike White
12:02
This year is pretty much an average year as far as FBS players in WPIAL and City. Right now 17 seniors have committed to FBS schools. Nine have committed to power conference schools, five to Penn State. There will probably be a few more FBS commits. So we will probably have in the 20s. That's pretty much average nowadays and actually better than some recent years. It ain't like it used to be around here. But yes, we still have a number of good players. Just not as many big-time college prospects as we used to.
PG fan
12:02
What games are the PG covering this week?
Mike White
12:02
I'll be at Aliquippa at Avonworth.
BuiltInOakland
12:03
Mike,

Thank you for doing-what-you-do for HS sports in Western PA, especially extra efforts like your weekly Transcript. It's great that you give the region a voice. 

I missed last week...Central put up a good fight against St. Frances, as they should have. St. Frances has D1 players, as does Central. While St. Frances may have a few more D1 players than Central, this is the same scenario that community school district teams are up against every week when they play Central, it's actually much worse and many of their own hometown players are on Central's roster. 

Last year, you reported that Central had 112-114 kids come out for football, which is great for Central, their student body and ultimately the game. What was not reported was how many school districts the 112-114 players hail from. 50? 60? More? This would be interesting to see. 

Last season Central had D1 players all over their defense (at least four that I can think of) and Pine Richland ran all over that D1 defense, as did NA. Several weeks l
Mike White
12:04
Hey Built In Oakland, I've never heard that Central Catholic has players from all over. That's news to me. I never knew. I don't think anyone has ever made that public or written about it. Has anyone ever said anything about other private, Catholic schools getting players from many places. Dang, I didn't know that.
StatGuy
12:05
What is most important factor or combination of stats for ranking a high school QB in your view?  Team wins? Yards? Pass Completion %, QB Passer Rating? TDs?
Mike White
12:07
How about all of them. They're all important. But at the Post-Gazette we have never used passer rating to rate quarterbacks. But honestly, we probably would have trouble getting all the stats needed to compute passer rating.
12:08
Well hey that's about it. Good stuff this week. I have to go and write some stories about kids who we haven't written about before, and hopefully stop them from quitting. See you next Tuesday at 11.
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