Mike White's high school sports chat: 09.08.26
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Mike White
10:58
Two weeks of the football season already complete. Some surprises, coaching news, games canceled because of weather. Plenty to talk about. Chat now started.
11:01
But first a little bit about two coaching situations. Clairton canceled game against Steel Valley last week because of a coaching situation involving an injured player in season opener. Clairton scheduled to play host to Allderdice Thursday. According to Allderdice, game is on. Don't know yet who will be coaching for Clairton. At Woodland Hills, Brian Tarrant did not coach Friday's game against Central Catholic. School isn't saying why and I'm not going to get into rumors about what happened. But apparently, Woodland Hills administrators will decide coaching situation this week. Who knows? Maybe they already have. Maurice Walker was the acting head coach last week.
Spartan96
11:01
Montour looks to be very good.  Cerro has fielded some great teams over the years.  I know his name isn't up there with some of the usual greats, but he can't be far behind.
Mike White
11:04
Big Lou is one of those underrated, really good coaches in WPIAL. But he's also gotten his flowers at times. Won WPIAL at Seton and also at Montour. Many of his teams are good. At least always competitive. This looks like team capable of winning championship. I saw McKeesport game. Brandon Bennett is a problem for opponents. I don't know what position is his college position, but he's exteremely good dual-threat QB on high school level. I really like the sophomore Archie Collins, son of a Pitt assistant.
11:06
Speaking of that McKeesport-Montour game, I think McKeesport will go far. But they won't win championship unless Kemon Spell runs for, like, 250 yards in every big game. Not to harp on this, but the problem in past years for McKeesport looks to be there again. They can't throw the ball. Second half when Spell was going out with cramps, the passing game looked ... let's just say not too good. But maybe it will get better. It has to. Although McKeesport won a state championship twice without being able to throw the ball.
Competitive Games
11:06
Kudos to the WPIAL. A lot of competitive games early on. I know some coaches complain, but it is what is needed when the disparity in talent is so high these days.
Mike White
11:08
Agree with you. Competitive balance is what the WPIAL talks about nowadays. I know some good teams have some really tough non-conference schedules, but it does make it more interesting. And the teams that are often average to below average are playing teams more on their level. I like it.
hsfan
11:08
Any idea why so many 6A schools are down? NA losing to 2 5A schools was pretty surprising, Norwin stuggling, Canon Mac lost to Trinity. 5A obviously has more quality teams.
Bill
11:13
Because of Thin NIL, will Pitt ever be able to recruit “Blue Chip” local athletes??
Mike White
11:19
I don't know what Pitt's NIL is, and I don't know if it's thin. But it's not so much the NIL. It's revenue sharing that colleges can now do with players. I talked to some local recruits a year ago. The money offered from Pitt wasn't bad. Hey, reports are the QB is making 1 million this year. And I had a recruit last year tell me the top two defensive players last year were getting around a million. That's not thin. Yes, there are a number of power conference recruits this year. Pitt has none of them. What's alarming to me is that some of the best didn't even have Pitt in their final three or four. It would be nice to see them get more local top guys. I personally think it creates more interest in the team. But does it really matter today? I mean, because of the transfer portal, does high school recruiting matter as much as it used to? I mean, look at Pitt this year. Lots of new players, like most every other school. If Pitt starts 5-0, people won't care if they don't have local recruits.
11:20
One more thing on the Pitt and WPIAL recruiting. In the spring when I talked to Hopewell QB James Armstrong, he sure sounded like Pitt was his top choice. Few months later, he committed to Penn State. I know this. He thought Penn State recruited him harder and wanted him more.
Mr Ed
11:20
I realize you may not have the info on this but thought I’d ask, I was curious why the three Thursday night games last week were declared no contests instead of just being moved to Friday night? Seems that is what happens typically when Friday games have been moved to Saturday due to inclement weather.
Mike White
11:22
Hey, Mr. Ed. So a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Why the long face?"  Woooo hooooo. I'll be here all week. .... Anyway I've been told it was lack of officials to reschedule for Friday. Example of officials shortage. But couldn't get them for Saturday, either. Heck, I might even consider playing Sunday. I don't have a real good answer for you, but something I am checking on.
11:27
Ooops, I didn't answer hsfan on 6A and 5A. Besides NA starting 0-2, I wouldn't say what's happening in 6A is all that surprising. Besides NA and Central, and occasionally another team having a good year, 6A just isn't all that competitive top to bottom. I mean, look at the seven teams in it. Not much tradition there at all besides Central and NA.   I mean, besides Central, NA and Mt. Lebanon, the other four teams have NEVER won a WPIAL. Never. Look at 5A. 11 of the teams have won at least one WPIAL title since 2000. And remember, 5A has a lot more teams than 6A, so they should have more good teams.
Cancel
11:27
Why don't ADs have backup plans for make ups.  Obviously Thursday night storm was a rarity.  I heard lack of official crews etc, but kids only get so many games.
Mike White
11:28
I agree with you. I don't think it's  a lack of backup plan by ADs. There aren't officiating crews that don't take a game for Friday, just in case Thursday games are canceled. C'mon, man.
Central Catholic
11:28
With the way 6A is looking, this Friday might be Central's only remaining competitive game. If it was not for Central, I believe  5A schools would have no problem combining with 6A for the regular season.
Mike White
11:29
Wholeheartedly agree and remember, a lot of 5A teams play 6A teams in non conference games.
Underrated
11:29
John Banbury is criminally underrated by many people in the WPIAL. Kid is a baller.
Mike White
11:29
Criminally? Good Lord, better get the authorities on this underrated stuff.
11:31
Hey, need to point something out. Heard from WPIAL boss Vince Sortino. Says there were plenty of officials available Saturday but schools didn't want to play because of holiday weekend. So don't blame the WPIAL or officials.
Legit
11:31
Watched Hopewell at CV this weekend. Their QB and RB are legit. Any idea about what colleges might be interested in them ?
Mike White
11:33
Well Legit, I don't mean to be a smart guy, but have you read or talked to anyone about Hopewell football in the last few months? Or do you just not follow things? Hopewell QB James Armstrong committed to Penn State a few months ago. It's been everywhere. And as for Nasir Wade, the running back, he's being looked at by some FBS schools. I think the underrated player on that team is receiver Bokor.
Officiating shortage
11:33
I know the PIAA/WPIAL has an officiating shortage, but I do not seem to see much in the form of recruitment? Would be easy for them to have camps at local colleges in the spring for graduating d2/d3 players.
Mike White
11:36
Sorry, disagree. PIAA now has a junior officials program. Where with a little bit of studying, a high school kid can become a junior official and work youth league or even junior high games. PIAA is trying. You wanna know why a lot of kids - and adults - don't want to officiate. Because they could make some money another way instead of being yelled at by idiot fans, parents and coaches. Just look at what's happened in local youth games recently (see Carlynton youth coach). What young kid wants to deal with that.
X
11:36
I've watched Central Catholic the first two weeks of the year.  I thought they looked great against Bergen Catholic and were a bit sloppy for a quarter or so against Woodland Hills.   I feel like Herrick has the best arm that I've seen in a Central qb in a very long time.  I do worry about Central at receiver.  I think it was 3 years ago they had 6'2 Gonzalez (Penn State), 6'5 Cole Sullivan (was at Michigan but he may have transferred), 6'5 Bradley Gompers (Duke), and Jacob Sassic (walk on at Pitt).   I think any of these 4 would be their best receiver this year. They lack that big, physical target, but their receivers are catching the ball, so can't complain about that.
Mike White
11:38
It's not like Central receivers are bad. They just arent' an experienced group. As for Herrick, he could be good. Has a ways to go yet, though. As for the best arm in a long time at Central? You do know they've had some pretty good QBs there with pretty good arms, don't you? So, easy on the best arm in a long time. It's a good arm, but they've had some good ones there.
WPIAL Lifer
11:38
Any intel on what the PA State Senate is waiting for in relation to HB41 that's been in their lap for months?
Mike White
11:42
You're talking about HB41 that would give PIAA ability to have separate playoffs for boundary and non-boundary schools. Just talked to Casey Scanlan last week, who is the leader of the coalition pushing HB41. There was a meeting last week with politicians and other officials. Bill already passed state House. It is now in Senate Education Committee. It has to get out of there before it will be posed to the whole Senate for a vote. Will that happen? I don't know. If it happens, it will be late this month. So, stay tuned. One of the big issues is this: PIAA is so worried about getting sued if they have separate playoffs. And they probably would. But so what? Deal with it. Surveys show vast majority of schools want separate playoffs. Something like 80 to 20. And isn't PIAA supposed to do what schools want?
For the Kids
11:42
Those teams who didn’t make up the game on Saturday or Sunday is unbelievable. I understand not Friday because of officials but I’m sure they could’ve got officials for Saturday and Sunday. The kids want to play, instead it seems like coaches are scared to take a loss. What a shame
Mike White
11:43
It wasn't coaches afraid to take a loss. Look above. WPIAL director told me something about it. Schools didn't want to play Saturday.
X
11:43
I think it is only the second start for Woodland Hills qb.  He ran over Roman Thompson and made some nice throws on the run. He's athletic and it will be interesting to see how they do as the year progresses.   I"m thinking they are likely a very solid 5A team, but need to see how they do against some 5A schools. Any thoughts  on Woodland Hills?  BTW, that kicker on Central. Catholic is a weapon...kicks into the end zone consistently and it looks like he is accurate on his fgs.  And the #50, transfer from Westinghouse, is an absolute beast.  Central  line is tough with 50, 52, and Manny Regas.
Mike White
11:45
I saw Woodland Hills in season opener. Was impressed with them and the QB. They will be a factor in playoffs. Yes, kicker on Central is very good. And yes, Central has many good players in many positions. I've heard that once or twice.
Quip Nation
11:45
Circle Hopewell at Aliquippa on your calender Oct. 30
Mike White
11:45
What if I put a rectangle around it?
OfficalsRule
11:45
As a third year official, you do eventually learn to block out the noise. It's a lot of fun, and its some pocket change for you if you need it. If you signed up today, youd have a full schedule of Youth, junior high, JV and probably a decent amout of varsity games.
Mike White
11:47
Yep. I see officials in their first or second year already working JV games. The next year, if they're even competent, they're working smaller class varsity games. But here's the thing. Too many don't want to start out working junior high or youth games. That's where the real shortages are, at least around here. And you're right, you've got to expect at least a little pushback from either coaches or fans. But many times, it goes too far.
Gator85
11:47
how do you think Gateway will do against WA.
Mike White
11:48
I think it's a close game.
Big Games
11:48
Montour and South Fayette for #1 in 4A
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