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Mike White's high school sports chat: 11.07.23
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Mike White
11:33
I think Class 1A does have 5-6 teams with legit shots to win it. I don't think it's because of so many teams dropped to 1A. I think a few of the teams are just on an upswing right now, like Fort Cherry.
Mt lebanon
11:33
Do you think the new Lebo coach is on the hot seat? Bad year for the team. Can you write to Palko to try and get him back?
Mike White
11:34
I hate people saying high school coaches are on a hot seat. It's dang high school! And Mike Collodi has been at Mt. Lebanon one year. ONE DANG YEAR! And Lebo lost a ton of players from last year and wasn't supposed to be all that great anyway. Plus, they had injuries. Can we give coaches a chance sometimes. Good, lord.
LeboKid
11:35
Mike, can't thank you enough for writing the piece on our '83 Lebo football WPIAL championship team. I was a member of that team, and per your article, it was great to see friends/former teammates, and especially Mr. Walker at our reunion a few weeks ago at Bado's on Beverly Road. In addition to Danny Demmler, Kinger, and Bobby Smith (who was a Navy SEAL commander), Brian Lohman was a two-sport (baseball and football) athlete at Pitt, Danny O'Brien played football at Georgia Southern, Greg Katshir was a two-sport (baseball and football) athlete at Penn, Tom Kearns played football at Delaware, Bryan Amos was a LB at Pitt, and Doug Morgan was a standout LB at UTEP. Point being, we had some wildly talented but unheralded kids on that team. Thanks for letting the rest of the world know about our Cinderella team!
Mike White
11:36
Hey LeboKid. Thanks a ton for the note. It really was an enjoyable story to do. I didn't know where all those kids played. Impressive. No doubt you had some good players, but no one was a star. I guess that's what helped make the team unique. I was at the championship game at Three Rivers. Then the next year Lebo finished third in the conference and won the title again. Great stuff. Great talking with Art Walker. Still pretty sharp for someone close to 90.
Officials
11:37
So when they assign officials for a game is geographical location figured into it ? In other words one crew works in the South Hills because they all live there, or a crew lives by the airport so they work in that area. Or is it just random guys thrown together from all over  Just curious how that works
Mike White
11:37
Geography might play a little role in it, but not the only role.
Holding
11:37
I don't have a dog in the fight but showed the holding clip in Moon/Gateway to a HS coach friend in Delaware. He didn't think it was flag worthy because the DE wasn't gonna make a play on the Gateway player anyway
Mike White
11:38
Yes, some people thought the DE wasn't trying to go inside, so it shouldn't have been called. Some people said, "I think it was 'probably' a hold. And it's a hold in the first quarter, it's a hold in the fourth quarter." I don't necessarily agree with that.
Neutral site
11:38
How are the neutral sites determined ? Is it who is gonna charge the least ? I see a lot of nice facilities like at USC and Bethel that are empty this weekend ? Who makes that call ?
Mike White
11:40
WPIAL makes the call. I will say that not all facilities are available all the time. But as I said before, some of the choices over the year do make you scratch your head. But I've come to the point where if you make a big deal of it to your kids, it might affect them. Be happy to still be playing and play anywhere they tell you.
CenterAve
11:40
I don't recall a time when this many 9th graders were receiving football P5 or G6 offers.  Will the class of 27 be one of the better ones in recent history?
Mike White
11:43
I don't recall, either. I don't think it's ever happened. But so much of recruiting is based on potential. Let's wait to see how these guys pan out. I'm not going to name any names, but I've seen kids get offers as 9th grader. By the time they are seniors, did they really get that much better? A lot of these offers are being made on potential. That's the way recruiting is now and recruiting is done earlier and earlier. I believe it's how a lot of mistakes are made. But if 3-4 Power FIve schools offer a kid, a college doesn't want to be left out and also offers. But just because there are 6-7 kids who get offers as freshmen doesn't make this the greatest class ever. I'm more of a wait-and-see guy.
Jeff
11:43
Mike its a shame all of the Football championship games are not at Acrisure ............great thrill for kids and community to play there. The PIHL uses UPMC Lemieux which is great venue with Prestige and winning the Penguins Cup there was a thrill as a parent and family. It shaped at least a few kids aspirations along the way
Mike White
11:46
But UPMC isn't PPG. Why doesn't anyone complain about that? And let's go through this again. There is reason all six games are NOT at Acrisure. First off, you can't play six games in one day at Acrisure, unless you start at sun-up. And no way the WPIAL is going to pay to use Acrisure twice. Believe me, it's not cheap - and I think the Steelers try to cut them every break they can. Plus, as has been pointed out before, the 5A and 6A championships have to be completed a week earlier because their champions plug into the state quarterfinals. Champions in other four classes go to the semifinals.
Hoops
11:46
Regarding basketball, what schools do you think are going to rebound after a disappointing season last year?  And which schools that we typically see in the playoffs are going to have more of a "rebuilding year"?
Mike White
11:47
Char Valley has everyone back and didn't make playoffs last year and has supreme scorer Jayden Davis. That's one that comes to mind right away.
Vinny, Vidi, Vici
11:47
Give me your biggest upset this week.  I like South Park over EA.
Mike White
11:47
Sorry, but I don't have a big upset.
Tommy Trojan
11:47
Do you think California has any chance against Bishop Canevin
Mike White
11:49
No, California should not show up and head right to the state of California for Thanksgiving break. Don't start this. Of course, they have a chance. They are one of the most intriuging teams left. Yes, they hail from the maligned Tri-County South. But I have a feeling they are pretty good.
SingleA
11:49
Scouting for my Scotties; is Clairton still reliant on their speed as years past? How do they stack u
Mike White
11:49
I have not seen Clairton. I know they have won nine in a row and are much different than when they lost first two games and didn't score a point. Had some kids out because of grades and injuries.
WPIAL North
11:50
Neshannock vs. Beaver Falls in a rematch that was decided in overtime on a 2-point conversion stop. Tigers are much better than a 10-seed. 1A and 2A are loaded.
Mike White
11:51
I agree Beaver Falls is better than a 10 seed. But face the facts. Beaver Falls was 5-5 in regular season and finished fourth in conference. Where did you expect them to go?
Inquiring Mind
11:51
Good morning Mike, with the recent changes in the boys enrollment numbers, I have a question and/or an observation. North Allegheny (The U) has over 500 more boys than the recently 6A added Norwin and Hempfield. How is this considered "fair"?? Conversely, if those schools played Cornell or Union, the WPIAL would have a seizure, but I never hear a peep when those schools play the U?  The WPIAL needs to scrap the 6A system and go back to rivalries regardless of classification.
Mike White
11:54
Go back to rivalries, regardless of classification? What, do you want 4A schools to play 6A schools? I don't those 4A schools want that. The PIAA does classes by enrollment and how many classes there are in a sport. Let's take football for example. There are six classifications. Let's say there are 600 teams in the state. The top 100 enrollment wise are in 6A. The next 100 are 5A. The next 100 4A. There are big schools in the east also. I don't like it, either. But right now, it's the way it is. People say go back to four classes. Well then there would be even smaller schools than Norwin and Hempfield playing North Allegheny.
Coach Lou
11:54
Do fall league results have any real bearing on the regular season? Football is so prevalent here that it is hard to gauge teams without some of their most physical and athletic players out there.
Mike White
11:55
Do you mean fall leagues for basketball? Ahhh no, I've never known anyone who won a WPIAL basketball championship in the fall.
WPIAL Lifer
11:55
You might need to think on this, but just for fun, it you could combine (from any year) one school's offense with one school's defense to form an all-time western PA unit, who would they be? I won't steal your thunder, but I know my choices.
Mike White
11:57
I'd have to think about offense. And this is hard to do because someone might have been tremendous in, say, 2A but what would they be like in 6A. For defense, I'd probably take 1987 North Hills team. Finished as USA Today's No. 1 team in country. First-time defense did NOT give up a point. Not one!!!! Second-teamers gave up 20.
Big Bob
11:57
Hi Mike. Any word if Woody High will be playing up in 5A for football again next year? If I’m not mistaken their enrollment numbers 2 years ago would have had them in 3A
Mike White
11:57
I don't have Woodland Hills numbers yet.
Jim Render
11:57
We did the same thing as Mt Lebanon in 1988. Beat Butler to qualify as the 4th seed. Ran through the playoffs. Won the WPIAL
Mike White
12:01
Sorry, but you are incorrect Mr. Render. Someone else tried to tell me this. I have the standings again right in front of me. Upper St. Clair tied North Allegheny for third with a 6-3 record. USC was 7-3 overall in the regular season. That's a lot different than tying for fourth in the conference and finishing the regular season 5-4-1. That's what Mt. Lebanon did.
Kevin
12:01
Has there even been a scenario before like South Park @ East Allegheny? EA coming off a bye playing a team that’s the lower seed that they lost to already. That has to be rare right?
Mike White
12:02
Yes, rare as how my oldest son likes his steak.
Vinny, Vidi, Vici
12:02
Just throwing it out there but Beaver County schools went undefeated in round one of the playoffs
Mike White
12:04
Nice. Then again, do you think we should tell anyone that only five Beaver County teams played in the first round?
Dr. Mindbender
12:04
Would they ever consider scheduling playoff games on Saturdays?  What's your go to Saturday Breakfast?
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