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Freshman football schedules


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17 minutes ago, superjay said:

Who still plays a freshman schedule?  Sagamore did away with it a few years ago because it was always a scheduling nightmare.  Not enough kids to field JV and Freshman teams.  Curious if other conferences are the same?  

Harrison still plays a freshman schedule.  Had over 50 kids play freshman ball this past season.  McCutcheon also fields a freshman squad too.

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38 minutes ago, superjay said:

Who still plays a freshman schedule?  Sagamore did away with it a few years ago because it was always a scheduling nightmare.  Not enough kids to field JV and Freshman teams.  Curious if other conferences are the same?  

Only freshman or "C"-Team/freshman teams?

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3 minutes ago, Titan32 said:

We play a full freshman schedule.  Sometimes teams will ask if they can have a couple sophomores...but that doesn't happen often.  I NEVER hear the word "C team" in Southwest Indiana.

It may just be up here (NWI).

Some schools will do "C-Teams" to ensure all their players are getting playing time.  I think it is a great idea.

I teach at KV and they had a freshman team last year.  IMSC, about 13 players or so.

Lowell had a freshman team last year.  I do not recall their total #'s.

Lake Central had a freshman team, as did Chesterton and Munster.

I am going off the teams I officiated for.

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1 hour ago, superjay said:

Who still plays a freshman schedule?  Sagamore did away with it a few years ago because it was always a scheduling nightmare.  Not enough kids to field JV and Freshman teams.  Curious if other conferences are the same?  

Danville will be restarting our freshman football program for the Fall of 2021. We currently are searching for games in Weeks 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8. Interested programs can reach out to Head Coach Jayme Comer at jcomer@danville.k12.in.us

Thank You! 

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3 minutes ago, Coach Jayme Comer said:

Danville will be restarting our freshman football program for the Fall of 2021. We currently are searching for games in Weeks 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8. Interested programs can reach out to Head Coach Jayme Comer at jcomer@danville.k12.in.us

Thank You! 

Good luck Coach.  This is GREAT.

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2 hours ago, Titan32 said:

We play a full freshman schedule.  Sometimes teams will ask if they can have a couple sophomores...but that doesn't happen often.  I NEVER hear the word "C team" in Southwest Indiana.

I think more SIAC/PAC schools should use "C" teams.  In a perfect world, it would be freshmen only.  But there's always a few sophomores that really shouldn't play JV because of size or perhaps it's their first year ever playing.  In my experience, it's especially true of OL/DL.  I would rather see a sophomore who hasn't hit puberty yet get some reps in a C game than sit the bench on Monday nights.  

That's another thing.  Why not play JV/Frosh on Saturday mornings?  It's common in other parts of the state but doesn't seem to be popular in SW Indiana.  

 

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22 hours ago, DE said:

It may just be up here (NWI).

Some schools will do "C-Teams" to ensure all their players are getting playing time.  I think it is a great idea.

I teach at KV and they had a freshman team last year.  IMSC, about 13 players or so.

Lowell had a freshman team last year.  I do not recall their total #'s.

Lake Central had a freshman team, as did Chesterton and Munster.

I am going off the teams I officiated for.

LaPorte had a freshman team, as did all the DAC teams.  LP's freshmen followed the same schedule as varsity did.

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MIC and HCC teams play a full freshman and JV schedule. In recent years, some teams have played Freshman B-Team games during the middle of the week, playing with kids who did not play during the regular Saturday freshman game. 

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20 hours ago, oldtimeqb said:

That's another thing.  Why not play JV/Frosh on Saturday mornings?  It's common in other parts of the state but doesn't seem to be popular in SW Indiana.  

In NIC country we play freshman games on Thursday nights. I think most JV games have gone to Saturday, although I remember a time when there was a Saturday/Monday split.  

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Renssealer has had a Freshman team for all my years as well, however it has turned into more of the "C" team format.   New Quarter RULE aboslutely KILLS the lower level, used to be 5 Sub Varsity quarters,  now its only 4... that has been a nightmare for small schools still trying to maximize reps.   

Our Better Freshman seem to be playing full time JV (if not varsity) and our developing sophomore/1st year players roll down to the C team to fill in.   

Harder and harder to find full on freshman games, but love trying to get all the reps we can 

 

 

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On 3/2/2021 at 1:25 PM, PDB26 said:

In NIC country we play freshman games on Thursday nights. I think most JV games have gone to Saturday, although I remember a time when there was a Saturday/Monday split.  

Same for the NLC which shares the geographical footprint of the NIC. Thursday night freshman game, Saturday morning JV games.

Warsaw has a freshman team, but I think some teams over the last few years have had to cancel games due to numbers. This year Plymouth did not have a freshman team so Warsaw played FW Snider. I think the NorthWood game was cancelled due to COVID with the Panthers because the JV team did not play NorthWood either.

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20 hours ago, NLCTigerFan07 said:

Same for the NLC which shares the geographical footprint of the NIC. Thursday night freshman game

Playing games on Thursday nights has always seemed like a waste of nine additional practices to me. 

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On 3/4/2021 at 10:53 AM, PDB26 said:

Playing games on Thursday nights has always seemed like a waste of nine additional practices to me. 

What do you mean? For the NLC, the frehsmen play the Thursday night AFTER the varsity teams play. So in the NLC's example, they play the Thursday night before the first night of sectional play the following night.

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The same is true in the NIC with the exception that Tuesday night prior to the first sectional game has been the end of the frosh season. So, NIC teams lose each Thursday practice for the first eight games plus the Tuesday and Wednesday in the last week. 

In my mind each Thursday game, any weekday game, is a lost practice. A Thursday game probably means that you're not getting much of a Friday practice  either, maybe film and some recovery running. To me, that means you get Monday-Wednesday each week plus however you want to count Friday.

Playing on Saturday would give you at least four practices each week, but it probably turns into five because I don't know why you'd want to completely waste Friday. I'd be looking to maximize the number of reps for every player whether they're game reps or practice reps with in all levels of a program. It seems like a no-brainer if you can play Saturday and get eight to sixteen practices during a season. Maybe they're speed and training days or anything else to carve out some competitive advantage. 

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20 minutes ago, PDB26 said:

The same is true in the NIC with the exception that Tuesday night prior to the first sectional game has been the end of the frosh season. So, NIC teams lose each Thursday practice for the first eight games plus the Tuesday and Wednesday in the last week. 

In my mind each Thursday game, any weekday game, is a lost practice. A Thursday game probably means that you're not getting much of a Friday practice  either, maybe film and some recovery running. To me, that means you get Monday-Wednesday each week plus however you want to count Friday.

Playing on Saturday would give you at least four practices each week, but it probably turns into five because I don't know why you'd want to completely waste Friday. I'd be looking to maximize the number of reps for every player whether they're game reps or practice reps with in all levels of a program. It seems like a no-brainer if you can play Saturday and get eight to sixteen practices during a season. Maybe they're speed and training days or anything else to carve out some competitive advantage. 

I would imagine with JV games and college football games on Saturdays, there is already a shortage of referees. Makes it difficult on that end without a doubt. As well, most schools probably do not have a big enough coaching staff to cover a Saturday filled with Varsity film/recovery workout, JV game, and Freshman game.

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19 hours ago, NLCTigerFan07 said:

I would imagine with JV games and college football games on Saturdays, there is already a shortage of referees.

Saturday college football is probably not a significant contributor to the officiating shortage. There are 20 college FB programs in Indiana. 10 of them are FBS or FCS and, typically, the officials who work those contests do not work high school football. That leaves 10 programs at the D2, D3 and NAIA levels, meaning that there are 5 such games in Indiana every Saturday, on average. Of those 35-40 officials, there are at least some who do not also work high school football. So, on the average Saturday, there are approximately 30 licensed high school officials removed from the pool of nearly 1,000 licensed officials available to work.

There are plenty of reasons there is an officials shortage on Saturdays, but college FB officiating is not a significant contributor to that problem.

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6 hours ago, Bobref said:

Saturday college football is probably not a significant contributor to the officiating shortage. There are 20 college FB programs in Indiana. 10 of them are FBS or FCS and, typically, the officials who work those contests do not work high school football. That leaves 10 programs at the D2, D3 and NAIA levels, meaning that there are 5 such games in Indiana every Saturday, on average. Of those 35-40 officials, there are at least some who do not also work high school football. So, on the average Saturday, there are approximately 30 licensed high school officials removed from the pool of nearly 1,000 licensed officials available to work.

There are plenty of reasons there is an officials shortage on Saturdays, but college FB officiating is not a significant contributor to that problem.

The Saturday JV games have killed Youth leagues trying to get licensed officials.  It's extremely difficult.  Even paying $50 or $60 a game to ref a 2nd/3rd grade game. And we typically don't have our schedule finalized until mid-late July and most IHSAA licensed officials already have a schedule or most Saturdays booked.  

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40 minutes ago, 1st_and_10 said:

The Saturday JV games have killed Youth leagues trying to get licensed officials.  It's extremely difficult.  Even paying $50 or $60 a game to ref a 2nd/3rd grade game. And we typically don't have our schedule finalized until mid-late July and most IHSAA licensed officials already have a schedule or most Saturdays booked.  

Have you looked into hiring non-licensed people, like high school kids, to actually do the officiating, operating under the supervision of a couple of licensed officials? I bet your local officials’ association would be interested in partnering with you on that. It’s a great way to recruit new officials.

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55 minutes ago, 1st_and_10 said:

The Saturday JV games have killed Youth leagues trying to get licensed officials.  It's extremely difficult.  Even paying $50 or $60 a game to ref a 2nd/3rd grade game. And we typically don't have our schedule finalized until mid-late July and most IHSAA licensed officials already have a schedule or most Saturdays booked.  

One of the reasons most NW Indiana Pop Warner games are on Sundays.

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40 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Have you looked into hiring non-licensed people, like high school kids, to actually do the officiating, operating under the supervision of a couple of licensed officials? I bet your local officials’ association would be interested in partnering with you on that. It’s a great way to recruit new officials.

We used to do this with Little Gridiron, although it was usually college students.  The issue we ran into was inconsistency and, in some cases, absenteeism of some or all officials. 

The league decided at that point to spend the money and go with Friday-night refs.  This happened at least by and probably before the 2002 season when I first coached in LGI.  The result was great as, even though it was youth games, the professionalism from the crews elevated the feel of the game for the kids and the fans.  Also, the crews that we had were really good in not just doing their jobs, but also helping to educate the kids and the coaches.  They provided enough firmness to keep the game controlled while also enough "soft touch" to not discourage the kids and make the game drag on.

One thing that our crews expanded to doing was bringing in some of the younger/newer officials.  We'd typically get a three-man crew and sometimes that would be two "old-timers" with a new guy who was getting "extra reps."  It was a nice opportunity to get a really good service while also getting the extra care from the refs and also giving them an opportunity to also train the new and upcoming guys.

28 minutes ago, slicer28 said:

One of the reasons most NW Indiana Pop Warner games are on Sundays.

Yep.  Sundays were much easier for scheduling refs ... and also for getting the stadiums.

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44 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Have you looked into hiring non-licensed people, like high school kids, to actually do the officiating, operating under the supervision of a couple of licensed officials? I bet your local officials’ association would be interested in partnering with you on that. It’s a great way to recruit new officials.

We haven't because we are a league of 7 seperate organizations that play at different facilities every week.  So while one place may be able to do this, the others would probably struggle to get that.  

The 7 leagues agree on rules and at least 2 officials per game (one must be licensed) but none of us want Dads out there and much like HS officials, no one wants to deal with the headaches of parents.  LOL

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9 minutes ago, foxbat said:

We used to do this with Little Gridiron, although it was usually college students.  The issue we ran into was inconsistency and, in some cases, absenteeism of some or all officials. 

The league decided at that point to spend the money and go with Friday-night refs.  This happened at least by and probably before the 2002 season when I first coached in LGI.  The result was great as, even though it was youth games, the professionalism from the crews elevated the feel of the game for the kids and the fans.  Also, the crews that we had were really good in not just doing their jobs, but also helping to educate the kids and the coaches.  They provided enough firmness to keep the game controlled while also enough "soft touch" to not discourage the kids and make the game drag on.

One thing that our crews expanded to doing was bringing in some of the younger/newer officials.  We'd typically get a three-man crew and sometimes that would be two "old-timers" with a new guy who was getting "extra reps."  It was a nice opportunity to get a really good service while also getting the extra care from the refs and also giving them an opportunity to also train the new and upcoming guys.

Yep.  Sundays were much easier for scheduling refs ... and also for getting the stadiums.

Yes, my biggest fear too.  We have tried college kids in the past and it hasn't worked out.

We may need to look into Sundays in the future. 

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