Great job, Cameron! You kept all of us Central fans on edge. I am in Florida and could NOT wait for the posts you kept on sending during our game!

Yeah, we are number ONE, again! Go HAWKS!!!

We finally had some football at the Dome this year! You can always tell how hard players play when you see the losing team’s players stay out on the field,long after the game is over.Almost all these high school players played their hearts out. They gave it their best. They all made there schools proud of them with great sportmanship. The ‘rams’,thats right,small letters for a sissy football team, should have had to watch these classy teams. I seen and heard harder hits at these games than what i have seen on the rams all season long. The rams could learn a thing or two from them!

The enrollment for all non-public schools shall be multiplied by 1.35 for classification purposes.

1187 - Webb City enrollment

820 - Helias enrollment

Class 4 = 770-1319

While both schools would be in the current class 4 structure without the multiplier, and it was a close and hard fought game on both sides. I congratulate Webb City and their team, as well as the Helias team for their great seasons. To the meat of my post - I would like to point out the enrollment disparity as a minor point, and the inherent unfairness of the multiplier as a major point. Since that rule was passed I have had major heartburn with the MSHSAA. It penalizes schools unfairly. Helias could have a enrollment of 572 and still play in class 4, vs a school of up to 2.3 times larger. It would be wise for MSHSAA to re-think this policy. I would welcome anyone to argue for the 1.35 rule.

Great synopsis. I was thinking the same thing. I wish I could have been there myself, but darn the Thanksgiving responsbilities.
You, Nate and Joe saw some great games.

As a Central grad and a member of the 85 State Champ team and the 86 runner up team, I am definitely proud of the Hawks for their accomplishment.

That being said, let me address two issues…
Issue 1: All due respect to Cameron Hollway, the playoff system is a disgrace. One area team made it in with a 3-7 record? A few years ago, Central (yes, my Hawks) made it to the title game against Blue Springs with a 9-4 record and got completely blown out 53-0. Common denominator…neither team deserved to be there. There has been several cases of that over the years where an 9-1 team stays home while someone else with less impressive a record goes on. The old system wasn’t broken. Each year the cream seemed to rise from the top of each conference. What you did all season mattered…not what you did the last three weeks. There was no dumbing it down to allow more people to play, or to boost anyones self-esteem. Anything more than one or two losses and you were home for the holidays. There was no qualifying for the state playoffs with a .500 or below 500 record.

Issue 2: About a year ago after Rockhurst won the 6A title, some idiot wrote a commentary that said that the Jesuit high schools in the state should all have their own playoff system. It should be for the 6a title. The public schools should have their own system as well….6B. The rationale for this was this persons ill conceived belief that the Catholic high schools are so much better and have more talent than do the public schools. I think this past weekend took quite a bit of the wind out of that argument. Where were Rockhurst, CBC, SLUH, DeSmet, et al??? They were all at home already talking about next year. Kudos to Hazelwood East and Central, as well as another public school in our area(I speak of the East St. Louis Flyers) and the other PUBLIC schools who brought home titles this past weekend.

Don

If all the Jesuit Schools in Missouri had a championship, it would be between Rockhurst, SLUH, and DeSmet. CBC, Vianney,Chaminade,Priory, are not Jesuit. Get your facts right before you speak public school Don.

Matt:

Jesuit, Catholic…who gives a damn! It’s all the same to most of us!

Bottom line is this yutz wanted two different championships based upon the some cock-n-bull idea about the catholic schools being better. News flash…they aren’t. Matt, you must have gone to one.

The reason for the multiplier is because the private schools can take students in a 25 mile radius..which is a lot larger than any school district in the state of missouri…plus the private schools give scholarships to athletes..public schools cannot do this..the final 4 teams in the three classes had 10 out of a possible 12 schools..I graduated from a parochial grade school and I do think the private schools should have their own system.

That was 10 teams out of 12 possible schools in girls soccer this past fall..check tennis and golf also..

Don, respect back at you, but your logic is flawed.

That 3-7 team (Oakville) that made the playoffs would have been in the playoffs under the old format, too. Oakville went 3-0 in district play and was a district champ. However, Hazelwood Central, which went 8-2 in the regular season, would not have been in the playoffs, and thus not had a chance to create those magical memories from the Dome.

While it’s a fact that the expanded system allows more undeserving (defined by lack of success in the full regular season) teams into the playoffs, the plus side is that it lets in 8-2 and 9-1 types that happened to lose one district game. That first (extra) round of the playoffs weeds out the riff-raff (district runners-up play on the road), and then we are treated to better playoff games from Week 2 and forward.