One of the Mahoning Valley "orphans" has finally found a league willing to admit them. JFK will begin play in the NCL beginning with the 2011-12 school year by competing in the small school White Division. Other schools in that division are Cleveland Central Catholic, St. Peter Chanel, Garfield Hts. Trinity, Padua Holy Name and Villa Angela-St. Joseph.

The NCL's big school Blue Division is also expanding with the addition of Walsh Jesuit and Cleveland Benedictine. Beaumont (all girls school) is included in the expansion.

Is that for all sports or just football? And won't that involve a lot of traveling in the winter?

A lot of travel? Of the schools in the White Division..the longest I believe is like maybe an hour and 15 minutes. All the trips I'd say average out to about an hours drive. Not sure what your looking for in a league Fairwood. But your not going to find many leagues that don't have these kind of travel times. An hour average is about the normal I'd guess. You're not going to find many..if any leagues within 15 minutes of each school.

GoChiefs wrote: A lot of travel? Of the schools in the White Division..the longest I believe is like maybe an hour and 15 minutes. All the trips I'd say average out to about an hours drive. Not sure what your looking for in a league Fairwood. But your not going to find many leagues that don't have these kind of travel times. An hour average is about the normal I'd guess. You're not going to find many..if any leagues within 15 minutes of each school.

My mistake. I thought the drives would be a great deal longer than that.

Its where they belong............. a parochial league..................... playing like minded schools.

I was very happy to hear about this. It's a shame they have to go all the way to Cleveland to find teams that have the balls to play them on a yearly basis but it's good that they are finally in a steady conference.

GoChiefs wrote: A lot of travel? Of the schools in the White Division..the longest I believe is like maybe an hour and 15 minutes. All the trips I'd say average out to about an hours drive. Not sure what your looking for in a league Fairwood. But your not going to find many leagues that don't have these kind of travel times. An hour average is about the normal I'd guess. You're not going to find many..if any leagues within 15 minutes of each school.

That's an awful lot of traveling if this is for all sports. Football it's fine...JFK and other Youngstown parochials are used to traveling long distances anyways. But for sports like golf and track and some of the lesser sports...an hour plus drive a long way to go.

^^There's other sports besides football? :huh:

Does anyone know at this point how many cross-tier games will be played, if any, in football? It will be interesting to see what non-conference games JFK will schedule.

Paladin wrote: Its where they belong............. a parochial league..................... playing like minded schools.

Whether or not it is "where they belong" is irrelevant. I for one do not like the idea of segregating the private schools from the publics, but I accept the fact that many fans, like Paladin, do.

Frankly, JFK had no other suitors. If they wanted to join a league the NCL was their only option.

krazie45 wrote: I was very happy to hear about this. It's a shame they have to go all the way to Cleveland to find teams that have the balls to play them on a yearly basis but it's good that they are finally in a steady conference.

I wouldn't speak so loud Krazie, you know Howland people read this stuff and reminder that YOU GUYS dropped Howland , a team 5 minutes away who you USED to play every year. I have the article where coach Nappy is QUOTED saying " JFK cannot compeate with Howland anymore so they are not renewing the contract" it's beautiful. I read it every day.
so open your own fly and check the size of yours, think they got a little smaller over the years.

This reply was directed strickly at the stupid post Krazie wrote, no disrespect to all my friends at JFK, good luck in your new conference, too bad a few idiot schools around here won't let you in the smaller division of the All AMERICAN CONF.

I'm not sure who to direct comments at, but both are deserving of comment -- Howland has NO ROOM for comment as they are the PRE-EMINENT team in Trumbull county who ducks competition. The schedules they put together for the past decades scream of fear of bigger schools and sound programs that they avoid, prefering to pick on inner city Cleveland teams and much smaller area teams. Some would say that they are "brave" to play D-I Warren Harding the next two years , but given they have a super star back playing for them, it will remain to be seen how long beyond the two years they man up to play the Raiders . Being a "pretend" power in the area will soon face reality again.

JFK is FINALLY playing in a league of other parochial teams built the same way they are -- better players coming from 6-10 other communities. How their non-league schedule is built remains to be seen, but some area teams willing to play them have not been a problem. JFK, much like Howland, has ducked competition like Ursuline or Mooney when they were larger in enrollment. Or the Cleveland parochials they now will face in league competition. The days of Nappy cherry picking the public schools are over.

For either to make comments about "scheduling" issues is laughable. The record has been pretty clear for both.

Htigers wrote:

krazie45 wrote: I was very happy to hear about this. It's a shame they have to go all the way to Cleveland to find teams that have the balls to play them on a yearly basis but it's good that they are finally in a steady conference.

I wouldn't speak so loud Krazie, you know Howland people read this stuff and reminder that YOU GUYS dropped Howland , a team 5 minutes away who you USED to play every year. I have the article where coach Nappy is QUOTED saying " JFK cannot compeate with Howland anymore so they are not renewing the contract" it's beautiful. I read it every day.
so open your own fly and check the size of yours, think they got a little smaller over the years.

This reply was directed strickly at the stupid post Krazie wrote, no disrespect to all my friends at JFK, good luck in your new conference, too bad a few idiot schools around here won't let you in the smaller division of the All AMERICAN CONF.

I really don't care if Howland people read this stuff and a few years ago I would've cared even less than that. I find it hard to believe that JFK "can't compete anymore" when they've been competitive and won just won in 2006 (and would have in 2007 as well before the series stopped for two years).

JFK was 2-1 against howland during my time only a few years ago, so your accusation seems a little far fetched .

This was a move that JFK had to make. That being said and being a long time Kennedy supporter the clock will soon be striking midnight on this football program. Reason? With only 80 boys and a declining enrollment the picture isnt hard to see. I believe JFK will be turned into an academy or close within the next 5-7 years. With the jobs that have been lost at GM and Delphi how many people can really afford tuition at JFK in Trumbull County? I have spoken to a couple coaches at the school and they even know the run is over after this year or next.

As far as Howland goes....I have always respected Howland (even thought its a hated rival) because even when they were down they played JFK knowing it was a rival and a huge gate. They got and understood the importance of both not to mention how big it was for the kids who lived in the same neighborhood to be able to play this game. I repect that. Teams like Lakeview, Niles, McDonald and others are the ones with no balls. They wont play a game that would be huge in our area that would bring a big gate and a game that all wanted except the stuffed shirts who run the show. They pass on a big gate yet want us all to buy their candy bars. Go figure.

A final note on Howland. JFK saw the writing on the wall knowing there is no way they can compete with Howland because of numbers and the type of athletes. Howland has rebuilt their program into a very formidable D2 team. They are taking it a step higher by putting better teams such as WGH on the schedule. They will give Harding all they want with a good chance of beating them.

Sad for me to see the state of JFK football. You either like them or hate them but one thing for sure was...When they played it was going to be a great game and a big crowd when local teams had the balls to play them.

To answer my own question, I was told by someone who spoke with Mr. Gillen that in this new conference schools in the small tier do not play schools in the larger tier in football. This makes me like the new conference even more. They can schedule 5 challenging but competitive games every year with this new conference, and hopefully find 5 other area schools to fill out the schedule and keep the backyard feel that makes high school football great.

krazie45 wrote:

Htigers wrote:

krazie45 wrote: I was very happy to hear about this. It's a shame they have to go all the way to Cleveland to find teams that have the balls to play them on a yearly basis but it's good that they are finally in a steady conference.

I wouldn't speak so loud Krazie, you know Howland people read this stuff and reminder that YOU GUYS dropped Howland , a team 5 minutes away who you USED to play every year. I have the article where coach Nappy is QUOTED saying " JFK cannot compeate with Howland anymore so they are not renewing the contract" it's beautiful. I read it every day.
so open your own fly and check the size of yours, think they got a little smaller over the years.

This reply was directed strickly at the stupid post Krazie wrote, no disrespect to all my friends at JFK, good luck in your new conference, too bad a few idiot schools around here won't let you in the smaller division of the All AMERICAN CONF.

I really don't care if Howland people read this stuff and a few years ago I would've cared even less than that. I find it hard to believe that JFK "can't compete anymore" when they've been competitive and won just won in 2006 (and would have in 2007 as well before the series stopped for two years).

JFK was 2-1 against howland during my time only a few years ago, so your accusation seems a little far fetched .

Nappy said it, not me. Read Bluepride13 post, he tells the story exactly how it is. that is the real reason the did what they did, not your little pipe dream of reasoning. good luck my eagle friends, just my friends not the rest of you.they know who they are.

I hope the program stays strong at least another 4 years.

The challenges that have been mentioned on here are very real, but i'm going to try to stay optimistic and hope that the JFK family can turn things around until the fat lady sings.

gyea36 wrote: The challenges that have been mentioned on here are very real, but i'm going to try to stay optimistic and hope that the JFK family can turn things around until the fat lady sings.

All I can tell you is that JFK's enrollment is projected to grow in the next few years so I really doubt that the school is in grave danger of closing. As a matter of fact, the school administration had to show NCL officials that JFK had "staying power" before the league would accept them. Now, does that mean that JFK will some day be the size of a DIII school like in the past? No, of course not. Still, plan on the Eagles being around for awhile yet.

hrspeedmerchant wrote:

gyea36 wrote: The challenges that have been mentioned on here are very real, but i'm going to try to stay optimistic and hope that the JFK family can turn things around until the fat lady sings.

All I can tell you is that JFK's enrollment is projected to grow in the next few years so I really doubt that the school is in grave danger of closing. As a matter of fact, the school administration had to show NCL officials that JFK had "staying power" before the league would accept them. Now, does that mean that JFK will some day be the size of a DIII school like in the past? No, of course not. Still, plan on the Eagles being around for awhile yet.

If they are going to grow, then financial aide will play a big part in that. I know several people who would love to have their kids at JFK, Mooney or Ursuline, but simply can't make the numbers work. Some people are unrealistic when they say "my kid will go their no matter what" or "if I had kids in that area, no way would they go to public schools." Some people just have too little income or too high outgoing. Some tough decisions may be in the JFK future if they don't grow. JMHO.

hrspeedmerchant wrote:

gyea36 wrote: The challenges that have been mentioned on here are very real, but i'm going to try to stay optimistic and hope that the JFK family can turn things around until the fat lady sings.

All I can tell you is that JFK's enrollment is projected to grow in the next few years so I really doubt that the school is in grave danger of closing. As a matter of fact, the school administration had to show NCL officials that JFK had "staying power" before the league would accept them. Now, does that mean that JFK will some day be the size of a DIII school like in the past? No, of course not. Still, plan on the Eagles being around for awhile yet.

HRS. Hope you're right but I cant figure out where or how they came up with those numbers? Just the economy alone makes me doubt their thinking, not to mention the unemployment in Trumbull county. Other than scholarship money I cant figure where the majority of people in this county will find the tuition money to send their kids to JFK. I believe we only have 85 boys in the school right now and thats from grade 7 -12. Again...Hope you are right.

Bluepride13 wrote: HRS. Hope you're right but I cant figure out where or how they came up with those numbers? Just the economy alone makes me doubt their thinking, not to mention the unemployment in Trumbull county. Other than scholarship money I cant figure where the majority of people in this county will find the tuition money to send their kids to JFK. I believe we only have 85 boys in the school right now and thats from grade 7 -12. Again...Hope you are right.

BluePride.....all I can tell you is what I heard from school officials. They say that JFK had to show an upward trend in enrollment to be accepted into the NCL. If you think about it, that makes sense. Why would a league consider admitting the Eagles, especially being such a long distance from member schools, if there was imminent danger of JFK closing? BTW, the 85 boys are in grades 9-12.

I do agree that the low numbers are a concern for JFK just as they are for many other private schools. All we can do is hope things improve.

Any ideas what teams they might get to fill in the non league part of the schedule? I would think this will help JFK in filling all 10 weeks. Good luck to them in their new league when it comes about.

neohfan wrote: Any ideas what teams they might get to fill in the non league part of the schedule? I would think this will help JFK in filling all 10 weeks. Good luck to them in their new league when it comes about.

neofan.....JFK's AD said that he'd like to continue playing the local schools that were willing to schedule the Eagles. I suspect they'll still be playing teams like Girard, Hubbard and STA.

Thanks for the good wishes and the best to Moggy, too. I'm sure JFK wouldn't mind another crack at your boys after the Eagle's poor showing last season.

hrspeedmerchant wrote: neofan.....JFK's AD said that he'd like to continue playing the local schools that were willing to schedule the Eagles. I suspect they'll still be playing teams like Girard, Hubbard and STA.

Thanks for the good wishes and the best to Moggy, too. I'm sure JFK wouldn't mind another crack at your boys after the Eagle's poor showing last season.

Glad to see that South Range stepped up to play the Eagles for at least the next two years. It should be a great game between these two playoff caliber teams.

Here is a brief preview on the ITCLFootball web site:
http://itclfootball.net/2010Non-ConferenceGames.html