99bobcatdb;1309280 wrote:Norwayne beats northwestern 35-14 Friday night, with northwestern actually fight back in this game

Any thoughts???

Nope, your not close. Norwayne will name score.....and I doubt NW scores.

OQB;1307965 wrote:Gone are the days of kids growing up in the system and playing at each level. I think that is why schools are struggling, you don't have the numbers to have a frosh/jv team, so those kids are left standing on the sidelines not getting better as football players against kids their own age/grade. The only time they are playing the game is in practice.

In the case you do start young kids, you most likely will not have success until they are juniors or in some cases not until their senior year, then the cycle starts over.

Homeschooling has a lot to do with it also. We need frosh or at least JV games to help hone skills and build with.

I think the Bobcats are hitting on all cylinders and the "rematch" will not be close. I look for Hillsdale to pull out a close first round victory!

99bobcatdb;1309280 wrote:Norwayne beats northwestern 35-14 Friday night, with northwestern actually fight back in this game

Any thoughts???

Huskies win...someone has to keep the faith

I see the Bobcats winning this one 48-14. They are the real deal. Regional finals in region 13 and 14 should be sick this yr.

I hate seeing 2 local schools playing first round of playoffs!!!. I wish both teams good luck tomorrow night!! do to work schedule I will not be able to attend!!!

Does anybody know when the All County Awards go out ?

1486wd;1309338 wrote:i have heard the concussion issue as well and totally agree that it is a factor.

This is a great point. Kids either don't go out for parental fear of "concussions" OR they use it as a reason to not suit up. At any given point this season my son's team would have 4 to 6 kids on the sidelines with self diagnosed concussions. I'm not joking..if the boys knew a tough practice was coming up then a kid would say "my mom thinks I have a concussion." All a coach needs to hear to yank a kid. The coaches are hypersensitive, too. If a kid complains of a headache they immediately assumed concussion. I'm hoping this NFL phenomenon goes away soon. Honestly, few of these kids collide hard enough that head injuries are serious concerns. At least not the games I watch they don't.

All County awards? Nobody cares about that except parents....are you sure you wont be at Friday's game? Those awards are sort of a joke. I can pretty much tell you who's going to get them. I saw most of the teams in the league play and I can read. What would you like to know? The real question is Smithville. Will Prides POY pick even get first team? I saw them play twice and I think Kurtz, Buss and Shane are all better. How many 1st teamers does a 4th place team get? Could be exciting! There's no way that Coach B keeps him off of the 1st team. If they only have 3 someone's gonna get stiffed

It's the NFL's fault anyway....when was the last time you saw an NFL player make a proper form tackle? All these guys do is go for the big hit, and it has finally made its way to the high school level.

jaco;1309889 wrote:This is a great point. Kids either don't go out for parental fear of "concussions" OR they use it as a reason to not suit up. At any given point this season my son's team would have 4 to 6 kids on the sidelines with self diagnosed concussions. I'm not joking..if the boys knew a tough practice was coming up then a kid would say "my mom thinks I have a concussion." All a coach needs to hear to yank a kid. The coaches are hypersensitive, too. If a kid complains of a headache they immediately assumed concussion. I'm hoping this NFL phenomenon goes away soon. Honestly, few of these kids collide hard enough that head injuries are serious concerns. At least not the games I watch they don't.

You are probably right about this but the minute a coach doesn't take it serious lawyer gets called.

WCALfootballfan;1309901 wrote:All County awards? Nobody cares about that except parents....are you sure you wont be at Friday's game? Those awards are sort of a joke. I can pretty much tell you who's going to get them. I saw most of the teams in the league play and I can read. What would you like to know? The real question is Smithville. Will Prides POY pick even get first team? I saw them play twice and I think Kurtz, Buss and Shane are all better. How many 1st teamers does a 4th place team get? Could be exciting! There's no way that Coach B keeps him off of the 1st team. If they only have 3 someone's gonna get stiffed

3 things 1. I am not a parent and I do care about the awards and yes I am sure I wont be at the game
2. I am happy that you can read and have seen most teams play
3. Who the heck is Prides?

Who are you saying Kurtz, Buss and Shane are better then? I am not understanding your post at all.

WCALfootballfan;1309901 wrote:All County awards? Nobody cares about that except parents....are you sure you wont be at Friday's game? Those awards are sort of a joke. I can pretty much tell you who's going to get them. I saw most of the teams in the league play and I can read. What would you like to know? The real question is Smithville. Will Prides POY pick even get first team? I saw them play twice and I think Kurtz, Buss and Shane are all better. How many 1st teamers does a 4th place team get? Could be exciting! There's no way that Coach B keeps him off of the 1st team. If they only have 3 someone's gonna get stiffed

How many all-league players does each team get?

Concussions.... PSH.... It has some factor I'm sure... I know every kid gets one now. Any headache is a concussion. Coming from someone actually having one.... It's not fun. It isn't just a woozy feeling and a headache. The first one is somewhat scary when you start to get some of your senses back and yet you stuggle to do simple things or remember things you know you should remember. Right or wrong I finished the game with mine and was up and at it by the next practice day. I'm still alive. Somedays I wish I wasn't... (sorry... a little concussion humor there)

Yes, everyone is hypersensitive about concussions-that's how the pendulum swings. We have been too lax about them for too long and sent the guy that "got his bell rung" back into the game. We need a lot of concern and study on this issue to improve safety, whether it's equipment, rules, or coaching. Likely all of the above.

1486wd;1309986 wrote:We need a lot of concern and study on this issue to improve safety ... rules ...

Eh, I'm not nuts about this part. As you said, this is a pendulum issue, and I could EASILY see rules getting excessive such that the element of hard hitting is diminished, or at least penalized.

As for equipment and coaching, I very much agree. With the coaches, I think it's an education thing. I think coaches need to know the difference, meaning someone has to tell them how to spot a concussion versus someone indeed just getting his bell rung.

jaco;1309889 wrote:Honestly, few of these kids collide hard enough that head injuries are serious concerns. At least not the games I watch they don't.

Have any of you ever bumped your head and gotten a headache from it? I know I sure have. That doesn't mean that I had a concussion though. I think this leads back to the toughness issue of today's kids. Yes, I know that at times, football players get concussions. However, isn't this why trainers and team doctors are available? I agree with jaco, I have seen VERY FEW hits this season that would warrant even the suspicion of a concussion. Just because a kid has a headache doesn't mean he is concussed. It's football for pete's sake. IMO, if you want to see players stop leading with the head and start employing better tackling form, let's go back to the leather helmets and see how many "helmet to helmet" hits there are.

MikeP17;1309358 wrote:You are obviously not a true dalton fan and obviously have NO idea what you are talking about. Shure the freshman class is weak but the sophomores and juniors are pretty good. the sophomores are the most promising class right now. have you been to a dalton game this year? Moyer will be a hard part to fill but Mario Mcfarren is a 200 pound sophomore who i think is ready to play fullback. they will have a solid returning line as J.D. Murphy and Ben Torgler are back from a solid o/line. Murphy is a 300 pound monster and is only a soph. they will have plenty more weapons too as Quentin Raines will be back along with Metzger, Mann, Clark, and Burke. The Fitzwater kid(the 8th grader) is pretty good but not varsity good. Alot question his toughness at times. the bulldogs will be fine trust me... and a 4-6 year is not horrible. if they beat tuslaw, wich they should have they would have been 5-5

Horrible was not the correct word to use. I apoligze to any who I offended....Old dawg, shadowrider, mompov, MikeP17 and anyone else. Lets say, in my opinion, we are lacking some good skilled football players. We have athletes, but I just didn't see that toughness. Yes, I believe there is a difference between a football athlete and an athlete. But with a small community we get what we get. Maybe I am wrong and if so, that would be great. We had trouble holding blocks and pulling. There were many times our right gaurd would pull and not even look to hit someone 1st or 2nd level. Great to have Raines back but we need more. Who do we have to take over the QB spot? Is Bryce going to be the guy? I wish Clark got more playing time, but not sure if that was due to injury or coach. I know the sophomores have a talented class and they will be able to be huge contributors next year. What was the JV's final record? I saw a couple of games but didn't know how they finished. I am proud to be 4-6, but we need to get these guys in the weight room and bulk up. The games in which we got ran over, (hillsdale, northwestern and norwayne) we just seemed small. Not sure what happened against smithville. We looked to be equal, but the score sure didn't say that. And it ticked me off to see them laughing at us when they stripped the ball from us and went in for a td and then stood on out 50 yd line at the end of the game. No respect for them!(smithville) I will support the dawgs win or lose and have done so for the last 30+ years.

bemunsey;1309206 wrote:After being a OC Stalker for 2 years and never leaving any posts, this discussion made me "come out". Not by any means am I an expert, but I have been coaching for over 14 years in some sport wither it be softball, baseball, soccer, football or basketball. When I first started, the number of kids going out for athletics was astounding. It was a shame that we had to "cut" kids because of numbers. Over the years, things have gone down hill big time. I will say that schools that have the "pay to play" lose a lot of athletes. How many, its hard for me to say. But with this being a football discussion forum, I will stick with football. I would like to thank the NFL for the number issue all schools are dealing with for football. Coaching Youth Football the last 2 years, we saw a great numbers drop from last year to this year. Reason.....parents are scared of their kids getting concussions. Over the last year, the NFL has talked about head injuries more then anything else. And in our league, talking to parents, this was a major issue. Is this something we need to take serious? By all means. I have no clue how to fix it or to change the parents minds, but I believe this is the main reason why all schools are losing numbers. Yes, the video games and being lazy or parents not wanting to push their kids has some influence, but not the main reason, I believe. Thoughts?

Maybe I'll wait another 2 years to post again. lol

Excellent point. As a football mom who has had a child with a concussion I must ask myself what I would do if the 2nd concussion happened. It's not that two concussions is the limit, but more like, if there is a 2nd how much do we want to risk a third? This issue coming to light is absolutely necessary so that parents, like me, can make good decisions about our kids, not just for 4 years of football, but for their's and their wives and children's lives down the road. Yes, I DO understand that I'm allowing my child to play a high risk sport that he loves! But I have seen my child with a possible broken arm trying to reenter the game telling the trainer, I'm good, I'm good, let me back in! These are still kids and not the best ones to give objective judgement in a multiple concussion situation. Football is a sport that requires hard work, team work and unity. I love that!! But it's not worth risking the kind of injury that might last a lifetime.
Dalton has kids in that situation whose parents have made the decision to not allow them to play football again. I won't question them, thought I don't like losing good players.

Ref-Dawg;1310039 wrote:Horrible was not the correct word to use. I apoligze to any who I offended....Old dawg, shadowrider, mompov, MikeP17 and anyone else. Lets say, in my opinion, we are lacking some good skilled football players. We have athletes, but I just didn't see that toughness. Yes, I believe there is a difference between a football athlete and an athlete. But with a small community we get what we get. Maybe I am wrong and if so, that would be great. We had trouble holding blocks and pulling. There were many times our right gaurd would pull and not even look to hit someone 1st or 2nd level. Great to have Raines back but we need more. Who do we have to take over the QB spot? Is Bryce going to be the guy? I wish Clark got more playing time, but not sure if that was due to injury or coach. I know the sophomores have a talented class and they will be able to be huge contributors next year. What was the JV's final record? I saw a couple of games but didn't know how they finished. I am proud to be 4-6, but we need to get these guys in the weight room and bulk up. The games in which we got ran over, (hillsdale, northwestern and norwayne) we just seemed small. Not sure what happened against smithville. We looked to be equal, but the score sure didn't say that. And it ticked me off to see them laughing at us when they stripped the ball from us and went in for a td and then stood on out 50 yd line at the end of the game. No respect for them!(smithville) I will support the dawgs win or lose and have done so for the last 30+ years.

It's true we are undersized but we were also very young. If all those sophomores were playing JV like they should have been our JV record would've been better than 2-6. Did playing those kids make a difference at the Varsity level? I don't think so. There were some Juniors who could've been playing instead of a Sophomore and no one would know the difference. They Sophomores could have learned to win together as a team and then they'd be ready for next year when they match up physically. The way I see it Burke will be the QB next year. Why would you think any differently? As far as Clark goes I'm not sure if he's willing to put forth the effort required to make some noise at the Varsity level. He's always been the bigger kid but now they're catching up to him and he really doesn't like to get physical. It was obvious against Hilsdale.

Hope you continue to support the Dawgs. Whichever screen name you choose to post under.

IMO, this attitude has helped create the problem. Be tough, just get back in the game! Not so fast.

IMO, this attitude has helped create the problem. Be tough, just get back in the game! Not so fast.

Dr. KnOiTaLL;1310006 wrote:
Have any of you ever bumped your head and gotten a headache from it? I know I sure have. That doesn't mean that I had a concussion though. I think this leads back to the toughness issue of today's kids. Yes, I know that at times, football players get concussions. However, isn't this why trainers and team doctors are available? I agree with jaco, I have seen VERY FEW hits this season that would warrant even the suspicion of a concussion. Just because a kid has a headache doesn't mean he is concussed. It's football for pete's sake. IMO, if you want to see players stop leading with the head and start employing better tackling form, let's go back to the leather helmets and see how many "helmet to helmet" hits there are.

1486wd;1310094 wrote:IMO, this attitude has helped create the problem. Be tough, just get back in the game! Not so fast.

Actually, I don't think that the problem is encouraging kids to be tough at all. The problem, hinted at by Dr. Kno, is that trainers and team doctors are not properly consulted. There are actual signs to a concussion. If a kid has a headache, it doesn't mean he had a concussion. If he has a bad headache, it still doesn't mean he had a concussion. If he has blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, dilated pupils, or sensitivity to light, etc. ... or hell, just at least two of those, then he may have a concussion.

The increased study that was mentioned is precisely the point. I don't think Dr. Kno was advocating the "rub some tobacco juice on it and get back in there" mentality. He's seemingly trying to avoid the pendulum swing from apathy to paranoia. Both are equally problematic, as one makes the game dangerous, and the other makes a game virtually impossible.

1486wd;1310094 wrote:IMO, this attitude has helped create the problem. Be tough, just get back in the game! Not so fast.

You must've misunderstood my post. What I was trying to say is, headache can come from head trauma, but they can also come from many other things. I definitely agree that concussions are something that need to be addressed, but this should be done by someone on the medical staff, not because a parent suspects a concussion or a child has a headache. THIS attitude is simply giving kids an excuse to cop out, as one previous post mentioned (several players sitting out with self-diagnosed concussions).

Doctors go to school more than you and I for a reason. They are much more accustomed to dealing with medical issues that could impact life and death than you and I. They should be the ones making the decisions. If you suspect your son has a concussion, get him checked out. If the doctor says the child does not have a concussion, trust that the doctor knows best.

Dr. KnOiTaLL;1310124 wrote:You must've misunderstood my post. What I was trying to say is, headache can come from head trauma, but they can also come from many other things. I definitely agree that concussions are something that need to be addressed, but this should be done by someone on the medical staff, not because a parent suspects a concussion or a child has a headache. THIS attitude is simply giving kids an excuse to cop out, as one previous post mentioned (several players sitting out with self-diagnosed concussions).

Doctors go to school more than you and I for a reason. They are much more accustomed to dealing with medical issues that could impact life and death than you and I. They should be the ones making the decisions. If you suspect your son has a concussion, get him checked out. If the doctor says the child does not have a concussion, trust that the doctor knows best.

Here is the other thing that drives me nuts... kids go straight to the ER now.... with all the crap that is wrong in the world... what do you think the ER is going to say? I could go in and say my toe hurts and they give me a note saying to sit out for 2 or 3 days. They will do the same with a suspected concussion without knowing if the kid is really experiencing any symptoms. Go in... say you play football and have a headache.... CONCUSSION! The doctors and the ER attendants don't want any liability.

Back to my point... I don't think the majority of kids have concussions any different from any era. I still believe you can be dinged or get your bell rung and not have a concussion. We are just quicker to call it that out of fear.

Jmar25;1310151 wrote:Back to my point... I don't think the majority of kids have concussions any different from any era. I still believed you can be dinged or get your bell rung and not have a concussion. We are just quicker to call it that out of fear.

Agree completely. I'm sure all of us that have played football have gotten our bell rung a time or two. I've even gotten a headache from a hit before, but it wasn't a concussion. It happens. Awareness is one thing, but paranoia is another.