Northwest Jr. High Football

[GoAt 10]

I read where Northwest 8th grade plays burg tonight and has a chance to go undefeated for the season. Does anyone else ever wonder how northwest jr high is always good (top 2-3 teams) and their high school program is so poor the past 20 years that they’re playing in SOC1 where they have more kids than 3 of the schools (east, ND, green) combined?
Possibly kids transferring out, but I feel they should be more competitive!

[transplant]

They peak in JR High. Stronger, bigger, faster at that age, then don't progress as they get older. Don't work hard and other pass them up.

[greygoose]

I read where Northwest 8th grade plays burg tonight and has a chance to go undefeated for the season. Does anyone else ever wonder how northwest jr high is always good (top 2-3 teams) and their high school program is so poor the past 20 years that they’re playing in SOC1 where they have more kids than 3 of the schools (east, ND, green) combined?
Possibly kids transferring out, but I feel they should be more competitive!

This is how it has always been, most ppl simply believe the kids are topped out by the time they hit HS. I don't believe kids are transferring out of Northwest, always looks like JR high is running one type of offense and HS is running something totally different. Most schools in the area are working at being great in HS and pushing the kids to that, Northwest and Minford want to bang the drum and talk about how great they are in pee wee and JR high

[MasterOfNone]

I say this every year it gets brought up, jr high success does not translate to HS success. Just like jr high winless seasons does not mean that will continue when you get in HS. JH football is an odd thing IMO. You have a limited group of kids, who may have a grade loaded with skill guys and no lineman or vice versa. And one or two kids who have hit puberty can dominate a game and carry the whole team. Other than enjoying the wins at the time, winning should not be the main concern of any JH program. Because I know many groups of kids that had winless JH seasons turn around and make the playoffs as HS students and have seen JH programs pound their chest about their undefeated seasons and accomplish nothing when it matters most in HS.

As a JH program, you should look to teach the game and fundamentals. But IMO, the most important thing that should be taught are the schemes and concepts of what your HS program runs. As a JH coach your job is to prepare these players for the next step, which is HS and the best way to do that is teach them the terminology and concepts that they will be participating in for the next 4 years. And I believe all that starts at the top, your HS coaches need to communicate with the JH program on what they need to be implementing. And I know some HS coaches who even tell the JH coaches who to play where because that is the position they will be playing in HS. All those things are far more important than winning.

Winning is a bonus in JH. All of the things stated above will pay off more in the long run as far as the big picture goes.

[transplant]

Agree

[BigBlueNation]

Alot of them quit once they get to high-school. They get jobs once they get their drivers license or just don't want to play anymore. There was 23 kids on the roster last year that could have came back this season and didn't. I would say there will be several that don't come back next year.
When Northwest Junior and Senior class was in Jr high they had 53 kids on the roster. There is about 20 of them still playing now.

[transplant]

23 kids didnt come back? I know of 1 that transferred. Do you know if any others did? If im the AD, im talking to those kids and trying to figure out what is going on.

[art_vandelay]

I say this every year it gets brought up, jr high success does not translate to HS success. Just like jr high winless seasons does not mean that will continue when you get in HS. JH football is an odd thing IMO. You have a limited group of kids, who may have a grade loaded with skill guys and no lineman or vice versa. And one or two kids who have hit puberty can dominate a game and carry the whole team. Other than enjoying the wins at the time, winning should not be the main concern of any JH program. Because I know many groups of kids that had winless JH seasons turn around and make the playoffs as HS students and have seen JH programs pound their chest about their undefeated seasons and accomplish nothing when it matters most in HS.

As a JH program, you should look to teach the game and fundamentals. But IMO, the most important thing that should be taught are the schemes and concepts of what your HS program runs. As a JH coach your job is to prepare these players for the next step, which is HS and the best way to do that is teach them the terminology and concepts that they will be participating in for the next 4 years. And I believe all that starts at the top, your HS coaches need to communicate with the JH program on what they need to be implementing. And I know some HS coaches who even tell the JH coaches who to play where because that is the position they will be playing in HS. All those things are far more important than winning.

Winning is a bonus in JH. All of the things stated above will pay off more in the long run as far as the big picture goes.

Agreed completely about schemes and concepts of high school program being taught at junior high and peewee level. This is for sure happening at Burg all the way down to the flag football level, and conversely, does not seem to be the case at Northwest (from what others have said above). I remember seeing Northwest in flag football a few years back and they probably ran 5-6 reverses that game, with a few of them resulting in touchdowns. That translates to wins at the peewee level, but not at the high school level. And Northwest not the only local school running their lower levels like this.

To be fair to Northwest coaches though, with all the coaching changes over the years there at the high school level, the junior high and peewee teams have been left to figure it out on their own. Moral of story though: forget about peewee super bowls and junior high championships and focus on development of kids in the high school team's systems. It's boring at the lower levels, but it leads to championships in high school.*

[SiderBlood]

So many reasons translate into why junior high success does not translate into High School success.

One, you have kids going through major body changes. Some are done growing and on a different level, others haven't grown at all yet. Some coaches choose to have completely different playbooks and schemes than their varsity. Which is never a good idea in my opinion. BigBlue mentioned a good point too. I know alot of the boys in that district grow up and get their drivers license and get jobs sooner than some others in the county. A lot of the boys don't have the interest in football any more. And when you have years of losing, it doesn't intrigue people to stay either.

[Beergogglebluez]

You have to run the same offense and defense that the high school runs. Or you are teaching freshman and underclassmen from scratch all over.

[packers80]

You have to run the same offense and defense that the high school runs. Or you are teaching freshman and underclassmen from scratch all over.

Bingo

[BigBlueNation]

23 kids didnt come back? I know of 1 that transferred. Do you know if any others did? If im the AD, im talking to those kids and trying to figure out what is going on.

3 of went back to Minford. I think all three are starting.

[transplant]

I see and one went to Valley. but still, that's a lot of kids not coming out. Wonder why they came to NW in the first place. I know there are family situations and all that, but who knows. Thanks for the info bigblue

[BigBlueNation]

You have to run the same offense and defense that the high school runs. Or you are teaching freshman and underclassmen from scratch all over.

Bingo

Last years Jv team didn’t even run the same offense as the Varsity. Most of the kids hate running that tight double wing. A couple years ago our Jr. high Qb threw for more yards in one game than the Varsity had all season.

[BigBlueNation]

I say this every year it gets brought up, jr high success does not translate to HS success. Just like jr high winless seasons does not mean that will continue when you get in HS. JH football is an odd thing IMO. You have a limited group of kids, who may have a grade loaded with skill guys and no lineman or vice versa. And one or two kids who have hit puberty can dominate a game and carry the whole team. Other than enjoying the wins at the time, winning should not be the main concern of any JH program. Because I know many groups of kids that had winless JH seasons turn around and make the playoffs as HS students and have seen JH programs pound their chest about their undefeated seasons and accomplish nothing when it matters most in HS.

As a JH program, you should look to teach the game and fundamentals. But IMO, the most important thing that should be taught are the schemes and concepts of what your HS program runs. As a JH coach your job is to prepare these players for the next step, which is HS and the best way to do that is teach them the terminology and concepts that they will be participating in for the next 4 years. And I believe all that starts at the top, your HS coaches need to communicate with the JH program on what they need to be implementing. And I know some HS coaches who even tell the JH coaches who to play where because that is the position they will be playing in HS. All those things are far more important than winning.

Winning is a bonus in JH. All of the things stated above will pay off more in the long run as far as the big picture goes.

Agreed completely about schemes and concepts of high school program being taught at junior high and peewee level. This is for sure happening at Burg all the way down to the flag football level, and conversely, does not seem to be the case at Northwest (from what others have said above). I remember seeing Northwest in flag football a few years back and they probably ran 5-6 reverses that game, with a few of them resulting in touchdowns. That translates to wins at the peewee level, but not at the high school level. And Northwest not the only local school running their lower levels like this.

To be fair to Northwest coaches though, with all the coaching changes over the years there at the high school level, the junior high and peewee teams have been left to figure it out on their own. Moral of story though: forget about peewee super bowls and junior high championships and focus on development of kids in the high school team's systems. It's boring at the lower levels, but it leads to championships in high school.*

Absolutely Art.

[greygoose]

Alot of them quit once they get to high-school. They get jobs once they get their drivers license or just don't want to play anymore. There was 23 kids on the roster last year that could have came back this season and didn't. I would say there will be several that don't come back next year.
When Northwest Junior and Senior class was in Jr high they had 53 kids on the roster. There is about 20 of them still playing now.

Wow, that is a very large number. Has to be much more to it then that to say they lost such a large number is crazy. Have to start looking from the inside out and I'm curious is that large a number just a coincidence as to a year where NW HS staff all left but HC and OC.