Fryer: I guess I have to address St. Margaret's exclusion in the top 25 again ...
August 26th, 2008, 10:23 am · 9 Comments · posted by STEVE FRYER, ocvarsity.com
St. Margaret's has a terrific Division XII football program, and is a fine athletic program overall. That place is a model for outstanding sportsmanship, too.
St. Margaret's football team would not beat any of the teams in the top 25.
With that nonleague schedule -- no CIF-Southern Section teams above Division XI -- we are not going to find out how St. Margaret's would stack up against top 25 teams.
I could be wrong; I have been wrong in the past, and will be wrong in the future.
-- Steve Fryer
9 Comments
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Coach Welch could bag a 5-5, 3-7 team in the OC like Marina, Sunny Hills, Orange, Buena Park, or El Modena. AT least try, work your way up, St. Margaret's has a chance to be the next OLu if you work it out.
Fryer,
now that I've seen the top 25, I'm going to have to agree with you about St Maggies for the most part, though I think St Maggies would give Laguna Hills, Dana Hills, Pacifica, Fullerton or Canyon a run for their money.
My main issue was that you said they weren't top 25 material because they had a small offensive line. I just thought that sounded a little silly.
YR ...
I'd like to see St. Margaret's play those teams you listed, instead of Army-Navy of Carlsbad.
I looked at last year's roster on ocvarsity.com and it looked like the O-line at St. Margaret's was smallish by top-25 team standards. It appears that the Tartans have bigger guys up front.
To me, you start building your team at two positions: O-line and cornerback. Sure, QB is huge, but you have to be solid at O-line and corner first.
Cornerback? What about the defensive line? Up front is everything! Don't worry, if I know coach Welch he will start upgrading the competition the first chance he gets.
Coach Welch's knowledge of football is only about 400,000 times mine, so he will upgrade the schedule when he knows the timing is right.
I heard Al Davis say this: you build your teams first at offensive line and cornerback. I hate the Raiders more than any team in sports, but Mr. Davis at one time was the smartest owner in sports.
I think sometimes size for linemen in the high school game is way over-rated. Edison's defense is often under-sized but the Chargers are often very sound and plenty tough. I believe the Tartans deserved at least the No. 25 spot merely out of a respect. No team in the state has a longer current winning streak. And sure, they are playing in a low division but they are absolutely crushing that competition. They averaged 67 points per game in the Academy League last year! Now, what if the Tartans run their winning streak to, say, a county-record 43 consecutive games, win a third straight CIF crown and take a state title, will they then get the No. 25 spot? I'd sure hope so. And here's another take -- I do believe there are some OC teams that have not been willing to play the Tartans for whatever reason. That's part of the equation. I don't think the Tartans are looking to play OLu, but I think they have been aiming for some higher competition. But here's the bottom line: they are not the same Tartans we have all known. They are way, way better, much stronger, more potent because of the Welch offensive scheme and just plain tougher boys because of Welch.
The bottom line is this: I don't know how good St. Margaret's is until St. Margaret's gets on the field against a top 25 team. I can win 43 consecutive one-on-on basketball games against the kid across the street. But what does that mean? I have college eligibility remaining Should I record those 43 one-on-one games and send the disc to Ben Howland?
(At the UCLA basketball office, Howland pops the disc into the DVD player ... )
Howland: "Look at that Fryer guy! Forty-three in a row!"
Video coordinator Clay McKnight: "Uh, Ben. That kid Fryer is playing looks to be about 10 years old."
Howland: "Dang it, Clay! Show some respect! He is crushing the competition! Put him on our list of the top 25 players we're recruiting!"
St. Margaret's is beating teams of their ilk, and that is a fine accomplishment.
I am just trying to inject some rational thinking and some perspective here.
-- Steve Fryer
I totally agree with Steve Fryer. I also have some agreement with Manny from earlier, 8-26-08 at 10:52am. I have not seen any of St. Margaret's games, but based on results, I think they probably have a great program. In comparison, I think Orange Lutheran has had a great program for nearly 15 years now, but not until they left division 10 and moved up to division 6 and then division 1, did they begin to be recognized in the county top 25. Orange Lutheran began building a great program 15 years ago, but they were playing much smaller schools: Whittier Christian, Valley Christian of Cerritos, Brethren Christian, to name only a few. You may recognize some of these teams as teams that St. Margaret's plays now. It wasn't until O. Lu. started playing teams like St. Bonaventure in Ventura, Newport Harbor, Woodbridge (back then was a very strong program), to name a few, did they start to open eyes in the county. So I think St. Margaret's is headed in the right direction for sure, but they still need to justify a top 25 ranking by playing and beating at least one if not more top caliber schools. I've always said, and I stole this quote, not sure from whom, "Actions speak louder than words!"
All this "Tartans vs The World" talk is quite entertaining ... Small school programs enjoy the exposure so please keep it going !! The reality is that if anyone out there would take some time to research, they would find-out that SMES is limited with the number of overall students that they can have ... This of course will limit them within the athletic arena based on the talent pool that they can pull from ... They currently have (400 students, 50/50 mix) which give them a limited base and the fact that roughly only (40+ players) comprise their entire football program (JV/V) ... This is the life within the small school arena ... I do see them taking a step upwards with selected larger schools so to give their program some exposure to athletes that have more speed and size ... This summer they did step-up and competed within a number of passing leagues that were attended by much larger schools with some success ...
Being mentioned in the (top 25) would be a positive for this program; however, they are not so life moves on ... I would think that everyone deep down in side is proud that Orange County has a program like the Tartans and wish them only the best for a successful season ... Maybe even another League Championship, CIF Championship or even a shot at the newly added State Bowl Championship for Division 5 ...