Those who think the gap between classifications is shrinking in Kansas high school football can point to Week 1 of the 2011 season as evidence.
In that week alone, Class 3A’s Scott City stomped 6A Garden City 30-3, 4A Holton beat 6A Topeka High 37-30, 2-1A St. Marys Colgan cruised past 4A Girard 42-0, 2-1A LaCrosse stormed 4A Larned 57-14, and 4A Topeka Hayden was edged 22-17 by 6A Manhattan.
Adding to the argument, it’s not like these games were against a bunch of poor big school programs.
Garden City may not be considered one of the top contenders for the 6A state championship, but the Buffaloes are 3-2 and have a legitimate shot of making it to the playoffs in a district that includes Maize, Goddard and Dodge City. Scott City also beat Garden City in 2010 when the Buffaloes advanced to the first round of the 6A playoffs.
Topeka High sits at 2-3 and is coming off two consecutive winning seasons. The Girard Trojans are 3-2 and have had some good runs in the 4A playoffs in recent years. The Manhattan Indians are 5-0 and ranked third in 6A. Larned, however, has struggled. The Indians are 0-5 and were winless in 2010.
No matter how you look at it, Week 1 does show the smaller schools can compete.
“I think the moon has to be right, and the kids have to believe they can win,” Scott City coach Glenn O’Neil said. “If that happens, I think smaller schools can compete. You have to have a confidence and a mindset that you can compete.”
Of course, 3A schools don’t beat 6A schools every day, but wins by 4A schools over 6A schools are fairly common.
From 2007 through the first five weeks of this season, 4A teams have a 19-20 record against 6A foes. This season alone, 4A schools are 4-4 against teams from the state’s largest classification.
The small-school success isn’t limited to that matchup. 5A schools have a 71-70 record against 6A schools over the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Class 4A schools posted an astounding 27-13 record over 5A schools in 2006 and have been about .500 the past two seasons. Class 3A schools also have generally been about .500 against 4A schools since 2006. Meanwhile, 2-1A schools garnered a 42-40 record against 4A teams from 2006 through 2010.
So what does all this mean, and why is this happening?
One thing that needs to be remembered is that it is typically the better small school programs that are facing larger opponents, especially the games where there are two classifications separating the teams. So while the better 4A programs in the state can compete with many good or even very good 6A programs, it doesn’t mean the 4A teams in the bottom half would be able to compete with even some of the worst 6A teams.
Obviously, it doesn’t mean the smaller classifications are better. But what it does show is how good some of the best 2-1A, 3A and 4A programs are. The separation isn’t as big as it may have been 15 or 20 years ago.
The next question is why.
“I think the gap has gotten smaller in some ways,” said Kansas High School Activities Association assistant executive director Mark Lentz. “I think a big benefit to our state is that we have some great coaches out there in all parts of the state. We have good football players throughout all of the state. I think people are bridging that gap.”
That statement is true. There are great coaches and players all the way from 6A through 8-Man Division II, but I’m sure that has always been the case.
My opinion is that there are a few reasons why it is more likely for a school with an enrollment number of about 200 to beat a school with an enrollment number of about 1,500 today than it was 20 years ago.
First, is that classification numbers are based totally on the amount of students – boys and girls – a school has in the freshman, sophomore and junior classes combined. This doesn’t account for classes that have an unusual ratio of girls to boys. It doesn’t happen all the time, but from experience I know there have been classes where 80 percent of the students are girls. This leads to the point that the enrollment number doesn’t reflect participation rates. While a 6A school may have 1,000 more students in the three classes than a 3A school, it’s possible for the two teams to have the same number of players out for football. It is not uncommon for traditional small school programs to have almost every boy in the school suited up on Friday nights.
This also leads to a greater focus on the sport. If 90 percent of the boys play football and many of the girls participate as a cheerleader, dance team member or in the pep squad, you have the majority of the school with a vested interest in the program. They’re all at the game, cheering on the team. At larger schools, the interests are more divided. More and more activities are being offered, and Friday night football is just one of the options.
Increased specialization of sports also plays a role. Even though a school may be fishing from a much larger enrollment pond, the best athletes could choose to focus on basketball and baseball only in hopes of earning that college scholarship. At smaller schools, the All-State players in football are often also All-State in basketball, baseball or track and field.
This also could be why fewer 5A and 6A schools two platoon like they did 15 or 20 years ago. When larger schools were able to start 11 high quality and fresh players on each side of the ball, it made it extremely difficult for a small school to match up. The theory was that they may be able to last for a half, but they would eventually wear down. At many schools, that advantage has been erased.
The point is the notion that small schools can’t contend should be gone. Yes, the bigger schools will always have an advantage and they will usually win a majority of the time. However, on “any given Friday” David can slay Goliath.
O’Neil doesn’t want to schedule a 6A team every week any time soon, but he does appreciate how the games prepare his team for the 3A district and playoffs.
“I think you can do it on certain nights,” he said. “But the longer you get into the season, it gets more difficult for us to compete in a 5A or 6A schedule. They can bang up one or two starters and probably have the depth to make up for it. If we lose a 225-pound kid, we may not be able to replace him with another 225-pound kid. That’s the difference in classifications.
“I think playing those bigger schools is very important in preparing our team.”
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