You say that is when jca changed. Disagree. They at least made the playoffs after that. The real change happened 3 years ago at the semi final game at Naz. That’s when it turned. Enrollment dropped and providence came off a championship. Lost a lot of kids to provi since.
JCA-Benet
- Thread starter cocacoaler
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I remember the video on that one. Controversy for sure. OTOH the fake punt call by Sharp was midfield was dumb. And his explanation made no sense. If you are worried about a punt block, go for it. Especially the way Malin Jones and Josh Ferguson were running the football in the 2nd half.
I disagree with you on this. The classes behind that class were already small and not very talented. That had nothing to do with the loss to Naz. Everyone knew that the two following years were going to be very lean. In addition, JC losses far more kids to public schools than it does to Provi. Providence is having issues when it comes to enrollment. Their last two incoming classes have been their smallest in years. JC, on the other hand had a 15% increase in its freshmen class. Its largest in the last five years.
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JC enrollment has been steadily dropping for 30 years. I know this is ancient history, but my freshmen year their were 860 boys in the school
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No.
Quarterfinals.
Senior dominated team with incredibly thin and lacking in talent underclasses. 2016 and 17 were going to be a struggle to win a few games even if they beat naz by 40 that day. I believe the 15 JC team had 20 senior starters and 2 sophs. No junior presence to speak of. The outcome of that game had nothing to do with the last 3 seasons.
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While JCA’s varsity team had a solid 2015 campaign, JCA’s JV and freshman team were getting killed on the lower levels. It continued in 2016 and transferred over to the varsity level. Did not help that Dan Sharp stepped down as head coach. Lots of rebuilding to do for JCA. All is good in the IHSA world when JCA is back to there old selves.
Enrollment was shrinking beyond three years ago, but still never had back to back losing seasons till now. Finally caught up to them. This year freshmen class is big. Provi 3 years ago had a good promising team. Almost half quit or transferred. Is not the same team from freshmen year.
So the biggest thing teams need to ask themselves is how can we keep kids from quitting or transferring.
The freshmen class in 2016 is the seniors now. They were fun to watch. Lost first two games and if I recall, finished 5-4. Won last three. They destroyed Naz at Naz. They were really getting it together. The screen pass was poetry in motion. Then sophomore year, half the team went to varsity. Rest is what it is. Jaws coached this main group for three years now.
Honestly feel bad for the JCA senior class. It seems like they hung tough and really paid their dues. It’s a shame that it’s highly unlikely that they will not get to experience playoff football.
How many of those Naz freshmen were up with the sophs or varsity? Have to look at that when looking back. They also lost to Carmel and Viator as freshmen, then beat them on varsity. Looks like they started 1-1 and did finish 5-4, which includes a forfeit win against Marian Catholic. See the link. Frosh results at bottom.
http://www.eastsuburbancc.com/html/15-football.html
I was at all games. Remember the Carmel game. A fumble on the last drive of the game killed them. Should’ve one that one. Was disheartening for sure. Was at Carmel. That was a turning point of their season. They could’ve just quit that season but instead, harnessed the loss and started to gel. Would’ve loved to see them all stay together for sophomore season. I feel this group of kids this year would of been better instead of splitting up. Some seniors brought up as sophomores, didn’t play much. So wasted a year so to speak. Don’t know how many kids of Naz freshmen where brought up to varsity that year, but I know we were rolling at that time dominating. The last game at Marist was awesome too.
I always get a big laugh when people try to equate freshman success to varsity success down the line. The two very often don’t not necessarily correlate. I’ll never forget in 2014 when Naz cancelled a level and this board went nuts, Naz was doomed according to everyone year. Those freshman just graduated and played for 3 state championships and this team is ranked higher than any Naz team ever. Some programs care about now lower level success and keep their classes together. That’s all well and good, I’m not saying they’re wrong but not every program operates like that. Naz for instance could care less about records or the perception of their lower levels. They move kids up based off their personal development not the classes development. They’ve started a freshman on varsity practically every year since 2012, I have a sneaking suspicion of those kids would have played down on the freshman level those results would be a little bit different.