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I can't Be the only one who has noticed this


Ijustwatch

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East Texas use to be loaded with schools that competed for State Championships in just about evert classification.

I'm old so im not sure what class they are all in now but what they use to be in.

What has happened to?

Teneha

Hughes Springs

L.K

Big sandy

Marshall

Nacogdoches

Mount Pleasant

E.F

Tyler

John Tyler

Whitehouse

Jacksonville

Lufkin

Harelton

Ore City

New Diana

Hooks

Redwater

Winona

Troup

Arp

Hallsville

Look at all these teams over I'D say the last 10-15 years have been good. Did all the talent move away? 

The only towns that have been decent or above decent are

Longview

Carthage

Gilmer

P.G

Waskom

Carlisle

Kilgore

E.F(i know i wrote on both because they are fixing to be terrible for a while)

Daingerfield

That's all i can think of.

What are your thoughts on this matter(coaching,players not playing? parents moved away ?)

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Hallsville has never competed for a state title, or really been that good. Same for Whitehouse, out of Patrick Mahomes years. Nacogdoches...that's just laughable.

Jacksonville has been hammered by not having the enrollment and/or participation against the higher class teams. Give them a little bit and I think they'll return to being a good team in 4A.

Mount Pleasant is similar to Jacksonville, the participation or lack there of is really hurting them.

Tyler and Tyler Legacy....you'll have to ask the Tyler ISD guys. It makes no sense to me how they're not competing at a higher level than they are.

Lufkin just doesn't have the talent they did in the early 2000s.

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41 minutes ago, Ijustwatch said:

East Texas use to be loaded with schools that competed for State Championships in just about evert classification.

I'm old so im not sure what class they are all in now but what they use to be in.

What has happened to?

Teneha

Hughes Springs

L.K

Big sandy

Marshall

Nacogdoches

Mount Pleasant

E.F

Tyler

John Tyler

Whitehouse

Jacksonville

Lufkin

Harelton

Ore City

New Diana

Hooks

Redwater

Winona

Troup

Arp

Hallsville

Look at all these teams over I'D say the last 10-15 years have been good. Did all the talent move away? 

The only towns that have been decent or above decent are

Longview

Carthage

Gilmer

P.G

Waskom

Carlisle

Kilgore

E.F(i know i wrote on both because they are fixing to be terrible for a while)

Daingerfield

That's all i can think of.

What are your thoughts on this matter(coaching,players not playing? parents moved away ?)

I think the answer can be long and complex but I will do my best to state my opinions on this matter. 

 

In my opinion there is a nation wide movement of kids getting away from football. As we learn and understand more about the long term affects of football injuries more people are encouraging their kids to try something else. When I was in school everybody played football but you don't see that today. You see kids playing basketball and baseball only where that use to never happen. Why is that? Well, its easier on the body to play baseball and basketball and its easier on the parents at a young age to find teams to play on. There are about 16 million travel baseball teams so its easy to get in. There aren't just a ton of little league football teams and out of those that are playing a lot of them aren't teaching football the right way which again, leads to injury.  Kids have a lot of things they can do that don't involve football....

 

 

The smaller towns you listed are dealing with kids leaving. People graduate from those towns and they don't come back because there isn't anything to come back to.  Those that are stuck in those small town have to travel for work or they take really low paying jobs that causes them to live in the poverty level. Out of those two options the parents that have to travel to the bigger areas to work can just drop their kids off at a bigger nicer school and they have more opportunity than their neighbor down the street because they are going to a bigger school.   The other option I mentioned is to stay in those small towns and work the lesser jobs and earn less money. The majority of those families struggle and those kids either start working very early or are really behind because they never could afford to play high level little league sports. 

 

 

The bigger towns are hanging in there because they are striving on tradition and still a decent number of kids (including those from surrounding smaller towns). As far as the small schools that are good year in and year out....their down time will soon be coming. There just isn't as many kids playing as there use to be....

 

I know I was all over the place but I hope it makes sense. 

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5 minutes ago, GraysonFan said:

Look at areas of the state with population growth, which leads to more players to select from and more money to pay for coaching, facilites, and training.

2011 Melissa won state and was in the same district as Mineola,Winnsboro,Quitman,Caddo Mills, and Grand Saline. 

Now they are in 5AD2 and still doing well….every other team in that district is still 3A(old 2A back then)except for CM.

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Half your list never competed for State Championships.       "Loaded" might be influenced by perspective.

However I think what supports your original premise are the changes in classification, divisions, realignments, population migration over the years.

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In a time far ago,manhood was sometimes measured by football,standing in the community was set sometimes by the 52 yard bomb or the ferocious defensive play or the willingness to stand and fight with your brothers on the team...times and ethos have changed,mom's are raising children without dad's,grandparents are raising their baby's baby, errant drugs and other bs are permiating the schools along with changing cultures of what is man/women or he she it.They them is slowly creeping into what was at one time,a rite of passage to many 🤷‍♂️

 

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I’m gonna reference Atlanta, linden, Queen City. Just because I’m from cass county. When graduated we had 190 in our class. Now it’s considered a big class if they have 125. Linden had around 500 kids in the High School, now they have 150ish. Queen City, has dropped 150 kids as well. In the 90s to mid 2003, Atlanta put 8 kids in the NFL. Since 2003 graduating class there has only been one get a tryout for practice squad. Someone may ask why? There is not enough good Jobs in our area to keep people here anymore. Lone star steel, oilfield, and other industries has closed down or moved. Now I will say this, Bowie county is about to explode so maybe we get some trickle affect from that. Also, I think the bigger cities has more access to the proper training and better knowledge to nutrition. Plus like someone said more kids are not playing unlike before. 

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I can't speak for anyone but hughes springs and gilmer.  I grew up and graduated from hughes springs.  We followed work to gilmer in 2017.  It was the biggest blessing we've ever saw moving from "small town" hs.  Hughes Springs at the time and I still think they don't, didn't have a youth football league.  Participation in football was low in high school because morale was low.  

Gilmer is just a different dynamic all the way around.  Kids start getting groomed for football in kindergarten.   It's a way of life.  My son is going on his 4th year of little league and is loving it.   Hs just doesn't offer that especially since lone star steel and wheeling machine shut down.    

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3 hours ago, Ijustwatch said:

East Texas use to be loaded with schools that competed for State Championships in just about evert classification.

I'm old so im not sure what class they are all in now but what they use to be in.

What has happened to?

Teneha

Hughes Springs

L.K

Big sandy

Marshall

Nacogdoches

Mount Pleasant

E.F

Tyler

John Tyler

Whitehouse

Jacksonville

Lufkin

Harelton

Ore City

New Diana

Hooks

Redwater

Winona

Troup

Arp

Hallsville

Look at all these teams over I'D say the last 10-15 years have been good. Did all the talent move away? 

The only towns that have been decent or above decent are

Longview

Carthage

Gilmer

P.G

Waskom

Carlisle

Kilgore

E.F(i know i wrote on both because they are fixing to be terrible for a while)

Daingerfield

That's all i can think of.

What are your thoughts on this matter(coaching,players not playing? parents moved away ?)

Timpson 

Beckville 

Joaquin 

Centerville 

Corgan 

Lovelady 

Hemphill 

Rusk

 

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For Marshall….. MOST of the time we lose to teams in the playoffs that end up either in the state championship game…. Or the semifinals. 
 

Crosby…..2021…… state semi finalist 12-3

Huntsville…..2019 region semis 9-4

Huntsville…..2018 Quarterfinals (beat Marshall by 1)  12-2

Wylie East ….. 2017 region semis 9-4

Mesquite Poteet…..2016… state semi finalists 11-4

Frisco Lone Star….2015…state finalists 14-2

Dallas South Oak Cliff….2014….quarterfinalists 10-4

Wylie…..2013….state quarter finalist 9-5

Combination of tough draws and some excruciating losses in some of them   

 

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6 hours ago, gamewatcher63 said:

2011 Melissa won state and was in the same district as Mineola,Winnsboro,Quitman,Caddo Mills, and Grand Saline. 

Now they are in 5AD2 and still doing well….every other team in that district is still 3A(old 2A back then)except for CM.

In 2004 Melissa finished 6th in 1A-17 with an enrollment of 157 and their stands could sit less than 100 people. Now they are building a $35 Million Dollar Stadium, a 250,000 Sq ft addition to their high school and a $21 indoor practice facility. Also in 2004 Royse City was 3A(new 4A) with an enrollment of 675 and now they are 6A.

Screenshot_20221005-210607_Chrome.jpg

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4 hours ago, StangtilDeath said:

I can't speak for anyone but hughes springs and gilmer.  I grew up and graduated from hughes springs.  We followed work to gilmer in 2017.  It was the biggest blessing we've ever saw moving from "small town" hs.  Hughes Springs at the time and I still think they don't, didn't have a youth football league.  Participation in football was low in high school because morale was low.  

Gilmer is just a different dynamic all the way around.  Kids start getting groomed for football in kindergarten.   It's a way of life.  My son is going on his 4th year of little league and is loving it.   Hs just doesn't offer that especially since lone star steel and wheeling machine shut down.    

Which Gilmer team does your lil boy play? Mine plays Winona 5th n 6th grade tackle.... we played 1 Gilmer team 2 weeks ago and won 26-12

We scrimmaged another Gilmer team early in the season and they were a different breed of animals... beat the #### out of us 

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6 hours ago, gamewatcher63 said:

2011 Melissa won state and was in the same district as Mineola,Winnsboro,Quitman,Caddo Mills, and Grand Saline. 

Now they are in 5AD2 and still doing well….every other team in that district is still 3A(old 2A back then)except for CM.

Caddo will probably be 5A in one of the next enrollments. About 10-20,000 houses are being built in the Nevada, Josephine, Caddo Mills area. Nevada Community has all ready moved up to 4A-1. Rockwall, Rockwall-Heath, Royse City, and North Forney are all 6A now and still growing in population.

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1 minute ago, HornetSenior said:

Caddo will probably be 5A in one of the next enrollments. About 10-20,000 houses are being built in the Nevada, Josephine, Caddo Mills area. Nevada Community has all ready moved up to 4A-1. Rockwall, Rockwall-Heath, Royse City, and North Forney are all 6A now and still growing in population.

Crazy…I remember playing Caddo Mills on JV in 1977……they were a “Big School”…we were “Class B”…played them to a tie

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1 hour ago, BoyzNdaHood said:

Which Gilmer team does your lil boy play? Mine plays Winona 5th n 6th grade tackle.... we played 1 Gilmer team 2 weeks ago and won 26-12

We scrimmaged another Gilmer team early in the season and they were a different breed of animals... beat the #### out of us 

He's in the different breed league lol.  They play in the tri county league (tyler, Longview, Henderson, kilgore, mt pleasant, Pittsburg, liberty eylau, daingerfield,  just to name a few.  Theres 22 organizations. The league that's in little cypress doesn't get many kids since the guy over it was charged and convicted of misappropriation of funds from the league over the past several years but somehow is still able to be in the league just not over it.

 

 

https://texas.arrests.org/Arrests/Matthew_Shelton_19209738/

 

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11 hours ago, Ijustwatch said:

Lufkin

For starters, 1998-2007 Lufkin just had an unbelievable amount of talent. Add in a legendary coach (RIP Outlaw) and it was the perfect recipe. If it weren’t for 3 state semi-finals losses to Southlake Carroll we’d have 4 state titles in a 5 year period instead of the 1. (Carroll won all those state games in blowout fashion.) 2007-2011 we still had quite a bit of talent, but this is when the first round playoff troubles started. A couple of those teams we lost to went on to play 4 rounds deep or so. I remember Klein beating us in the first round one year and they went 4 or 5 deep before losing to Abilene. 2011 we lost to Spring Westfield in round 1 and they went 4 deep and lost to the eventual state champion. Once John outlaw passed away in December of 2011, it’s kinda gone down hill since. A mixture of horrible coaching and declining talent has gotten us where we are. The current staff has had plenty of talent to make noise, just can’t get it done. 2012 we went 3 rounds deep. 2014 had like a 28-0 lead on Longview in round 1 only to lose. 2017 ended with a 4th round loss to Longview while we were both 6A. 2018 and 2019 we were ranked in the top 5 most of all season. 2018 ended in the 2nd round and 2019 ended with a 1st round upset to Texas high. Again, just underachieving with head scratching coaching. This current stretch of 2020-2022 is a rough one. We missed the playoffs for the first time since 1997 last year and on the verge of missing them again this season. This current staff just does a horrible job of having the boys ready to play and never gets the most out of them. Longview fans know the deal. We supposedly have a sophomore class right now (10 of which are playing on varsity now) that’s gonna bring us back to light. I just don’t think it’ll happen until we make a coaching change. Lufkin wants to hold on to every last little piece of outlaw they can and that includes the current head coach since he came here with outlaw in 1996. Schools like Nacogdoches and Jacksonville would call what we’ve done the last 10 years successful but for Lufkin, it’s been underwhelming and disappointing to say the least. 

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9 hours ago, HornetSenior said:

In 2004 Melissa finished 6th in 1A-17 with an enrollment of 157 and their stands could sit less than 100 people. Now they are building a $35 Million Dollar Stadium, a 250,000 Sq ft addition to their high school and a $21 indoor practice facility. Also in 2004 Royse City was 3A(new 4A) with an enrollment of 675 and now they are 6A.

Screenshot_20221005-210607_Chrome.jpg

DFW exploding. 

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17 hours ago, Ijustwatch said:

East Texas use to be loaded with schools that competed for State Championships in just about evert classification.

I'm old so im not sure what class they are all in now but what they use to be in.

What has happened to?

Nacogdoches

 

Nacogdoches?  Seems like they are as they've always been.  When did they ever compete for State Championship?

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16 hours ago, GraysonFan said:

Look at areas of the state with population growth, which leads to more players to select from and more money to pay for coaching, facilites, and training.

What?  Just because an areas' population is growing doesn't mean their school(s) have more players to select from and more money to pay the coaches.  That's why we have classifications.  All schools are competing against other schools with a similar number of players to select from with the exception of the very top of 6A with the likes of Allen and a few others.  And more money to pay coaching?  With the growth they have to higher more coaches and build more schools.  They may have more tax revenues coming in, but they're expenses have also gone up substantially.

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17 hours ago, TIMRIGGINS said:

I think the answer can be long and complex but I will do my best to state my opinions on this matter. 

In my opinion there is a nation wide movement of kids getting away from football. As we learn and understand more about the long term affects of football injuries more people are encouraging their kids to try something else. When I was in school everybody played football but you don't see that today. You see kids playing basketball and baseball only where that use to never happen. Why is that? Well, its easier on the body to play baseball and basketball and its easier on the parents at a young age to find teams to play on. There are about 16 million travel baseball teams so its easy to get in. There aren't just a ton of little league football teams and out of those that are playing a lot of them aren't teaching football the right way which again, leads to injury.  Kids have a lot of things they can do that don't involve football....

The smaller towns you listed are dealing with kids leaving. People graduate from those towns and they don't come back because there isn't anything to come back to.  Those that are stuck in those small town have to travel for work or they take really low paying jobs that causes them to live in the poverty level. Out of those two options the parents that have to travel to the bigger areas to work can just drop their kids off at a bigger nicer school and they have more opportunity than their neighbor down the street because they are going to a bigger school.   The other option I mentioned is to stay in those small towns and work the lesser jobs and earn less money. The majority of those families struggle and those kids either start working very early or are really behind because they never could afford to play high level little league sports. 

The bigger towns are hanging in there because they are striving on tradition and still a decent number of kids (including those from surrounding smaller towns). As far as the small schools that are good year in and year out....their down time will soon be coming. There just isn't as many kids playing as there use to be....

I know I was all over the place but I hope it makes sense. 

The smaller towns are still competing against schools with the same enrollment numbers, so I don't see how people leaving (moving away) has an impact on the success of their football program?  If enrollment goes down, their classification drops.  There are schools and towns just like them that are encountering the same issues, but still find a way to be successful on the gridiron. 

With the smaller towns and schools, the single biggest factor is coaching.  Yes, talent is important, but a coach that can inspire the kids, knows how to engage, and how to truly coach can dominate the other small (4A and down) schools that don't have this.  And even more so if a small town/school finds a way to get a coach like this to stick around and not be enticed to move on to "bigger and better things" in the larger towns/schools.

 

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8 hours ago, StangtilDeath said:

He's in the different breed league lol.  They play in the tri county league (tyler, Longview, Henderson, kilgore, mt pleasant, Pittsburg, liberty eylau, daingerfield,  just to name a few.  Theres 22 organizations. The league that's in little cypress doesn't get many kids since the guy over it was charged and convicted of misappropriation of funds from the league over the past several years but somehow is still able to be in the league just not over it.

 

 

https://texas.arrests.org/Arrests/Matthew_Shelton_19209738/

 

Yall got some athletes on that team and should do well... pine tree should be up their with yall, they had around 30+ on their squad, they looked like a jv squad when we played them.... every kid on the team was well seasoned...

I can't remember exactly but yall had a kid with a DF uniform on in our scrimmage and that kid was legit.....  yalls QB can sling it and accurate, good luck to yall in tri County! I've seen the red raiders and their no threat... but the other tyler squads are ready.. 

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13 minutes ago, Everide2016 said:

The smaller towns are still competing against schools with the same enrollment numbers, so I don't see how people leaving (moving away) has an impact on the success of their football program?  If enrollment goes down, their classification drops.  There are schools and towns just like them that are encountering the same issues, but still find a way to be successful on the gridiron. 

With the smaller towns and schools, the single biggest factor is coaching.  Yes, talent is important, but a coach that can inspire the kids, knows how to engage, and how to truly coach can dominate the other small (4A and down) schools that don't have this.  And even more so if a small town/school finds a way to get a coach like this to stick around and not be enticed to move on to "bigger and better things" in the larger towns/schools.

 

Realignment is only every 2 years. A school like Melissa usually had way more kids than the schools they were competing against. They always had new kids enrolling as they moved from 2A(old 1A) to 5A in 20 years. 

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