How District 5 Screwed Watford City

[classB4ever]

I would rather have 3 titles, OR let's make a 4 day tourney. 16 total qualifiers. 8 on top, 8 on bottom. 8 represent AA and 8 represent A. Play it all the way out. I dislike adding a class but then making it so even a smaller portion of AA teams make state. I get the point that people think it is easy to make state in A, but A teams judge themselves on titles anyway.

If "A" teams do in fact "judge themselves on titles anyway", then it shouldn't really matter if only 4 teams go to state. They have played one another multiple times during the year and then again in playoffs, this should prove who deserves to be there and who doesn't. Definitely puts more pressure on at the regionals, which makes the state trip that much more rewarding.

[balla45]

Here is where I disagree with you. If we were to go to this combo tournament, I would venture to guess that an AA school would win 95+% of the time. Now just by making it to the regional championship you have a 22.5% chance of winning state. Now if you have to go through 3 rounds plus another, you have to beat 3 tough AA schools and then the best A school to win state. Much more difficult.

[classB4ever]

Well, the 95+% is probably low. I am guessing it would be even higher than that. This is where I believe you are missing the mark. The AA teams are playing 3 games in the region tourney. The first round being easier due to ranking and of course getting harder each game. They would only play two games at state to capture the AA crown. Then 1 more, to capture overall crown against the A Champion. I guess my point is this. Every other team in each division has to do exactly the same thing against like opponents. So the road getting there isn't any tougher for AA than it is for the other divisions, because you are playing against the same type of talent level to get there.

[balla45]

I look at it from my senior year for example, our toughest game was our first round game at state. If we don't have to play that, we get to the championship game with a 30+ point win and an 11 point win. I think the extra round makes it more difficult.

[gominers]

Why do A and AA have to play? The tournaments can be at the same place and weekend (boys and girls too), but make the regional tournament more important and only bring the top two teams from each region instead of four. Play eight games on Thursday, have the A championship and 3rd place Friday, then the AA championship and 3rd on Saturday.

[balla45]

I think that format would be a significant downgrade in tournament quality for Class A.

[gominers]

I would prefer three separate tournaments, but that would require B boys and girls to have a tournament together and that would cause some on here to flip out completely. Just trying a compromise.

[Sniper]

I would prefer three separate tournaments, but that would require B boys and girls to have a tournament together and that would cause some on here to flip out completely. Just trying a compromise.

I do not think you are going to find a compromise or solution that would not cause people to completely flip out. No matter how we set things up some schools are going to have an advantage and some schools are going to be at a disadvantage.

[HammerTime]

I would prefer three separate tournaments, but that would require B boys and girls to have a tournament together and that would cause some on here to flip out completely. Just trying a compromise.

I do not think you are going to find a compromise or solution that would not cause people to completely flip out. No matter how we set things up some schools are going to have an advantage and some schools are going to be at a disadvantage.

So what do we do? Our system is broken. It is no longer the amazing thing it once was. It no longer makes the majority of followers and satisfied with the season. We cannot simply sit and wait for a general consensus or a unanimous vote to do something. Our country tried that once. It was called the Articles of Confederation. It called for a unanimous vote on most bills to become laws. Nothing happened because not everyone could agree on the same things. The consequence was one if the worst economic periods in US history after the Great Depression and Recession. So, can we all agree on one thing: change needs to happen?

[east sider]

Easy man, you'll have gray hair by 30 and a heart attack by 50 if you're getting that excited about something like this. The sky isn't falling. Class A is doing better than ever because of new schools and sustained growth. Class B is struggling - and has been for a few years now - because of population loss. Both of these trends will continue and we simply have to stick it out until something makes more sense. As of now, nothing makes more sense than the current plan - at least nothing I've seen proposed yet.

[Bisonguy06]

Now there's an accurate and concise summary of where we're at. Well done, east sider, from a west sider who appreciates your work.

[HammerTime]

Easy man, you'll have gray hair by 30 and a heart attack by 50 if you're getting that excited about something like this. The sky isn't falling. Class A is doing better than ever because of new schools and sustained growth. Class B is struggling - and has been for a few years now - because of population loss. Both of these trends will continue and we simply have to stick it out until something makes more sense. As of now, nothing makes more sense than the current plan - at least nothing I've seen proposed yet.

This is just how I feel about this subject. It bothers me that some of the smartest people on the subject of North Dakota high school sports can have some of the smartest, most times civil, well informed debates in our entire state and not one of us (to my knowledge, anyway) has any real power to put our ideas into action. I don't like to consider myself as a liberal, but I do not like this stubborn refusal to change that our BOD shows. It bothers me. And I think something needs to be done. But it won't. Can anyone of you tell me the last time something major happened involving fixing alignments for schools? My he last time I can think of was the introduction of 4 classes to football. That's it. And even now, that system is starting to show signs of lagging behind the times. Our high school landscape is changing far faster than our head honchos want to keep up. I don't really think that the "sky is falling." I just think that our "leaders" are trying to fix the Grand Canyon with Duct tape. They're not really doing anything productive, just pretending to.

[Sniper]

I would prefer three separate tournaments, but that would require B boys and girls to have a tournament together and that would cause some on here to flip out completely. Just trying a compromise.

I do not think you are going to find a compromise or solution that would not cause people to completely flip out. No matter how we set things up some schools are going to have an advantage and some schools are going to be at a disadvantage.

So what do we do? Our system is broken. It is no longer the amazing thing it once was. It no longer makes the majority of followers and satisfied with the season. We cannot simply sit and wait for a general consensus or a unanimous vote to do something. Our country tried that once. It was called the Articles of Confederation. It called for a unanimous vote on most bills to become laws. Nothing happened because not everyone could agree on the same things. The consequence was one if the worst economic periods in US history after the Great Depression and Recession. So, can we all agree on one thing: change needs to happen?

I am not saying that we shouldn't do something or make some changes. I am just saying that we are not going to come up with a perfect solution. No matter how we set it up some schools are going to have a disadvantage. In order to make things better overall, a few schools are going to have to be the ones who get the short end of the stick and get stuck in a class where they will have trouble competing. I have made my opinion clear that I am for a 3 class system with the middle class including all private schools, the small As and a few of the biggest B schools.

[nolan4]

Yes. I would love to continue to argue. I think your opinion and mine differ in a major way. I do not think the Class A tournament would be better if teams that were not better than the Metro teams automatically qualified just because they are smaller. 3 classes with 3 titles I can live with. 3 classes with 2 titles seems pointless. If I am Minot of last year, I don't get to play in the state tournament, but Shiloh or Bishop Ryan might. And we are competing for the same title, even though I would beat either of those teams fairlu comfortably.

How about if you had the 4 A teams play for a title and the 4 AA teams play for a title, then have a "AA/A" championship game on the Saturday night.

I will use Schwabs quote to say, what I would like to see if there were to be any changes, but I will go on record to say, I think the system is fine, attendance will never increase dramatically , mostly cause of more options to spend our money...........But here goes, first if there were to be a 3 Class system, it should be A by itself, and then B with however many teams you want 20-32, include Valley City and whoever.........then C with the rest........but here is where I differ , instead of A vs B for an ultimate champion, where B would NEVER win, or hardly ever....I would have B vs C , where C might win 25 to 40% of the time........also ideally if ND could have its own A regional tourney, then have a Dakota State tourney with South Dakota, with 2-4 ND teams in the Dakota State tourney, dependent on how many SD has in their top Classification........Just a wild idea, but if i was in charge and a change HAD to be made, that is how I would do it.

[Sniper]

Why do we need to have the champions from these classes play each other? Why not just have a champion in each class? I do not understand the need for these matchups of teams in different classes, especially in a state tournament.

[HammerTime]

Yes. I would love to continue to argue. I think your opinion and mine differ in a major way. I do not think the Class A tournament would be better if teams that were not better than the Metro teams automatically qualified just because they are smaller. 3 classes with 3 titles I can live with. 3 classes with 2 titles seems pointless. If I am Minot of last year, I don't get to play in the state tournament, but Shiloh or Bishop Ryan might. And we are competing for the same title, even though I would beat either of those teams fairlu comfortably.

How about if you had the 4 A teams play for a title and the 4 AA teams play for a title, then have a "AA/A" championship game on the Saturday night.

I will use Schwabs quote to say, what I would like to see if there were to be any changes, but I will go on record to say, I think the system is fine, attendance will never increase dramatically , mostly cause of more options to spend our money...........But here goes, first if there were to be a 3 Class system, it should be A by itself, and then B with however many teams you want 20-32, include Valley City and whoever.........then C with the rest........but here is where I differ , instead of A vs B for an ultimate champion, where B would NEVER win, or hardly ever....I would have B vs C , where C might win 25 to 40% of the time........also ideally if ND could have its own A regional tourney, then have a Dakota State tourney with South Dakota, with 2-4 ND teams in the Dakota State tourney, dependent on how many SD has in their top Classification........Just a wild idea, but if i was in charge and a change HAD to be made, that is how I would do it.

Holy crap. We just solved the problem. What if North and South Dakota combined high school sports? A Dakota Champion for three classes. Both Dakotas are in a very similar situation. We are both very agriculture dependent states, with one other industry supporting our state's budget. South Dakota has tourism In the Black Hills, we have oil in the Bakken. We are both facing a problem where people are leaving the rural areas as farming can be done by fewer people. All we have to do is adapt to a three class system and agree on venues that work for residents of both states. Then we can combine and have a similar number of schools as other states. And why not? The biggest problem I foresee is travel. But if we can overcome that, it could work.

[Kwoods]

I understand where you are coming from with this, but don't expect me to feel sorry for the "Big B's" who have routinely dominated the "Small B's" in their region for years. Now they get a taste of their own medicine when they have to play Class A.

I have to agree WC almost makes it to state every year in one girls or boys sport. Where the other teams in their region are making it once every 10 years or so. I over heard a WC parent and official talking at the district tournament how they were going to state in girl's basketball this year (which did not happen) and next year then they have to go class A and that is so unfair. They will never be able to compete with the bigger schools. That is how the small schools in their region have felt year after year. Time for a taste of what the rest of the region feels like.

[NDplayin]

My God... I had such a kool-aid hangover that I missed 4 pages of a dream conversation before I even noticed it. I'm too late to the party so rather than write my usual 10 page response that makes no difference because no one reads it, I'll keep this slightly shorter.

If you're also late to the party, go back and read Bisonguy06's post about the radio personality from Valley City (Heimer) contasntly moving the goal posts. It perfectly sums up Heimer's existence on this website.

My two cents is that we should all realize the following: A) The plan we have isn't perfect for everyone. B) No plan ever will be perfect for everyone. C) a plan that we perceive to work well in a different state might or might not work well here depending on several factors, most notably differences and similarities in demographics. And importantly.....

D) Your perception of how well the plan works depends largely on your perspective. If you're king of the hill right now, you love the current plan. If you're the fertilizer at the foot of the hill, you demand revisions.

E) It doesn't matter what realistic and feasible plan you draw up, someone will have advantages. We could do 20 classes of 8 teams each... Class A through Class U, and someone will be bigger. Someone will live closer to more gyms. Someone will have to travel less. Someone will have a better coach... some one will drink more koolaide. And now most importantly:

F) Just because you loved the way something used to be, doesn't mean it can ever be the same way again. (Heimer loves this argument himself so I'm including it for his sake). What Heimer fails to acknowledge is that not only does keeping status quo prevent it from being the same, but changing it also prevents it from being the same. The goliath Hillsboro of the Hillsboro of the Hillsboro v Epping days is now pint sized Hillsboro. Former Class A Hettinger now has to co-op with Scranton to field a team. There are forces outside of our selection of sports classifications that prevent things from ever being the same, therfore, switching sports classifications also doesn't make them the same.

When it comes to this debate the goal posts always move. North Star can have a long history of success. Both Pashall and LLM can can make state in both boys and girls basketball this year. Tiny New England can win the enrollment dominated Region 7 and Tiny GU/H can make the regional in both boys and girls and take 3rd place in the girls. Tiny Beach can have their girls dominate the same region of "big schools" and go 5 of the last 6 years while the mighty sized enrollment Hazen boys haven't gone in recent memory while New England, Bowman, and Mott-Regent boys have.

Yet there will always be resentment. A million schools with smaller or similar enrollment than yours can have success- be it class A or B and we will scream at the wind and hollar at the rain If yours doesnt. When you make your argument about enrollment and someone lists numerous smaller enrollments to make it to state, say it's about those that dont succeed at regionals. We'll ignore the fact that the aforementioned schools had to succeed at regionals to get to state and list numerous more similar sized schools who succeeded at regionals and you'll scream about schools which are closer to a community center. Point out how far away Beach and North Star are from a community center and it becomes about district boundaries. Point out that there was an article written about thus year's tiny enrollment Region 7 boys champion getting two transfers at 6'6" and 6'8" and that if you transfer to a private school without district boundaries and don't relocate within the public school district within which that private school lies and you have to sit out 180 days of varsity competition following the exact same transfer rule as every other school in the state and you switch the argument right back to where it all started... circle it over again... And just bet all you chips that no one is paying close enough attention to notice.

Bottom line: Some schools have advantages under the current system. Bottom line: there will be schools with advantages in any conceivable system. Bottom line: There's a boat load of evidence to support that the current advantages some schools have aren't insurmountable and that they are overcome quite often. Bottom line: A new system that puts the school from which your perspective hails from the bottom of the heap to the top means that system is better fro. Your perspective, not the perspective of the aggregate of the state. Bottom line: It's difficult to step outside our individual perspective but at least I try, and while I acknowledge this system isn't perfect, Ive yet to be presented with an alternative in which I thought more schools benefited than suffered.

Bottom line: I disagree with Heimer on this subject. I and others have used specific, statewide evidence and logic in every area that Heimer can come up with which proves him wrong except for one: We can not defeat his propoganda: Call it kool-aid, call it sacred soil, call it whatever you want- it's nothing more than a propoganda tactic which intelligent people turn to when they have nothing intelligent to say which proves their point.

See, it was a book after all...

[nolan4]

My God... I had such a kool-aid hangover that I missed 4 pages of a dream conversation before I even noticed it. I'm too late to the party so rather than write my usual 10 page response that makes no difference because no one reads it, I'll keep this slightly shorter.

If you're also late to the party, go back and read Bisonguy06's post about the radio personality from Valley City (Heimer) contasntly moving the goal posts. It perfectly sums up Heimer's existence on this website.

My two cents is that we should all realize the following: A) The plan we have isn't perfect for everyone. B) No plan ever will be perfect for everyone. C) a plan that we perceive to work well in a different state might or might not work well here depending on several factors, most notably differences and similarities in demographics. And importantly.....

D) Your perception of how well the plan works depends largely on your perspective. If you're king of the hill right now, you love the current plan. If you're the fertilizer at the foot of the hill, you demand revisions.

E) It doesn't matter what realistic and feasible plan you draw up, someone will have advantages. We could do 20 classes of 8 teams each... Class A through Class U, and someone will be bigger. Someone will live closer to more gyms. Someone will have to travel less. Someone will have a better coach... some one will drink more koolaide. And now most importantly:

F) Just because you loved the way something used to be, doesn't mean it can ever be the same way again. (Heimer loves this argument himself so I'm including it for his sake). What Heimer fails to acknowledge is that not only does keeping status quo prevent it from being the same, but changing it also prevents it from being the same. The goliath Hillsboro of the Hillsboro of the Hillsboro v Epping days is now pint sized Hillsboro. Former Class A Hettinger now has to co-op with Scranton to field a team. Their are forces outside of our selection of sports classifications that prevent things from ever being the same, therfore, switching sports classifications also doesn't make them the same.

When it comes to this debate the goal posts always move. North Star can have a long history of success. Both Pashall and LLM can can make state in both boys and girls basketball this year. Tiny New England can win the enrollment dominated Region 7 and Tiny GU/H can make the regional in both boys and girls and take 3rd place in the girls. Tiny Beach can have their girls dominate the same region of "big schools" and go 5 of the last 6 years while the mighty sized enrollment Hazen boys haven't gone in recent memory while New England, Bowman, and Mott-Regent boys have.

Yet there will always be resentment. A million schools with smaller or similar enrollment than yours can have success- be it class A or B and we will scream at the wind and hollar at the rain If yours doesnt. When you make your argument about enrollment and someone lists numerous smaller enrollments to make it to state, say it's about those that dont succeed at regionals. We'll ignore the fact that the aforementioned schools had to succeed at regionals to get to state and list numerous more similar sized schools who succeeded at regionals and you'll scream about schools which are closer to a community center. Point out how far away Beach and North Star are from a community center and it becomes about district boundaries. Point out that there was an article written about thus year's tiny enrollment Region 7 boys champion getting two transfers at 6'6" and 6'8" and that if you transfer to a private school without district boundaries and don't relocate within the public school district within which that private school lies and you have to sit out 180 days of varsity competition following the exact same transfer rule as every other school in the state and you switch the argument right back to where it all started... circle it over again... And just bet all you chips that no one is paying close enough attention to notice.

Bottom line: Some schools have advantages under the current system. Bottom line: there will be schools with advantages in any conceivable system. Bottom line: There's a boat load of evidence to support that the current advantages some schools have aren't insurmountable and that they are overcome quite often. Bottom line: A new system that puts the school from which your perspective hails from the bottom of the heap to the top means that system is better fro. Your perspective, not the perspective of the aggregate of the state. Bottom line: It's difficult to step outside our individual perspective but at least I try, and while I acknowledge this system isn't perfect, Ive yet to be presented with an alternative in which I thought more schools benefited than suffered.

Bottom line: I disagree with Heimer on this subject. I and others have used specific, statewide evidence and logic in every area that Heimer can come up with which proves him wrong except for one: We can not defeat his propoganda: Call it kool-aid, call it sacred soil, call it whatever you want- it's nothing more than a propoganda tactic which intelligent people turn to when they have nothing intelligent to say which proves their point.

See, it was a book after all...

Very well written, AMEN!!!

[Bisonguy06]

If you're just a casual fan, you weren't making the trip anyway.

Let's face it. It's not just basketball that is to blame for the downturn in the B tournament.

It is no longer the single greatest entertainment source for the state, or even the community it's in.

Fargo, Grand Forks, and Bismarck all get big concerts, Minot gets them with the fair, and the population has shifted to that way of thinking.

It's no longer a big deal to that town to be awarded the state tournament. Casual fans don't go anymore. Basketball can't compete with Brad Paisley, NDSU football, or UND hockey.

That's why it's hurting.

If the tournament is to be an entertainment venue, the tournament needs to be re-invented. As long as it's just about basketball, and the old way of doing basketball, it will continue to slide.

It's just not a big deal anymore.

You know, it's funny how these things seemed to be true about the 'B' in the years that the boys were playing in a football stadium (Alerus) in a hockey town (Grand Forks) in the far northeast corner of the state, on the same weekend as the WDA & EDC tournaments.

Now, the B boys have their own weekend again. Saturday evening's attendance was 10,921, for a title game between two public schools that aren't all that close to Bismarck. Their fan bases traveled well, and it's obvious that many other casual fans took in the games, too. Bismarck embraces the B better than any other ND town, and the Civic Center is without question the best basketball venue in the state. My #1 takeaway from this weekend is that when you give the B the weekend and the venue that it deserves, it is alive and well. Not perfect, but not 'broken', not by a long shot.

But not everybody drinks the 'B' Kool-Aid, and that's fine... we'll hear from them again. The conversation will shift to some other part of the bracket that is allegedly 'broken' and has to be 'reinvented.' The goalposts will move again, and believe me, they'll move far, far away from this year's B boys state tournament.

[heimer]

Oak Grove.

Shiloh.

25% of the field from towns that contain nearly 20% of the states population.

Champ: former A school from the North Star.

No need to move to goalposts.

But, I was there, and 11k speaks volumes.

So does Bismarck.

If the Civic and 11k fans purges your guilt from Solen, and Enderlin, and whoever else these three teams beat, just remember, the tournament started with the regionals, and Trinity and Ryan and Beulah and others ended the seasons of real Bs statewide.

Still a 100 yard field, posts still in the same place.

[heimer]

Funny, a post on the girls board from the same season, and not from me.

Who's turning a blind eye to the evidence?:

It's not the site people...

How can the Minot Dome go from what was supposedly the best site for Bball when Milnor wins it, to the worst when Minot wins??? I doubt the site deteriorated that much in two years...the walk up the hill after you lose your buzz is still the same. Still breaks your wallet for the $3 bottle of pop and dippin dots...What's Changed??? Will the boys being back in Bismarck be the greatest thing ever??? Maybe, depending on who wins it.

We as fans are at fault...The B IMHO is broken, it has been for years. But we all hold hands and sing all is well when Milnor wins it. It still is as broken then as when Fargo wins it, or Minot wins three in a row and their only real competition is Bismarck...The attitude that it is fine when Bismarck, Dickinson, Minot are three of the eight, but don't win has to stop. It is still broken when that happens. It's still broken when the "darling" of the tournament is an actual B school...It has gotten so bad that the Big B's are now given a pass and are forgotten if they don't make the tournament...( Does Grafton, Watford and Beluah have BBasketball this year??? )

If fans are going to let the NDHSAA know their feelings, don't say it's the site. All the sites have their faults, but address the real issue here...

The BCP's have an an extreme disproportionate state tournament appearances, especially in the last few decades.
These BCP's have an agreed list of competitive advantages over other B schools in their regions, INCLUDING the ability to PASSIVELY RECRUIT ATHLETES.
Enrollment numbers and numbers that can be controlled should not be the sole decision as to how a school is classed.
These tourneys should not be about the financial gain of the HSAA...

[ndlionsfan]

Oak Grove.

Shiloh.

25% of the field from towns that contain nearly 20% of the states population.

Champ: former A school from the North Star.

No need to move to goalposts.

But, I was there, and 11k speaks volumes.

So does Bismarck.

If the Civic and 11k fans purges your guilt from Solen, and Enderlin, and whoever else these three teams beat, just remember, the tournament started with the regionals, and Trinity and Ryan and Beulah and others ended the seasons of real Bs statewide.

Still a 100 yard field, posts still in the same place.

Thats a bit of a stretch. If you're going to use former A's as your argument that the B is broken there is not much left to support your side. Many small B's are closed or cooped and a lot of the towns left alone were class A at some point in their history

[Bisonguy06]

I'll give you Shiloh, Ryan, Trinity and Oak Grove being a 'problem' if you're a fan of the traditional 'B.' But you don't reinvent the wheel for four schools. Nobody has beef with Our Redeemer's and Williston Trinity right now. Nobody seems to have a beef with passive recruiting when those kids transfer to public schools, either. And literally no one in North Dakota has ever said, "Rugby is proof that we need a three class system." It's not OK for Shiloh Christian to send both its boys and girls to state in the same year, but it's awesome that Parshall and LaMoure did the same thing. Complaints about the 'B' boil down to FOUR PRIVATE SCHOOLS. If you drew up a plan for four schools to play for their own trophy, it would probably be pretty popular. Run with that idea.

We supposedly have this group of big Bs that are ready to join the parochials and move up and form the middle class in a 3 class or hybrid system. Well let's look at the field this year. I'm going to give you seven of the biggest B's in the state, and let's see if they robbed a bunch of small schools from state tournament appearances.

Watford City, Central Cass, Grafton, Beulah, Lisbon, Stanley, and Kindred. They're all big B's. They all play AA football. Guess what else these schools have in common?

None of their boys teams made the state tournament this year
None of their girls volleyball teams made the state tournament this year (fall of 2014)
The Kindred girls basketball team made state and took 2nd place.
This group batted 1 for 21 in state tourney appearances this year.

Let's throw in four more of the biggest B's: Rugby, Carrington, Bottineau, Des Lacs-Burlington. Rugby went 1 for 3 in state tourney appearances with a home run at 'the B.' The other three schools struck out.

11 of the biggest 'B' schools combined to go 2 for 33 in state tournament appearances this year. Two for thirty three! We want to move them up and out of B... why?

You don't like that stat, so you're about to move the goalposts to the regional tournaments and tell me that these schools are hogging those appearances. Guess what: the regions are down to 13 or 14 teams. A majority of schools in all corners of the state are making it to the regional tournament. And if your region has a SuperRegional, they'll call the play-in games "Round 1" and say that every school made it to the regional. If you're a small school and you can't qualify for the quarterfinal round of regionals, guess what... you're probably not going to advance very far in a small school "Class C" tourney, either.

We had small schools, large schools, private schools, and reservation schools at the B. A little bit of everything. Not a perfectly proportional representation of our state, or a clean sweep for the small public schools, or whatever you're looking for... but a fairly balanced draw with 11 out of 12 games being very competitive. You have to be drinking a whole lot of something other than Kool-Aid to think that 10,921 people flocked to Bismarck to watch the last game of a broken system.

[HammerTime]

Let's throw in four more of the biggest B's: Rugby, Carrington, Bottineau, Des Lacs-Burlington. Rugby went 1 for 3 in state tourney appearances with a home run at 'the B.' The other three schools struck out.

Could you elaborate on the statement in bold a bit more? Would we need a Bishop Ryan-esque dynasty to be considered proof that something needs to happen? And also, since when is the only criteria for being a "Big B" not being co-oped or consolidated? Rugby's not that big. They don't even have 200 9-12 according to the program. By your logic, New England or Cavalier should be considered a "big B." Sure, they draw from the surrounding ghost towns and family farms, but so does Rugby.