Massillon to Fed League

[yargs7]

Anyone in Stark or Mahoning County have thoughts on this? I didn't even know about the move because Boardman and Fitch have pretty much been black listed by the Youngstown media since they left the SVC. I would like to see Massillon on the schedule every year.

[Lebowski]

Ho hum....with McKinley whipping the Falcons and Spartans this year in hoops, doesn't make much difference.

I was against those two schools joining from the outset...hard to generate a rivalry with teams so far away in proximity.

The JV Hoops coach at Boardman is a good friend of mine; I'll have to get his thoughts on this.


(btw, for those who haven't seen McKinley this season...do yourself a favor)

[Guest]

I guess I should have specified. I was only speaking in terms of football. Fitch and Massillon used to play each other every year from the mid 80's until the mid 90's. Before Fitch's program went to pot, that was a fierce rivalry. I think that the move was good for both Fitch and Boardman. All these teams travel pretty well, and as a Fitch fan, I would have to say that the matchups are pretty intense. The obvious benefit for all these D-1 schools is not having to travel too far to play another D-1 school. This league will always have 3 or 4 teams in the playoffs.

[dmiles]

I think there was talk of resurrecting the old SVC when the big combined Youngstown HS is created. However I am guessing since it is already 2006 those talks went nowhere. In any case, Harding, Fitch, Boardman, Mooney, Ursuline, and Youngstown East or whatever they plan to call it. Also there was talk of Stuebenville Big Red for football only. However I think this is not happening despite the griping from austintown and boardman folks about the heavy travel. The Fed is just a better fit right now for them.

[yargs7]

The Fed was a smart move for Fitch and Boardman. Personally, driving to Canton or Massillon on a Friday night doesn't bother me a bit. I'd rather drive to Fawcett Stadium for a game than see Fitch have to play Harding at Mollenkopf or Mooney and Ursuline at YSU. It's just a better fit for a D1 school to play in a conference with 7 D1 schools and one D2.

[dmiles]

One other thing to remember is that all sports are more competitve in the Fed. Are the Jr. High teams playing a Fed schedule? Seems like Jr. High schools can stay local, but I am not living in the Valley any longer and wasn't paying attention to the lower levels when there.

[yargs7]

dmiles,

The jr high's are playing a Fed schedule too. They usually are forced to play on saturday's because of the travel.

[dmiles]

The Fed League has nothing on West Texas. Back when I was just getting out of the AF and finishing school, my wife was coaching volleyball and track at Abilene HS. Think Friday Night lights. Unlike Ohio where we have conferences, Texas puts teams into Districts (leagues) based upon enrollment. So for Abilene the only 5A schools near were Midland (2 hours), Odessa (2.5 hours) and San Angelo (1.5 hours). Each city had two teams in the league except San Angelo.

She'd come back from a regular league game on a weekday at 1 AM. However Jr. High kids didn't make these trips, just 9th and up.

The Fed has the more complete package for the Y-town big schools but man I'd hate to make the Boardman to Massillon on a weekday.