The high school football season came to a season-ending thud recently with all three Chatham County squads failing to make the state playoffs after combining for a paltry 7-26 record in 2019, with one of those wins coming when Jordan-Matthews beat county-rival Chatham Central.
To say the failure of the Chatham County School System to produce a reasonable plan for middle school football in over four decades now has fully taken total effect would be an understatement. And I’ve blamed many in the school system and outside the school system in the past, including myself, who obviously didn’t do enough to correct an injustice to our student-athletes, coaches and programs. I still firmly back those feelings.
But this editorial is not about those failures to our kids in our communities, but more about the realization that nothing is going to change. We will continue to hear the same blank and empty promises on a yearly basis only to be let down. Thus it’s time for our communities to take action. And that’s what I and others plan on doing, taking action.
It simply has to be done for our kids, and our high school programs.
In the past year, I’ve done a lot of research, attending middle school games in surrounding counties, as well as AAU and USA Football type events which have started to take root in our state and nation, though admittedly still far behind the likes of basketball, baseball and softball. It’s certainly been a great deal of fun as well as an eye-opening experience attending and watching these games throughout the state.
In the past there have been some attempts by those in our community, especially at the recreation level, to fill the void left by our schools. Most notably in recent years was the Chatham Prep League, which lasted eight seasons but eventually died out. Later I will address that history and its relevance as one of my two current proposals that I have come up with, though certainly others will bring additional and viable ideas to the table at our meetings.
The first proposal is an AAU team or USA Football team which mirrors what is being done in Lee County. In fact, I’ve heard East Chatham fielded an AAU team this summer, though I unfortunately have no specifics to add to the conversation at this time, only that I was told recently by one high school coach in the county that kids from his area asked for some equipment so they could play with the East Chatham squad. I know two years back Stratton Barwick of Silk Hope played for the Harnett County Hurricanes while Julian Brooks of Siler City played for the 11-12 year old Lee County Panthers and just completed an outstanding season.
So an AAU program is certainly an option. But things get dicey when you begin to factor in that most 13- and 14-year-olds play middle school in their counties after 11-12 tackle football. Thus, how much certainty and guarantee would there be for games, and how much travel and expenses would be involved, are very pertinent questions. The same can be said for USA Football, which is similar in layout to the AAU organization.
Earlier I briefly discussed the Chatham Prep League, and this is certainly another viable option. When it was going in its opening years, our community couldn’t have asked for more. The opening season games were played on Wednesday afternoons, attendance was high, and the cheerleaders and bands were also involved with certain teams.
But looking back, one fatal mistake, IMO, came after the first year when games were moved from Wednesday nights to Saturdays. Attendance immediately plummeted and never picked back up to anything close to the figures of the inaugural season. And slowly but surely the programs began eroding away until the league finally folded after basically becoming an AAU type travel team from Siler City just to find games.
So is the Prep League an option again? I would think so, for sure, provided it’s done in true middle school fashion with games played on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings.
Each high school should field a team made up of its feeder schools as before, with the exception now the addition of Seaforth, which is set to open in 2021.
Of course waiting on the attendance lines of Northwood and Seaforth will be a necessity but as of now a league of four teams with Northwood taking players from Horton and Moncure, Seaforth from Pollard and Woods Charter, Jordan-Matthews from Chatham Middle, Chatham Charter and Silk Hope, and Chatham Central from Bennett, Bonlee and J.S. Waters, would be the most reasonable option. You could call them the high school names, or go with NW, NE, SW and SE Chatham.
With four teams, there would be six games with a home and home series between all the teams. After the final week, a Military Appreciation All-Star Game could be held between seeds 1/4 (Stars) and 2/3 (Stripes), coinciding with the Veterans Day Parade held in Siler City, and honoring our service men at the game. It would be a win-win, and much more than just about football for our younger generation.
Another addition I would push to add would be the following week of an ACC/Big 10 Challenge type deal with the Blue Ridge Youth Football League up in Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes and Surry counties. The long time Sertoma League changed to the (Mountain Valley) Blue Ridge Youth Football League in 2013 and has blossomed.
Though not officially with the schools, the teams are comprised with the names of all the high schools being represented, seven all told, including Ashe County, Alleghany, West Wilkes, Wilkes Central, North Wilkes, East Wilkes, and Elkin. The teams in the BRFL play six games before the top four make the playoffs. Thus a perfect scenario would be the No. 4 seeds from both conferences meeting on a Saturday after the respective seasons end at 12:00 noon, with the No. 3’s playing at 2 p.m., the No 2’s playing at 4 p.m., and the top-seeds squaring off at 6 p.m. The Super Saturday could be held up in the mountains one year, and down in Chatham County the next. And by the way worth noting, six of those seven high schools made the state playoffs, further data of how important fielding a middle school aged team is.
So those are just two of the proposals, and I certainly welcome more. For any suggestions on leagues, teams, coaches, grants, donations, ideas, etc., email me any time at donbe51@yahoo.com. We, as a county, can resolve this decades old failure. It’s much more than just football, it’s about the experience and giving our kids the opportunities that they deserve, and that is done all over the state.