Some quick Mass. updates

[Adam Kurkjian]

Obviously on a smaller scale than the national powers, but by New England standards, Everett and Lawrence Academy are putting together some nice teams.

For Everett, it starts with the two juniors, WR/DB Mike Sainristil and safety Lewis Cine. Both offered by BC, and Cine has a Florida one.

Recently, senior transfers Isaiah Likely (WR), RB/LB Kevin Brown and returning starter WR/DB Jason Maitre picked up some FCS offers.

Two more who should grab FCS offers down the line are LB Duane Binns and an OL that goes by Helber (can't find highlights but 6-5, 280).

Edit: Shouldn't leave out WR Anthony Norcia. And this is the QB who will be replacing now UConn frosh Jordan McAfee, Jake Willcox. Played a little as a freshman but got injured. Will be a junior.

There could be more coming in the lower classes we don't know about yet. At this point, though, this is a good group. They have to replace a lot of linemen, but they'll start off No. 1 in Mass. among the public/Catholic programs (MIAA).

Lawrence Academy is the team that Maxpreps ranked tops in Mass. in the state-by-state list. They have three kids committed to BC, mostly linemen (Finn Dirstine, Ryan Betro, Joey Luchetti). They picked up a couple transfers at the skill positions (Justin Barron and Spencer Aronson) and have a good sophomore quarterback, Brady Martin. They're probably the top team in Mass. among the NEPSAC/ISL group.

As I've said in another post, MIAA and NEPSAC teams are never ranked together up here in any of the papers, websites. It will be interesting to see if that changes. I can see it happening at one of the websites before one of the newspapers. I'd take Everett for now, but obviously would need to see them play.

[TheRealCAJ]

Nice report.

[Adam Kurkjian]

Thanks, Caj. Geaux Tigahs

[Ararar]

Is there any restrictions for Mass in OOS games.Are they allowed to travel?

[Adam Kurkjian]

1 hour ago, Ararar said:

Is there any restrictions for Mass in OOS games.Are they allowed to travel?

None for MIAA teams. NEPSAC comprise all of New England and parts of New York, but they are more locked in to long-term commitments so you don't see a lot of branching out to publics. It happens, but it's really rare. Most of the OOS games from MIAA teams these days are within the Northeast, but if you consider Maryland Mid-Atlantic (I do), then there is some recent history there. There have been some Ohio and California games (not many), but you don't really ever see games against teams from the Southeast. I know Everett played Deland in 1994 or some year and lost something like 30-6. I don't think Deland made the playoffs there and Everett was a top-20 type team up here.

[Cossacks]

Good write up. Nice to see the chowder heads getting some love 

[Adam Kurkjian]

Everett still has Week 4 open (9/29-9/30). The program has 788 wins and the most games they can play this season as currently constituted is 11. GSB and I have been trying hard to fill that date but it's tough. There is a good in-state option but it hasn't come to fruition for a bunch of reasons.

[Adam Kurkjian]

7 minutes ago, Cossacks said:

Good write up. Nice to see the chowder heads getting some love 

Thanks. But it's chowdah

[Wosinc]

9 hours ago, Adam Kurkjian said:

Obviously on a smaller scale than the national powers, but by New England standards, Everett and Lawrence Academy are putting together some nice teams.

For Everett, it starts with the two juniors, WR/DB Mike Sainristil and safety Lewis Cine. Both offered by BC, and Cine has a Florida one.

Recently, senior transfers Isaiah Likely (WR), RB/LB Kevin Brown and returning starter WR/DB Jason Maitre picked up some FCS offers.

Two more who should grab FCS offers down the line are LB Duane Binns and an OL that goes by Helber (can't find highlights but 6-5, 280).

Edit: Shouldn't leave out WR Anthony Norcia. And this is the QB who will be replacing now UConn frosh Jordan McAfee, Jake Willcox. Played a little as a freshman but got injured. Will be a junior.

There could be more coming in the lower classes we don't know about yet. At this point, though, this is a good group. They have to replace a lot of linemen, but they'll start off No. 1 in Mass. among the public/Catholic programs (MIAA).

Lawrence Academy is the team that Maxpreps ranked tops in Mass. in the state-by-state list. They have three kids committed to BC, mostly linemen (Finn Dirstine, Ryan Betro, Joey Luchetti). They picked up a couple transfers at the skill positions (Justin Barron and Spencer Aronson) and have a good sophomore quarterback, Brady Martin. They're probably the top team in Mass. among the NEPSAC/ISL group.

As I've said in another post, MIAA and NEPSAC teams are never ranked together up here in any of the papers, websites. It will be interesting to see if that changes. I can see it happening at one of the websites before one of the newspapers. I'd take Everett for now, but obviously would need to see them play.

Unless some drastic scheduling changes took place over the winter, there are few to no games between the publics and the preps.  Maybe some scrimmages.  Any ranking that includes both would mostly be a WAG.

Is there something afoot we should know about?

[Adam Kurkjian]

25 minutes ago, Wosinc said:

Unless some drastic scheduling changes took place over the winter, there are few to no games between the publics and the preps.  Maybe some scrimmages.  Any ranking that includes both would mostly be a WAG.

Is there something afoot we should know about?

Well, there are certain websites that are doing it with lacrosse. When I've been a party to discussions regarding the issue, the lack of interplay like you mentioned is always the sticking point. However, all polling in general deals with this problem in some form or fashion. That's why they're done, because not everything is settled on the field. We can play the common opponents and strength of schedule game all we want, but at the end of the day, any poll is subjective. In that respect, it's hard to completely exclude the NEPSAC teams if you think they're deserving. It is almost an exercise in futility, like you said, but it's something that has been seriously considered by people who run websites on local HS sports since 2010.

[Wosinc]

I certainly think the NEPSAC/ISL teams should be included.  I think they could be competive with the major publics and the Catholic Conference teams.

The problem I see is that they are really inbred in the scheduling department.  They only play 7-8 games, keeping to themselves.

Once in a while a NEPSAC team will play a true OOS game with somebody like the Lawrenceville school in NJ, but rarely.  I don't count the Mass/Conn/Vermont games because they play each other all the time.

Most of the NEPSAC teams don't even play the ISL teams, unless it's in the final round of the New England tournament.

Meanwhile the publics and CC teams play 11-15 games and mix up their schedules, so you get a good shakeout of how they stack up against each other.

I really think any joint ranking, although it might be interesting, will be suspect until we get a fair number of head-to-head games.

And I don't think this will happen anytime soon because the preps seem to have no desire to play the publics.

[Gospeeder]

Thanks Adam. Its nice to hear about areas outside of what is usually posted about. Everett has some history up there and I wouldn't sell them short in any given year it they were to schedule OOS.

[Adam Kurkjian]

15 minutes ago, Wosinc said:

I certainly think the NEPSAC/ISL teams should be included.  I think they could be competive with the major publics and the Catholic Conference teams.

The problem I see is that they are really inbred in the scheduling department.  They only play 7-8 games, keeping to themselves.

Once in a while a NEPSAC team will play a true OOS game with somebody like the Lawrenceville school in NJ, but rarely.  I don't count the Mass/Conn/Vermont games because they play each other all the time.

Most of the NEPSAC teams don't even play the ISL teams, unless it's in the final round of the New England tournament.

Meanwhile the publics and CC teams play 11-15 games and mix up their schedules, so you get a good shakeout of how they stack up against each other.

I really think any joint ranking, although it might be interesting, will be suspect until we get a fair number of head-to-head games.

And I don't think this will happen anytime soon because the preps seem to have no desire to play the publics.

It's more the other way around. The publics are wary of playing the preps because they're afraid their best players will be recruited away. The preps are content to play each other (and like you said, are a self-contained organism), but the teams have gotten so much better in recent years that, simply in my discussions with people, they feel it's ridiculous to not even be in the same conversation.

Your reservations though are valid, and people around here would be pissed, because it would push more publics out. The public/Catholic thing is already a big divider, so adding NEPSAC schools into the mix would make things even worse.

[Wosinc]

The preps have been recruiting pub players for years.  It used to be they would grab a graduate (or several) and treat him/them to an all-expenses-paid year at an elite school.  We called them PGs, or Ringers.  This would cause no end of hard feelings when a guy who had paid his dues for three years or so and thought he was going to start his senior year suddenly found 'his' spot taken by a Ringer.

Is it worse now?  Are the preps going after underclassmen?

[Adam Kurkjian]

Yes, kids are getting poached sooner by certain schools. Some more aggressive in their recruiting than others.

And the Maitre kid was offered by BC I think today.

[AztecPadre]

Adam do you know much about RI hsfb? Wish I had taken in more games when I was there but Providence seemed to be dominated by Catholic schools. Took in a couple when some teammates took us.

[Adam Kurkjian]

4 hours ago, AztecPadre said:

Adam do you know much about RI hsfb? Wish I had taken in more games when I was there but Providence seemed to be dominated by Catholic schools. Took in a couple when some teammates took us.

Bishop Hendricken and La Salle Academy are both really good (for here). Not sure who else is going to be in the mix this year, but generally the depth (of course in a state that size) drops off pretty quickly.