Comments on: Week 9: Prep football recap from Friday night

By: hoops

hoops — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:21:29 +0000

I would love someone who actually played at DLS or had a son who played to post the hours per week,12 months out of the year,DLS players have to put in to be in that program.
Lad is an exceptional coach,but is he 40 points better than the MV coach or the Foothill coach?
DlS FB and BASKTBALL programs demand and get players who are willing to put in so many more hours year round than 99% of schools in the bay area.They execute so well because of the countless hours of repetition along with the discipline the coaches demand.
Let me also point out before we annoint sainthood here that the NCS has strict rules about when you can practice and they are broken and bent in a 12 month 360 days a year setting,believe me.

By: junior

junior — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 22:32:32 +0000

Gotta love the Pitt fans- they have what it takes! So are the Pirate players- they always play hard and physical vs the Green Machine. KIR- you da man.

By: BigDog

BigDog — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 22:14:39 +0000

At one time San Leandro had 3 high schools. They now have 1. They draw from East Oakland, CV, Hayward and San Lorenzo. That team should be in the hunt Every year like they did during the Dixon years and afterwards.

By: BigDog

BigDog — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:57:54 +0000

Ghalktalk hit the nail on the head about some kids not belonging on the field.
At DLS freshman and JV teams are taught to tackle and block successfully. They are taught to gang tackle and not to be afraid, be aggresive and take it to your opponent before they get you.
The point of this is clear. Unless you are fielding Frosh/JV teams who have extensive pop warner experience, there are a lot of kids that don’t like contact or to be hit. They start in frosh and unless completely prepared for all the contact, shy away. It is not fun to be hit or make tackles aS A FROSH UNLESS IT’S IN YOU OR YOU ARE TAUGHT AGGRESIVENESS. The size of frosh and JV teams out there are usually small. Some of those kids aren’t going to play 4 yrs of football.
I believe the success of any program starts at frosh/JV and the need for excellent coaches to teach this.
How many programs can claim big efforts in this area.
I watched MV JV get beat 55-08 last week and Dls JV were beat earlier in the yr by St. Marys Stockton. MV did not look prepared to play. The coaching on this level is not up to par. Some schools can’t field a frosh team, a big disadvantage.
I would say Pitt and Logan have good insite to developing these entrance teams.

By: BigDog

BigDog — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:48:20 +0000

In the 50′s and 60′s Bellarmine was a boarding school. Many students were boarded there and played football. Bellarmine’s success during these decades is legiondary, similar to DLS.
At SMCHS in the 60′s and 70′s they had kids from Berkely, Oakland, SF, Concord, Martinez, El Cerrito, Richmond, Emeryville, Hayward. Many of these kids played football.
The point is lots of kids including football kids come from a wide variety of cities surrounding the school.
To beleive that DLS should have only kids from Concord and Walnut Creek is ridicious. The surrounding cities like the 2 schools mentioned would be antioh, pittsburg, danville,alamo, san ramon, richmond, hercules.

By: BigDog

BigDog — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:36:44 +0000

KIR- the O line grad their entire starting lineup last year. Amazing reserves and kids up from JV’s filling in that well.

By: chalktalk

chalktalk — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:09:56 +0000

I SURE HOPE SAN LEANDRO DOESNT GO 0-10
THERE’S LIKE 3000 KIDS AT THAT SCHOOL PLUS
its a great bunch of guys over there
lets go pirates finish up strong!!!

By: KIR

KIR — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:30:21 +0000

Great points made by all (except Junior, LMAO). Yes DLS’s O – Line is the best around, and to Juniors credit DLS’s O – line is typically smaller, stout tough guys who work as a unit. Can’t argue that. But the fact remains your much better with that awesome line and MJD, Kevin Simon, Ward, etc.. running the ball behind that line. Then your avg RB. They bring in top notch players to add to the top notch coaching and program..

With all that said I don’t want them going anywhere to any other league, put them back in the BVAL please. I rather play the Green Monster every year and loose then not have a chance to play them.. One day PITT will again get the green monkey off their back! Beat em or go done tryin…… And I hope it’s a year where they got 7-8 PIttsburg kids playing there like this year damn it!!

By: Prep Fan

Prep Fan — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:48:47 +0000

You might be getting a little bit off track with Olympic comparisons there Barefoot. A large population is obviously not the only thing DLS has going for it, but it certainly is one of the components of the perfect storm that has been DLS football over the past 30 years or so.

It is entertaining to see people try to minimnize everything except coaching, dedication and effort in attempts to sway people to believe that it can be done at other schools such as YV or Livermore if they just hired the right coach or if their kids were more dedicated. It is a conglomeration of a lot of things that have helped DLS to become the most storied program in the history of HS football (movie to come), open enrollment, and being in a large area with a diverse population to draw from without other large privates nearby just being part of the equation.

Certainly, DLS has many great coaches, they work very hard, are dedicated and make a lot of sacrifices during the summer and the school year, but most people can see that there are many other factors involved as well.

By: barefoot

barefoot — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:15:59 +0000

The point I am making is that although being able to draw from a larger population statistically improves your odds of getting better athletes, it is not the primary reason for DLS success. If having a large population to pull from equated to success, than why does India not have a great Olympic team. If you look at the Olympic medal per capita here are the top five: Medals Population Population per Medal
1 Grenada 1 110,821 110,821
2 Jamaica 12 2,705,827 225,485
3 Trinidad4 1,317,714 329,428
4 New Zealand13 4,432,620 340,970
5 Bahamas 1 353,658 353,658