Interesting development both for the 757 high school power structure and the future of this new private school league being formed.
http://pilotonline.com/sports/high-school/football/ocean-lakes-football-...
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That's a huge development. A lot of 2017 talent at Ocean Lakes. One of VT's biggest targets is Khalan Laborn that is following Coach Scott to Bishop Sullivan Catholic.
Think it's an opportunity for another great TKP interview feature of Coach Scott.
Saw Laborn play against Oscar Smith this year. He was by far the best player on the field.
Laborn's tape is pretty ridiculous. I know it's against high school level competition, but he makes a lot of insane catches and has really good balance/speed for a high school junior.
That dude has a strong beard game.
I'm confused, what "elite Catholic league" is Bishop Sulivan going to join? There are only a handful of Catholic High Schools with football programs in the whole state.
Is it too far to to play the NOVA catholic schools?
Between Benedictine in Richmond and Catholic Schools in NOVA and Tidewater they may get 8 games but some of them would not be elite teams. From Benedictine we traveled to NOVA, Tidewater, Raleigh, Charlotte, Mountains and MD to get games every year, plus playing at least one public school in Richmobd area.
Keep in mind the schedule that teams like Dematha run to stay in the top tier of programs in the country.
Dematha this year played two teams from Florida to start the year that were both top 15 schools, then a top Catholic school in Pennsylvania before getting into their WCAC schedule. I would expect a team run by Coach Scott to maybe take it a step farther, with close to half their games against other national powerhouses.
I would get that but the article talks about some "elite Catholic" league.
It would have to be WCAC in the DC area to start with I assume, just makes for long bus rides, but if you are already willing to fly kids to games, whats a few long bus rides. It would put them up against Gonzaga, Dematha, and Archbishop Carroll at a minimum. Although I wouldnt put it past Scott to have a plan to create a Catholic League in the 757 to bypass the recruiting issues but still be filled with talent. He would have to get alot of people on board for that though, even with his sway down there.
There is only one or two other Catholic high schools with football teams in the Tidewater. It's just weirdly worded.
Soooo has VT offered a staff position yet??
There are numerous D1 recruits still on the OL roster in addition to the RB. Part of Scott's suspension was related to alleged recruiting of local talent and the allure was his ability / infrastructure to get maximum exposure for the kids to get the best scholarship possible.
Will be interesting to see who else may follow and how the OL program evolves or declines. I believe Scott quickly built this program after Beatty left Landstown.
"I believe Scott quickly built this program after Beatty left Landstown."
Absolutely true. I have posted on this before...
As longtime rec league/Pope Wraner coach Sid Pearl told me, "I don't recruit kids, kids recruit me".
Which is the truth. I never thought Scott was actively recruiting, but when kids/parents want to play together, they are going to figure out how to get it done.
I know parents of some of the current OL players - they love Coach Scott and talk about his commitment to making sure each kid gets as much support / publicity to make sure they get college attention - whether its D1 or D3.
Apparently Laborn had zero college offers after his sophomore season at Cox HS because none of the HS staff was ringing phones and helping cut tapes to send out. During the summer before his junior year (after transferring to OL), he got several offers from FBS and a few D1 just because the OL staff helped kick-off the process.
Parent have told me that Coach Scott will get your kids into college, likely with some financial support even if he's a role player on Special Teams - that's why people are moving into the district to play for this guy.
Good info. Sorry to hear that about Cox, but I am not all that surprised. When Allosso was at the helm, it was a different story. He had a lot of connections in the northeast and got even less talented kids into good schools - Holy Cross, for example. Allosso was the reason I bought a house in the Cox district. I wanted my son to play for him. But in Laborn's case, I suspect there was more to leaving Cox for OL than the lack of promotional effort. The end of your sophomore year is hardly the time to push the panic button.
As for Coach Scott...he is everything you want a HS coach to be, IMO.
Agree there is probably more to the story than reported about Laborn's transfer especially after the suspension of coach Stachelski from Cox. Per the local rumors of the incident, I doubt he will be back next year.
This article explains more:
http://fb.me/225h6LtSB
Joining WCAC.
Whoever wrote that needs to do some research. O'Connel left WCAC football and if Bishop Sulivan are playing in the WCAC they are not eligible for the VIS playoffs.
interesting--private school football in the 757 is OK but nothing like the powerhouse public school programs in the peninsula and southside of Tidewater. will be following Bishop Sullivan's progress with Coach Scott to see how this works out. if successful, i can see something in the mold of California's Mater Dei
It will likely be like a Dematha of the 757 imo.
So..the Bishop Sullivan Catholic Thoroughbreds?
Or does VT still have a good standing with this guy?
That was my question, how is our relationship with Scott and how much will it change with a new staff in place for us?
There is a current freshman from Ocean Lakes at VT. He played special teams and could be looking at time in the secondary next season. Jahque Alleyne.
but was Scott a guy pushing players away from VT? 1 player is good but not a large sample size.
IF that was the case should we be asking if Bayside, Lake Taylor, Western Branch, or other teams in the 757 are pushing guys away. There are only about 15 players from the entire 757 on the roster at the moment and only Salem, Oscar Smith, Phoebus, and Hampton have more than one player.
I don't think he played favorites (and was above board with the schools) however I do not believe he over-supports the in-state schools either. Many of his big-time recruits went out of state from Florida to Arizona. He seems very neutral based upon how his players have fanned out across a number of D1 schools.
I hope the private schools dont start taking over football too. I mean who would you want on your team, the kid who takes the bus from Chesapeake to Portsmouth or Varina to Highland Springs to play some tough as nails kids in a game or a high schoooler who is flown around the country playing games like they are already a professional?
You know private school teams take buses too.
Pretty much every game unless they have one of the big early season match-ups several states away. Even for those they often charter buses unless it is very far. It takes a ridiculous amount of money to fly a football team and equipment so very few schools will have that.
Yea in four years at Benedictine we bused from Richmond to PA, MD, NC, FL and were supposed to be in NYC but 9/11 happened.
Whoever can run a 4.2 40 and hit like a mac truck
I would take every one of those kids at the IMG Academy in Florida.
That's the new model. More and more of these private schools will recruit the best public school players like they do in basketball. The way we know HS Football will change drastically over the next decade. In Virginia, the rural schools won't change much.
Updated article with more details on the newly formed Catholic league and schedule. Also, appears there will be a decent amount of people following, although the $13k / year may be a challenge given they do not currently offer athletic scholarships - we'll see how long that lasts.
http://pilotonline.com/sports/high-school/football/q-a-on-chris-scott-s-...
Someone's trying to build a DeMatha in the 757.
So this would make an interesting season.
Paul VI probably making this move to finally win titles in basketball. Having this small a group also allows Scott the flexibility to add as many as five nationally relevant games.
Not sure Benedictine will agree to a basketball conference. They are a national team on the basketball side.
No but alumni and diocese assistance for partial scholarships has always been very widely available,e for parents wishing to get their kids into Catholic schools.
There are no athletic scholarships per say but a very significant amount of help based on need.