Post 508 – Bull Session 2020 – Year End For 2019

I did not plan on being this late, but I was worn down at the end of the season and kept putting this off. I have a new full-time job the last few months that I am very content with, but it also cuts into my time for doing things such as these. Personally, I needed a little time away from this to recharge. Anyway, let’s get to some bull…..Now that the season is over and the regional championships are complete, the state is close to the crossroads on how to proceed with the playoffs. I think they either have to go to full state champions at the public school level or go back to ending it with sectional champions. The way it has been done the last two years leaves things in limbo: do they go with just regional champions? Many fans in New Jersey don’t care. Yes, I do know they have voted on changing the language in the state by-laws to allow state championships and we shall see what happens there…..As for the Catholics, I think it’s time for two non-public groups instead of three. DePaul and St. Joe’s (Hammonton) had three byes in four weeks and that is not the way to go…..What I noticed in the games at Rutgers was last year’s losers in the Bowl games are this year’s winners: Williamstown, Shawnee, Woodrow Wilson, Hillside, and Holy Spirit. The only one that did not win was Mater Dei and they made it interesting…..The WIlliamstown-Cherokee game could have been called the Politically Incorrect Bowl, with the Williamstown Braves vs. the Cherokee Chiefs. …..Players in that weekend who jumped out at me were Malik Harvey of Woodrow Wilson, Anthony DePalma of Wayne Valley, Andrew Sanborn of Union, Teddy Afful of DePaul, and Nate Summerville of Shawnee…..One thing I did notice was the music between the games was better at Rutgers than it was at Giants Stadium…..I put out the final polls and the Group 1-2 Publics and it was interesting. I am secure with having Hillside as the #1 team, but Willingboro made me think very hard about it and that’s a credit to them……Speaking of Willingboro, they had an outstanding team, but those white jerseys with white numbers have to go. They have a lot of good players and it is very hard to identify them with that jersey…..With Rutgers in the news for the Greg Schiano hire, a tip of the hat goes to Monmouth for making the 1-AA/FCS playoffs and winning their first round game against Holy Cross. They lost to James Madison in the second round, who is playing in the final on January 11……I have mentioned this before, but public school football in South Jersey is better than North Jersey and Central Jersey. There are a few reasons why and I may expand on it in later articles…..One current trend is teams that wear helmets that look like Christmas ornaments. Think the gold ones at Bergen Catholic and the red ones at Northern Highlands, to name two. I prefer the more traditional shiny ones – not the matte ones – but I may be an old fart…..Pet Peeves: the term “called out.” Why is it calling out, instead of disagreeing? It makes it sound as if somebody said something and is now hiding from it. This is a term as condescending as “not so fast.”…..While not a pet peeve, I am getting tired of the term “culture change” when something new happens somewhere…..That’s it for now, I will be back soon with some more bull!