A Parliament of Owls and a Litter of Bulldogs

     There is a lot of craziness going on in sports this weekend. Final drives producing miraculous victories for teams like Ohio State, who came from behind to beat #2 Penn State. Or Arkansas, coming from 24 down, to blind side Ole Miss (Sandra Bullock movie reference allowed). How about Iowa State upsetting TCU? Notre Dame defeating two ranked teams in 2 weeks, thereby interjecting themselves into the FBS Playoff picture?

     The Texans and the Seahawks dueled to the end with Seattle winning in a shootout. Houston played extraordinarily, notwithstanding the inane and insensitive comments made by Texans' owner Bob Mc Nair. Then there was the madness that the Dodgers and Astros have shown, redefining the World Series drama seemingly every game as Houston is on the verge of winning it all. Plus Florida sacked its beleaguered head coach after being shellacked by Georgia.

     So many stories this week. But one that has bothered me for awhile is oe far away from the world of college and professional sports. It involves high school football in New Jersey and, specifically, the two schools I have the most interest in--my alma mater, Highland Park, and my children's school, Jonathan Dayton High School.

     Dayton and Highland Park have lost all but one game--and that one win came in Springfield on September 28 when Dayton soundly defeated Highland Park 42-17. Dayton opened the season with a close loss at home to Belvidere High School. Otherwise, in the other 5 games the Bulldogs have played,  they have surrendered at least 41 points and as much as 61. Dayton has not scored in its last 2 games. South Hunterdon is left on the Bulldogs' regular season schedule this Friday night in Lambertville; they sport the same 1-7 record that Dayton has.

     Highland Park has had similar results to that of Dayton and South Hunterdon. The Owls have experienced big losses, but in the 6 games they have played, the team has been only been shut out once. Arch rival Metuchen awaits in the annual Thanksgiving Day match up.

     Why do I point these game out when the glamour of college and pro sports beckons? First, it is to show the disparity of even high school sports when football is played on a minimal level as opposed to when it is recruited. The focus of The Star-Ledger, New Jersey's biggest newspaper, is not on the world of small Group 1 schools. Instead, the headlines go to the big parochial schools like Bergen Catholic, St. Peter's Prep and Don Bosco Prep and the larger public schools like Montclair and Timber Creek. Perennial power Paramus Catholic, in the midst of a rare down year and sporting a 3-5 record, still remains ranked in the Top 20.

     Private schools recruit players who might normally have remained on their local high school rosters. This goes on in football and basketball, where the rankings are rarely including public high schools. It is the systems who have large populations to draw from and organized youth football to teach the kids at an early age who attain success season after season. Unfortunately, even some public schools have cheated by recruiting out-of-district athletes to obtain an advantage.

     I see Dayton practicing a couple of times per week. The team barely has enough bodies to conduct a practice. At the start of the season, the team had 34 players. Visually, that number is less.

     Lately, Highland Park has dressed 17 players for its games. Only a precious few players had much experience. The quarterback is a transfer from Group 4 Woodbridge High School, where he was a tight end. A girl plays on the line for the Owls, so desperate to field bodies. South River graduate and former NFL star QB Joe Theisman praised the efforts of the Owls, urging them to continue the season with the same kind of fortitude and resolve they showed when South River handily beat Highland Park.

     While I was living in Highland Park, football was synonymous with winning under legendary coach Jay Dakelman. Routinely, undefeated seasons were the norm. College players regularly emerged from the program. Rarely were there losing seasons, and the freshman teams were sizable and the varsity abounded with talented players. The school was bigger than the 300 plus students now attending HPHS. Talented multi-sport athletes were the norm. This aura was perpetuated under Joe Policastro, who played for Dakelman.

     It has been a struggle for Highland Park and Dayton. Dayton has recently been more known for its soccer teams, and indeed, Highland Park has had success with boys' tennis and this season with girls' soccer. While Highland Park had its all-time leading TD passer graduate last year, it appears that it will take a long time before they become competitive again--if ever.

     Same thing at Dayton, who has had some talented players through the past few years, including one who started as a defensive back at Rutgers and who was a final cut by the Oakland Raiders this year. For a lengthy period, due to swindling numbers, Dayton did not even field a football team, instead sending its players to nearby David Brearley High School in Kenilworth. Despite a youth football program in town, the vast numbers of kids playing on the multi-surface field at the high school are participating in soccer.

     In New Jersey, a couple of public high schools suspended their programs this season because there simply was not enough numbers to justify having a team and jeopardizing the health of those who played. Theisman and Highland Park may be enthusiastic about an undersized but determined team; being perpetually undermanned in a small talent pool necessarily is recipe that may not be very good at all. Dayton, with its glistening turf field and the lights and stands surrounding this gem, probably feels compelled to keep on competing in football--even with very little opportunity to have winning squads.

     Where do small schools draw the line about football? What will it take to have them reconsider continuing to lose and expose kids to injury when they are called upon to play more than their bodies can handle? As much as the present HPHS coach talks about the numbers being cyclical and that 30-34 participants is the norm, is tradition paramount in still fielding a team this and in future years when the numbers of players, no matter how much heart they demonstrate, are not supportive? Those questions, and the answers therefrom, are left to the townspeople, the respective Boards of Education and the administrators to be responsive to the children and their safety.

     Football is a violent sport. The targeting of defenseless players, while being cracked down in both college and the National Football League, invariably has led to a multitude of concussions and broken bones. Look what happened on Thursday night when Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco, a South Jersey native, was knocked out of the game by a vicious hit from a Miami Dolphins' defender who ran full speed at Flacco while the QB was trying to slide in order to not be hit. Flacco was dazed; he now is in concussion protocol and received several stitches, the result of his helmet flying off when he was hit so hard in the head area.

     High school players are not immune to these kinds of hits. But when the numbers dwindle, the risk factor for injury dramatically increases when smaller, less gifted athletes are placed in harms way against more talented and larger squads who can routinely put fresher personnel onto the field. At the collegiate level, both Swarthmore College and Haverford College, two prestigious small, liberal arts institutions  gave up football for many of the reasons which must be considered today.

     Thus, when watching the NFL or FBS or FCS college games, take a moment to think about the student athletes at Dayton and Highland Park playing the game they love, not for glory. Say a little prayer for their continued safety as they progress towards the end of the season. That is the least we can do at this time.