Shelby High School's football team plays at South Pointe Rock Hill (SPRH) next Friday, September 22.
Shelby is the current 2A NC State Champion for the fourth consecutive year and sits at 5-0 this season. All five wins have been against larger classification schools.
SPRH is the current 4A SC State Champion for the third consecutive year as they won it as 3A for 2014 and 2015, before SC went to 5 classes. They are also 5-0.
Some have said this is the biggest regular season game in the region this year.
Others say it is the biggest game along the mid-Atlantic coast.
WBTV has SPRH and Shelby ranked #1 and #2. Last year, the final ranking was reversed.
The proported interest in this game certainly makes it worthy of discussion on this 4A board along with the fact that 4A South Pointe has recently played and defeated a NC 4A Championship program.
There have been comments that this matchup is a referendum on NC vs SC high school football.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Shelby has 845 students.
SPHS has 1300 students.
Charlotte's Mallard Creek High School (MC) has 2500 students.
Last year, MC was the reigning three time 4A NC State Champion, the classification that represents the largest public high schools in NC. They chose to play then against SPRH, a school half their size, and promptly lost. MC had also played Dillon SC earlier last year and barely won. Dillon High is the size of Shelby High.
So what does this mean?
Nothing for most of us high school football fans who simply enjoy watching good football played at all levels and understand why classifications exist and state governing bodies differ.
But it means everything to those whose high school football world never sees beyond the largest schools and the common sense fact that the largest schools generally exist in the largest media centers and receive the bulk of attention. Sadly, those people will never understand that true high school football success is not measured by how many times a given school is recognized and promoted by a municiple media and subsequently gains national mention. It is not a popularity contest. To quote Vince Lombardi, it is the measure of what you accomplish with what you have. And while publicity is fun for all temporarily, Championships are what remain, long after press clippings, television coverage, and rankings have quickly been forgotten and faded.
Sustained success within public high school football history becomes the most desired goal so as to positively affect the most players, coaches, parents, fans, and communities, regardless of school size and classification.
So what does this have to do with Shelby playing at SPRH?
Classifications among public high schools for the purpose of fair athletic competition has been routinely misunderstood, ignored, and even attacked.
Many that comment on these prep football boards, thinly veil their shortsightedness by comparing high school classes to the NCAA separation of its divisions (FBS, FCS, Div II, Div III). Those divisions are based on numbers of scholarships, money allocations, facilities, and recruiting. None (0) of those distinctions exist in NC high school football. Nor are the colleges divided by student population. FBS has 40,000 student schools and 8000 student schools with identical governing factors.
There are zero (0) similarities between the NCAA divisions and NC high school classifications.
So how do we compare the classes?
Poker.
5 card stud.
Based on student population, the ONLY comparable measure, Shelby with 845 students gets 5 cards to form a hand from.
No guarantees on how good a hand from year to year.
SPRH with 1300 students gets to draw 8 cards from a different deck. They discard 3 cards to form the best 5 card hand to play. Again, the cards vary from year to year.
Mallard Creek with 2500 students draws 15 cards from its own fresh deck. They then discard 10 cards to form their best 5 card hand.
Which school should overwelmingly have the best hand year after year?
Could Shelby have 4 aces?
Could MC have just a pair of 2s and a pair of 3s?
Of course.
But the odds are astronomically against that happening.
Someone recently posted that a 4A school should never have a "bad" football team because of poor players.
That is true due to the numbers alone.
So while Shelby will play SPRH who has the best "ace" player in SC along with other clear advantages, we don't sweat any ridiculous conclusions that some may voice whether we win, lose, or get blown out. The fact we are taking the field against them is absurd to start with. MC should have dominated RHSP and Dillon both last year. The lingering fact that did not happen should be of greater concern to the 4A crowd than Shelby's performance Friday.
Shelby has nothing to prove.
In the last 50 years, the Golden Lions have won more games and Championships against their similar 5 card stud opponents than any other school of any other class. And they have won consistently. They defeat larger schools all the time.
What Shelby faithful concern themselves with is not one inconsequential game against a larger state champion level foe that should defeat us convincingly. No, after dominating our SIXTH consecutive decade of play, we prefer to discuss what it will take to dominate the NEXT decade and beyond. Our success is generational as well as annual.That is why we can correctly claim to be the "True Dynasty" of NC public high school football.
So will Shelby be competitive and possibly win Friday night against SPRH?
We hope so. But we will keep it in perspective.
We'll see what's in the cards.
Shelby is the current 2A NC State Champion for the fourth consecutive year and sits at 5-0 this season. All five wins have been against larger classification schools.
SPRH is the current 4A SC State Champion for the third consecutive year as they won it as 3A for 2014 and 2015, before SC went to 5 classes. They are also 5-0.
Some have said this is the biggest regular season game in the region this year.
Others say it is the biggest game along the mid-Atlantic coast.
WBTV has SPRH and Shelby ranked #1 and #2. Last year, the final ranking was reversed.
The proported interest in this game certainly makes it worthy of discussion on this 4A board along with the fact that 4A South Pointe has recently played and defeated a NC 4A Championship program.
There have been comments that this matchup is a referendum on NC vs SC high school football.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Shelby has 845 students.
SPHS has 1300 students.
Charlotte's Mallard Creek High School (MC) has 2500 students.
Last year, MC was the reigning three time 4A NC State Champion, the classification that represents the largest public high schools in NC. They chose to play then against SPRH, a school half their size, and promptly lost. MC had also played Dillon SC earlier last year and barely won. Dillon High is the size of Shelby High.
So what does this mean?
Nothing for most of us high school football fans who simply enjoy watching good football played at all levels and understand why classifications exist and state governing bodies differ.
But it means everything to those whose high school football world never sees beyond the largest schools and the common sense fact that the largest schools generally exist in the largest media centers and receive the bulk of attention. Sadly, those people will never understand that true high school football success is not measured by how many times a given school is recognized and promoted by a municiple media and subsequently gains national mention. It is not a popularity contest. To quote Vince Lombardi, it is the measure of what you accomplish with what you have. And while publicity is fun for all temporarily, Championships are what remain, long after press clippings, television coverage, and rankings have quickly been forgotten and faded.
Sustained success within public high school football history becomes the most desired goal so as to positively affect the most players, coaches, parents, fans, and communities, regardless of school size and classification.
So what does this have to do with Shelby playing at SPRH?
Classifications among public high schools for the purpose of fair athletic competition has been routinely misunderstood, ignored, and even attacked.
Many that comment on these prep football boards, thinly veil their shortsightedness by comparing high school classes to the NCAA separation of its divisions (FBS, FCS, Div II, Div III). Those divisions are based on numbers of scholarships, money allocations, facilities, and recruiting. None (0) of those distinctions exist in NC high school football. Nor are the colleges divided by student population. FBS has 40,000 student schools and 8000 student schools with identical governing factors.
There are zero (0) similarities between the NCAA divisions and NC high school classifications.
So how do we compare the classes?
Poker.
5 card stud.
Based on student population, the ONLY comparable measure, Shelby with 845 students gets 5 cards to form a hand from.
No guarantees on how good a hand from year to year.
SPRH with 1300 students gets to draw 8 cards from a different deck. They discard 3 cards to form the best 5 card hand to play. Again, the cards vary from year to year.
Mallard Creek with 2500 students draws 15 cards from its own fresh deck. They then discard 10 cards to form their best 5 card hand.
Which school should overwelmingly have the best hand year after year?
Could Shelby have 4 aces?
Could MC have just a pair of 2s and a pair of 3s?
Of course.
But the odds are astronomically against that happening.
Someone recently posted that a 4A school should never have a "bad" football team because of poor players.
That is true due to the numbers alone.
So while Shelby will play SPRH who has the best "ace" player in SC along with other clear advantages, we don't sweat any ridiculous conclusions that some may voice whether we win, lose, or get blown out. The fact we are taking the field against them is absurd to start with. MC should have dominated RHSP and Dillon both last year. The lingering fact that did not happen should be of greater concern to the 4A crowd than Shelby's performance Friday.
Shelby has nothing to prove.
In the last 50 years, the Golden Lions have won more games and Championships against their similar 5 card stud opponents than any other school of any other class. And they have won consistently. They defeat larger schools all the time.
What Shelby faithful concern themselves with is not one inconsequential game against a larger state champion level foe that should defeat us convincingly. No, after dominating our SIXTH consecutive decade of play, we prefer to discuss what it will take to dominate the NEXT decade and beyond. Our success is generational as well as annual.That is why we can correctly claim to be the "True Dynasty" of NC public high school football.
So will Shelby be competitive and possibly win Friday night against SPRH?
We hope so. But we will keep it in perspective.
We'll see what's in the cards.
