Schools not in the Top 10 (And Should Be)

[ShreveDad]

H does a great job of getting us info on the top 10 teams. Give us info on your school and make the case why they should be included.

[coachray40]

St Amant Gators--though I think they are poised to move into the top 10 with a good week and some losses by other teams. Gators are 5-0, have scored 29 goals and have beaten quality teams in BRHS and Woodlawn. Still lack some "quality wins" and have to shake the "Baton Rouge is weak" stigma, but this team is steadily improving. If their defense gets better ( and recent lineup changes should help that) they will be a force in 5A. Gators have a chance to prove themselves in the next 10 days, with games this week against LEE (wednesday) East Ascension (Saturday--always tough crosstown rivalry) and the big one with DUTCHTOWN next Tuesday (12/21). Favorable results in each of these games should propel St Amant into the Top 10.

[Bish]

Aren't you St. Amants coach?

[coachray40]

Nothing like a little shameless self promotion ;D

We have good squad and have gotten the results. Does that make it wrong for me to think my team doesnt deserve a look? No. Should we be in the top 5--No, but we do deserve a look at the top 10. Next 2 weeks will go a long way toward determining our fate with matches against Dutchtown, Bishop Sullivan, and West Feliciana, but we are not an underdog in any of them. Who would you say is playing better RIGHT NOW--St Amant or Comeaux?

[hdkjga]

I haven't seen St. Amant play. I have seen Comeaus throughout the year play top calibur teams though. Who's playing better?? I can't say. Who's played tougher competition and held their own? Comeaux. St. Amant will break into the top 10 if they can get the win over D-town and beat Catholic BR.


I do however have St. Amant tied for #10 in my poll. Comeaux's loss to Acadiana didn't hurt them in my eyes as much as the loss to NISH did. Comeaux has thrived all year on being able to finish 75%+ of their shots and to be shutout by NISH brought them down a little in my mind, but they still are a dangerous team.

[benditlikebckm69]

NO question about it St Amnt is being downgraded by not being in the top ten in division I. Oh by the coach ray how did your gator jv do in that dutchtown tournament and who won it.

[spectator]

Hdkjga raises an excellent point in regards to St. Amant. St. Amant is an excellent team. I ranked them second in the BR area. However, until they play known teams from around the state they will not get recognition. They do play Dutchtown next week and Catholic High twice in January. However, most of the top teams in Division I are playing that that type of competition this wekend alone at the Showcase. Coachray, why doesn't St Amant play in some of the top tournaments or tough out of district competition? This would show the rest of the state the caliber of soccer St Amant can play.

[goat]

my take on st amant is simple. show me quailty wins and i'll vote you in. right now you have 5 wins with only one win over what i consider a quality team,BRHS. scoring 29 goals against lower compitions is not a big deal. I'm not saying st amant won't ever be in the top ten but i won't vote them in until i see quality wins. beat d-town and then i will start looking at you in a different light.

[coachray40]

Oh... the lovers :-*and the haters . I think everyone makes good points to the pros and cons of our team. I'll answer some of the questions as best I can. As to schedule---I inherited the program right at the end of the school year. Those who know HS soccer know that schedules are made in March, and we were not able to get onto most upper echelon teams schedules in June, July and August. We were able to add Dutchtown, EA, Lee and Episcopal, but that was it. Andrew Barnes at Woodlawn helped us out with scheduling by getting us into the City Championship. We started training with 13 out of 30 players due to football/cross country/swimming/premier, and didnt get our team together until after Thanksgiving. When we did get everyone in, some were so beat up from football that they needed time off. As so many people have pointed out, its not about winning tournaments and friendlies, its about advancing in the playoffs, so while we might have been able to get into a Tournament or two, we felt it best to give our players time to recover. We like the results, as we are getting healthier as time goes on and also more fit. Some folks are implying that we are ducking the big teams--not at all. We would love to play against anybody. I certainly would like to have the big gate that high end teams would bring in. We have been trying to workout a game with St Thomas More, but cannot find a date that is open for both of us, and doesnt interfere with finals. We have D-town, Catholic(x2) BRHS(x2), Bishop Sullivan, and Episcopal on our schedule, so we do have some tough teams. We do have plans to attend the Showcase next year. We will continue to go to the City Championship,as we feel that it is proper for teams in and around BTR to do. If we win our bracket there, then we will probably play either Dutchtown again, or Brother Martin.

As for goal scoring and games, we just beat Central, who plays a system similar to NISH(seven players packing the box and 3 guys running up front), and scored 9 goals against them. Unlike Comeaux with NISH, we won, and won handily--like we were supposed to. I think Comeaux has a fine team, and are deserving of all the recogniton they have gotten up to this point. The question I asked earler was simple--Who is playing better RIGHT NOW? i think we are a team very similar to Comeaux--excellent starting 11 with limited depth who can play with and sometimes beat the big boys. I think the difference is that we have a better attack with a couple of big time goalscorers where Comeaux is more organized and better on defense.

As for our JV--its exactly that-JV. We dont cut anyone, and if you come to practice and do the work then you can play on JV. We look at our JV as being developmental and for fun--almost like rec. We are getting a lot of kids a chance to play and get the touches they need to improve, and they are. We did fine at Dutchtown, and although we didnt win(2 draws and a loss)our kids got the chance they needed to play and gain experience. Thats what we wanted to do. Some say our JV left something to be desired--so what? ITS JV.

Thanks to all of you with compliments to our program. We will try to continue to improve, so that we can get some recogniton later in the season. If not, then we will look forward to seeing some of you in the playoffs.

[PutMeInCoach2]

It's hard to judge a team, when it isn't playing teams in or around the top 10... Although, i realize it is not your fault, its hard to judge teams like this... Especially since i don't have the luxery of heading out to see teams playin in lafayette, baton rouge, new orleans, shreve port and such... So the only times i really get to see these teams play is in tournaments i attend...

At this point i have comeaux above st. amant for the fact, they do have a win against a quality oppenant... I know they been strugglin, but will they recover fast enough to save there season? That is the whole key...

In the next week it will probally tell if comeaux stays in top 10 or drops out of it... That will leave an opening for another person...


This is where the trickery comes in... Many people do not see Central Lafourche play, yet they are ranked in the top 10... They have loss to Brother Martin 3-0, first game of season, and lost to lafayette 6-0 in the semis of the sulphur tournament... Everybody knows that a team is better when they are fresh, but how will that affect them...

They do have quality win against sulphur 2-1 (sulphur tournament 3rd game ), who at the time who was ranked in the top 10... Other then that they been quietly being in the top 10 without any questions being asked... Don't get me wrong, i do think they belong there, its just im amazed that with the little attention they get because they are from District 6, that nobody askes how they got there.. Is it people still think there the team last year? Are they really that good? Are they getting lucky?... These things aren't asked which really amazes me...

If Central Lafourche would fall out, i think that would still not open the spot up to st. amant... I think in most people's minds, Dutchtown, and Mandeville are better teams... Are they really, or they going off of past year's success... Since St. Amant was hardly ever heard of last year, it's hard for them to get into the top 10... It's not your fault as a coach, and there is nothing you can do 2 help it.. It's just people are not use to St. Amant having a quality team, therefore they are not compared to the comeaux's, who alot of people see play because they are in a tough division...

Now if all that jiberish makes since is the key lol... I think with me saying that it will probally hurt Central Lafourche in some polls... I think that it shouldn't, but it probally will....

[PutMeInCoach2]

honestly there are about 4-5 teams that could ahve that #10 spot... To solve that people should probally make a top 15 poll and that will show you who is the borderline to being in it

[rocksccrstar]

putmein,

GREAT IDEA!!

[soccerstud722]

I agree w/ ur suggestion in theory, but then the dispute would just turn into who is a deserving top 15 team. leave it at the top ten and just win to prove urself, eventually ull get recognized.

[PutMeInCoach2]

the reason i said top 15, is because at this point i think there are only 5 teams to get that #10 spot... Although more will come up during the season...

The coaches poll as a small issue way of addressing this, by putting also receiving votes... That tells you the teams almost getting into the poll...

In theory you have to stick to something or else it will always expand without a doubt... If i would have to expand it, it wouldn't be top 15, but adding my running up(s) for that #10 spot, but then people would also want to know why they aren't in that... So its a lose, lose situation

[hdkjga]

I can add bubble teams if people would like. I can tell you that this past top 10 bubble teams were St. Amant, Mandeville, and Cro in that order.


Mandeville is another team noone is talking about. I had Northshore in my top 10 a week ago, but they dropped a game or two. Mandeville, I think is undefeated in the Northshore district and only has 1 loss on the season.

[MHS1]

I'd also like to see a top 15.

Mandeville is now focused. No more foolishness is tolerated. We have been playing well in district and we have Northshore tonight and Covington on Friday.

We dropped a 2-1 game to St Thomas in the opener. They play several young kids, and our senior-laden team did not take the game seriously. Then we gave up a goal to Fontainebleau when our keeper hit the post and laid down, and we decided not to let the other team in our defensive third.

We can start 10 seniors and one junior. This is our year.

[LAsoccer1317]

I'm not quite sure yet if Caddo Magnet should be considered in the top ten, but definately not a throw-out. We've had 3 games and won all three but they weren't anything to brag about. Our games vs. Byrd and Captain Shreve had been canceled due to rain but should be re-scheduled soon. Magnet has the Parkway tournament coming up this weekend and should be an easy winner. After that, Covington the day after Christmas, where we shall play Vandebilt, Mandeville, and Newman. All three great teams, and hopefully we can prove ourselves down there but it's going to be tough. Just don't count us out yet...

[lasoccerplay12]

It's been a slow start to the season, but Magnet should finally get some competition in Covington, along with two games in the Parkway Tournament (Airline and Byrd). Hopefully they can get some respect down south, much as Shreve has after their tournament games.

[PutMeInCoach2]

I honestly doubt they will... They play airline & byrd... two teams from the north that the south already don't get to see play much... Covington isn't as strong as some people think... Although a win over them will get a little glance in there direction

[m]

I don't think he meant they play Covington. I think he meant they play in Covington in the St. Paul's tourny with Vandebilt, Newman and Mandeville in their bracket.