2025 Central State Eight Updates.
- Thread starter cornerrat
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There's only 17 schools between Rochester* at 681 enrollment for next cycle and Jacksonville at 859 kids.
How long before Jacksonville is a 4A lock? In between these two are some annual playoff teams that I noticed, quick glancing...
Wheaton St. Francis
Morris
MTZ
Providence
Dixon
Nazareth
Geneseo
Waterloo
Highland
Maybe more, I didn't look that hard.
How long before Jacksonville is a 4A lock? In between these two are some annual playoff teams that I noticed, quick glancing...
Wheaton St. Francis
Morris
MTZ
Providence
Dixon
Nazareth
Geneseo
Waterloo
Highland
Maybe more, I didn't look that hard.
Morris has been on the 4A/5A bubble recently. They went up slightly in enrollment and seem more likely to be 5A in '25. They are also one of a few teams that could realistically be in either the North or South bracket depending on the draw.
Looking at Jacksonville's enrollment by grade (source ISBE), they appear likely to stay close to their current number for the foreseeable future.
On the other hand, Rochester seems likely to fall to less than 600 students within 4 years, absent new development.
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All.... 848 to 853 is a pretty narrow window for the Skins. I've been yapping about postseason class designation since enrollments came out recently. But the more I look at it with that new enrollment and waiver rule all of those 500 or so teams could make a real change this year to set the playoff field. I think surprises will come at that time for many ending up elsewhere. A slight glimpse will be available when the Ihsa comes out in May with all of the those changes and the list. Nothing in stone as we all know until the playoff qualifiers are announced. It should be fun. Ratsy
Rochester sub 600? 681 to less than 600 in 4 years is quite a steep drop. Did district lines get redrawn out that way? I guess what are the possible causes for that? In my head, Rochester is booming like Chatham in the 90s. I know they aren't, and locals have always told me Rochester won't grow like that. But I guess I didn't think it would ever decline like that given how strong that district has been and how successful their athletics have been over the past 25 years.
No boundary changes as far as I know.
There was significant development from approximately '93-'08, which added hundreds of new houses in the District. It slowed considerably after the housing crisis in '08 and really hasn't picked back up.
I moved into the District in '03 and my kids started school within a few years. Many others similar to me moved in during that time frame and had young kids. Most of those kids have now moved through the District and there hasn't been much new housing built recently. The largest Senior classes in Rochester history were from around '17-'22 but the lower grades at the same time were much smaller and that has carried forward to the present.
A potential benefit to future enrollment is the development of a fairly significant apartment complex close to the Intermediate School, but it will take time to see if that has much of an impact.
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All.... "If you build it they will come." Chatham has the blue prints for that if needed. 😏 😱 Ratsy
Works on this side of the state I guess... Where I grew up, they keep building and people keep leaving. Location in this equation sure goes a long ways, and having jobs, of course, which Qtown simply does not. Unless, that is, you're a retail/food service career kind of person!
Ho hum, life rolls on... QND's largest classes were in the 70s. I think I was in one of the last classes to have north of 150 graduating. And it was a measly 160ish... Chatham definitely bought into this tactic though, and for them, it seems to have paid off. I don't know what's Glenwood's enrollment was prior to the 90s, but it had to be small.That's tough... really makes no sense to me either. Generally, successful athletics, strong and high ranked district, you just wait and the people move in... Taxes might have swayed some to look elsewhere, I have to believe Rochester is amongst the highest along with Sherman and anything touching Plains district's lines as the highest in the capitol area. However in my experience, taxes don't keep the type of people seeking "refuge" in the burbs from moving in.
I graduated from CGHS in '86. My Senior class was about 175.Works on this side of the state I guess... Where I grew up, they keep building and people keep leaving. Location in this equation sure goes a long ways, and having jobs, of course, which Qtown simply does not. Unless, that is, you're a retail/food service career kind of person!
I was actually thinking the opposite. At first glance, I see at least 4 playoff teams who had smaller enrollments than Morris last year having a larger enrollment than Morris this year due to multiplier and waiver adjustments. Montini, St. Laurence, U High, DePaul. Being they were the smallest 5a last season, this may be Morris’ best chance of staying in 4a that they have had in quite some time. I understand how playoff lines are drawn and I may be missing something here, but I can see them being a problem for a lot of 4a playoff teams this season (junior heavy last season).
My mother retired from the state in 2021, maybe 2020 can't remember. But she always told me when she started out of college she wanted to be in Springfield as they had more opportunities for advancement at the time then the office in Quincy she would be working at. So her and my father began looking for homes in the Springfield area. Chatham was where they really honed in on and even put earnest money on a home before backing out due to a poor inspection or something crazy like that. At this time it was 1988, and Chatham was just starting or just before it's 90s surge in population. A couple thousand people according to the interwebs.
I've thought about it in the past, about what it would have been like to have grown up in Chatham from the 90s (I was born in 1989) and then graduating high school like I did in the early 00's... to see the growth that district and town. They've gone from 5,500 to 14,000 in 30 years. So much milder growth than I have in my head, but still growth where most are seeing decline.
It has to be insanity for you rocket, to have grown up there and now see where Glenwood and Chatham are at... pretty awesome stuff!
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All.... Boylan is another one going from 4A to 5A. General thinking as a rule does come to the conclusion that most of those schools getting multiplied for the most part are larger will push the "string" down from top to bottom. We will see.
On a separate subject it's my understanding that the Skins have 13 starters back 6 on offense and seven on defense. Included in the group your qb and rb both who had very good seasons. Morris looks to be a load this year regardless what class they end up in. A very aggressive non con schedule with Wilmington, Mahomet-Seymour, and Peoria (w 1, 2, 3) and Byron Center week nine. Get through all of that incuding conference play Morris will certainly be battle tested. Ratsy
At my 20-year reunion, they offered us "old timers" a tour through the then new high school, which is a fabulous facility. I couldn't do it. The jealousy factor kicked in hard as I started thinking about the less than stellar building I spent 4 years in.
I can definitely relate... Every time I attend a QND game since our athletic facilities were upgraded, it stings a little seeing what these kids have that we didn't. We championed that mud dog spirit though. You had to "back then" (circa 2004-2007) when our field was little more than a pasture with bleachers. Few know, but the truth is where QND's current athletic facilities reside was once, long ago, the city dump. The south redzone, the practice fields south of the game turf, and the softball setup were all heaping piles of garbage and landfill at one point. There's still to this day enormous holes along the edge of the practice area where it's caved in over time. We always though the whole field would sink in one day. The steam that would rise off the grass in the mornings during two-a-days was unpleasant, to say the least. That smell I can't forget and it always clung to your skin like some sticky gunk. But it's what we had and we were proud as heck of it.
I'm sure you were proud of the Glenwood you attended also. I know you're all proud of that football stadium too, it's certainly top notch for high school football in this state. And while I'd prefer to never have to witness QND take a beating there, it'd still be a neat treat to get to tailgate in the lots over there with the ND flags at some point.
I'm already fearing our return trip to SHG... who also has a world class stadium compared to us and most for high school football. It's just a different animal in the CS8 we've learned, and we're lucky to avoid two or three of the heaviest hitters with the division setup. But it's going to be eye opening for many less seasoned QND faithful this year when they have to travel to one of the big boys this Fall and step into the Cyclones home.
Thanks for your kind words, Roamin'. I do think the stadium at SHG is a very nice one, and rarely do you see a visitor's stands the same size basically as the home stands. As for your stadium I didn't think it was a bad place to play at all. Quite the opposite. My only request would be 2 things. They need better and brighter lighting, and please, please, will someone take a chainsaw and cut that tree down that sits to the right of the visitor stands, totally blocking the scoreboard, LOL. In all honesty after what you guys did to us I didn't want to even look at the scoreboard, other than to see how much more time we had to endure the tail kicking that SHG received that night. But by all means, come on over this year and hopefully the Cyclones can "repay" you guys from last year, or at the very least come out on top this time.
You know what's wild, I didn't even realize that tree was still there! I also never really venture down to that corner of the field. I'm either at the tailgate house, just inside the west gate, or over in the main stand chatting away. Never even thought about that tree... I would agree, that looks to be in a very annoying spot from the google satellite image I'm staring at. My only rationale explanation would be that it was planted in memoriam at some point and they don't want to or can't remove it for that reason? It doesn't appear to be that old of a tree though... I'll ask those in the know... I doubt it was planted for the sole purpose of keeping away support from seeing the scoreboard.
The lighting sucks, we've all been saying it for years. I know it's on the list of things we're actively fundraising for at the booster and football committee level. So hopefully soon! And if you're in tune with any Quincy news at all, you've possibly seen that a softball coach was fired for tweeting, sorry X'ing, his feelings about his softball fields lighting situation... and they're fighting about stoplights on Broadway... lights are a popular point of discussion right now in Adams County. LOL
As for the trip to the house that Ken Leonard built... play nice Cyclones. We know we stole one last year when y'all was vulnerable early on with a young squad. This reminds me of the time Bishop Mac came to Quincy in 2004. We somehow managed to beat them 16-7 in a dogfight. The next year for the away half of the 2 year deal, they absolutely slaughtered us 47-7. Rarely during my high school career can I say I felt helpless on the football field... And even more rare was QND taking a beating by 40 pts during that era under Bill Connell. But this is one of the few moments. I feel the same way about this away trip to SHG...
To bring this full circle as to why I'm feeling this way...
In 2004, we caught BMac on a 5-5 year during the Rich Zinanni era. A rarity, if you know the coach and the program's history. We got dismantled the following year by a 9-3 version that lost by 1 score to none other than Ken Leonard and the SHG Cyclones in the 5A quarterfinals. An SHG team that brought home the 5A state title that year beating Rock Island Alleman (another private we've been discussing lately on this site).
A year makes a world of difference when you're talking high school football... And if the outcome goes your way, we all know that's how it should be anyways. The ship has corrected itself. But we're pretty stoked we got one win in the series and it should be fun regardless. Bringing together these two schools more often is only a positive in my book. We're all in the same diocese, we're all followers of Christ in the same faith, and we're all crazy about football in the Fall. Plus we generally enjoy a good tailgate now and then! I'll definitely be there.
SHG is due for another piece of hardware from my view...
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