Another colossal mistake has been made by the good folks who make decisions on realignment in Nevada high school athletics.
According to a recent release sent out by the NIAA earlier this week, Wooster High will be a full 4A member for the next two years pending approval by the Board of Control on Oct. 3 in Las Vegas.
When I contacted Donnie Nelson, the media rep for the NIAA, he said that it was the school's call and that they had the enrollment for 4A status.
Big deal. Maybe people need to take it out of the individual school's hands because their reasons aren't often in the best interests of their student-athletes.
Anybody with half a brain knows that it's not the total student population that determines the success of an athletic program, it's the talent pool within the school, and Wooster just doesn't have it, especially in football.
Wooster has struggled mightily on the football field as far back as 2004. I get my records from MaxPreps.com because it's a web-site that the schools report to themselves.
According to MaxPreps, Wooster football compiled a 9-60 record from 2004 to 2010, and the Colts played mostly a 3A football schedule in 2010. The Colts were 0-2 this year heading into this weekend, suffering losses to Lowry and Spanish Springs.
Nine wins in seven seasons? Are you kidding me? That's barely one win a year. Why would school officials want their student-athletes to continually get thrashed week after week?
And make no mistake about it, Wooster is getting thrashed. According to MaxPreps, the Colts have been outscored 2,370 to 755 in that span.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Wooster needs to be allowed to drop down to 3A for football at least. The Colts struggled to win games last year as an independent against 3A schools, but at last they were more competitive.
I know I will catch a lot of heat from Wooster officials, but facts are facts. I go back to two or three years ago when Carson hosted Wooster and won 56-0. Of the first seven offensive snaps, Carson scored six times. Dylan Sawyers had two rushes for more than 120 yards.
I don't expect things at Wooster to get a whole lot better on the gridiron. Wooster is in a landlocked area, and unless the Washoe School District changes its boundaries for schools, nothing will change. The losses will keep piling up and that's a shame because it's not fair to the student-athletes who go out and work their tails off.
I think one of the reasons why Wooster wants to remain 4A is travel. There is more travel required for 3A because of the "pod system" that 2A and 3A schools employ. If kids miss a couple of classes during the week it shouldn't be a huge deal. If it is, they shouldn't be playing sports at all.
If I were the czar of high school sports, I would have Wooster play 3A in everything.
Consider the following:
• The men's basketball team is 23-113 in the past six years according to MaxPreps.com. There were some results missing in the six-year period.
• The girls' basketball team is 22-80 between 2006 and 2010. There are also several results missing on the website.
• The baseball program, which is the best one on campus, is 53-69 in the past four seasons. Ron Malcolm is one of the best coaches in Northern Nevada, and he always does a lot with a little.
• The softball program is 18-57 in the last four years, but there are a ton of missing results on the yearly schedule.
The only saving grace would be if Northern Nevada adopts the rubric system that Southern Nevada has adopted. It was adopted because of a lack of competitive balance, and teams can move up or down between Division 1 and Division 1A pending how they fare on the field.
Maybe I will get lucky and the Board of Control will look at the facts and not just rubber-stamp the realignment committee's suggestion.
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Former Carson High secondary star Josh Peacock started his sophomore season at Hiram College with a bang.
Peacock had 10 tackles and an interception in a 16-13 win over Kenyon College.
Jon Parker, who graduated last spring, is at Division II Abilene Christian. He played, but didn't record a catch in Abilene's opening game win over Tarleton.
Several other Carson players are active on th junior college level. Matt Cooper and Trevor Goodale are at Butte, Blake Plattsmier, Will Flores and Justin Barlow are on College of San Mateo's roster. CSM won the regional title a year ago. Barlow was an invited walk-on at Nevada last year and redshirted, while Flores saw limited action for Whitworth College last season.
