Questions about Private Schools in 6-Man Football

K

Klaactu

Six-man fan
Are private schools able to compete regardless of numbers in that school and town? Each private school has their own version of no-pass/no-play. (At least they did when I taught in two big private schools in the Metroplex where I spent 19 years as a band director. ) Is that fair, or do all schools compete under TAPPS and/or UIL rules?

Do 1A schools take on these big private schools just to fill a game slot. Don't you realize that these schools can offer scholarships (tuition and even rides to school.)?
I am looking at scores and JUST WONDERING how these "upstart" brand new private schools are beating traditional powerhouses of 6 Man Football. Time to level the playing field.
 
I can't speak for other private schools, but for us, we have a strict no pass/no play rule. We are in TAPPS which mostly follows UIL rules. I think for the most part private schools are doing things the right way. Are there bad eggs sure, but the same can be said of some practices of public schools just look around on this board for mentions. There has been a noticeable swing towards private schools lately for various reasons Covid protocols are one, and how the curriculum is being enforced as another. I guess the counter-argument would be now that the private schools are being more competitive doesn't that level the playing field?
 
Klaactu said:
Are private schools able to compete regardless of numbers in that school and town? Each private school has their own version of no-pass/no-play. (At least they did when I taught in two big private schools in the Metroplex where I spent 19 years as a band director. ) Is that fair, or do all schools compete under TAPPS and/or UIL rules?

Do 1A schools take on these big private schools just to fill a game slot. Don't you realize that these schools can offer scholarships (tuition and even rides to school.)?
I am looking at scores and JUST WONDERING how these "upstart" brand new private schools are beating traditional powerhouses of 6 Man Football. Time to level the playing field.
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I don't think small 6 man private schools are offering scholarships. Where do they get that kind of money? Also who are these "upstart" schools beating traditional 6 man powerhouses?
 
Coachporter said:
Total enrollment is about 300. We are classified as 2A for the new TAPPS alignment with 76 in high school. We are in Lubbock.
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Naturally, you do not compete in the UIL 1A state contest, but if you play Calvert, Richland Springs, Strawn etc, you have a BIG advantage in both school size and recruiting (fairly).
 
Nsider said:
I don't think small 6 man private schools are offering scholarships. Where do they get that kind of money? Also who are these "upstart" schools beating traditional 6 man powerhouses?
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Look at the schedule for Calvert and Richland Springs. Richland lost their first game of the year to a private school out of Marble Falls (I believe).
Understand: I not saying someone is cheating, but, at least to me, a 6-man team from a private school in a 4A High School and up size town has an advantage.
 
Klaactu said:
Are private schools able to compete regardless of numbers in that school and town? Each private school has their own version of no-pass/no-play. (At least they did when I taught in two big private schools in the Metroplex where I spent 19 years as a band director. ) Is that fair, or do all schools compete under TAPPS and/or UIL rules?

Do 1A schools take on these big private schools just to fill a game slot. Don't you realize that these schools can offer scholarships (tuition and even rides to school.)?
I am looking at scores and JUST WONDERING how these "upstart" brand new private schools are beating traditional powerhouses of 6 Man Football. Time to level the playing field.
Click to expand...

Klaactu said:
Naturally, you do not compete in the UIL 1A state contest, but if you play Calvert, Richland Springs, Strawn etc, you have a BIG advantage in both school size and recruiting (fairly).
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That particular school would classify as 1A for UIL as they only have 76 in High School. Many people make this argument every year, the reality is MOST private schools playing 6 Man have far less resources and money than the public schools many do not have fields weight rooms or even buildings, many are schools in small churches or towns, and many would qualify to play in UIL standards, people forget private enrollment is K-12 and not purely High School. AS far as TAPPS is concerned they have strict rules on recruiting and MOST schools have strict rules on grades, passing at my particular school is considered a whole grade letter higher than our local public school district. and anyone with a C has to miss practice time to go to HELPS classes to get their grades up. Many of the kids that attend private schools are not athletes and go to do other things such as arts and academics, not sports. Now, they're are always outliers to this, and TAPPS does not force teams to play 11 man football at a certain level, which is essentially why they created the three divisions instead of 2. However for every other sport the numbers matter, and that's what is different. Marble Falls is a TAPPS 2A, Bracken is a TAPPS 1A. Both notable Private over Public wins, both would fall in the UIL 6 man classification.
 
Klaactu said:
Look at the schedule for Calvert and Richland Springs. Richland lost their first game of the year to a private school out of Marble Falls (I believe).
Understand: I not saying someone is cheating, but, at least to me, a 6-man team from a private school in a 4A High School and up size town has an advantage.
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Faith Academy Marble Falls held a huge advantage over Richland Springs when they defeated Richland Springs 62 - 34. Faith Academy's K-12 enrollment is 293. They are currently ranked 1st in TAPPS D2 with a 9 - 0 record and a rating of 370.17. They have averaged 60.2 points for and 18.7 points against per game. They have an 5.9 million athletic complex with a new football stadium. A classic case of comparing apples to oranges.
 
Well, as far as grades, TAPPS has a no pass, no play policy in place. Which is in line with the UIL rule. However, there are several schools that have even stricter policies in place that they enforce on their students. So, if anything, the academics put the privates at a disadvantage. But with anything, there are outliers.
As far as size and being in metropolitan areas that does not mean all these schools have huge numbers. The ones that do are like Nolan Catholic, Prestonwood etc. playing 6A 11-man football. The one outlier here that I know of is Carrollton Prince of Peace, which is a 5A school. They are 5-5 on the season, so being larger than everyone doesn’t appear to be an advantage.
Also, I believe TAPPS only uses the boys numbers in a school as fas as football is concerned when making alignments.
 
Texas Rebel said:
Faith Academy Marble Falls held a huge advantage over Richland Springs when they defeated Richland Springs 62 - 34. Faith Academy's K-12 enrollment is 293. They are currently ranked 1st in TAPPS D2 with a 9 - 0 record and a rating of 370.17. They have averaged 60.2 points for and 18.7 points against per game. They have an 5.9 million athletic complex with a new football stadium. A classic case of comparing apples to oranges.
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I can speak directly to the Faith Academy situation as I used to be the AD there. And nothing here is meant to be argumentative. I just have a unique perspective having been very close to the school.
They are a small Christian School in Marble Falls with less than 100 kids in high school. They do have a great facility that was paid for by a donor who cares deeply for the school. It is very comparable to the facility in Zephyr. There will always be a TAPPS school and a UIL school who has the best facility. It just happens to be them right now.
On another note TAPPS schools do not offer athletic scholarships as this is against TAPPS rules, and TAPPS requires every school to follow their no pass no play policy.
Faith Academy currently has a very good football team, but it's really because they happen to have good athletes and coaches, similar to public schools like May. They are also in a great location as there are very few private schools around them. If you are within an hour a drive and you want to go to a private school that plays football, it's pretty much your only option without driving to Austin or Fredericksburg.
In terms of competitivenss, this is not the first time that a private school has been able to compete with or beat some of the best public schools. In the early 2000's I believe El Paso Jesus Chapel mercy ruled Witharal who ended up winning the public school championship. Generally the top end public schools have been stronger than the top end TAPPS schools, however from time to time there are a acceptions to that rule. All that said.....Faith Academy truly is a good team with a good facility whose numbers justify them playing 6-man. And they truly have not done anything wrong to get where they are.
Just an observation from someone who saw it develop from a very close perspective.
 
Unfortunately there are many organizations that play Sixman that have hundreds and in some instances over 1000 students. You will be surprised if you do your research.
You will also find the answer to your question.
Before we decided what way we would go, I researched the various organizations, schools etc.
It became very clear that there are significant differences in organizations that play “Sixman” football. Some were like the differences between a Junior College and a NFL team. If you are a Sixman team or organization you better do your homework on who you book games with.
 
Check any school in the major metropolitan areas, including all existing organizations and you will be surprised. I know I was. That’s the main reason we went Independent.
One of the organizations that wanted us to join them asked if we would play one of their teams from the Dallas - Ft. Worth area.
It was like two wolves and a sheep were discussing what they were going to have for dinner.
Our warning came from one of their previous member schools.
 
Just a couple things on this topic.

  1. K-12 enrollment numbers do not mean anything when playing sixman. The HS enrollment numbers are used for classification in TAPPS and UIL.
  2. TAPPS has no pass/no play just like UIL.
  3. Public funding money supports UIL schools. They can pass bonds for field/stadium improvements. There are some very nice UIL stadiums (Borden County, Zephyr, Rankin, Garden City) to name a couple. UIL schools get that oil money too. TAPPS schools are tuition based. Most sixman schools can't use their budgets for athletic facility upgrades. But, some are fortunate enough to have donors that contribute. I would say public or private school any donor that wants to give a couple million dollars can do so.
  4. TAPPS schools cannot give scholarships. It's against the by-laws.
  5. There are some larger schools that play sixman in TAPPS due to lack of numbers on their roster. They have their own division. Public schools choice if they would like to schedule them.
  6. Whether a public or private schools wins or losses against either there are no underlying reasons. Even traditional powerhouses in UIL have down years. And, private schools can have outstanding classes in certain seasons that are dominant no matter who they play. It all comes and goes in cycles.
BTW, here is a link to the TAPPS most recent alignment. https://tapps.biz/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Classification-Recap-With-Names-2.pdf There are only five schools with over 1000 HS enrollment. And, none play sixman play football.
 
FCSA football said:
Check any school in the major metropolitan areas, including all existing organizations and you will be surprised. I know I was. That’s the main reason we went Independent.
One of the organizations that wanted us to join them asked if we would play one of their teams from the Dallas - Ft. Worth area.
It was like two wolves and a sheep were discussing what they were going to have for dinner.
Our warning came from one of their previous member schools.
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Is this a Fox News scare tactic? There is no 6-man school in Dallas, Houston, or anywhere in the state that is anywhere close to 1000 kids in HS.
 
FCSA football said:
Check any school in the major metropolitan areas, including all existing organizations and you will be surprised. I know I was. That’s the main reason we went Independent.
One of the organizations that wanted us to join them asked if we would play one of their teams from the Dallas - Ft. Worth area.
It was like two wolves and a sheep were discussing what they were going to have for dinner.
Our warning came from one of their previous member schools.
Click to expand...
Nolan and Plano Prestonwood play 6 man?
 

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