More to success than student population

Last spring, Kenai Peninsula schools announced they are leaving the Northern Lights Conference because of a lack of success, which they attribute to the small size of their schools. Pulling out of the conference is a wrong move.

While there is no doubt the size of a school is important in terms of being competitive, the lack of success Kenai-area schools are experiencing in football involves many more factors than just the number of students.

Peninsula teams have not beaten a Valley football team in three years, but success is cyclical and, right now, the Valley has the best teams. A few years ago, though, Peninsula schools ruled the conference and earned a majority of the conferences three playoff berths. The smaller sizes of the schools did not seem to matter then, did they?

When Soldotna was lighting up the scoreboards and whipping teams regularly, school population never was discussed. When Kenai nearly beat Chugiak in the playoffs three years ago, the Kardinals talked about the size of their offensive linemen, not the size of their student body. When Wasilla went 1-7 four years ago, the fact the school had 1,000 students didnt matter to the smaller Peninsula schools that pounded them routinely.

But now the shoe is on the other foot, and Kenai teams are trying to find quick fixes to ensure immediate success.

Palmer won a state championship in 1995 by beating Chugiak, and the next year the Moose beat Service in the semifinals. Both of those schools dwarf Palmers, but the Moose didnt roll over because the school was smaller. After the Moose lost to Chugiak in the 1996 championship meeting between the teams, the fact Chugiak has 500 more students never entered the discussion of the game.

By moving to a smaller-schools conference, Kenai Peninsula schools are threatening the success of the Great Land Conference, which is the states only football conference for 3A schools.

Teams expressing interest in starting football programs, such as Valdez and Anchorage Christian School, may be scared off by the presence of teams such as Soldotna and Kenai teams with proven football reputations and the ability to beat the tar out of programs just starting out. It would be counterproductive to the Great Land Conferences aim.

The disparity between the large Anchorage schools and the rest of the state is only seen in football. Valley schools, some of which have half the number of students their Anchorage counterparts boast, have won state championships in a number of sports.

On the Kenai Peninsula, Homer and Soldotna have some of the toughest swimming teams in the state, and Skyview has become the states wrestling powerhouse. Having a smaller student base from which to pull has not hampered the success of athletic teams outside of football, but that gets lost in the argument of small schools versus big schools. It is something Peninsula football coaches and athletic directors dont bring up when explaining why they want their own football conference, filled with schools with an equal number of students.

There are more factors to success than just the number of students. In the Valley, success on the gridiron came only after the implementation of a youth football program, which starts in the third grade. Since the program began, the local high school programs have continually gotten better and better.

Success also came after quality coaches established high school programs that have turned over year after year, lending familiarity to the athletes who head onto the field every Friday night. As players get to know the system that is in place every season, they begin to master it and enjoy success.

The balance of power in the Northern Lights Conference has shifted to Wasilla, Colony and Palmer in the last four years, but like a pendulum, that dominance could once again shift the other way.

Just because Kenai Peninsula teams have not won in recent years, it does not erase the fact they have won in the past, and could win in the future.

Leaving the Northern Lights Conference and forming their own smaller-schools conference is a wrong move, with school population being the scapegoat for the lack of success.

Casey Ressler (ressler@alaska.net) is the Frontiersman sports editor.