The Illinois High School Association released its enrollment cutoffs for the 2008-09 school year late last week. The cutoff between the two smallest divisions and two largest divisions in the four-class system jumped 30 students, going from 724.35 this year to 754.00 next year.
Though nothing happened to change its classification for the 2008-09 school year, it seems to be just a matter of time until Quincy Notre Dame is back to Class A in two-sport setups, Class 1A in three-class sports and Class 2A in four-class sports like basketball, baseball, volleyball and softball.
Thanks to the enrollment multiplier of 1.65, QND.65 -- as former colleague Matthew Sprague liked to call the school -- will have an official enrollment of 760.65. QND has 461 students enrolled this year. The IHSA bases its classification of schools on the previous year's enrollment.
The Raiders are the third-smallest school in the Class 3A ranks. If the school has a net loss of five students from this year's graduating to class to next year's incoming freshman class, QND will fall under the 754 cutoff number. Of the 10 smallest schools in Class 3A for 2008-09 school year, seven are non-boundary schools like QND and have been bumped up a class because of the multiplier, which took effect during the 2005-06 school year.
Wait a minute before you go and start blocking out rooms at state tournament venues though for 2009-10. It wouldn't shock me at all to see the IHSA get out its slide ruler and make an adjustment to its multiplier between now and the release of next year's enrollment breakdown.
Successful schools like Quincy Notre Dame and Rock Island Alleman, which is also teetering on the Class 2A/3A border, were among those targeted by the IHSA when it went to the multiplier. The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say that the organization will do whatever it takes to continue to make these schools play up in class.
One winner from the enrollment changes is Camp Point Central, which will move down from Class 2A to Class 1A in the four-class system. The new West Hancock co-op for boys basketball -- which will merge Hamilton, Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa -- will be in Class 2A just like its state-championship winning girls basketball program.
A Big Ten breakthrough?
According to John Ourand, a reporter for SportsBusiness Journal, a deal between the Big Ten Network and Comcast could be reached in time for the upcoming football system.
Last year, Quincy cable subscribers were left out of the loop when it came to the first-year Big Ten Network since it was not carried by Insight Communications. Quincy's new cable host, Comcast, doesn't carry the channel on its service either, but that could soon change.
"Both sides are saying they expect something before the football season," Ourand told Gatehouse News Service.
Last year, the Big Ten Network carried five University of Illinois football games and 20 men's basketball games, including the Illini's exhibition game with Quincy University.
Upon further review
During our coverage of Ashton Gronewold's agreeing to a mini-camp tryout with the Chicago Bears, I wrote that the Carthage product was the first area product since South Shelby's Ron Janes in the late 1990s to get a shot with an NFL team.
Gronewold is actually the first area player since Palmyra's Alan Buckwalter to get a shot at the NFL. Buckwalter, a 1995 Palmyra graduate, had a chance with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2000. Buckwalter, a linebacker, made it though minicamp and was deep into the team's training camp before he was released by the team.
He walked on at Northwest Missouri State and wound up being a key member of back-to-back NCAA Division II national championship teams his junior and senior seasons.
Buckwalter is a fireman in Kansas City as is his brother, Luke. Another member of the Buckwalter brothers, Jacob, is a linebacker at Missouri Western.
A nice move
After the beatings they've absorbed at the hands of Rock Island Alleman the last two weeks, you couldn't blame Quincy High School for not wanting anything to do with their Western Big Six Conference counterpart.
After all, the Alleman baseball swept a doubleheader from the Blue Devils by a combined score of 30-1 a few weeks ago. On Thursday night, the Alleman softball team made its way to QHS and swept a twinbill by a 24-4 count. That's a 54-5 combined whipping in four games. (The QHS girls soccer team did get some revenge with an 11-0 victory over Alleman.)
When the Alleman bus tried to leave on Thursday, it wouldn't start. A member of the Quincy Public Schools transportation department tried to fix the problem. In the end, QHS Athletic Director Max Miller was able to get a Quincy bus, driven by Andre' Landson, to take the Alleman players back to the Quad Cities safely.
"Mr. Miller and others associated with Quincy High School went above and beyond the call to make sure our student-athletes, coaches and our bus driver returned home that night," Alleman Athletic Director Steve Smithers said.
"Sometimes when we think athletics brings out the worst or it appears little is being learned, something like this happens to renew our faith. This was simply good people stepping up to do the right thing."
-- dobrien@whig.com/221-3365
