Coach Pannell:  We do not have “Must Play” in Mountain Valley.  We have a commitment by our coaching staffs to get as many people as we can into a game.  Some weeks that is everyone – some weeks it is not (though it is definitely more likely to occur weekly at the Division II level.)  Having never been guaranteed playing time on any level of football that I have ever participated in – I know how depressing it is to be sitting on the sidelines.  So we did everything that we could in practice to make sure that we got that chance on the weekends.  With that work ethic and the challenge on my shoulders, playing became something cherished and not just taken for granted.  That was true for little league through college football.

If we were ever to look at going to a “Must Play” situation, we’d really have to dig deeply into leagues and teams where this system is effective and determine how we would implement it here.  The Beltway League doesn’t even incorporate it.

Question:  What is Division II?

Coach Pannell:  Several years ago, we led the charge to add another division in Mountain Valley.  We did so due to the fact that we were increasing our teams’ size and it was becoming more and more difficult to get every player enough attention and experience.  We did so with one mandate – “You are only in Division II because you working to get to Division I!”  The feedback that I was getting from families that were coming from other leagues is that their children were labeled “B-Division” and they never had the opportunity to play for the “A-Division” teams.  In my opinion, the best way to develop someone is to give them a goal – see them attain it, and then set a higher goal.  The emphasis on this level is to learn and develop, and then we are looking for players to migrate to Division I.  Maybe it takes an entire season.  Maybe it takes a few games:  it is really hard to predict.

Question:  What about the fact that Division II has no referees, score or playoffs?

Coach Pannell:  We have tried to address these items this year.  Frederick County Officials have agreed to referee all games for Division II.  This is a big step for this level, one which we have always been a strong proponent for obtaining.  As for keeping score, we do use the scoreboard for our games, but there are no wins and losses.  We can say that we have taken away from the game, but remember that this is a developmental division, not a competitive one.  Once you put a record on the line, then coaches spend more time focusing on winning than developing.  This year, we are implementing end of year “Bowl Games”, where we will have teams play a “wrap up game” with other Division II teams.  Nevertheless, we will be expressively clear that there is no “Division II Champion”.  We are even looking for teams to lock down their rosters so that they can’t stack teams for this event.  In the end, we will look to be consistent with our higher driving mission – develop and prepare players for Division I.

Question:  We’ve heard that teams have left Mountain Valley this year, is that true?

Coach Pannell:  Unfortunately, three teams have left Mountain Valley:  Poolesville, Damascus and Thomas Johnson (TJay).  The “Why’s” vary by program (to learn more about their decisions, please see their organization’s official websites).  We wish them luck in their new endeavors, as we have always had challenging games with these programs and respect the decisions that they made.

Question:  What will the competition level be like in Mountain Valley?

Coach Pannell:  I believe that it will be on par with what we had before these teams left the league.  I say this for several reasons.

1)      A tenth team has been added from Frederick.  They will be the Frederick Cadets and will feed the Frederick High School.  The Varsity Head Coach at the high school is overseeing this expansion and will be drawing from kids in the city league to fill out his rosters.  Since he will be solely responsible for approving coaching appointments, they should have an immediate impact on the league.

2)     We only played some teams every other year as it was – with the occasional meeting in the playoffs.  Last year, we had two teams in the Super Bowl (Pony and Varsity) and never faced two of the teams that departed, so there was no way to "measure" ourselves against them.

3)     Now that we will play every team in the league every year, teams can’t “avoid” measuring themselves against the entire league.  This is the best way to stabilize a system that leaves questions as to who is better than who based on records – there will be head to head games to settle it.

I won’t say that we will not miss the rivalries that we had with Damascus and TJay, but these are the times for new rivalries to form.  I am eager to see how teams will now fare with the rule changes.  There are some very good coaches out there, but we happen to have some good coaches too!