[SKINNYPIG]

I really believe that Clay's athletic programs began to suffer(not immediately) when the Middle school opened in '91. Before, you had all elementary schools with football and basketball teams through 8th grade. Now, kids are "weeded" out earlier due to having the middle school football & basketball teams instead of 10 elementary teams. Conversely, I think that's part of the reason baseball has taken off in Clay. Before the middle school opened you had a virtually non-existent 13-14 yr. old baseball league in Clay Co. Now, you have organized 7th and 8th grade teams. Does this make sense to anyone?

Makes a whole lot of sense to me. Before the middle school, we had over a hundred eighth grade football players suiting up (and playing) every week. We had nine freshman QB's competing, eighteen linebackers and so on, and so on. Although good in some areas, middle school sports has changed sports in Clay, and not for the good.