Reggie Schulte got robbed by the football coaches in the Mississippi Valley Conference, and it happened in broad daylight.
The perpetrators should be ashamed of themselves.
Schulte is the record-setting quarterback for the Xavier Saints, who are 11-0 and ranked No. 3 in the state heading into the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs Friday night against Prairie.
He's the most accurate passer in the state with a completion percentage of 75.0, which is simply outrageous for a high school kid.
He's tied for the lead in Class 4A with 35 touchdown passes. He has the No. 1 quarterback rating in the state at 251.4 and he's thrown only four interceptions in 160 attempts this year.
He's among the truly elite quarterbacks in the state, yet the Valley Division coaches in the MVC did not deem him worthy enough to be named the Athlete of the Year in their division.
Shame on them.
The Valley Division coaches picked Prairie quarterback Jace Hanna as the Athlete of the Year, which is hard to believe. Hanna is a terrific quarterback and a great guy, but he's not the Athlete of the Year in the division this season.
Hanna would be a good choice in many other years, but not this year. His numbers pale in comparison to Schulte's in every category except total yards passing, where he has a 273-yard advantage by virtue of having thrown 96 more passes.
What in the world were those MVC coaches looking at?
Here are the comparisons between Schulte and Hanna: Judge for yourself.
| Schulte |
Hanna |
|
| TD Passes |
35 | 28 |
| Interceptions |
4 | 7 |
| Completion Percentage |
75.0 | 59.0 |
| Pass Attempts |
160 | 256 |
| Completions |
120 | 151 |
| Yards |
2,080 | 2,353 |
| Yards per Completion |
17.3 | 15.6 |
| QB Rating |
251.4 | 166.8 |
| Team Record |
11-0 | 8-3 |
The all-conference selections were based on what happened during the nine games in the regular season. The stats listed above are for 11 games for both QBs, but the ratios would be substantially the same for nine games.
What were the MVC coaches looking at? Did they think Hanna had more of an impact on his team? Did they think Xavier would have won all its games without Schulte? Were politics involved?
Prairie has improved from a 2-7 mark in 2011 to an 8-3 record, which is an improvement of six games. But Xavier has improved from a 5-5 record to 11-0, which also is an improvement of six games.
Xavier drubbed Prairie, 48-14, when they met in Week 3 of the regular season at Prairie. Schulte completed 10 of 13 passes in that game for three TDs and retired early with a big lead. Hanna was 13 for 21 with one touchdown and retired early with a leg injury.
Hanna has endured several injuries this year and gave a gutsy performance against Dubuque Senior in the playoffs last week when he played with a sprained ankle, but the Athlete of the Year votes had already been tabulated by then.
Hanna deserves to be applauded and honored this year. He's a terrific guy, win or lose. He's always willing to answer questions and a fierce competitor. Any coach would love to have him on their team. He led the Hawks to an upset victory over No. 2 Iowa City West in the playoffs Monday despite operating on a sore ankle.
If you asked Hanna, he'd probably say Schulte should have won the award. And if you asked Schulte, he'd probably vote for Hanna. They are both great sportsmen who play for the love of the game, not for accolades and headlines.
Neither young man will be thinking about the Athlete of the Year award when their game begins Friday. They'll be focused on winning. And win or lose, both quarterbacks should be proud of their accomplishments this season.
The same cannot be said of the MVC coaches who did not take their responsibilities seriously enough in the all-star voting.
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