Heading into the summer, there have been two coaching changes among area high school football teams, with the second a result of the first. At NDCL, Ben Malbasa left Benedictine to take over for Byron Morgan. The Bengals in turn hired Joe Schaefer.

It's a drop in turnover compared with previous years. Here is a look at the number of area schools with new coaches the past five seasons:

2012: 4
2011: 6
2010: 4
2009: 5
2008: 5

The main reason for the stability is simple: The teams are good. In the past two seasons, 17 of 30 schools in the area made at least one playoff appearance, and 24 of the 30 had at least one five-win season in that span.

-- Howard Primer