After another close vote, our panel has decided that Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) has won the 2014 FootballScoop High School Video of the Year award.
Bishop Gorman is the second consecutive program from the Southwest to claim the honor, following the inaugural winner from Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Ariz. Here's our story about Chaparral's winning video, and the remarkable rise for the coach who made it.
In the end, Bishop Gorman garnered three of a possible four first-place votes from a group of six finalists.
"I loved what Shiloh Christian brought to the table and the high school football feelings it brought back, but Bishop Gorman gets my pick as No. 1," wrote Bleacher Report lead columnist Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs). "The sound of cleats on concrete was a brilliant way to start of the video, and anyone who played (or even followed) high school ball in any capacity knows this sound. From there, it only picked up. Again, I struggle to fathom that this is a high school production and not from a college given the presentation. The addition of Eminem throughout much of the highlight portion of the video was a huge boost."
The production value was so absurdly high in this video, we felt compelled to throw in some of our favorite still shots:
Grantland contributor Chris Brown (@smartfootball) also selected Bishop Gorman as his winner and Shiloh Christian (Springdale, Ark.) as his runner-up. "What a great video! Maybe the best technical video out of all them, even those from the colleges, complete with beautiful crane shots over the stadium and Matrix-style pans with stopped time," he wrote. "It also had a great tone and feel, keeping the action moving forward while quickly investing you in the team."
Brown also had nice things to say about Shiloh Christian's work. "They took a very traditional highlight style video but by integrating older clips (nice shot of Gus Malzahn getting a Gatorade shower) and great editing gave it a timeless feel."
As with his votes in the two other categories, Sports Illustrated columnist Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) cast a dissenting opinion. He gave praise to three other finalists, Aurora Central Catholic (Aurora, Ill.), Perkiomen Valley (Collegeville, Pa.), and MacArthur (Aldine, Texas). "This was the toughest choice," Staples wrote. "I loved McArthur’s take on the Maserati Super Bowl ad. It was short, sweet, and it definitely got the blood pumping. Perkiomen Valley’s video also got me pumped. I can see how it would be especially effective to show the team before a game coming off a loss. But I have to give the nod to the Aurora Central Catholic video. First, that was a weekly video, not a season highlight or a preseason pump-up. The production value was fantastic for something put together after a game. Also, the video did a great job explaining to the viewer why that game was so important. So the payoff at the end actually meant something even for someone who didn’t know anything about either program before watching the video."
Our fourth panelist, SB Nation managing editor Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) picked Bishop Gorman as his winner and Aurora Central Catholic as his runner-up. "These are tough because the high school videos are so good. I've got Bishop Gorman first. Again, well-produced video that shows off a lot of things."
The FootballScoop staff would like to extend a special congratulations to head coach Tony Sanchez and his staff,video creator David Muscarella, and the entire Bishop Gorman program. We would also like to issue a heartfelt thank you to the five remaining finalists - Bethlehem Catholic (Bethlehem, Pa.), Aurora Central Catholic, Shiloh Christian, Perkiomen Valley, MacArthur, on the outstanding work that was submitted, and to our panel for taking their time to judge these outstanding videos.
The FootballScoop staff continues to be blown away at the quality of video production at all levels of football, and we are especially thankful to all those who shared their work with us. Quite literally, this contest could not happen without you.
Here's to an even better 2015 Video of the Year contest.