I definitely understand what your saying in regards to watching the game. You gotta realize that boards are sprinkled with "casuals" who barely watch the game and just "troll" or go against the grain. Most of them certainly don't watch any Prep Football outside of a few local games or a few Youtube highlights during Signing Day.
Ya, I've always been a big HS football fan. I grew up in Pittsburgh and the best WPIAL player I've ever seen was LaVar Arrington (dominated at PSU as a fresh and would have had no problem going up against Ball St. seniors) and I NEVER thought I'd see a HS kid like that again. I was wrong once I moved to GA, it was common to see 18 year old built like men. The other thing that blows me away is my HS in PA sent two kids (Geno Stone & Malik Hooker) to the NFL within a few years of each other...the city went bananas and they still talk about it to this day and maybe big picture that's impressive. But my son moved to GA for high school, and his graduating class alone sent like 7 kids (Malik Willis, X McKinney, and Ty'ron Hopper to name a few) to the NFL and 10 plus to the SEC and Clemson. Multiple kids in one year compared to 2 in 50 years. That's when I knew it was different, that's when I tried explaining to everyone it was different. But unless you see it, it comes off as I'm just a homer talking shit. You get a few kids going to Pitt and everyone can't wait to tune in to the game. Now I go every Friday and watch a gang of kids going to UGA, Clemson, Bama, SC, Aub, Ole Miss, GT and Tenn. Teams that dominate, not just Div 1.