It is officially week one of high school football in the great state of South Dakota and here in the Pheasant Belt (wink, wink, Bruce.) As we begin to move forward with our second week of action, the landscape of 11B football was altered drastically last week. Preseason contenders Tri Valley, Aberdeen Roncalli, and McCook Central-Montrose all started the year the same they ended last year with a loss. In 11A, BHC contender Hot Springs suffered a first round knockout at the hands of Winner, West Central lost it’s first regular season game in half a decade, and STM showed Douglas that even with white helmets, the spankings feel the same, especially when mercy rules are ignored. This resulted in a shake up of the meaningless polls maintained by multiple reporting agencies, which impacts the landscape of football about as much newly elected senators and representatives clean up Congress. It does send out a clear message that this season is up for grabs and you have to show up and win the games to come out ahead. And those wins mean the coveted power points. Which brings me to my point…..
Much ado has been made about the revised playoff format. Modifications that started in earnest clear back about a decade ago. The straw that broke the camel’s back seemed to be when a dang good one loss Burke Bulldog team was on the outside looking in at the playoffs after power points were tabulated in their region. The wild card allowed teams with high power points to bump the four seeds in regions, and I do think this has helped, BUT there have been many situations in which the one seed in the effected region has a much tougher game as a result of this than the two seeds. I bring this up not to turn it into spilled milk, just to note that no system is perfect – as I have said many times, I stand by the premise that you have win the game ahead of you. If you don’t win the first playoff game, don’t gripe about not making it to the state championship game.
We are now seeding teams and basing the quarterfinal games on the arbitrary and BCS like measurement of our power points. Calling a spade a spade, the bullseye for this rule falls onto Region 3, 11A. The east river elitists were in a tizzy with last year’s Todd County team qualifying for the semis, than getting stomped by Milbank. All of those teams that got beat out that is. That didn’t win their games. Were they likely a better football team than the Falcons? I guess the question I would ask is what difference does it make now? They ended their year with a loss, just like Todd County. And every other 11A team not from Milbank. Just like all but six teams who were in the playoffs. And to even further stir the pot, I can’t help but wonder if the concept of T.C. being a reservation school didn’t creep into some minds as well. To further my point, even with Milbank getting that lopsided win, people still cried around about STM getting the easy way into the finals? Pardon me? Belle and Dakota Valley in sound fashion? Milbank is viewed as deserving because they won, but STM is viewed as lucky to have gotten there because of a weak schedule and region. Come on folks, let’s be objective here.
For all of these years, folks a little more quietly grumped around that Winner had it easy. Most years however, Winner put up a fight in the playoffs and wasn’t an easy out. They did benefit from a region softer than others…. in football. Looking at the big picture, I don’t recall teams begging for a shot to go through Jesse Lebeau’s Pine Ridge basketball teams of the 80’s. Or Jesse Lebeau’s Red Cloud teams of the 90’s. Or Jesse LeBeau’s Little Wound team a few years back. I’d like to think that some of Jim Drake’s Winner teams could have competed well at state basketball tournaments (91, 95, and 02 come to mind), but just couldn’t get past those teams who outscored and therefore defeated them. There was no public outcry over this, at least none that I recall. And I sure don’t remember any of those schools begging to get into Region 3 of State A wrestling. Andy Tate’s Mitchell teams of the 90’s and early naughts’, the Pierre squads of the late 80’s, Huron for the last several years, there were some solid schools. Or last year as Winner went to B in wrestling. I took in that regional tourney in Wagner. That was some impressive competition to say the very least. There were several returning state placers that went home a week earlier than the year before. Anybody want to join Bon Homme, Parkston, Burke-Gregory, and Wagner for your shot to get to state? Didn’t think so.
You don’t need to explain to me that this effort is made to get the best competition in football playoffs. Then why do we continue to bank on power points? They can be manipulated as well. While the state is in charge of setting schedules, if you are a quality program in a crappy conference, what is your incentive to leave? Maybe you know with your conference schedule you are likely to get at least four out of five wins year in and year out. Win one of your out of conference games and go 5-3 in a down year and – wah lah – playoff berths have arrived again. Quite honestly, I’m pulling for a Little Wound, Cheyenne-Eagle Butte, or Pine Ridge to have stellar regular season. Go ahead poor Harrisburg who thinks they got jobbed last year or West Central who seem to be upset prone in the playoffs the last few years, enjoy that drive on a Monday night. And then if one of those teams lose out yonder, I’ll be the fat bald guy doing cartwheels across the Platte-Winner bridge.
If we are going to do this, than let’s seed out region tournaments in wrestling, golf, cross country, and track. Let’s seed volleyball and basketball top to bottom. Not just football. If your response is that there are no power points in some of these sports and no way to do it, my response is that the SDHSAA could do it if they wanted to do so. Bust up the conferences and make everybody play teams from within their classes only. Forget about rivalry games and don’t plan on seeing the same teams back to back years. That’s the only way you could call it fair to everyone. It boils down to this – because a handful of east river schools cried loud enough, they got the rule changed for one sport.
There is no “right” way to seed these playoffs in any sport. My suggestion is and always will be to stick with geographic rivalries. In truth there isn’t much better than knowing you knocked off your neighboring town and the last game they played came with a defeat at your hands. I maintain that part of the beauty of the playoffs is relishing your opponents loss sometimes just as much as savoring your victory. Right Black Hills Conference? Quick show of hands, how many folks in the Hills and more accurately most of those residing west of the moat loved seeing the Evil Blue Empire fall from grace twice last year in state championship games? (Point awarded, Sod Buzzard.) And if the folks in Martin weren’t on board before the baseball season, they are now. And McIntosh. And maybe even Pine Ridge now? I just can’t keep up.
I am all for seeing a deserving champion crowned. Does that mean the best team won it? I guess that depends on whose rose colored (or blue, or maroon, or scarlet, or Kelly green, or Columbia blue, or purple, or whatever color you bleed) glasses you are wearing. What I do know is the team that wins four playoff games deserves to be called the state champions. And if you don’t, looks like there are areas to improve. Work on it to achieve it. Or change the system in hopes of making you feel better about not playing good enough to win your last game.
PLOW ON, MY FRIENDS!
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