This year the Avery Vikings football team finished the regular season with a record of 2-9, and a 2-8 record for playoff seeding, since a team can drop one non-conference loss for playoff seeding purposes. The team travels to Hendersonville Friday night for a rematch of a game played October 3rd in Newland. The Bearcats won that contest 35-6, and enter Friday's game as a #3 seed taking on the #14 seed Vikings.A total of 64 teams in the 1A class are 'eligible' for the two levels (32 in the 1A and 32 in the 1AA classification) of playoff tournaments. By current count, there are only a grand total of 74 teams in the entire 1A classification, meaning that only ten schools will be kept out of playing a postseason game.
In other words, if a team is class 1A and goes winless for the season, there is a slim chance that team might STILL qualify for postseason play, despite earning ZERO wins.
There are proponents of the current high school playoff format who say that it is nice for give teams an opportunity to play an additional game to end the season. And there are others, like me, who question why football playoffs should be watered down by "rewarding" a team with little or no chance of upsetting a state-ranked team with a road trip (normally to play one of the top 3 to 5 teams in the state), which normally doubles as a financial loss for the school.
From my experience, it comes down to one simple reason: the color green, as in money. As I understand it, the NCHSAA web site spells out that schools that host a playoff game submits 15% of its gross proceeds from that contest back to the Athletic Association BEFORE deducting expenses. More eligible teams for playoffs equals additional playoff games, which... VOILA! Provides additional revenue to the NCHSAA to fund the championships for non-revenue sports.
With the current system, I can't help but wonder why teams who qualify for postseason play must be forced to travel long distances to serve as sacrificial lambs to top-ranked teams. Since moving to the 1A class in 2005, Avery has made the playoffs with 9 wins, 5 wins, and 5 wins, respectively, hosting a playoff game on two of those occasions. The first occasion was in 2005, when both Midway High School and West Columbus High School were forced to drive to Newland for playoff games. Midway, located near Dunn, was an over five hour drive by bus, with West Columbus taking over six hours by bus to travel to the High Country, arriving home at 5:30 a.m. after its second round loss to the Vikings.
In 2004, Avery's final season as a 2A playoff team, the squad traveled on Thursday to Tabor City (that's about 30 minutes north of Myrtle Beach, SC) to play South Columbus High School in a first-round playoff game. Does driving SIX HOURS ONE WAY for a playoff game make sense? I don't think so, even if a trip to the beach is a fringe benefit of the deal.
If a watered-down system is inevitable, why drain these small schools of high dollar amounts for gasoline, food, and other expenses, as well as take those students out of what can potentially amount to a day of class work to drive multiple hours to be a cupcake opponent for a team favored to win by 30 or 40 points?
My father taught me that if you're willing to complain and gripe, you'd better provide suggestions, answers, or at least feasible solutions to remedy the issue. Here are a couple of suggestions for the folks in Chapel Hill:
1. CLOSER REALLY IS BETTER.
If such a vast number of teams and games is a necessity (and if it is, I believe a piece of the football pie should be distributed to other school programs, BOTH ATHLETIC AND ACADEMIC), then why not make the matchups more travel-friendly and save the longer road trips for later rounds? This minimizes the dollar amounts that teams which will be 'one-and-done' have to invest, it maximizes the amount the schools will get to keep for their respective schools, plus it may boost attendance at those matchups of teams of closer proximity.
2. RECOGNIZE THE SENSITIVITY OF SCHOOL NEEDS AND CONCERNS
This issue ties in somewhat with the first point. I believe the problem of what is in the best interest of schools and student-athletes goes beyond football.
Look at the case in point of high school basketball. Last season the Avery ladies team played home playoff games against schools that had to make three-hour bus rides to Newland. If you're the home team, that's a great advantage. If you travel, it isn't easy.
Basketball's Western regionals have taken place the past few seasons in Winston-Salem, in a building where some of the games had to be shifted to the Joel Annex with minimal notice due to what was can only be perceived as lack of forethought. Scheduling the dates for the regional high school games to NOT conflict with the home games of the building's normal occupant, the Wake Forest University basketball team, seems to make better sense.
Look at the case in point of high school basketball. Last season the Avery ladies team played home playoff games against schools that had to make three-hour bus rides to Newland. If you're the home team, that's a great advantage. If you travel, it isn't easy.
Basketball's Western regionals have taken place the past few seasons in Winston-Salem, in a building where some of the games had to be shifted to the Joel Annex with minimal notice due to what was can only be perceived as lack of forethought. Scheduling the dates for the regional high school games to NOT conflict with the home games of the building's normal occupant, the Wake Forest University basketball team, seems to make better sense.
In my travels I speak often with other sportswriters and administrators at schools during sports regional and state events. During the regionals at Winston-Salem last spring, I spoke with representatives from Robbinsville High School, a team that traveled between 4 and 5 hours for their one regional game with Bishop McGuinness, the eventual state girls 1A champion. They were glad to advance as far as they did, but they and their fans were unhappy with the distance they had to travel to play a regional round.
In the past, games were played in a more central location for Western regionals: the greater Hickory area. With such a vast number of teams traveling from areas in southwest NC such as Swain, Cherokee, or Graham, or from the northwest such as Ashe, Caldwell, McDowell, or Burke, it appears that an area like Hickory would serve as a location fairly equidistant for schools from Boone, Winston-Salem, and the Asheville area alike.
I know the job of determining playoff teams, travels, locations, etc. can be and often is difficult. But for the sake of the student-athletes, the schools, and fans, it seems more can be done to alleviate this issue which often crops up at playoff time.
In the past, games were played in a more central location for Western regionals: the greater Hickory area. With such a vast number of teams traveling from areas in southwest NC such as Swain, Cherokee, or Graham, or from the northwest such as Ashe, Caldwell, McDowell, or Burke, it appears that an area like Hickory would serve as a location fairly equidistant for schools from Boone, Winston-Salem, and the Asheville area alike.
I know the job of determining playoff teams, travels, locations, etc. can be and often is difficult. But for the sake of the student-athletes, the schools, and fans, it seems more can be done to alleviate this issue which often crops up at playoff time.
Have a thought about this issue? Leave a comment or drop an email to sports@averyjournal.com
