Prep football playoffs can be a good thing even for losing teams
| Thursday, Nov 19 2009 06:15 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Nov 19 2009 08:56 PM
Highland's football team lost seven games in a row to end the season, all of them by at least 14 points. In recapping the season, Scots coach Tim Hartnett bemoans his team's youth, lack of depth and bad luck with injuries and scheduling.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is your poster child for the Central Section playoffs.
Come again? That's right, 2-9 Highland, which finished 0-6 in the Southeast Yosemite League, has a chance to compete for a section championship. The Scots were given the No. 13 seed in Division III and will play at No. 4 Delano at 7 in tonight's first round.
That's because the Central Section uses a unique method for sections of its size: Any team in any sport can enter the playoffs if it so chooses. Some schools implement their own rules -- the most common is that a team must have at least a .500 winning percentage to enter the bracket -- but it's up to them, not the section.
"But it gives kids the opportunity to compete for a championship," section commissioner Jim Crichlow said. "Kids from inner-city schools might not get that chance (otherwise). That's the good side. The bad side, does it water down the playoffs? Yes, it can."
Two years ago, Madera South went 0-10 in its first year of varsity football and chose to enter the postseason. The Stallions lost 62-14 to Fresno-Washington Union.
"That was a question mark for me, but when you realize they had all sophomores coming back, I thought, that's a pretty good point," Crichlow said.
That's what Hartnett is thinking. The former Bakersfield High and Golden Valley coach has won a Division I section title before, and he said it will be beneficial for his younger players to meet Delano tonight -- win or lose.
"Now that I'm at Highland, I think it's great," Hartnett said. "It gives us a chance to have another game. It gives us a chance to get the young guys to go in the right direction."
Until 2003, the section's playoff spots were earned only by teams who finished in the top two in their league. That ensured that winning teams were getting the spoils of the playoffs, but it also meant just eight teams got in in each division.
"That was pretty harsh," Hartnett said. "There were good teams out there not getting in."
A group from the Clovis Unified School District, which makes up most of the Tri-River Athletic Conference, proposed that the section convert to the current system the following season. The measure was voted on by each league and approved.
Crichlow said he's been pleased with the results, not only because it gives more teams a chance to play in the postseason, but because a longer playoff schedule has been a financial windfall for the section.
"We haven't had to raise section dues for 10 or 12 years," said Crichlow, who has been the commissioner for nine years. "Our playoff gates have been so good."
And any complaints about the top teams having to play an extra game or the system watering down the value of a championship have "fallen on deaf ears," the commissioner said, saying he expects the current system to stay in place for the foreseeable future.
The idea does seem to be catching on, at least if you consider football to be a touchstone. Sixty-five teams are in the football playoffs this year, more than the section's previous high of 63 in 2004. Thirteen of the 65 were 4-6 or worse this year, the highest number since '04.
Teams with losing records have amassed a 14-52 playoff record in that time. But they have also gone as far as the section championship game (Foothill in 2006).
"You never know what's going to happen," Hartnett said. "There's emotion involved with that and confidence. And if you go and knock somebody off somebody in the first round, that's a huge boost. Then you take it from there, one step at a time. I don't know how Delano practiced this week, but we've had some great practices."
And if Highland goes up to Delano and does nothing but lose its eighth straight?
"Other than the cost of fuel to drive up there," Hartnett said, "I don't see a cost, really. And this is great experience for about 55 kids."
Division I rumble
One of those 13 losing teams to make the playoffs this year was Clovis East, which went 4-6 against a tough schedule. The Timberwolves, the only sub-.500 team in the Division I bracket, are seeded ninth and visit No. 8 Centennial (6-4) tonight. The winner must visit No. 1 Clovis-Buchanan (10-0) next week.
There are two local teams in Division II first-round action, No. 9 West at No. 8 Sanger and No. 6 Garces at home against No. 11 Reedley. A host of local teams play in Division III, including all-Kern County matchups of No. 15 Mira Monte at No. 2 Tehachapi, No. 13 Highland at No. 4 Delano and No. 10 Foothill at No. 7 South.
