A few rambling thoughts on the high school football playoffs …

Southern Illinois will be well-represented in the IHSA football playoffs with exactly half the teams in our immediate coverage area.  Counting the South Seven, Southern Illinois River-to-River and the Black Diamond conferences thee are 28 teams in our region and 14 will be heading into post season action.

The biggest disappointment on Saturday night was the ‘reward’ that Chester got for going 9-0 and completing the first-ever undefeated season in school history.  The Yellowjackets (because of an IHSA mandate) will face South Seven power Belleville Althoff.  How can a team that has played a 5A schedule drop down and now play a 2A schedule?

It’s sort of complicated but let me try to explain.

The IHSA earlier this year adopted by-laws regarding non-boundaried schools — private schools — regarding the multiplier that is added to their enrollment.  First I should add that every private school is required to add a multiplier of 1.65 to its enrollment in order to try and level the playing field for schools that can draw students from a specific boundary.  But, earlier this year the IHSA allowed for some waivers for private schools.  Instead of trying to explain I will give you the exact language from the IHSA website.

IHSA By-Law 3.170 requires a 1.65 multiplier be applied to the enrollment of every non-boundaried school. Waivers of the 1.65 multiplier are granted to individual sport and activity programs on a yearly basis. A sport or activity program at a particular school is not eligible for an automatic waiver for the current school term if, over the course of the previous six school terms, the program (as a team) has accomplished any of the following:

1. Won a trophy at the state final tournament.

2. Qualified for the state final tournament (the final weekend of play).

3. Won a sectional tournament.

4. Won a regional tournament two or more times.

5. In track and field only, finished second or third in the sectional tournament two or more times.

6. In football only, won a first-round playoff game.

7. In music only, finished in the top 10 in the state sweepstakes.

All other sport and activity programs are granted an automatic waiver of the 1.65 multiplier.

Now, that brings us back to Belleville Althoff playing Chester in a Class 2A game.

Based on that criteria, Althoff, which finished 6-3 in the tough South Seven Conference, qualifies for the waiver this year.  Althoff has an enrollment of 416 students, and it should be kept in mind that those students can come from a wide area around Althoff.  In previous years Althoff would have been required to multiply the 416 by 1.65 to come up with an enrollment of 686 students, which would have put them squarely in Class 4A.  But, with the waiver their enrollment will stand at 416 and they will drop down two classes to play in Class 2A.

Technically, according to IHSA guidelines, Althoff is allowed to get the waiver.  But, in reality and all fairness its a technicality that, to put it bluntly, stinks to high heaven.  After watching the scores closely all season and seeing that Althoff finished at 6-3 playing against schools with enrollments that ranged from 909 to 2,200.  The Crusaders lost to undefeated Centralia only 38-35.

Here’s something that the IHSA should consider:  If they are going to grant waivers to private schools (who by the way have many more advantages already than public schools do) they should consider granting waivers to co-op schools also.  Here’s an example:  Sesser-Valier High School co-ops with Waltonville and Woodlawn.  S-V has an enrollment of 220 students and with the co-op actually picks up an additional 20 players from the two other schools.  But, S-V is required to add the entire enrollment of both schools which pushes the overall enrollment to 506 and into Class 3A.  Based on the 220 enrollment and even adding the exact number of players to that S-V would be either Class 2A or possibly Class 1A.

While I believe the IHSA does a good job in many aspects I believe there has to be some changes made involving private schools.  I agree with the comments made by Chester coach Brian Lee.  “When something like this can happen, the system is broken.”

Throughout the 2012 football season Lee’s team turned in a perfect 9-0 mark.  His assessment of the ongoing public vs. private fiasco in high school sports in Illinois is also perfect.

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After a one-year hiatus both Du Quoin and Carterville are both back in the IHSA playoffs.  Du Quoin’s record of 27 straight appearances and Carterville’s mark of 16 straight were stopped last year.  Mt. Carmel, at 27 years straight, now holds the longest-running mark in the state.

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So, who got the toughest draw on Saturday night?

Well, without question Chester (as I mentioned earlier) got the toughest.  Even at 6-3 Belleville Althoff would have to be considered the team to beat in the 32-team Class 2A field.  But, otherwise … Johnston City, for the second straight year, got a tough first round opponent.  Last year the Indians faced perennial powerhouse Case-Westfield and this year JC get to head to Vanmetre Field to take on the host Indians, winners of seven straight and champs of the SIRR Mississippi Division. It’s a certainty in this game that a team nicknamed the Indians and a team wearing black/white/red will win.

Carmi-White County will head to Casey-Westfield, another tough match up for the 6-3 Bulldogs.

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Getting in … just by the hair of your chinny-chin-chin …

The Herrin Tigers have been fighting for their playoff lives for the past three weeks with absolutely no margin for error.  And then, if the Tigers could win it’s final three games and go from 2-4 to 5-4 they would have to hope for enough playoff points to get in.  Well, to the surprise of many the Tigers scratched and clawed to win those final three games and finish at 5-4.  Still, most observers felt that the 38 playoff points would not be enough to get Herrin over the hump.

When the dust finally settled the Tigers were tied with Greenfield for the 256th and last spot, which called for a tie-breaker … and another tie-breaker … and finally a third tie-breaker.  Here’s how it played out

Herrin and Greenfield [G.-Northwestern Coop] tied for the final playoff spot. The additional tiebreakers were:

• Head-to-head competition (teams have not played each other)
• Opponents making the playoffs (4 for both teams)
• Wins by opponents making the playoffs (29 for Herrin, 27 for Greenfield-Northwestern).

So, in the end it was the slimmest of margins that got the Tigers in this year.  But, without the tenacity that Herrin showed in the final three weeks of the season the high drama on Saturday night would not have happened.

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Benton will host Robinson in a first round game – only the second time that the two teams have met.  The first meeting is probably more memorable to Benton fans than those from Robinson.  The two teams met in 1995 – the first time ever that the Rangers made it into the playoffs.  Benton was 6-3 (5-4 teams did not qualify in those days) and the host Maroons were undefeated and the top seed.  But, on a cold and blustery day in Robinson the Rangers sprung the upset and notched its first-ever playoff victory.  Certainly, it’s a game that will forever be etched in the minds of Benton football fanatics.

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Finally, many years ago I heard a phrase that I think best defines the IHSA playoffs and Saturday afternoon football.  While there are games throughout the regular season that will always stand out there is something about playoff football on Saturday afternoon that trumps regular season games.  I think this phrase says it all:

The game you remember … are the games in November.