2023 MN High School Football season

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What you just described is how things are. Everyone plays 9 games, and half advance after the 9th game.
 

The unbalanced section/district thing is really messy IMO.
Looking at the break down on MnFootballHub, really only 6A makes any sense.

The MSHSL could screw up a one car parade.
 


I understand what people are saying.

but - the MSHSL has made it very clear over the years that geographical representation is one of their key principles.

in the eyes of the MSHSL, the State Tournament in any sport is not designed to determine "the best team in the State." The State Tournament is a matchup of the Section champions and is held to determine the best of the Section Champions.

we've all seen examples in various sports where two of the best teams in the state meet in a Section Final - and only one advances. that is how the MSHSL wants it.

you are never going to get a "true" state championship unless the top 8-rated teams just happen to be in 8 different sections.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I understand what people are saying.

but - the MSHSL has made it very clear over the years that geographical representation is one of their key principles.

in the eyes of the MSHSL, the State Tournament in any sport is not designed to determine "the best team in the State." The State Tournament is a matchup of the Section champions and is held to determine the best of the Section Champions.

we've all seen examples in various sports where two of the best teams in the state meet in a Section Final - and only one advances. that is how the MSHSL wants it.

you are never going to get a "true" state championship unless the top 8-rated teams just happen to be in 8 different sections.
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I'm totally ok with this approach. Be the best in your area/region-section and you get to advance to State. It works fine, for whatever sport for the most part.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
you are never going to get a "true" state championship unless the top 8-rated teams just happen to be in 8 different sections.
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I would say deciding it on the field, even in section final, is better than relying on some governing body to rank high school teams from across the state - especially at the smaller classes. The current system isn't perfect but I like that a team could go 4-4 or 5-3 and peak at playoff time to knock off a 8-0 or 7-1 team in sections.
 

Some guy said:
This would make a lot of sense if we were willing to go 9 regular season games and not everyone makes the playoff

Really hard to do in the lower classes as currently constructed because you don’t want to make a team travel 200 miles for a 1 vs 8 game.

Lower classes having unbalanced sections in terms of quantity of teams also makes the 6a playoff model infeasible

I would most prefer the 6a playoff model with a 9 game regular season. Only the top 4 in each section make the playoff.
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I still think the right thing to do, is separate out the 9-man teams as a class - they're basically playing a different sport. Then take the remaining schools and divide them equally into the 5 classes.

All the classes then have an equal number, and then divide by districts and sections from there. If there's an odd number, you might have a few unbalanced districts/sections but far fewer than the mess there is now.

Say then, there are 200 schools playing 11 man football. You have five classes of 40 teams.
Each class has 8 districts of 5 (essentially conference play) and then you combine districts to form sections for playoffs. District A and B are a section, C and D, E and F, H and I. 4 sections.
The winner of each of the four section playoffs goes to state.
 


I've given the correct compromise.

The top ranked team in each section gets a berth to the state bracket. There you go, there's the mandated geographical representation.

Just we also include X best remaining teams as at-large.


Sure, let everyone play 9 regular season games, so no one can say "well gee, we used to at least get one section game!" That's fine.

We just skip all the BS of section brackets.

Have to be one of the only states that does this silly crap.
 



MplsGopher said:
I've given the correct compromise.

The top ranked team in each section gets a berth to the state bracket. There you go, there's the mandated geographical representation.

Just we also include X best remaining teams as at-large.


Sure, let everyone play 9 regular season games, so no one can say "well gee, we used to at least get one section game!" That's fine.

We just skip all the BS of section brackets.

Have to be one of the only states that does this silly crap.
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We've discussed how Wisconsin does it, where they don't classify until the playoffs. I'd be interested to know how other states do it.
 

Maverick_52 said:
Huge game in 5A this week as #1 ranked Mankato West travels to #2 Chanhassen for playoff homefield advantage and the #1 seed in section 2AAAAA. Only similar opponent both teams have played so far is Waconia. West beat Waconia 35-6 and Chanhassen beat them 20-13. Should be a high scoring affair. Big challenge for the West defense to try and slow down Chanhassen RB Maxwell Woods. Nobody has been able to do it thus far.
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I’m looking forward to this one. Gopher recruits on both sides, and Woods is fun to watch. Last week 193 yards and 2 TDS.

Started the game with a bang. On D had a pass breakup in the endzone on 4th and goal, then first rush on O went 92 yards for a TD. Next touch 11 yards. Next touch 25 more, but a fumble at the end. Reminds me of Maroney from his Gopher days: on any play he might get 2-3 yards, or house it!

I think Chan has their work cut out for them in this one.
 

Eden Prairie plays at Wayzata tonight. I think we're going to the game.
 

rovert M said:
I’m looking forward to this one. Gopher recruits on both sides, and Woods is fun to watch. Last week 193 yards and 2 TDS.

Started the game with a bang. On D had a pass breakup in the endzone on 4th and goal, then first rush on O went 92 yards for a TD. Next touch 11 yards. Next touch 25 more, but a fumble at the end. Reminds me of Maroney from his Gopher days: on any play he might get 2-3 yards, or house it!

I think Chan has their work cut out for them in this one.
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Should be a good one. I think West will try to pound the rock as much as possible to keep the ball out of Wood's hands. Their OL is the strength of the team. They have some hogs up front.
 



MplsGopher said:
The point of a state tournament is that you’re playing the best teams from all over the state. Not just your corner farm region of the state.

It’s a special deal. Hold a bake sale, if needed.

Compromise on a neutral site that’s somewhat in the middle.
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Spoken like a city dweller.
 


Ope3 said:
I'm totally ok with this approach. Be the best in your area/region-section and you get to advance to State. It works fine, for whatever sport for the most part.
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Agree. There are what, 7 divisions?
short ornery norwegian said:
I understand what people are saying.

but - the MSHSL has made it very clear over the years that geographical representation is one of their key principles.

in the eyes of the MSHSL, the State Tournament in any sport is not designed to determine "the best team in the State." The State Tournament is a matchup of the Section champions and is held to determine the best of the Section Champions.

we've all seen examples in various sports where two of the best teams in the state meet in a Section Final - and only one advances. that is how the MSHSL wants it.

you are never going to get a "true" state championship unless the top 8-rated teams just happen to be in 8 different sections.
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If the best two teams in the state happen to be in the same section, only one can make it out. If that team prevails and wins the state championship, that seems like a true state champion to me.

I have no issue with section or regional winners advancing to state. Particularly where the MSHSL has an 8 game regular season with a week in between games until MEA, and then starts sending teams off to play games on school nights with less than a week of rest, these kids shouldn't be getting bussed 200 or even 100 miles away for games.

Changing the subject - this seems to be right in your geography: What's going on with WWG? I see they are only playing a JV schedule the rest of the season. They are already 9 mine. Will they need to find a new coop for FB?
 

swede2 said:
I have no issue with section or regional winners advancing to state. Particularly where the MSHSL has an 8 game regular season with a week in between games until MEA, and then starts sending teams off to play games on school nights with less than a week of rest, these kids shouldn't be getting bussed 200 or even 100 miles away for games.
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How do you think it works for schools in really rural states like North Dakota?
A school like Devils Lake has to play in Fargo and Wahpeton. Those are 2.5 to 3.5 hour drives for regular season games, much less playoffs.
 

disco said:
How do you think it works for schools in really rural states like North Dakota?
A school like Devils Lake has to play in Fargo and Wahpeton. Those are 2.5 to 3.5 hour drives for regular season games, much less playoffs.
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Note that I didn't take issue with the distance but the timing. Yes, rural and sparsley populated states are traveling great distance. But they aren't playing games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Their playoff games are Friday and Saturday. They start a week or two earlier than MN and their teams get a week of rest between games, even in the playoffs, late in the season, when it's needed more. None of this short week, school night stuff.
 

Wayzata looking awful so far.
 

Wayzata - EP stopped for lightning with ~8 minutes left in the first half. We ended up going home - looks like it's going to be bad for a while.
 

War on the Shore also suspended at around the same time. They will resume tomorrow at 1:00 PM.

Westonka took the opening kickoff and marched the distance for a 7-0 lead.

Orono then appeared to be held with a loss on third down and a 3 and out but failures to wrap up led to three broken tackles in the backfield and then an 80 yard run for way more than a first down. Soon it was 7-7 and that is how the first quarter ended.

Westonka held after fumbling deep in their own territory but gave up a TD drive after throwing an interception on their next possession. But Orono missed the point after.

Game suspended with Orono about to kick off, leading 13-7. About half the second quarter left.

Side note: Westonka has lost their most dynamic offensive player to a broken ankle in week 1, and now a top D lineman to a broken foot after he dropped a weight on it during an early morning workout this week.
 

Wayzata - EP to resume tomorrow at 11 am.

Pretty good turnout of youth players tonight but most will be playing their own games tomorrow.
 

swede2 said:
Changing the subject - this seems to be right in your geography: What's going on with WWG? I see they are only playing a JV schedule the rest of the season. They are already 9 mine. Will they need to find a new coop for FB?
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really low on numbers. enrollment in the district is down and they just got hit with a couple classes that didn't have a lot of boys, and some of those boys didn't go out for football. so they're playing a JV schedule this year and trying to get more kids to go out to boost the numbers in the lower grades.
 

Here's a question.
At least two games have been postponed to tomorrow that have been discussed here. What happens if the officials have already been assigned to other games. Whether youth, JV, small college etc?
 

of my games to watch -

9-Player:
#4 Cherry goes to (5-0) with a 48-8 win over Littlefork-Big Falls (4-1)

-- upset - Mable-Canton knocks off #2 Spring Grove 20-12.

1A:
upset -- #2 Springfield falls to (4-1) as the Tigers lose 16-14 to Sleepy Eye United (5-0). Sleepy Eye should move into the top 10 this week.

B-B-E goes to (5-0) with a 14-6 win over #9 Upsala-Swanville (4-1)

#8 in 2A Norwood-Young America (4-0) at #6 Lester Prairie (4-0) -- postponed by weather on Friday. Game will now be played at 6:00pm on Saturday.

2A:
#7 Holdingford falls to (4-1) with 34-22 loss to Osakis (4-`)
 

Minnetonka held on to beat Shakopee 14-13 after leading 14-0 before the long weather delay.
 


Wayzata loses 39-7 to EP.
Wayzata is not a fundamentally sound team. Lots of dumb mistakes.
 

a couple of score updates from Saturday:

1A:

Norwood-Young America (#8 in 2A) beats Lester Prairie (#6 in 1A) 14-12

unranked Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop beats #4 Mayer Lutheran 14-13.

#1 Minneota rolls over Maccray 56-0.

3A:
#10 Litchfield (4-1) knocks off #1 Dassel-Cokato (4-1) by 14-13.


and worth noting: Windom snaps 17-game losing streak Friday with 28-20 win over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton. on Saturday, Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda (9-man) snaps 16-game losing streak with 53-14 win over Nicollet.
 

That was a huge win for GFW. Stopped a 2 point conversion attempt late, to win it.
 

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