You’re right, this year there doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. My issue more lies with trying to rank teams that hardly played any other teams in their section.
Each HS has a Head Coach to assist in getting word out. Also each kid can send a hudl video to the Gopher recruiting team to get on the radar. Gophers hold camps each summer as well.
I think you see enough #5/#6 seeds win that you can't cut playoffs teams off at .500. It should be sections of 8. You play everyone in your section + one crossover game.
One of the problems is there just aren’t enough good teams in each class. There are too many classes.
And the number of sections of 8 should determine the number of classes. Not arbitrary cut lines that they ignore anyways (to let brainerd and coon rapids play easier schedules)
I don't know if everyone should make the playoffs, but those who don't should get to play another game against another non-playoff team. Who doesn't want to play more games at that age.
Wisconsin has 8 classes and MN has 7. They only take 32 for playoffs, but I believe they play 9 games in the regular season with teams with winning record going to playoffs. In the end everyone is guaranteed 9 games in both states. Neither is perfect, but I prefer the MN model.
Wisconsin the classes are decided after playoff teams are selected. Which is interesting.
That's surprising, comparing the area around it to what it's like up by that house farm.
How does that work where they decide the classes after the season?
You assume everyone who lives in a newer development is some kind of classist snob. I get it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to ready my torture chamber in the third stall of my suburban garage in case any undesireables wander by.
I don't agree with "forcing" a school to play less than 11 man football just because it's "too small".
I think/assume no such thing. Very odd conclusion to jump very far towards.
When I played in the mid-80s, we had 23 guys on our roster from 9-12th grade. We should have been 9-Man at least 5 years before that, but our school board thought that it would cost too much money to bus us to other 9-man schools, which were further away. They favored saving money and keeping us 11-man, play all the local schools, and watch us being dealt a weekly ass-whooping by teams with rosters 3-4x as large as ours.
Does Wisconsin still wait until enrollments are in before they seed within a class? I had a buddy who coached in WI a decade back. One year his squad was a big division 4 school. The next it was a small division 3 school. He wouldn't know which division until the enrollments were tallied in the beginning of the year.
All good.
They place teams into the playoffs then put the biggest schools who made it into one class. Next biggest into next class etc
I think they do that once the playoff field has been selected. So you have some schools that can be big class one year and second biggest next year based on who had winning records that year
There aren't 64 9-man teams in the state, so you're forcing teams to play 9-Man. There are 63 teams in 1A, so they are basically full.
Albert Lea has not been good since the mid '70's. Mankato West also used to be a bottom feeder and would get pummeled by the rest of the Big 9. Times have changed.
Good point, Mankato East and West used to play a Big 9 schedule and then play down in Class A against schools like St. Peter, Blue Earth, New Ulm and Fairmont in the playoffs. (Early 90's). West still couldn't win and East would be a tough out after going 4-4 in the Big 9. Reallignment has gone on forever based on enrollment.
It's why enrollments don't work 100%. You have to formulate a way to take economics, competitive balance and demographics into account. Lakeville North football is on the decline and Lakeville South/Farmington is where the shift has now happened. I would not add more classes.
Why is it okay for schools of 3400 play schools of 1700 but not okay for schools of 1800 play schools of 900?
So should we design a special schedule for Lakeville north to wins next year like we did for park cottage grove, Eagan, and anoka this year?
Agreed. The old system, which was based on a combination of school size and geography made the most sense, and yes, it changes over time. But that's how it should still be.
I know they haven't been good for a long time. I graduated from there ('85). My Senior year I think they won two games, but one of those was against John Marshall. They had a pretty decent RB at the time named Darrell Thompson. I heard he did OK.
Properly not needed but maybe in 5 years. In the end who cares who they play in the regular season when they all make the playoffs based on section and similar sized schools?