OHSAA Playoffs Expanding in 2021

[EasternDspy]

So in Division I there are 18 teams per Region- 12 of those will make the playoffs. This is not about competition but MONEY. In 2019 Gahanna Lincoln would have made the playoffs with a 3-7 record. At this point just put every in.

Of course it about the money...OHSAA lost a boatload of money from cancelling boys and girls State basketball tourneys along with all spring sports. OHSAA is running on fumes as we speak and gotta make up that lost revenue somewhere. What worries me is why not go ahead and start it this upcoming football season? Makes me wonder if they already know something we don't about the upcoming football season (or lack thereof).*

I got inside info barring a 2nd wave football is going to happen this fall. That’s coming from Snodgrass himself.

[icanpickem]

https://www.times-gazette.com/sports/20 ... ssion=true

[NYBuckeye96]

If the season starts a week earlier, does that mean NY and Trimble no longer play Saturday games? That would be parade day for the Parade of the Hills in Nelsonville.

[Ironman92]

Dumb. Everyone gets a trophy

Lol Get off my lawn

Come on it’s for the kids. This is how Fort Frye program started. They barely made the playoffs one year as an 8th seed. They went to Kirtland and got hammered. What that did for the community was huge everyone wanted to be apart of it. So many kids that never played football decided they wanted to play. Now Fort is a force going 48-1 last 5 years in the reg season.

What’s for the kids? 4 per region with 4-5 divisions was tough, probably too tough. 8 is plenty in my opinion especially with 7 divisions.

For the kids? Not buying that one. Good for Ft Frye. I’m in no way against kids. I think 12 per region is simply too many. My opinion only.

[EasternDspy]

Dumb. Everyone gets a trophy

Lol Get off my lawn

Come on it’s for the kids. This is how Fort Frye program started. They barely made the playoffs one year as an 8th seed. They went to Kirtland and got hammered. What that did for the community was huge everyone wanted to be apart of it. So many kids that never played football decided they wanted to play. Now Fort is a force going 48-1 last 5 years in the reg season.

What’s for the kids? 4 per region with 4-5 divisions was tough, probably too tough. 8 is plenty in my opinion especially with 7 divisions.

For the kids? Not buying that one. Good for Ft Frye. I’m in no way against kids. I think 12 per region is simply too many. My opinion only.

Now all top 8 teams get to host a playoff game. Not every school is Jackson this can be program changing. Also like I said the team you are in week 1 is not who you are week 10. Player can get hurt early in the season and be back by end of the year. To me more football is never a bad thing. Getting one of those top 4 seeds will be huge.

[EasternDspy]

Also Ohsaa has lost so much money that some say they could fold if football is canceled. If that means another week of playoffs to get them needed funds then I’m all for it.

[Raider6309]

Also Ohsaa has lost so much money that some say they could fold if football is canceled. If that means another week of playoffs to get them needed funds then I’m all for it.

Colleges will fold up if no college football. Everything should be back to normal soon. The lockdown was next level stupid

[91raider97bobcat]

And now, for 2021, it's going to be 16...

https://www.wcpo.com/sports/high-school ... ing-season

[3sUp]

I doubt making the playoffs as a 16 seed is very program changing.

[Pat]

I doubt making the playoffs as a 16 seed is very program changing.

Yea, those running clock beatdowns they get put on them will make every boy in the school want to come out and play the next season.

[NYBuckeye96]

This is getting beyond ridiculous.

At this be point, they might as well let all teams play in the playoffs like every other sport. It’s no longer special to qualify.

[Bfan99]

Doesn’t Ky have something similar with a lot of teams making the playoffs?

[enigmaax]

Dumb. Everyone gets a trophy

I don’t understand this perspective. It isn’t a trophy; it is an opportunity to play in a tournament. Virtually, if not literally every other high school sport lets everyone participate in the postseason tournament. There are even trophies for Sectional and District winners. There are plenty of blowouts at those levels (for that matter, the majority of state playoff games aren’t that competitive). Nobody complains.

People love the NCAA basketball tournament for the potential and sporadic upsets; people clamor for expanded NCAA football playoffs and for the inclusion of clearly inferior (G5) teams. But give high school kids a similar opportunity to compete and it is watered-down, entitlement culture?

[petesweaty]

There is no trophies for sectional championships. Expanding the football playoffs is about one thing: $$$$$$

[formerfcfan]

Dumb. Everyone gets a trophy

But give high school kids a similar opportunity to compete and it is watered-down, entitlement culture?

I'm not at all a fan of the "trophy culture" trope that gets employed seemingly every other month, these days, to a new change in competition structures. I didn't care for it when it was yelled as the field expanded to 12, nor do I enjoy it now. But, I also dislike greatly the expansion to 16 and now am beginning to think the original inclusion of four more teams into the fold -- which we never even played a season of, YET(!) -- was a bad idea.

The only upside that I see is this basically neuters the idea behind computer points and related schedule-engineering, giving teams all the incentive in the world to play closer opponents and play non-league games that wouldn't have made sense to play even two years ago. Trimble vs Athens, anyone?!?

[enigmaax]

There is no trophies for sectional championships. Expanding the football playoffs is about one thing: $$$$$$

Plenty of schools have banners for Sectional Championships, so whatever.

As for dollars, yeah, that is pretty much how the world works. High school sports isn’t a business, but it does need money to operate. That doesn’t change anything that I said.

[svac83]

When it comes to money i agree this is probably about the money. But honestly if they don't expand the high school playoffs and increase the revenue then football in high schools may be dead soon. High schools depend on the catastrophic insurance policy that OHSSA covers them with. With the concussions and all the other law suits these premiums are skyrocketing. You might not like the added playoff games. don't go or follow the first round you will survive but plenty of people will go.

And if you like high school football you should be a fan of this if not you may not have football to watch soon.

[enigmaax]

Dumb. Everyone gets a trophy

But give high school kids a similar opportunity to compete and it is watered-down, entitlement culture?

I'm not at all a fan of the "trophy culture" trope that gets employed seemingly every other month, these days, to a new change in competition structures. I didn't care for it when it was yelled as the field expanded to 12, nor do I enjoy it now. But, I also dislike greatly the expansion to 16 and now am beginning to think the original inclusion of four more teams into the fold -- which we never even played a season of, YET(!) -- was a bad idea.

The only upside that I see is this basically neuters the idea behind computer points and related schedule-engineering, giving teams all the incentive in the world to play closer opponents and play non-league games that wouldn't have made sense to play even two years ago. Trimble vs Athens, anyone?!?

Here’s an example of the upside on a personal level. This past season, Warren made the playoffs for the first time in school history. If you are outside the program, you can say all you want about asterisks or this didn’t count or that doesn’t count, but the Warren community got to experience a home playoff blowout win in its first ever playoff game and it was great fun across several generations.

Then, there was the double-OT win over John Glenn, most likely the greatest win in school history and as exciting a game any kid is ever going to play. My son had his personal best game ever, the high lasted a long time after they even got hammered in the next round. THAT final loss would have been the extent of the experience previously. Instead, we had two-three weeks of something we never thought we’d experience and memories that no negative Nancies can diminish nor take away. And our getting that experience did not make any team that went further enjoy their own success any less.

Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in one’s own bubble where being detached from a situation makes a person jaded. I will always be in favor of giving kids as many opportunities to make a memory as possible, regardless of my own competitive theories or preferences. Simply, there’s a lot of good and the only bad is in the kinds of people who really aren’t affected either way.

[shoelace]

There is no trophies for sectional championships. Expanding the football playoffs is about one thing: $$$$$$

Plenty of schools have banners for Sectional Championships, so whatever.

As for dollars, yeah, that is pretty much how the world works. High school sports isn’t a business, but it does need money to operate. That doesn’t change anything that I said.

I get what your saying about the Sectional Championships and agree and have never really understood the big deal on that either and it seems football is headed in that direction. It just seemed that football was different when it was at 8 to make it in the playoffs because it was so special and difficult but also trying to see the other side because that is how our society now operates. Going to be some ugly early round games for sure.

[trojandave]

enigmaxx: Good post and I'm glad your son got to experience playoff football. I am in the same mindset as you, expansion of the playoffs is for the benefit of the kids. It doesn't matter if there are mismatches in the first few rounds. Just to experience playoff football is something that the kids will always remember, rather than sitting at home their senior season after 10 games.

Here in Portsmouth, we opted in the playoffs this past season, but the previous 2 years made the playoffs and they were not automatic berths. The Trojans were beaten soundly in the first round in 2018 and 2019 by Middletown Madison (26-0) and West Lafayette Ridgewood(55-24), but considering we hadn't made the playoffs since 2007, Trojan fans were just glad they got to taste playoff football once again.

shoelace: Remember that in basketball, winning a sectional is special because the tournament starts out with 200 teams in each division, and after sectional play, only 64 remain.....and in the Southeast District, that means a trip to the Convo, which so many teams cherish. I remember the days when I was in school at Portsmouth (Class of 1975) that a trophy was given out for winning a sectional. We were in Class AAA and played at the Rio Grande AAA sectional and winning it was a big deal in that time. The sectionals today don't award a trophy for such, but the kids and coaches do get to cut down the nets, so for the teams that get to do that ritual, it is important to them.

Look at Portsmouth West this past season. For the first time since 1998, the Senators won a sectional title, beating Ironton. I saw it on livestream and the celebration was shown also. The West community certainly was proud of what their team had accomplished, having to wait 23 years for a sectional title.