Playoff proposal to be explained around state

Paul Revere’s midnight ride throughout parts of Massachusetts to warn the citizens about an attack by the British troops during the Revolutionary War is a major part of historical folklore.

The MIAA Football Committee plans on using a similar tactic to spread the gospel of Steve Dembowski’s new playoff plan.

Committee chairman Jay Costa opened the meeting by speaking of Dembowski’s proposal, stating among other things that the plan makes Thanksgiving Day games more important and extends the regular season. What Costa and Dembowski both feel is necessary is the ability to take the plan to the masses, namely the principals, athletic directors and coaches and educate them as to why they feel this plan is viable and let the chips fall where they may.

“We need to work with other committees, not just the football committee,” Dembowski said. “We need to show them what we are trying to accomplish and let’s hear what is and what isn’t doable.”

The well-documented Dembowski Proposal has more than its share of supporters, but also has some critics, among them fellow committee members. Franklin Tech athletic director Joe Gamache and his counterpart at Stoneham, David Pignone, both said there is no interest in the proposal in their respective areas (Gamache in Western Mass. and Pignone in District 4).

While an 11-game schedule would do away with consolation or non-playoff games and provide a better sample of which teams truly belong in the postseason, former DennisYarmouth football coach and current principal Paul Funk feels some schools might have trouble scheduling 11 games.

“Look at a school like Catholic Memorial, they’re having trouble scheduling five games,” Funk said. “This was good in the old days when the Greater Boston League and Middlesex League were one league with 10 teams and schools only had to find one or two games. Nowadays with the leagues split, it’s going to be harder to fill your schedule.”

Another concern in terms of an 11-game schedule was what happens if teams are out of contention by the seventh or eighth week? Essentially they would be playing in what some committee members have called non-playoff games in the past as meaningless contests.

Dembowski, who is firm in his belief that his plan would work if given an opportunity, also addressed some inaccuracies in the MIAA’s Statewide Team Benefits, pointing out several of the goals are not applicable in football.

“They say everyone has an equal path to the championship, but it’s not equal when you have 22 teams in Division 2 and 51 in Division 8,” Dembowski said. “They said there is one seeding and qualifying method throughout the state, but football is the only sport where playoffs are currently going on before the end of the regular season.

“If you look at the MIAA Tournament Philosophy on Page 108, they say that a tournament is justified only when it produces worthwhile results for all involved. That’s not happening in football.”

The game plan is to meet again on June 13 in hopes that everything is firmly in place so that members of the football committee can begin the process of spreading the word to all its masses.

In other football news, the committee agreed 19-0 to accept the language in the football proposal with a major change that should please coaches. After listening to the complaints about the seedings not being made official until Monday (giving them a mere three days to prepare for an opponent), the cutoff date for this year is Saturday, Oct. 29 with the goal of publicizing the seeding the following day.

The only concern would be if there were games postponed on the final Saturday (that didn’t happen last year). That game would have to be made up ASAP on Sunday morning, so that the committee would have time to input the results and get the pairings out later Sunday afternoon.

Before the start of the meeting, there was a moment of silence for former Catholic Memorial football coach and athletic director Jim O’Connor, who passed away Saturday morning at age 87. O’Connor also served as a football tournament director and served on several MIAA committees.