Schools eye open format for playoffs
Measure in wake of COVID protocols; vote set next week
With COVID-19 protocols already impacting the high school football schedule two weeks into public school play, Maryland’s athletic association is considering an open playoff format that would include all 182 schools that play the sport automatically qualifying for postseason play.
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association executive committee will vote on the proposal on Sept. 24. On Wednesday, the state football committee — comprised of representatives from nine districts — voted to recommend the proposal be considered.
The proposal would require a significant change from the current playoff format, which features four regions competing in four classifications and only the top eight teams in each region qualifying for postseason play. Currently, playoff teams qualify based on a point system that factored in overall records and strength of schedule.
If the current proposal passes, two more classifications are expected to be added and six state champions would be crowned later this season at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. There would be no effect on scheduling or the number of playoff rounds due to the extra classifications.
Only the top four teams in each region in the four classifications qualified for postseason play before the MPSSAA doubled the number of teams that qualify from 64 to 128 and cut the regular season from 10 games to nine in 2019.
Michael Duffy, who is president of the MPSSAA and Carroll County’s supervisor of athletics, said the association’s executive committee first brought about the idea as they discussed how to adjust to COVID-related postponements and cancellations and accommodate teams that lose games.
He said coaches, for the most part, like the idea for just this year.
“What we’re recognizing is in emergency times, what can we do that’s going to benefit our student? If we’ve learned anything over the last 18 months is we need to be flexible and make adjustments and make all our decisions with the best interest of our students at the forefront,” Duffy said. “We’ve been very flexible in some decisions and doing things that may not have been done in the past.”
Duffy said this change — even if for one year — brings football in line with every other sport except wrestling, a winter sport that would be the only one left in the state without an open-playoff format this school year. But unlike other sports, there is a very small window in which football games can be made up if a team were to postpone a game due to COVID-related issues.
“What I think is driving a lot of this is the recognition that games are likely to be lost through COVID and cancellations, and we want teams to do what is in the best interest by pausing so they can be healthy and ask people to be responsible with regard to public health and putting people out on athletic fields,” said Duffy, who noted a “handful — it has not been a lot” of games that were postponed due to COVID-related issues during the first two weeks. “It’s a
little bit different environment than when we last had football two years ago.”
Milford Mill football coach Reggie White, who represents District 6 on the state football committee, reluctantly voted in favor of the proposal and was insistent it only be for this season.
“I was proud that we had a sport that everybody wasn’t in automatically, you had to earn your way in,” said White, who recalled past seasons when his team only lost two or three games but still didn’t qualify for the postseason. “But now with COVID, it has made everybody think different. COVID has made a lot of things change. … I’m just not an everybody-gets-a-trophy guy, but I understand it. So my vote was for it, but as a one-year deal only.”
Duffy said the “majority of the discussion” has been focused on the playoff expansion being a one-year solution, but noted everyone involved will “take a review of everything if this moves forward.”
“Everyone will review this toward the end and say, was this the right thing, do we want to continue this, or do we wish to return to where we were?” Duffy said. “I think there are compelling arguments on both sides . ... Everyone’s feedback will be valuable.”
With the pandemic a constant concern and the potential for more games getting postponed or canceled, Dunbar football coach Lawrence Smith believes this is a fair solution. His Poets are off to a 2-0 start and, while they have yet to miss any games, they already experienced a 10-day layoff during the preseason after several players tested positive for the virus.
“When you get into the season as we’re starting now, a lot of teams are shutting down,” he said. “I know that with teams shutting down, it would hurt some teams getting into the playoffs. So I think this would be a way to keep everything fine with coaches and kids not having to miss the playoffs because of a COVID shutdown. So I think it was good thinking — outside the box — what the state is trying to do.”
Should the proposal pass and an open playoff format take place, White hopes the temporary change could benefit programs that normally don’t get to experience playoff football.
“Hopefully it changes some mindsets of some programs where you get more participation, kids feel like they belong, they work hard and get a taste of the playoffs and say, ‘Yeah let’s do this,’ ” he said. “From the opposite end, though, it may be, ‘Coach, I want to go home, we got blown out 63-0.’ So I guess time will tell. But I see the vision behind it and that’s why I voted for it. We’ll see.”
The first round of regional playoff games is Nov. 5 with state championship games currently scheduled for Dec. 3 and 4 in Annapolis. Duffy said the MPSSAA is looking to add a third day of state championship games to accommodate adding two classifications if the proposal passes.