Inside Selection Sunday: Mapnalysis 2012
October 24, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Between double checking data for more than a third of our 626 football teams, and creating 136 first-round games for our most popular tournament, the morning of MHSAA football "Selection Sunday" is both one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking of the school year.
So for those scratching their heads the last few days over how we picked the brackets this season, I offer one question and one warning:
How would you have done so differently?
And before you answer, remember that moving the position of one school affects at least seven more – if not all 32 in that division.
This was the second year I was involved in the football selection process, which while appearing simple on its face actually is layered with hours of discussions, calculations, checking and re-checking, and anything else we at the MHSAA can do to make sure we’ve created the best tournament possible.
Simply put, it’s more than just drawing circles and calling them good.
Below are a brief description of what we do, the history behind the process, and some challenges we face each time we draw these brackets – including some examples of our toughest this time around.
The process
Our past: The MHSAA playoff structure – with 256 teams in eight divisions, and six wins equaling an automatic berth – debuted in 1999. An 8-player tournament was added in 2011, resulting in nine champions total when November is done.
That’s a long way from our start. The first playoffs were conducted in 1975 with four champions. Four more football classes were added in 1990 for a total of eight champions each fall. Through 1998, only 128 teams made the postseason, based on their playoff point averages within regions (four for each class) that were drawn before the beginning of the season. The drawing of Districts and Regions after the end of the regular season did not begin until the most recent playoff expansion.
In early years of the current process (or until the middle of the last decade), lines were drawn by hand. Dots representing qualifying schools were pasted on maps, one map for each division, and those maps were then covered by plastic sheets. Districts and Regionals literally were drawn with dry-erase markers.
Our present: After a late Saturday night tracking scores, we file in as the sun rises Sunday morning for a final round of gathering results we may still need (which can include making a few early a.m. calls to athletic directors). Then comes re-checking and triple-checking of enrollments, co-ops, some records and more before the numbers are crunched and the field of 256 is set.
Those teams are then split into eight equal divisions based on enrollment, and their locations are marked on digital maps that are projected on wall-size screens and then discussed by nearly half of the MHSAA staff plus a representative from the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association. Only the locations themselves are marked (by yellow dots) – not records, playoff points averages or names of the schools or towns. In fact, mentions of those are strictly prohibited. Records and playoff points are not part of the criteria. Matchups, rivalries, previous playoff pairings, etc. also DO NOT come into play.
Geography rules: Drawing Districts and Regionals is all about location. Travel distance and ease DO come into play. Yes, ease is important. Schools near the same major highway might be further from each other in mileage than other options but have a better trip. A good example this year is in Division 6, which has seven teams in the U.P. and the northern Lower Peninsula. That meant Shelby needed to be included with those teams to make eight, and left Montague to a District that includes Hemlock – more than halfway across the Lower Peninsula. But at least, in this case, much of that trip will be on one roadway, M-46.
There is certainly conversation about every possible option. The staff splits into two groups, each handling four divisions (plus one of the groups handles 8-player too), and then the entire committee comes together to view all nine maps. There wasn’t one division where the group as a whole said, “That looks great, what’s next?”
Observations and answers
A different ballgame: I was asked whatever happened to Districts, meaning teams opening with opponents nearby. Remember that with eight divisions and 32 teams in each, the difference between maximum and minimum enrollments for each division is smaller than it used to be with just four classes, and the probability of finding two schools in the same division next door to each other is lower. This is especially true for our smaller schools, and those pairings are more spread out. Division 7 provides an excellent example. Opponents Dansville and Ottawa Lake Whiteford are 84 miles apart. But in another option considered, Dansville would’ve played Gobles – and those two are separated by 114 miles.
Points still matter: And that means strength of schedule is a big factor. After Districts are drawn, playoff point average determines the home team for those two games and Regionals as well. There are five Districts in which the team with the best or second-best record did not get home games because those teams’ playoff point averages ranked third among the four teams in those brackets. A number of other Districts have 8-1 teams playing at other 8-1 teams. It’s true: there are times a school can’t help the opponents it plays, because of league affiliation perhaps, and they have no control over how an opponent does the rest of the season. But a Class B team playing in a league with Class D schools can’t expect to compare averages well against teams in their division who face similarly-sized opponents during the regular season.
No boating: This didn’t come up last season, but did twice Sunday. We had to decide if it was a better trip for teams in the thumb to go around Saginaw Bay to play northern opponents, or instead send teams a little bit south of the thumb but with a straight shots north. As the bird flies, the thumb teams were closer in some cases. But I’ve never heard of a team hopping into a boat to get to a playoff game.
The fifth wheels: The toughest lines to draw are around areas with five schools in the same division. Remember, Districts come in fours, and one dot affects the rest. The Grand Rapids area gave us tough calls because of five teams in Divisions 2 and 4. The same was true in the southwest corner in Division 7 and the southeast corner in Division 6. No matter how we circled it, one of those teams got stuck with a longer trip. This time, that group included Caledonia, Grand Rapids South Christian, Blissfield and Gobles.
It’s easy to say certain areas of these maps should’ve been drawn differently. But again, keep in mind a statewide view.
Some of our pairings could create gigantic matchups earlier in the playoffs than those teams might like. But again, who is to decide which teams are the best and which matchups most “gigantic” before they prove it on the field? At least three teams touted during this fall as potentially the best in the state this season didn’t even win their conference titles.
And as I said in this analysis last year, determining the playoff schedule is just one step in many. Nine MHSAA champions must survive until the end, regardless of which opponents they face along the way.
Their journeys begin Friday.
Drive for Detroit: Finals in Review
November 27, 2012
Champions representing five regions of our state. The fifth to win three-straight MHSAA titles. Two more repeat champions, and three teams that hoisted trophies for the first time. Plus four games decided by a touchdown or less, including a Final won on an overtime field goal.
The 2012 MHSAA 11-Player Football Finals gave us just about everything this weekend at Ford Field.
Second Half covered all eight games, with links to each below followed by some of the most notable record performances and a handful of stories we’ll remember long after the helmets and pads are put away.
Finals in Review
D1 – Detroit Cass Tech 36, Detroit Catholic Central 21 – This was closer than the 2011 championship game matchup between the teams. But it played out similarly because the Technicians were simply too speedy and broke off a number of big plays. Cass Tech quarterback Jayru Campbell added another touchdown pass to the five he threw in the 2011 Final. Click to read more.
D2 – Birmingham Brother Rice 35, Muskegon 28 – There weren't many firsts left to accomplish in coach Al Fracassa’s 44 seasons leading Brother Rice, but the Warriors accomplished another with their first back-to-back titles under the state’s winningest football coach. The wrinkle that ended up deciding the game was a cross-field lateral on a kick return that turned into a touchdown with 2:13 left to play. Click to read more.
D3 – Grand Rapids Christian 40, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 37 (OT) – Record-setting performances by St. Mary’s running backs and Eagles receiver Drake Harris capped the weekend and sent this thriller to overtime. See more on those below. Joel Shipper kicked a 28-yard field goal with four seconds left in regulation to send the game to the extra period, and after St. Mary’s didn't score in overtime he nailed a 27-yarder for the win. Click to read more.
D4 – Grand Rapids South Christian 40, Detroit Country 7 – With back-up quarterback Derek Woltjer moving over to fill in for injured standout Jon Wassink, the Sailors opened up the run game a bit more after being mostly a passing offense this fall. Woltjer responded by leading his team to its first title since 2002. Click to read more.
D5 – Portland 12, Grand Rapids West Catholic 9 – After defeating reigning champion Flint Powers Catholic along the way, the Raiders beat the 2010 champion too thanks to a defense that held on long enough after the offense scored twice early. The Raiders had played in one of the first Semifinals, in 1975, but had never played in a championship game. Click to read more.
D6 – Ithaca 37, Constantine 27 – In a repeat of last season’s Final, Ithaca again beat Constantine for the championship. The Yellowjackets extended their win streak to 42 including the last three titles, and this time did so with a back-up quarterback in Logan Hessbrook after all-stater Travis Smith went out with an injury on the team’s first possession. Click to read more.
D7 – Ishpeming 20, Detroit Loyola 14 – This qualified as the biggest upset of the weekend, as Loyola came into the game undefeated and ranked No. 1. But the Hematites, despite a sizable size disadvantage, never let that be a deciding factor in going on to win their first MHSAA title since 1979. Click to read more.
D8 – Harbor Beach 35, Beal City 10 – Despite losing its top player for the season on opening night, Harbor Beach marched on to its first MHSAA championship. The Pirates set the tone quickly with two touchdown passes of at least 50 yards in the first quarter. Click to read more.
Records report
A total of 24 entries – 16 for individuals and eight for team accomplishments – have been added from the weekend’s games to the MHSAA record book Finals section. Below are some of those that ranked highest on the lists. Click to check out the entire Finals record book.
Scoring at will: Well, not quite. But in the Division 3 Final, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Grand Rapids Christian combined for a Finals record 1,033 yards, with St. Mary’s setting the single-team Finals mark of 579 total yards and tying the most first downs with 29. Most came on the second-most rush attempts in a championship game, 65, for 459 yards on the ground. Parker McInnis ran for the fourth-highest total by one player, 269. Grand Rapids Christian had the fourth-most passing yards, 307 by quarterback Alex VanDeVusse. Drake Harris broke the championship game record for receiving yards by 39 with and incredible 243, and his kicker Schipper tied the record for most field goals with two.
Go long: Teams threw the third and fourth-longest passes in MHSAA Finals history, both for scores. In the Division 1 Final, Campbell hit Jourdan Lewis for an 89-yard touchdown pass that was the third-longest for a few hours. That afternoon, in the Division 5 Final, Portland's Tanner Allison connected with Auston Brandt for a 94-yard scoring strike. Brandt finished with the fifth-most receiving yards for a Final, 178.
In the long run: Cass Tech’s Kenton Gibbs tallied the third-longest fumble return, 58 yards, for a touchdown against Detroit Catholic Central. Birmingham Brother Rice’s Jason Alessi had the fourth-longest kickoff return, 91 yards, after taking a cross-field lateral and returning it for a score against Muskegon.
Stories behind the scores
The streak: Ithaca became just the fifth team to win at least three straight MHSAA championships, a streak that began with the Yellowjackets’ first Finals appearance in 2010. Farmington Hills Harrison (1997-2001) and East Grand Rapids (2006-10) are tied for the longest title streaks at five seasons.
The repeats: Both Detroit Cass Tech in Division 1 and Birmingham Brother Rice in Division 2 won titles for the second straight year. The Technicians made their first final in 2011, while the Warriors now have won eight championships.
The first-timers: Harbor Beach in Division 8, Portland in Division 5 and Grand Rapids Christian in Division 3 all won their first championships – Portland and Christian in their first Finals appearances. Harbor Beach had played in one other championship game, in 1991.
No stopping Drake: Although final season stats are being confirmed, it’s fair to say Grand Rapids Christian receiver Drake Harris completed the finest receiving season in MHSAA history. His eight catches for 243 yards and a touchdown in the Division 3 title game put his season totals at 91 catches for 2,015 yards and 25 scores. The yardage is the most in MHSAA history for one season by 119 and would rank 12th nationally for one season (his yards per game rank fourth and yards per catch sixth on the NFHS lists). Harris, who has committed to Michigan State, also ranks fourth for catches in one season and second for touchdown catches on the MHSAA lists.
The replacements: South Christian's Woltjer and Ithaca's Hessbrook probably aren't the names most had associated with their schools. But the back-up quarterbacks – who also started at other positions – moved over to run the show and led their teams to championships. Woltjer, usually a starting flanker and cornerback, ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns and completed all seven of his pass attempts for 88 yards and two more scores – while also making four tackles and intercepting a pass. Hessbrook, also a starting defensive back, ran for 113 yards and two scores and threw for 104 yards and two more TDs and also made four tackles.
Coach’s last stand (?): It was tough to tell from Brother Rice coach Al Fracassa’s remarks after his team’s Division 2 title win if he would return in 2013. But the 80-year old legend would leave with an MHSAA record for wins and a career record of 416-117-7.
Dedication fulfilled: There has been much sadness in the Ishpeming football program over the last two years, with the death of coach Jeff Olson’s son and former Hematites quarterback Daniel Olson, the death of current quarterback Alex Briones’ older brother and former player Derrick and the death also of youth player Christopher Croley in October. Those memories surely weighed on the players’ hearts and minds as they upset top-ranked Detroit Loyola in the Division 7 Final to give the Upper Peninsula its first champion since 2007.
Go to MHSAA.tv for replays of all eight 11-Player Finals and the 8-Player Final at Greenville High.
PHOTOS: (Top) Eight champions celebrated MHSAA titles over Friday and Saturday at Ford Field. (Click to see more from Terry McNamara Photography). (Middle top) Brother Rice players listen to their coaches during halftime of the Division 2 Final. (Middle) A Cass Tech band member prepares to take the field during the Division 1 Final. (Middle below) An Ithaca fan roots on his team in a costume made of Duck Tape, (Click to see more like the middle photos on the MHSAA Instagram page.)