Playoff Proposal Pauses
May 10, 2013
During the MHSAA Football Finals at Ford Field last November, I was approached by representatives of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association with a request to have the MHSAA’s computing capabilities crunch the numbers for a concept that a couple of the coaches association’s members had for revising the MHSAA Football Playoff point system.
Within a few weeks the MHSAA hosted a meeting that brought together the coaches who introduced the concept with our numbers crunchers; and within a few days our staff had outlined the principles, revised the point system and retrofitted it to show how the system would have affected the 2012 playoffs.
There was initial excitement that we might be onto something, but that brief infatuation began to wane as we dug deeper and discussed the plan more widely.
The key ingredients of the proposal are (1) that a school would gain playoff points for every game its opponent wins, whether or not that school defeated that opponent, and (2) that the number of automatic qualifiers would be reduced in favor of a larger group of additional qualifiers based on a revised playoff points system that would favor schools which schedule larger and more successful opponents.
In spite of our staff’s helpfulness in bringing this proposal forward, we’ve lost optimism that it will accomplish what is hoped. Rather than making regular-season scheduling easier, it could make it harder as the “six-wins-and-in” mindset is replaced by the even worse “seven-wins-and-in” mindset. And any system that ignores a minimum number of wins and relies entirely on playoff points is even less fair than the current system to schools in the less densely populated areas of Michigan.
From our retrofitting of the proposed concept to the 2012 season, we know that teams with 6-3 records would be displaced in the playoffs by teams with 4-5 records, which is certain to go down badly and be difficult to explain to those communities. The revised point system would make it even more difficult than the current system for schools in less populated areas to find opponents of the size and strength to generate high playoff point averages without these schools driving 100, 200, 300 or more miles, one way, several times each season. For individual schools and some entire leagues, this will make football scheduling tougher, not easier. It is likely to add stress to those league affiliations, and to football scheduling generally.
In any event, there is no need to rush to 2013 or 2014 a proposal that’s called “Enhanced Strength of Schedule System” because schedules are 99 percent set for 2013 and nearly so for 2014. Even if adopted today, few schedules would be impacted before 2015. If a change like this one is to be implemented, schools must have ample notice, and our technology department must have enough time to program the new point system and then test it through an entire season.
The Representative Council acted wisely on May 6 when it paused the progress of this proposal. Some elements of it may be discussed at the MHSAA’s scheduled meetings this summer and fall.
Rapid River Rumbles to History-Making Finish
November 17, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MARQUETTE – Since the opening kickoff of 8-Player Football Playoffs in 2011, Rapid River has been on the verge of winning its first MHSAA Finals championship in this sport.
In that first year’s title game, also at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome, the Rockets fell to Carsonville-Port Sanilac. The next year saw a Semifinal run. And then in 2013 at Greenville’s Legacy Field, another title game defeat, to Peck.
Four seasons of earlier-round playoff losses followed. But all of those are more distant memories after Saturday.
Rapid River hoisted its first championship trophy in football after a 30-18 win over Onekama back at the Superior Dome in the 8-Player Division 2 Final.
“It’s my senior year. Our coach has been here twice, but never won it. To get him one before he would retire … (we) did it for all the people on my team,” Rockets senior Gunner Larson said. “Just an amazing experience. Gotta go for the ride.”
Just a quick note: Rapid River coach Steven Ostrenga didn’t announce his retirement after his 20th season running the program came to a close. But Larson and his teammates know it will happen someday – but now without the “what if” of just missing out on a championship.
Rapid River and Onekama both earned their first trophies of 2018 during the playoffs after both finished third in their respective leagues, Onekama behind two contenders for the Division 1 title and Rapid River behind Division 1 runner-up Pickford and Engadine, which the Rockets then beat in the first round by two points after falling to the Eagles by 18 only two weeks prior.
And Rapid River certainly played like a champion Saturday, relying on its strengths especially up front to outgain Onekama 341-212 in yardage – but more importantly, hold onto the ball for 33½ minutes to the Portagers’ 14:30.
The Rockets ran 66 times for 305 yards as a team, with junior Tyler Sundling gaining 123 and scoring two touchdowns and Larson running for 107 and a score. Senior quarterback Brent Lundquist tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to senior Nate Olson during a change of pace.
Rapid River carried a 22-8 lead into the fourth quarter and held on despite two Onekama scores over the final 12 minutes.
“We’ve never given up that many yards rushing and that many points,” said Onekama coach John Neph, whose defense was allowing only 8.1 points per game entering the day. “So I think that speaks to the quality of the Rapid River offensive line and their backs. They’re flying around and doing some good things defensively, and that was a huge difference.
“We never thought we were out of the game till maybe the last touchdown there that the Rockets had. We hung in and hung in, and the offense kinda left the defense out there way too long. (And) the conversions they could get on third and fourth down were just critical to keep the drives going.”
Rapid River didn’t have a turnover and only six penalties. Onekama had five penalties but also lost two fumbles. And those Rockets conversions clearly were difference makers; Rapid River was 10 of 17 on third down and 4 of 6 on fourth, while Onekama was 4 of 10 on third downs and didn’t have a fourth down try.
“Every team that we have is unique. We had a lot of good football teams; other teams were just a little bit better than us in those games,” Ostrenga said of past playoff trips. “We made some mistakes today, but we were almost mistake-free. And that’s the key.”
He threw plenty of credit to his assistants for getting the team ready, to his linemen for their work up front, and to a host of other coaches – including one in basketball – who had influenced and taught him some things over the years. Ostrenga also has led his share of champions, including eight Upper Peninsula Finals winners in boys track & field.
And at the same time Saturday, it felt like Onekama could be following a similar path and only a few steps behind.
This championship game was the first in football for the Portagers, who are 19-5 over two seasons in 8-player after making the playoffs their last three seasons with 11 on the field.
Onekama will graduate some key contributors including running back/linebacker Ben Acton, who ran for 78 yards and a touchdown and also had a team-high 16 tackles including three for losses.
But the Portagers should also bring back 14 of 19 players next fall, including junior quarterback Luke Mauntler (188 yards, two touchdown passes Saturday) and junior tight end Wade Sedlar, who with senior tight end Rylan Clarke caught those scoring tosses.
Juniors Matthew Mallison and Taylor Bennett followed Acton with 15 and 13 tackles, respectively.
“We have five seniors, but we do have 11 juniors coming back,” Neph said. “So we’re hoping we can replicate this. It’s absolutely tasking on a team to repeat and get this far. There’s some outstanding teams we were able to overcome to get this far. We’d love to come here again, but it’s going to be a ton of hard work and effort moving forward.
“But again, this is an historic season for our program. The guys going to the state finals was just a dream come true for all of us.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Rapid River's Tyler Sundling (2) breaks several tackles and scores a touchdown Saturday. (Middle) Rapid River's Gunner Larson (33) is taken down by Onekama's Luke Mauntler (7) and Ben Johnson (12). (Photos by Cara Kamps.)