Add, Subtract, Divide, Multiply: MHSAA Not Alone
July 25, 2017
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
This is the third part in a series on MHSAA tournament classification, past and present, that will be published over the next two weeks. This series originally ran in this spring's edition of MHSAA benchmarks.
As the MHSAA faces its most recent classification task with 8-Player Football, and opinions continue to swirl about as to the method, timeframe, location and other procedures, a look around the country provides plenty of company among state association brethren factoring variables into their own equations.
In the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon School Activities Association Football Playoffs are under public scrutiny as leadership ponders a five or six classification format beginning with the 2018-19 school year.
The OSAA has crowned six champions on the gridiron since 2006-07. Many of the state’s smaller schools would like to keep it that way, while larger schools lean toward a five-classification system, citing larger leagues, ease of travel and credibility to state championships as the advantages.
Still others would prefer more than six classes, pointing to safety issues and the opportunity to increase participation numbers as positives.
Moving southeast of Oregon, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association recently voted to hold serve on a classification proposal that was volleyed to the membership.
However, changes still could be forthcoming by as early as the 2018-19 season which would add a fifth classification in more populated southern Nevada while allowing northern schools to participate in four classifications. Such divisions could mean no state championship for the fifth class in southern Nevada.
Because of that, the NIAA wants equal numbers of schools in each classification on both ends of the state. Complicating the issue is the fact that the 24 largest schools in the state, by enrollment, are all in Clark County in Southern Nevada.
Across Nevada’s border into Arizona, charter schools are asking the Arizona Interscholastic Association to reconsider classification that was voted upon and approved in September 2015. That agreement called for the largest 33 percent of charter schools by enrollment to be placed in the state’s largest school classification, 3A, the middle 33 percent into 2A, and the smallest 33 percent into 1A.
Less than two years later the charter schools have had a change of heart and have asked to be considered the same as other Arizona public schools and be placed appropriately by enrollment beginning with the 2018-19 school year.
The situation in Arizona further illustrates how the public/private debate that all state associations have faced throughout existence now has the added dynamic of rapidly growing charter schools in today’s educational system, along with virtual school enrollment.
In the nation’s heartland, Nebraska has retooled its football classifications by using enrollment of boys students only in its schools rather than total enrollment. The Nebraska School Activities Association football-playing schools will kick off the 2018 season using this alignment.
Nebraska has three classes of 11-player football, with the smallest class divided in two, Class C-1 and C-2. The state also will have 8-player football for boys enrollments under 47, and the NSAA will sponsor a new 6-player tournament in 2018 for schools with 27 or fewer boys.
“This is a good proposal because some schools have a sizable imbalance between the number of boys and girls, and there’s a large gap (in enrollment) between the largest and smallest schools in Classes A and B,” NSAA executive director Jim Tenopir said. “I think this addresses both of those concerns.”
Swimmers in Georgia, meanwhile, will feel like they are moving with the current, rather than upstream in 2017-18, as the Georgia High School Association recently doubled the number of team championship events from two to four.
Swim enthusiasts can also count on longer days at the finals, as the top 30 finishers from the prelims will advance to the finals instead of 20, and all championship events will have three heats versus two.
Ruddy Makes Biggest Plays at Most Crucial Times as Whiteford Wins 2nd Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 25, 2022
DETROIT – When the Ottawa Lake Whiteford offense took the field Friday with the Division 8 championship on the line, head coach Todd Thieken had a message for his offensive coordinator:
Put the ball in Shea Ruddy’s hands.
Need to convert a crucial fourth down near midfield?
Put it in Ruddy’s hands.
Facing a 3rd-and-goal from the 7?
Let Ruddy make the decision to run or pass.
The senior quarterback paid off his coach’s confidence, making the plays the Bobcats needed and leading a go-ahead touchdown drive in Whiteford’s 26-20 victory against Ubly at Ford Field.
“I want us doing things that he’s either running it, or he’s directing the play in some way, shape or form,” Thieken said. “Obviously there were some big plays – (Hunter DeBarr and Jake Iott) made some big runs on that drive, (Ruddy) did, as well, big catch out of (Kolby Masserant). When I’ve got guys like this, I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I wasn’t nervous because the game’s on the line. But I definitely had a quiet confidence about what we had in front of us.”
Ruddy finished the game with 177 yards of total offense and two touchdowns to lead Whiteford to its second Division 8 title, the previous coming in 2017.
His second rushing touchdown of the day came with 1 minute, 59 seconds to play, breaking a 20-all tie.
“Originally I was just going to throw it,” Ruddy said. “But there was a lot of room to run so I just tucked it and figured I could get there.”
The touchdown run capped an 80-yard drive that took 7:42 off the clock. It included a 4th-and-5 conversion near midfield in which Ruddy rushed for seven yards. Nine of the 17 plays on the drive were either a pass or Ruddy run.
“That kid’s a heck of a player,” Ubly coach Eric Sweeney said. “That’s the best athlete I’ve seen this year. He’s quick, explosive and when you get a kid like that in space, he’s tough to tackle.”
It appeared that Ruddy had made it 28-20 with a two-point conversion, but a replay review showed he stepped out of bounds just prior to hitting the pylon. That gave Ubly (13-1) some renewed hope going into its final drive, but the Bearcats couldn’t move the ball. A fourth down throw, hurried by immediate Whiteford pressure off the edge, was knocked away by Ruddy’s younger brother, Ryin, and Whiteford (14-0) was able to run out the clock in the victory formation.
“That was probably one of the best high school football games I’ve ever been a part of,” Thieken said. “I’ve been coaching football for over 30 years, and the way that both teams out there just battled right down to the wire, the way the teams were going at it. … The way we finished that game was a testament to all 51 kids on our football roster and the way they worked since last June.”
Whiteford’s go-ahead drive came after Ubly had erased a two-touchdown deficit and captured the game’s momentum.
The Bearcats – who were making their third Finals appearance and first since 2020 – went down 12-0 in the first quarter, and trailed 20-6 in the third before turning things around.
They did it by not straying from the gameplan they’ve had all season – running the ball straight at their opponent.
Seth Maurer scored both second-half touchdowns, one on a 31-yard run, and the other on a 9-yard run. Ubly rushed for 107 yards on 12 carries during the third quarter alone.
“The resiliency of these kids? They’re tough,” Sweeney said. “Cornfield tough is what I would say. They never quit, which I wouldn’t expect these kids to quit. They really battled. I couldn’t be prouder. We have to come down here and win one of these, but the kids played hard and left it all out on the field. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Whiteford jumped out to its 12-0 lead thanks in part to an Ubly fumble on its opening possession. The Bobcats capitalized with a 26-yard TD run by DeBarr.
After a defensive stop, the Bobcats went 80 yards on 14 plays, scoring on a 1-yard run by Shea Ruddy.
Ubly would make it 12-6 with a 2-yard touchdown run by Mark Heilig. The drive was set up by an Evan Peruski interception at the Whiteford 30-yard line.
Whiteford stretched the lead to 20-6 right after the half, as it went 80 yards on 12 plays, scoring on a 4-yard run from DeBarr. Ruddy ran in the two-point try.
DeBarr finished with 94 yards rushing and the two touchdowns for Whiteford, while Ruddy had 65 yards on the ground and 112 yards on 8-of-12 passing. He also had an interception and tied his brother for the team lead with 12 tackles.
Masserant had five catches for 82 yards, and Iott had 11 tackles.
Maurer finished with 129 yards rushing for Ubly, while Heilig had 82.
Canden Peruski led the Ubly defense with 14 tackles, while Aiden Mackowiak had 13.
PHOTOS (Top) Whiteford coach Todd Thieken presents the Division 8 championship trophy to his team Saturday at Ford Field. (Middle) The Bobcats’ Shea Ruddy (1) pushes forward with Ubly’s Parker Peruski (68) and Evan Peruski (10) working to take him down. (Below) Ubly’s Luke Volmering (11) wraps up Whiteford’s Kolby Masserant. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)