Class 4A Needs to Change (Part 2 of 2)

Originally Posted Friday, October 23, 2009

    There’s just not many ways the state can divide the schools, across all classifications, to make things more equitable. It would be too daunting a task, plus in most classifications, the overall disparity is not that great. Yes, 6A and 5A have a larger disparity from top to bottom at 492 and 456, but these schools almost all have over 1000 students, so the talent pool is much larger so the disparity makes less difference.

    But there is a simple solution and that would be to subdivide class 4A into a Division 1 and Division 2, each with 32 teams, at least for football. It needs to be stated again, I’m only talking about football, it has always gone by its own rules anyway, just remember back to Paola’s Class 5A state championship which was won while playing in Class 4A in every other sport, so “playing up” can be done -- it’s just not very easy.

    In this case, Osawatomie would be the sixth biggest school in Division 2 and the top to bottom enrollment differential would be 121 students. Paola would still be the sixth largest school in Division 1 and Louisburg would be the fourth smallest in Division 1, but again with an enrollment difference between top and bottom of 180 students. 

    For football, you could realign the districts within divisions,  drop the first and second place teams moving on out of each district, saving one level of games at the bi-district level, and, let the two divisions have their own state champions. Since one level of playoff games would be eliminated, the two division winners could play each other for the Class championship and let the big school / small school debate be settled on the field.

    This would allow schools like Osawatomie to feel more competitive on a week in week out basis, and relieve some of the pressure on the smaller schools to make tough choices like the Trojans had to when they left the Frontier League for the Pioneer League. The choice between season long competitiveness won out over the chance of an intermittent run at a state playoff game. In essence, the Trojans had to choose over winning games on a regular basis, thereby allowing their student athletes to see a winning record, while running the risk of being under prepared for state level competition, or playing up in a league comprised of bigger schools, not winning many games, and, while better prepared, not making it beyond the district level either. 

    It’s not fair, and schools shouldn’t have to choose, Osawatomie did, and no one can fault them for it. As for the situation which occurred last Friday night, sure the Trojans came in unbeaten, but the state ranking? Well, anyone who follows football at all had to know the Trojans at 6-0 are not the same as say Louisburg or Paola at 6-0, or 5-1 or 4-2 for that matter.

    That’s kind of the problem with “rankings” at the high school level. All too often, the rankings are done by people who just don’t know what’s going on all across the state. With 360 school in six classifications, it’s impossible for one person, or, say a newspaper, to know what each team is doing, who they’ve played and what their competition level is.

    Many times it’s a matter of looking at records and figuring that six games in, if a team has not been beaten, then they have to be a powerhouse. In this case, its kind of the opposite of Baldwin. The Bulldogs did not win a game in their first six tries, really not even close, in fact, they even lost to Ottawa, which hadn’t won a game in their previous 33 tries.

    But the Bulldogs won their first district game, and will probably win tonight, and that’s it, regardless of what they do next week, they’ll move on to play again, with a 2-7 or 3-6 record. The Trojans, on the other hand will probably lose tonight, and then regardless of what they do next week against Prairie View, will be done, with a fine 7-2 record. They’ll have a Pioneer League Championship, but other teams will keep playing and the Trojans will stay home. That’s not fair, but it is the hand that has been dealt, and as I’ve told my kids hundreds of times, “Life is not fair.” 

    Splitting Class 4-A into two division is a simple, clean and effective way to solving this glaring deficiency, and it could easily be done for next year with a simple re-alignment of districts. Of course, that won’t happen, but it should be done by the time the district assignments are made again in 2012-2013.

    Then the “small school” 4A schools won’t have to complain about having to take on their “big school” cousins within the same class. The only problem then will be that the “small schools” will have to deal with will be the Holton Wildcats. The Brooks Barta coached Wildcats are a perennial Class 4A power, at any level, would be firmly entrenched in the middle of the pack in Division 2!