Disappointing decision regarding 2B football playoffs

Last week, the WIAA unveiled its state tournament allocations for fall sports. These allocations determine how many teams each district gets to send to the state playoffs in these sports, which around here, include football, soccer and volleyball.

No changes were seen in soccer and volleyball. District 7, which includes Davenport and Reardan, was given one berth in girls soccer and three in volleyball for the 2B state playoffs. A fair allocation, as the number of 2B girls soccer teams statewide is slim, and three of 11 teams qualifying for state in volleyball is accurate to other leagues statewide.

It was in football, however, that a disappointing decision was made. The 2B playoffs have been reduced to 12 teams from a previous 16. The reasoning given was that 45 2B teams are eligible participants instead of 2019, when it was 49. This four-team drop, apparently, was enough to drop four teams from the playoffs.

This decision especially has an impact in District 7 and the NE2B, where a state playoff berth has been removed. The league will now have two berths for the state playoffs instead of three, with the same situation facing our neighbors in District 6 (North Central Washington).

This means one team from the NE2B that is likely deserving of a playoff spot won’t be headed to state. The 2021 fall football season has, through five weeks, showcased a relatively clear top-three pecking order of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, Davenport and Chewelah.

Because of the new playoff allocations, one of these three teams won’t be playing in the playoffs. This point doesn’t even consider other teams that could still make a run and challenge for a top-three spot, like Liberty and Northwest Christian.

The Oct. 22 Senior Night for the Gorillas against Chewelah certainly looms large, but it shouldn’t have the stakes of a state playoff berth due to an executive decision.

Let’s re-visit the logic of taking away four teams due to a reduction of that many teams eligible at the 2B level. As it stands, just over 26% of the state’s 2B teams will be making the playoffs. If the WIAA had kept the 2B playoffs at 16 teams, that would rise to just over 35%. When the 2B level had 49 teams and sent 16 to the playoffs, that meant just over 32% of teams qualified.

The number of spots reduced in the playoffs creates a bigger differential than the percentage of teams that used to make the playoffs when there were 16 berths.

26% is still over a quarter of eligible 2B schools, but that still doesn’t add up when you compare it to the professional sports leagues.

14 of the NFL’s 32 teams make the playoffs. That’s over 44%. 16 of the NBA’s 30 teams make the playoffs, with four more getting spots in the league’s new-play in tournament—over 50%. You can even consider baseball, where 10 of the league’s 30 teams make the playoffs. That’s just over 33%, which is very close to 35%.

Looking at college, 68 of over 300 Division I programs make the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, with 64 spots on the women’s side. However, if you narrow that down to five or six of the largest conferences, those leagues make up well over half of the tournament’s berths amidst a much larger scale than Washington 2B football schools.

If the professionals and Division I athletes are rewarded for simply being in the top half or 40% of their level, why are we punishing the high school athletes who lost an entire postseason last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic on an equal scale to the loss of four schools at the level? That logic doesn’t add up.

The WIAA should re-consider its allocation protocols for the 2B football playoffs and reward deserving players that haven’t been able to compete in the postseason for two years by maintaining a 16-team state tournament.