606-55. Nobody wants to be on the short end of that high school football score.
But Tuesday night, in
17 first-round games featuring at least one local team, winners outscored the losers 606-55 in what has become a rite of fall -- the haves drubbing the have-nots in glorified scrimmages.
606-55. Of those 17 games, 10 were shutouts and one losing team, Cherry, scored 18 of the losing side's 55 points in a 21-18 setback to Bigfork. That's an average score of 36-3.
Not very competitive, but consistently lopsided. Typical scores were 56-0, 52-6,
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48-0, 42-0, 32-6 and on and on. The top seeds basically received what amounts to a bye, while the bottom seeds merely delayed cleaning out their lockers for a week. And results from past first-round playoff games are fairly similar.
Who could possibly benefit from a slate full of these all-too-predictable blowouts?
Not an 0-8 team that has struggled simply to score points all season and then faces a No. 1-seeded powerhouse that puts up 30 points against them in the first quarter alone. These games don't benefit the winning teams either. If top programs want to develop postseason toughness for the more difficult playoff games down the road, the last thing they want to do is breeze past a team that hasn't won a game all season, using
second- and third-string players the entire second half.
That's why the Minnesota State High School League needs to rethink its prep football regular season and playoff system. Right now, when every team gets into the playoffs regardless of record, the regular season is meaningless and boils down to an eight-week seeding process. No drama.
Sorry, but the MSHSL needs to get past this notion that every team is deserving of a playoff spot. If your team lost more games than it won, those players should be practicing basketball and hockey right now, not trying to figure out a way to move the ball past the line of scrimmage against a local Goliath.
Why not set a standard? Something simple such as needing at least a .500 record to lock down a playoff berth? If coaches still want to be guaranteed nine games, then why not add a week to the season, or allow them to play season-ending games on the same night as the playoff tilts. I'd be in favor of setting playoff standards for other prep sports, too, but let's start where the disparity is the greatest.
To be fair, the MSHSL has formed a task force charged with looking into whether tweaks are needed for the prep football regular seasons and playoffs, taking other issues such as travel, section alignments and conference play into account.
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But my main contention can be expressed numerically.
606-55.
It's time to balance that one-sided score.
Contact News Tribune sports editor Rick Lubbers at rlubbers@duluthnews.com or (218) 723-5317.
