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Tiebreaker rule lacks specificity |
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Saturday, 15 November 2008 |
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By TERRY NAU Sports editor Woonsocket High’s football team will host Lincoln this afternoon in a 1:30 p.m. “consolation” game at Barry Field. The word “consolation” is especially appropriate for the Villa Novans, who finished in a five-way tie for first place in Division II-A during the league season and then were the odd team out when the R.I. Interscholastic League invoked its interpretation of the tiebreaker procedure earlier this week while determining the four-team playoff alignment from II-A.
There are plenty of reasons for the Novans to feel sorry for themselves heading into today’s game. Their coach, Carnell Henderson, still thinks the league’s Football Committee misinterpreted the tiebreaker procedures. The players can also look at today’s Division II playoff matchups and see a Cumberland team with a 3-4 record taking on top-seeded West Warwick, a squad that Woonsocket defeated earlier this season.
Henderson will not let his players fall into that trap.
“That happens everywhere,” he said on Thursday evening, talking about a team from the other side of the division getting into the playoffs with a sub-par record. Henderson’s right, of course. It happens in the NFL and Major League Baseball every year.
How does Henderson get his players mentally prepared for a “consolation” game when his entire squad feels it earned a playoff bid on the field last Friday night when it went on the road and beat a 5-1 Westerly team?
“Sure, it’s a letdown,” the coach admitted. “We’ve talked about the Lincoln game with the team. The way we look at it, this is just another opportunity to get our ‘family’ together and play a football game. Any time you put the pads on, it’s important to us. I know that’s how the Lincoln players feel. This will be a big game for them and we better come ready to play.”
Woonsocket’s football team was in a buoyant mood on the bus ride home from Westerly, confident it had clinched a playoff berth. Unfortunately, a five-way tie for first place resulted on Friday night when Warwick Veterans upset West Warwick, giving five teams a 5-2 record. Henderson found out about the latter result on the bus ride home but didn’t believe it affected his team, which had a strong tiebreaker advantage in the critical “defensive points allowed” category.
The league’s Football Committee, comprised of several coaches from around the state, and headed by the universally-respected Richard Fossa of Narragansett High, came up with a different solution to the five-way tie than Henderson had anticipated, setting off two appeals from the Novans, one to the league and a second to the Principals’ Committee, both of which were turned away.
“I still think I’m right,” Henderson said, speaking of his interpretation of the tiebreaker procedures. “My athletic director, principal and school superintendent agree with me. Several coaches I have talked to also see it my way. I think if this ever happens again, the committee may look at it a little differently.”
The most logical solution would have been to let the fourth- and fifth-place teams in the tiebreaker procedure battle for the final playoff spot on the field this weekend. Instead of Woonsocket playing a consolation game today against Lincoln, perhaps the Novans and the fourth-seeded team (Warwick Vets) could have met in a play-in game, with the winning taking on the top seed from Division II-B (South Kingstown) next weekend, when no playoff games are scheduled.
The division semifinals do not begin until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving so there would have been plenty of time to resolve the II-A dispute on the field. The “play-in” game would have disrupted the “consolation” round games being played this weekend. The consolation games are meaningless anyway, except to a team’s overall season record.
The Interscholastic League uses “play-in” games to resolve tiebreaker issues in several other sports. Why not football? The dissenting argument in this case contends that football is a physical game and teams should not be playing an extra game. But the “consolation” round of games for non-playoff teams would seem to diffuse that argument.
There’s no good reason for the Division II-A playoff dispute to have been resolved in a closed-doors committee meeting. After the playoff teams were chosen, RIIL executive director Tom Mezzannotte chose to stand on procedures. That is the textbook response, to stand behind the rules of the league, come hell or high water. The director and his football committee are on firm legal ground, even if some of the coaches in their association may disagree with how the playoff teams were determined.
In the offseason, the R.I. Football Coaches Association no doubt will take another look at its tiebreaker procedures and how they should be interpreted when five teams are involved. And maybe they will ask themselves these questions: What is the fairest way to resolve this problem in the future? What is fairest solution for the teams involved? Should we settle this on the field or in a closed-door meeting?
Maybe something good will come out of Woonsocket’s disappointment. Or it could be that the only truth emerging will be that rules are rules, even if the rules are written so obscurely that intelligent people – educators, no less -- can look at them over and over again and come up with different answers.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 November 2008 )
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