I don’t like three- and four-team districts for high school sports.
People always say "let the season play out" and "the best teams make the playoffs." I contend this isn’t always the case, especially when you have very good teams in small districts.
Who’s to say that the third- or fourth-best team in a three- or four-team district isn’t as good or better than the best team in a district with seven or eight teams?
I’ll take my argument a step further and say that the sixth-, seventh- or eighth-best team in a large district might be better than all teams in a small district.
Sadly, with the way Florida High School Athletic Association playoffs are structured, we will never know if a team at the bottom of its district is as good or better than other teams in the same classification.
Baker School’s football team is in a three-team district along with Jay and Northview. Each district's top two teams qualify for the playoffs. With that in mind, in theory, a team with one win could qualify for the playoffs if that win were a district game.
Does anyone really think a 1-9 football team should be in the playoffs?
I know there isn’t a perfect solution. The state of Florida has its own challenges with travel, simply because of the way the state is shaped. A trip that might be 150 miles as the sea gull flies from Crestview or Fort Walton Beach to a town along the central Gulf Coast becomes a 300-mile road trip.
But geographical challenges shouldn’t shape the big picture when the state sets districts and regions, or at least establishes who makes the playoffs.
Football classifications 1A-4A have four regions; each is made up of two districts. In classes 5A-8A, there are four regions, each with four districts.
There are three 6A football districts between Escambia County and Okaloosa County; each is a county district.
Tate, Pine Forest, Escambia and Washington are in District 1-6A. Gulf Breeze, Milton, Navarre and Pace are in District 2-6A. And Crestview, Choctawhatchee, Fort Walton Beach and Niceville are in District 3-6A.
Crestview played Pace on Friday and also plays Milton and Gulf Breeze from District 2-6A. The only team the Bulldogs don’t face from District 2-6A is Navarre.
Crestview could go 3-0 against District 2-6A opponents and 1-2 or 0-3 in District 3-6A and fail to make the playoffs.
Baker is in a three-team district with Jay and Northview. Theoretically, Baker could have gone 8-2 this year and missed the playoffs if Northview and Jay were exceptionally strong.
I’m not suggesting we cut the number of teams in the playoffs, but I think it might be time to play with the thought of some sort of wild card.
Establish larger districts and the wild card scenario can become more of a reality. Instead of three 6A districts between Escambia County and Okaloosa County, have two districts with six teams in each district.
District champions would automatically qualify for the playoffs, but the other teams would make the playoffs based on overall records against opponents in the same class or higher. You might even say one class lower or higher.
This would encourage coaches to play a tougher schedule. If someone played an out-of-state team, as Crestview did earlier this year, the FHSAA could determine what classification that school would be in under Florida guidelines.
Reward teams for playing tough schedules with a chance to make the playoffs.
Maybe I’m a dreamer, and this will never happen. I know unless there’s an unforeseen shake up in the FHSAA we will see the same qualifications for the playoffs for the next four years.
Hopefully, when the next round of reclassifications come up in 2018, the FHSAA will look at a way to open the door to the playoffs for every team that deserves to be in them.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DICKSON: Time to revamp how teams make the playoffs