Commentary: Too many teams make playoff
By Steve Behr, sports editor
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Allow me a few rants heading into the state football playoffs.

I’ll be the first one to admit I was not the greatest student at the University of Northern Colorado. But my geography minor proves that occasionally, I can read a road map.

Apparently, not everybody in the world can, especially in Chapel Hill.

Those who filled out the eight state football playoff brackets obviously know which direction is east and which one is west. However, I wonder if that mattered when they made out the brackets.

Watauga (8-3) is the No. 1 seed in the 4-A (or in reality, class 7-A) brackets. Should the Pioneers win two games, they have the possibility of being matched up with Purnell Swett.

Swett is located in Pembroke, a town that is at least five hours from Boone. They play in the Southeastern Conference, which is needed to be in the Western Region so the brackets can be filled out equally to the East’s.

It’s a small example of why there are too many teams. If the No. 1 seed in the 7-A West, Watauga, and the No. 8 seed, Central Cabarrus, win, they’ll play at Jack Groce Stadium next week.

Watauga will be 9-3 and have the best record in the bracket. Central Cabarrus will be 5-7.

How does a 4-7 team make the playoffs? Ask Alexander Central, which snuck in as the 16th seed of the 7-A bracket. And speaking of 4-A teams, how does a team that had won 109 straight games and is the defending 4-AA champions for the last seven years begin the playoffs at the 10th seed?

Yes, Charlotte Independence, which has ruled the 4-A classification like Darth Vader, lost last week to Matthews Butler.

The Patriots also fell to a team in Cincinnati, Ohio, giving them a 9-2 record. Send flowers to 7-4 Greensboro Page, (yes the same Page that Watauga beat last year) which moved up a division to host the Patriots in the first round.

There are too many teams.

Eight brackets for football playoffs are too many. If revenue for the NCHSAA is a problem, then either allow an extra endowment game, or simply raise ticket priced.

Hey, if it works for the NFL...

There is no way that Princeton, a K-12, 1-A school located about 30 miles southeast of Raleigh, should be playing in the playoffs with a 2-9 record. It’s even worse when the Bulldogs are in the West bracket.

The two closest 1-A schools near them, North Johnston and Rosewood, are in the 1-AA East. The good news for Princeton is they face No. 1 North Duplin, which is located about 25 miles southeast of Princeton, in the first round.

Two other 1-A teams that are farther east than Princeton, Hobbton and Union, are also in the West. Good luck to Hayesville, the No. 4 seed located in Clay County, or Cherokee, the No. 2 seed, who both may have to travel about six-to-eight hours (I’m guessing) to play at North Duplin.

There are too many teams.

Realignment is coming up soon, which will no doubt shake up several conferences. The powers that be at the NCHSAA should give serious thought about shaking up the football playoffs.

They should start by adding a 5-A classification. There is no need for eight. All it does is water down the playoff field. Upsets happen, but not often enough to justify a 2-9 team traveling six hours to get beat 55-0.
Teams shouldn’t get in just because the brackets need extra schools.

There are too many teams.