THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511090158
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JEFF ZEIGLER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
OK. I'll admit I watched some of the World Series, including the decisive sixth game. I vowed I wouldn't do it. I guess I'm just a closet Braves fan.
The World Series, however, was not nearly as interesting as the last week of the high school football season here in the Albemarle area. There were several pivotal games that clinched state playoff spots.
But making the postseason was almost ruined by something that didn't happen on the field and, as far as I'm concerned, needs to be completely eliminated from North Carolina high school sports.
Usually when people draw straws, it's because they can't decide who, among a group of people, is going to have to do something that they don't want to do. For example, workers at a business might draw straws to see who is going to work the late shift.
But this week, three area high school football conferences drew straws (or flipped a coin, or picked numbers) for an entirely different reason. They were drawing in case there were teams that had identical records but there were not enough playoff spots to go around.
The Albemarle Conference had such a draw because three teams that were vying for the number three and four playoff spots were tied with 3-3 records.
Here was the scenario: Gates County had already finished its season at 3-3 and had an open week. Perquimans County was 2-3 and Weldon was 2-3. If Perquimans and Weldon were both to win, that would cause a three-way tie for the last two playoff spots. Of course that is exactly what happened. Perquimans beat Camden County and Weldon dumped Northampton West. Because Weldon drew the short straw, it missed the playoffs, despite having beaten Perquimans during the season.
That's as screwy as a three dollar bill.
Drawing straws was such a traumatic experience for Gates County head coach Clark Harrell that he couldn't do it.
``I was so nervous I couldn't draw. I had my assistant coach Elton Winslow draw,'' Harrell said. ``When I saw that we finished fourth, I let out a sigh of relief.''
Another example of the luck of the draw came in the Big Eight Conference. Bertie County, Wilson Hunt, and Wilson Beddingfield were all tied for first place going into the final week of the season. All three teams posted victories last Friday and remained tied. The three teams drew numbers to see who would be the top seed in the 3A playoffs. Bertie won the draw and will play its entire playoff schedule at home. Wilson Hunt, a team that beat Bertie during the season, finished as the third seed and will have no home games in the playoffs.
That's a big difference.
The state tie breaker system needs to be dumped like the load of manure it is.
Proponents of the system say it is more fair than basing the tie breaker on points scored because then teams would try to run up the score every game in case there was a tie at the end of the season.
My ideal tie breaker system would go like this: 1) head-to-head competition during the season; 2) if head-to-head did not break the tie, then the team that allows the fewest points should go to the playoffs or should be seeded higher in the playoffs, not the team with the longest straw.
Here's an example: Let's say Williamston, Northampton East, and Perquimans were tied for first place in the conference and the Albemarle Conference had three playoff spots to fill. Let's say each team had one loss and Williamston beat Northampton East, Northampton East beat Perquimans, and Perquimans beat Williamston during the season. The second tie breaker would be who allowed the fewest points during the season. This year that would have been Northampton East.
These high school players have been out working their tails off since the end of July. They've been bumped and bruised all season. They have endured hard practices. They've sacrificed to get where they are. So why ruin their season in a matter of seconds with a draw of the straw? MEMO: Jeff Zeigler covers sports for The Carolina Coast. Send comments and
questions to him at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head, N.C. 27959.
by CNB