Central Oregonian

New play-in format leaves a lot to be desired

Crook County teams no longer guaranteed a play-in game

Lon Austin

When the OSAA revamped their playoff format a year ago, Crook County fans were excited to learn that their teams were guaranteed at least one game following the conclusion of the regular season.

Such is no longer the case. With Marshall High School closing, Special District I, which Crook County plays in, now has only two teams. As a result, last spring, OSAA Class 4A athletic directors voted to alter the play-in formula. The change took place last spring for baseball only.

That change still leaves a bitter taste for Cowboy baseball players. The team went 6-0 in Special District I, and by the original rules earned a home play-in game against the No. 5 team from the Far West League. Instead, the team was forced to travel to Baker, where they faced the No. 1 team in the state on the road.

For the 2011-2012 school year, the new play-in format will impact all Crook County High School teams.

Under the new format, all leagues — except the Greater Oregon League and Special District I — will have four teams that automatically qualify for play-in games. The Greater Oregon League will automatically qualify three teams, while Special District I is only guaranteed one team.

In addition to automatic qualifiers, there will also be five at-large berths in the play-in format.

The five at-large berths will automatically go to the winner of Special District I, and the four highest teams in the power rankings that are not automatic qualifiers.

Further complicating the at-large formula is that each year, two leagues are excluded from consideration for at-large berths.

This year the Far West and Cowapa leagues will not be eligible for at-large berths.

Under the formula, the five at-large teams plus the Greater Oregon League will be paired together. The top two teams from the Greater Oregon League, plus the top two ranked at-large teams will host play-in games.

According to the OSAA website, there is one final twist that could really complicate the play-in model.

The added twist is stated as follows in the OSAA postseason plans — “If an at-large team from the Tri-Valley, Oregon West, Sky-Em, or Skyline is in the at-large #1 and/or at-large #2 position, the #3 and possibly #4 teams from that league would move into the corresponding at-large #1 and/or at-large #2 position and host the play-in match. The #5 and/or #6 team from that league would then be rotated into regional play.”

So how is this actually going to impact Crook County High School teams?

Last year, it would have had little or no impact on CCHS volleyball, or girls basketball, as they both would have still hosted play-in games. The boys basketball, football, and softball teams would also have qualified for play-in games, however, it is unclear whether or not they would have hosted games or gone on the road. Neither the boys nor girls soccer teams would have qualified for a play-in game under the new format — and we already know how the change impacted the baseball team.

The new format makes the OSAA power rankings even more important than before, and that could be a problem for CCHS athletics.

Since Crook County teams face more Class 5A and 6A teams than most Class 4A teams, they may have difficulty earning high enough power rankings to earn an at-large berth. The end result is that games against Roosevelt become especially important.

Crook County can control its own destiny by making sure that they defeat Roosevelt. Otherwise, the chances of earning a play-in game may not be very high.

To be clear, the new format may be good for Class 4A in general. However, it is not good for either Crook County or Roosevelt. For example, in spite of playing 10 games, the CCHS football team’s entire postseason hopes may ride on one game against Roosevelt. It could make that game especially exciting, but at face value, Crook County and Roosevelt have been slighted by the remainder of the Class 4A athletic directors.

Unless the “tweaks” that the OSAA Competition Committee made to this year’s power rankings reward teams that play up a classification, the new play-in model is likely to hurt Crook County and Roosevelt. On the flip side, the changes are likely to make an instant rivalry between the two schools. Expect some serious hitting when Crook County hosts Roosevelt in football on Friday, Oct. 14. After all, the entire season will probably come down to that one game for both teams. Not fair, but certainly exciting.