The calls, texts and tweets began flowing in two weeks ago and really increased in intensity toward the middle of last week. Coaches, players and fans associated with Section 1 football programs on the bubble were either elated, confused or plain livid. Many in the latter category simply couldn’t understand how their team had accomplished what it had yet still landed on the wrong side of the four or eight-team playoff cutoff.
Truthfully, the topic was just about all anyone wanted to talk about last week and over the weekend. When the tournaments were finalized Sunday, the reaction was about what you’d expect.
Here’s my story from today’s Journal News:
Unbeatens Harrison, Brewster, Our Lady of Lourdes and Woodlands earned top seeds along with New Rochelle and Tuckahoe for the upcoming Section 1 football tournament.
The seedings and matchups were released on Sunday, but ignited mixed reactions, including disappointment from both sides of the playoff bubble.
“Our whole team is bummed out,” Ardsley senior Gabe Kardish said. His Panthers won one more game overall and in league play and beat two-time defending champ Croton-Harmon 39-21 but finished behind Croton, one spot out of the Class B playoffs.
“We’re really discouraged. We worked so hard for the whole season and now some system, which I think is flawed, keeps us out of the playoffs. I think it’s pretty ridiculous.”
The system was implemented before the 2011 season and has been lauded by some and scorned by others. It generates schedules based off preseason rankings, but, despite consideration last spring by the Section 1 football committee, they are not weighted.
Other numerically based playoff structures use a weighting system or award power points to credit teams for playing tougher schedules.
“There was no true weight put on it at the beginning of the year,” Clarkstown North coach Joe Trongone said. “I’m a math teacher and it’s driving me nuts.”
One byproduct is Thursday’s quarterfinal between Harrison and Poughkeepsie, Class A’s two top-ranked teams which had one loss between them. They will be joined on one side of the bracket by undefeated Somers, stacking three of Class A’s top-four ranked teams from the preseason together.
“Whoever is in charge should be embarrassed,” Harrison coach Art Troilo Jr. said. “I’d be embarrassed if something came out so backward.”
Yorktown, which missed the Class A playoffs, presented what it believed was a solution to the committee last week. (EDITED, 10/22, 3:02 p.m.) It would have weighted each team’s schedule based on its preseason power ranking and, as a result, factored strength of schedule into the equation when calculating the indexes used to determine which teams qualified for the playoffs.
The football committee sent the proposal to Section 1’s championship committee, which is responsible for the sectional tournaments. The championship committee rejected the proposal on Friday.
“I’m certainly disappointed that the solutions that were presented of late were not used because of the timing,” Yorktown coach Mike Rescigno said. “Timing should never be an issue when it comes to doing the right thing for kids.”
Several programs that have not contended for playoff berths in recent years qualified. Panas surpassed its win total from the previous two seasons, finishing 5-2 thanks to a dramatic 24-23 overtime victory over rival Lakeland Friday night. Saunders, which hadn’t won in nearly three years before winning its 2011 season opener, finished 6-1.
They were among a group of qualifiers whose results against common opponents paled in comparison to those of non-playoff teams.
But Saunders, for example, has won eight of its last nine games dating back to last season. Coach Mel Carrozza said his team earned its opportunity and hopes to prove it.
“We saw this as a possibility and we’re glad to be in it,” Carrozza said. “But we’re not going to be a team that’s just happy to be there. We want to win.”
John Jay, a preseason contender in Class A, hoped to be granted that opportunity after losing to Poughkeepsie by a touchdown in last year’s championship. The Indians suffered close losses to Harrison and Sleepy Hollow, but its resume includes a 36-7 win over Tappan Zee, a game it led 30-0 at halftime. Tappan Zee handed Panas its only league loss.
“There are some really good teams in there and we already saw two of them in Harrison and Sleepy, but we played right with those teams,” John Jay coach Jimmy Clark said. “We feel that we should have the opportunity to play for a championship.”
The Class A playoffs begin Thursday. The eight qualifiers will play three rounds in 11 days to crown a champion.
The remaining four classes will host four-team playoffs, including Class AA, which had an eight-team field last year. They begin with semifinals on either Friday or Saturday.
The schedule for the championships has been set, but football chairman Chuck Scarpulla said it is subject to change.
EDIT: The original information reported was inaccurate. Yorktown’s proposal was rejected by Section 1’s championship committee — not the football committee, which pass the proposal to the championship committee.
SECTION 1 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 25
Class A quarterfinals
No. 3B Saunders (6-1) at No. 2A Sleepy Hollow (6-1), 3 p.m.
No. 4B Poughkeepsie (6-1) at No. 1A Harrison (7-0), TBA
No. 3A Hen Hud (5-2) at No. 2B Somers (7-0), 6 p.m.
No. 4A Panas (5-2) at No. 1B Brewster (7-0), 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 26
Class B semifinals
No. 4 Croton-Harmon (4-3) vs. No. 1 Our Lady of Lourdes (7-0) at Overlook Park, 7 p.m.
No. 3 Nanuet (5-2) at No. 2 Pleasantville (5-2), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 27
Class AA semifinals
No. 4 John Jay-East Fishkill (5-2) at No. 1 New Rochelle (6-1), 1:30 p.m.
No. 3 Mamaroneck (6-1) at No. 2 North Rockland (6-1), 1:30 p.m.
Class C semifinals
No. 4 Bronxville (4-3) at No. 1 Woodlands (7-0), 1:30 p.m.
No. 3 Dobbs Ferry (5-2) at No. 2 Rye Neck (6-0), 1:30 p.m.
Class D semifinals
No. 3 Palisade Prep (2-5) at No. 2 Haldane (2-4-1), 1:30 p.m.
No. 4 Yonkers Montessori (0-6) at No. 1 Tuckahoe (4-2-1), 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 30
Class A semifinals
At higher seed:
No. 3B Saunders-No. 2A Sleepy Hollow winner vs. No. 4A Panas- No. 1B Brewster winner
No. 4B Poughkeepsie-No. 1A Harrison winner vs. No. 3A Hen Hud-No. 2B Somers winner
Saturday, Nov. 3
All games at Mahopac High School:
Class D championship, 2 p.m.
Class AA championship, 5 p.m.
Class B championship, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 4
All games at Mahopac High School:
Class A championship, 1 p.m.
Class C championship, 4:30 p.m.
123 Comments
Harrison is a 17 point favorite vs PK…...
The parents need to get into the school boards agenda and flip the script on this piner system, and this hellen keller 7 game schedule… every team should be regular season for a thanksgiving game. You allow mealy mouthed beuracrats to dictate how your tax or tuition or both money is spent and then whine when it’s all fubar at the end of the season. Get some addressees and write your school district and assembly people, shake their tree, it couldn’t get any worse.
Brentwood,
17 point favorite to you or computer rankings that are flawed. Funny how people brings those up when conveienent to them. Funny how Pok was favored vs. Cornwall via computer last year and that didn’t turn out very well for the Pioneer faithful.
We’ll see how it goes. If HHS pulls off that much of a margin in victory I’ll have even more respect for the program.
pardon my spelling.
Throwout the entire System period!
Whether it was weighted or unweighted does not make a difference. Look at Arlington for example. The “tug of War” champions were favorable before the season started. They would have carried heavy weight for no reason.
Just throw out the system entirely! The Section 1 Championship committee doesnt have the resources to effectively research teams to be running such a system.
And Somers, Harrison, and Poughkeepsie on one side of the Bracket? This is an outrage!
This system is rediculous, the Section 1 Championship committee is the gold standard for arrogance. this is a disgrace!
Brentwood Nation AKA Rotten Tomato AKA Big Joe
Shut up
your the biggest multiple user name imposter on the blog
Piner was created to fix an issue with too many teams moving to development league but as with many things fixing one problem creates a new one. Without re-inventing the wheel, simple thing is to keep piner, just start season week earlier on labor day weekend as most places do, then have three rounds of play-offs as did in past. This way still have some in season balance but at least ensure that all teams with winning records have play-off shot.
@Rediculous – - I am not even going to respond, because you spelled rediculous wrong! Its RIDICULOUS!!! LOL
@Statesman – - I will see you at the game. I could help you after the game, we’ll figure something out
Tomato,
It’s all good my friend. I’ll probably hitch a ride with a PK fan or try to sneak on the bus, lol.
Rotten Tomato
You are such a …...
LOL you got me on the spelling though I give you that one.
Blame Microsoft Word and calculators for helping in academically killing this generation of youngsters
anyway, Your team is one of the programs getting screwed over by the system. Imagine having to play Somers after a war with Poughkeepsie. Imagine Saunders, Brewster, Panas bloggers gloating that, “at least they made it to the big game” while Harrison,Somers or Poughkeepsie Bloggers know the reason why is because the Section Championship was played on one side of the bracket. The history books tend to forget technicalities like that.
Forgive my spelling. It’s non-sense to make Schools “feel good” by designing cup cake schedules for them in order to keep them from the developmental league.
Everyone knows about Bicknese for Somers, but what about receiver Joe Festo? According to Maxpreps, Festo is 2nd in receiving yards in all of Section 1 and has topped the century mark in each of the last 3 games. Also averages a whopping 26.57 yards per punt return.
The Decker-to-Festo connection is peaking at the right time for Somers, he’s emerging as one of the most electrifying players in the area.
Sleepy really only won by 7, no fan with any self respect would lay claim to that last bush league TD.
Yes a healthy Davidov and Candellaria during this season and Ossining beats Sleepy, Poughkeepsie and quite possibly Somers. But thems the breaks (no pun intended). Good luck to the aforementioned trio as they run the Class A 4 in 14 gauntlet!!!
This is when Coach Troilo, Coach Williams and the rest of the Huskies coaching staff just start warming up. No one calls better game plans or get their players in a better position to win than them. Numbers dont lie, just look at the past 20 years of Harrison football. In fact, take a look at the past 50 years of Harrison football. Section 1 and perhaps New York states all-time best football program. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Huskies!!!!!!!!!
Chiefy
Bush league TD? They needed a 1st down and ran a QB sweep, I’m sorry that the pride had none and let the kid run 65 for a TD. This aint pop warner, they play to the final wistle!
wooowww….I’m going to start buying stock in Kleenex, after reading this blog. Lots of water works being shed out across section 1. Hang in there men, or are we?
agree with Hollow Fan
there was 30 seconds left bush
It called class or classless
No, its not about class, if you know anything about the game, you might understand! There was like a minute left with 3rd and 8 and up by one TD, sleepy ran the clock down to 38 seconds and called a timeout(kids were confused on the play). They ran a straight QB sweep to get a first down and nobody touched him, what should the kid do, run out of bounds????
If you want to talk about class, how about 3 JV players from sleepy getting jumped in ossining waiting for their parents and having to spending the night in the hospital. Get you priority’s straight pal!!!!
sounds like coach on here
Ossining had no time outs left. 3rd and 8 with 33 seconds on the clock.
Snap football, take knee, let clock run down to zero as players shake hands. Show some class. Let celebration begin.
As for what happens off school grounds while game is still going on, I was not there, do not know what happened.
I would never condon these aledged actions, very infortunate situation.
Before you start throwing stones again, remember the saying about people living in glass houses.
Good luck to The Horsemen vs Saunders!!!
yup the piner system definitly got it rit. And section one thanks for not listening to the proposal to put us in and take out saunders u guys def made the right call on that one.