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11-04-2005, 06:59 AM
With tiebreakers, winning isn't everything in high school finales
08:08 PM CST on Thursday, November 3, 2005
By TIM MacMAHON / The Dallas Morning News
Some teams can win by losing in the final week of the Texas high school football regular season.
Or at least they can clinch playoff berths, as long as they don't lose by too much.
The point-differential systems districts use to break three-way ties can put coaches in puzzling predicaments with playoff berths hanging in the balance. Should a coach kill the clock and take a narrow loss if it assures his team a spot in the postseason? Or should the coach put the playoff berth at risk by trying to win the game?
"That would be a hard call," Grapevine's Gary Mullins said.
It's a decision Mullins and a few other area coaches might have to make tonight. Duncanville, Frisco, Grapevine, South Grand Prairie and Wylie could clinch playoff berths by losing by less than a certain margin, depending on the outcomes of other games.
Take, for instance, Grapevine's situation. Keller Fossil Ridge can earn District 5-5A's final playoff berth with an upset of Denton Ryan, but a Ryan win gives Grapevine control. Grapevine would prefer to earn the berth by beating archrival Colleyville Heritage. But Grapevine could also go to the playoffs if it loses by four points or less. If Grapevine loses by five to 13 points, the berth goes to Fossil Ridge. Heritage needs to win by 14 points to be playoff-bound.
Imagine this scene: Grapevine gets the ball trailing by three points with two minutes left at jam-packed Mustang-Panther Sta- dium. The crowd is buzzing with news of a Ryan victory. Hundreds of Southlake Carroll fans have wandered in from across Highway 26, leaving a rout of Richland to see if Grapevine will bump Carroll to the Division I playoff bracket.
What do you do, Coach?
"I can't see not trying to win it," Mullins said after several moments. "Now, we'd be prudent about what we're doing. We might not throw the ball all over the place, but we'd try to win the game."
Texas High School Coaches Association executive vice president D.W. Rutledge said there are no guidelines for a coach in such a situation. His advice: Consider every possible scenario before the game and be able to make an informed decision during crunch time.
Duncanville's Dan Schreiber is prepared for every possibility entering tonight's game with DeSoto.
Duncanville has a six-point cushion but wants to win the game and earn at least a share of the 7-5A title. Schreiber said he could see settling for a close loss, depending on the circumstances. For example, he mentioned the possibility of kicking a playoff-clinching field goal if DeSoto opened an overtime period with a touchdown.
"You'd have to consider that," Schreiber said. "You'd be crazy not to, and I think you'd be derelict in your duties if you didn't."
South Grand Prairie's David Fisher said he wouldn't hesitate to run out the clock in a loss if it were the safest way to clinch a playoff berth. South Grand Prairie will have a 10-point cushion against Coppell if Irving MacArthur beat Euless Trinity on Thursday night.
"If you've got a chance to make the playoffs, you've got to go," he said. "That's what we're all working for. That's what all our kids dream about. ... I don't think our players or [the] parents would have a problem with it if they're going to Texas Stadium the next week."
But that's not the approach Wylie coach Mark Ball is taking against West Mesquite. His goal is to win the game, plain and simple.
Wylie would have an eight-point cushion if Highland Park beats Forney, which is probable considering the state's No. 2 Class 4A team cruised through its first four 11-4A games by an average margin of 36.8 points. But Ball doesn't want updates from the Highland Park-Forney game.
Ball said he is going with the philosophy preached by Wylie assistant Billy Whitman, who died last week after a battle with Lou Gehrig's disease.
"You need to win no matter what," Ball recalled Whitman saying in past seasons. "Don't worry about the points."
E-mail tmacmahon@dallasnews.com
08:08 PM CST on Thursday, November 3, 2005
By TIM MacMAHON / The Dallas Morning News
Some teams can win by losing in the final week of the Texas high school football regular season.
Or at least they can clinch playoff berths, as long as they don't lose by too much.
The point-differential systems districts use to break three-way ties can put coaches in puzzling predicaments with playoff berths hanging in the balance. Should a coach kill the clock and take a narrow loss if it assures his team a spot in the postseason? Or should the coach put the playoff berth at risk by trying to win the game?
"That would be a hard call," Grapevine's Gary Mullins said.
It's a decision Mullins and a few other area coaches might have to make tonight. Duncanville, Frisco, Grapevine, South Grand Prairie and Wylie could clinch playoff berths by losing by less than a certain margin, depending on the outcomes of other games.
Take, for instance, Grapevine's situation. Keller Fossil Ridge can earn District 5-5A's final playoff berth with an upset of Denton Ryan, but a Ryan win gives Grapevine control. Grapevine would prefer to earn the berth by beating archrival Colleyville Heritage. But Grapevine could also go to the playoffs if it loses by four points or less. If Grapevine loses by five to 13 points, the berth goes to Fossil Ridge. Heritage needs to win by 14 points to be playoff-bound.
Imagine this scene: Grapevine gets the ball trailing by three points with two minutes left at jam-packed Mustang-Panther Sta- dium. The crowd is buzzing with news of a Ryan victory. Hundreds of Southlake Carroll fans have wandered in from across Highway 26, leaving a rout of Richland to see if Grapevine will bump Carroll to the Division I playoff bracket.
What do you do, Coach?
"I can't see not trying to win it," Mullins said after several moments. "Now, we'd be prudent about what we're doing. We might not throw the ball all over the place, but we'd try to win the game."
Texas High School Coaches Association executive vice president D.W. Rutledge said there are no guidelines for a coach in such a situation. His advice: Consider every possible scenario before the game and be able to make an informed decision during crunch time.
Duncanville's Dan Schreiber is prepared for every possibility entering tonight's game with DeSoto.
Duncanville has a six-point cushion but wants to win the game and earn at least a share of the 7-5A title. Schreiber said he could see settling for a close loss, depending on the circumstances. For example, he mentioned the possibility of kicking a playoff-clinching field goal if DeSoto opened an overtime period with a touchdown.
"You'd have to consider that," Schreiber said. "You'd be crazy not to, and I think you'd be derelict in your duties if you didn't."
South Grand Prairie's David Fisher said he wouldn't hesitate to run out the clock in a loss if it were the safest way to clinch a playoff berth. South Grand Prairie will have a 10-point cushion against Coppell if Irving MacArthur beat Euless Trinity on Thursday night.
"If you've got a chance to make the playoffs, you've got to go," he said. "That's what we're all working for. That's what all our kids dream about. ... I don't think our players or [the] parents would have a problem with it if they're going to Texas Stadium the next week."
But that's not the approach Wylie coach Mark Ball is taking against West Mesquite. His goal is to win the game, plain and simple.
Wylie would have an eight-point cushion if Highland Park beats Forney, which is probable considering the state's No. 2 Class 4A team cruised through its first four 11-4A games by an average margin of 36.8 points. But Ball doesn't want updates from the Highland Park-Forney game.
Ball said he is going with the philosophy preached by Wylie assistant Billy Whitman, who died last week after a battle with Lou Gehrig's disease.
"You need to win no matter what," Ball recalled Whitman saying in past seasons. "Don't worry about the points."
E-mail tmacmahon@dallasnews.com