For someone who spends so much time around it and is so invested in high school football in Mississippi, I have a huge problem with how it’s constructed.
West Marion isn’t going to the playoffs, and it’s a travesty. It is bewildering. It is sickening. Any word I could use to say terrible or puzzling fits the bill.
The Trojans went 7-4 this season, which puts their winning percentage at .636. For comparison, that is the equivalent of a 10-6 NFL team, which makes the playoffs nine times out of 10. But because the Trojans finished fifth in the best district in all of 3A that features arguably the top three teams in the South region — Seminary, Columbia and Jeff Davis — they will be watching the playoffs from home.
To add a little salt to the wound, West Marion had a better record than 13 teams that made the 3A playoff field. Six of them had five wins, two of them had four wins, two had just three wins and it gets far worse from there. Hazlehurst, at 2-8, made the playoffs. Even Franklin County, which went 1-9, made the playoffs. One win, nine losses: a playoff team.
I can just hear Randy Moss and Trent Dilfer in my head screaming “C’mon man!” There’s no way to justify it.
Well, I’m sure every humble coach like Trojans head man Brad Duncan will say they simply didn’t do enough in district play to earn a playoff berth. West Marion went 1-4 in Region 8-3A — I get it. The Trojans had every opportunity to secure a bid to the playoffs under the current format and didn’t get it done.
But that’s only because the Mississippi High School Activities Association insists on glorifying district play and making non-district contests completely meaningless, which is preposterous. At different points of the year, all four Marion County head coaches have referred to non-district play as the “preseason.” If non-district games are viewed as exhibitions and rendered meaningless, why even play them at all?
What the MHSAA needs to do is blow up the system because it’s failing. The current format rewards bad football teams like Franklin County and Hazlehurst because they play in poor districts where one district win earns them a spot in the 32-team field while penalizing good teams like West Marion for playing in the SEC West of 3A football.
The playoffs are supposed to be about pitting the best against the best until only one team remains with a championship trophy. But the way the MHSAA sees it, the playoffs are about… well, nothing credible.
If you put West Marion in the place of Franklin County in the bracket, I believe they are easily good enough to reach the quarterfinals. We’re talking about a team that was two yards away from beating Jeff Davis, the defending state champ, on the road! There’s a reason the Trojans began the season 6-0: they are a good football team.
What I would suggest the MHSAA do is only guarantee playoff spots for the top two teams in every district. From there, put together a coaches poll or a playoff committee to decide on 16 at-large bids. That way winning in district means even more with only two spots up for grabs, and non-district games would no longer be viewed as exhibition games.
Teams would want to schedule harder non-district opponents throughout the season to show why they deserve to go to the playoffs. That would also equal a lot more juicy matchups and good football altogether.
There’s no justifiable reason why a seven-win team like West Marion doesn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. The Trojans were essentially persecuted for being geographically located in a hotbed for football. That’s not right, and it needs to change.
Pictured Above: West Marion running back Ketarious Cotton breaks into the open field against Tylertown. | Photo by Mark Rogers
