Sports
Rising gas costs forces AHSAA to change postseason football playoff matchups
By Griffin Pritchard
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Wetumpka’s season ended after a last-second loss to McGill-Toolen in the second round of the AHSAA playoffs. New regional pairings will have the regional playoff teams playing closer to home. Herald Photo/Peggy Blackburn
With the price of gasoline ever escalating, the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Central Board voted last week to change the way regions are paired during the football playoffs.
Regions will now be paired with adjoining regions for the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“This is hopefully a temporary move, but one that is necessary to help our schools,” said Steve Savarese, executive director of the AHSAA in a press release.
Historically in football, according to AHSAA spokesperson Ron Ingram, the regions have paired up on a rotating schedule.
For example this past season Region 1, which is comprised of schools in the Mobile area, matched up with Region 4, which is home to Stanhope Elmore, Wetumpka and Prattville.
“Now the two regions closest together, in proximity, will play each other in the first round,” said Ingram.
Across the board in six classes of football, Region 1 will match-up with Region 2, Region 3 with Region 4, Region 5 with Region 6 and Region 7 with Region 8.
After 10 weeks of regular season football the four playoff teams from Region 4, still Wetumpka’s region, will match-up with the top four teams from Region 3.
Region 3, this year, is comprised of Auburn, Central-Phenix City, Dothan, Enterprise, Northview (Dothan), Opelika, Russell County and Smiths Station.
“We’re already competing against a lot of those folks,” said Chad Anderson, coach of the Wetumpka Indians. “They play a different brand of football. Usually those teams are more your power guys. Down around the Mobile area, the teams like to spread it out with a couple of power guys mixed in.”
After missing the playoffs in 2006, their first year as a 6A school, Wetumpka finished second in the region behind two-time state champion Prattville and hosted Fairhope in the first round of the playoffs. The Indians traveled to McGill Toolen in the second round only to lose in the final seconds of the game.
“I think we’ll see bigger crowds in the early rounds,” said Anderson. “It’s a long way to travel to Mobile.”
While Wetumpka only had to make one road trip to Mobile in the past two years, rival Stanhope Elmore has spent the first round of the 6A playoffs at Ladd-Peebles Stadium facing McGill Toolen (2006) and Daphne (2007).
However, some travel is still unavoidable.
In 5A, for instance, Tallassee’s Region 2 ” which spans from Valley (Chambers County) to Rehobeth (Henry County) “ will match-up with Region 1 which is primarily based in and around the Baldwin County area “ Citronelle, Escambia County, Faith Academy, Gulf Shores, LeFlore Magnet, Saint Paul’s Spanish Fort and Vigor.
In 4A, Elmore County and Holtville’s Region 2 is paired with Region 1.
Region 2 which is primarily comprised of River Region schools along with Opp and Ashford. Region 1, however, spans the southwest portion of the state and is comprised of Andalusia, B.C. Rain, Clarke County, Hillcrest-Evergreen, Jackson, Thomasville, UMS-Wright and W.S. Neal.
“You could have a situation where region teams could play each other as early as the second round,” said Ingram.
Along with changing the team portion of the playoff picture, the AHSAA will also be changing the way it assign officials.
“Officials are going to be sent from the closest possible regions,” said Ingram. “At least that’s the way we are going to do it through the first couple of rounds.”
According to Ingram, officials are being paid $.58 a mile to travel to and from games.
“And that’s on top of what we pay them to officiate the game,” said Ingram. “Last year we had officials who traveled 400 miles round trip and made nearly $200 in mileage. If you could reduce their travel costs then that’s going to save a ton of money.”
Ingram did, however, point out that the changes to postseason football will be reviewed each year.
