Hi everybody. Cardillo here with a raaaaaaaaaare comment on high school football, the one with shoulder pads, game cancellations for the chance of rain and the stupidest rule in the history of the CIAC — and that’s saying something for a sports goverining body that allows state soccer finals to end in draws.
Look, I’m not the first person to drop a steamer on the “Score Management”, aka the 50-point rule.
However, let’s look at Tuesday night’s CIAC Class semifinals, all 12 of them.
Class LL: Greenwich 34, Fairfield Prep 0; Southington 36, Shelton 9
Class L: Staples 24, West Haven 7; Bunnell 29, Masuk 12
Class MM: New Canaan 49, Coventry/Windham Tech 14 (42-0 at halftime); Maloney 40, Berlin 14
Class M: Hillhouse 40, St. Bernard/Norwich Tech 0 (40-0 at halftime); Windham 22, Ledyard 0
Class S: Stratford 48, Griswold 6 (35-0 at halftime); Holy Cross 49, Tolland 8
Class SS: Ansonia 46, North Brandford 14; Bloomfield 45, Cromwell 14
So out of 12 games — two at best were competitive. That’s 16 percent.
If this doesn’t call for LESS playoff teams I don’t know what does.
Let’s go inside the numbers a little more.
The smallest Class division this season is S, with 21 teams. The biggest is is M with 24. And the grand total of teams fielding a CIAC sanction gridiron squad is 134, leaving the playoff percentage at an acceptable, at least mathematically speaking, 18 percent.
Now of course there is a difference between an S team (271 boys or under enrolled) with an LL (606 and over); but how about the difference between an M (360-419) and an MM (420-502). See for yourself here?
Let’s face it, Connecticut isn’t that big a state. We’re not Texas, duh. But we’re not Virginia either, which also has six divisions. And a very very very very complex playoff formula. I can’t officially confirm this, but my friend from the Commonwealth told me this weekend that they actually have the winners of small divisions play each other then go against the big boys. (Again, not written in stone fact, but I’ll trust my buddy.)
But that’s not my point. Virginia has a total population of 7,567,465. Connecticut’s is 3,405,565.
So with about double our Nutmeg population, Virginia crowns as many state football champs. (And let’s not forget how many D-I players Virginia produces as opposed to Connecticut.)
The way I see, why not invent LLL, MMM and SSS so instead of having team’s that are the best of 20-odd schools, they can be the best of 10-odd. Hey, everyone gets a trophy. Everyone is happy.
Oh, right that 50-point baloney.
If a team is good enough to qualify for the state tournament, the rule is off. Botton line.
How fun must it have been for the players on Hillhouse and New Canaan in the second half having to worry about scoring? How about the second string and junior varsities? Instead of telling their grandkids they scored in a state playoff game, they can say they took a kneel to ensure their coach would be able to coach in the state championship game.
Sad.
But with the CIAC — par for the course.
Adios
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