Sports
N the Red
27
Sectional crisis
Playoff matchup stirs tournament debate Nate Albin
albinnat000@hsestudents.org
A
ll sports feed off of what is random and nfair. There will always be something for someone to get pset abo t. n the To rnament, ig Ten co champion rd e played reigning national champions illano a in only the second ro nd of the to rnament. omebody co ld reasonably say that these teams probably co ld ha e played in the national title and it wo ld ha e been a good match p. f co rse, instances li e this will happen again. t happened most recently right here in an football sectional. n both teams first playoff game, a reps n mber two and n mber three teams in the class played each other. Third ran ed rownsb rg edged second ran ed on . ome high school football rage ens ed. ro ps li e ndy tar and abo t the topic in pro sports , now debate whether the system needs to be changed. s it stands now, teams play games against teams in their conference that are geographically the closest. or football, this means they gro p p with amilton rossroads onference ri als armel, estfield and . on and rownsb rg, both also in the , pair p along with two other teams in their sectional. oth on and rownsb rg ha e a good history in football. ne does not ha e to loo far bac to see s ccess. ccording to ports, both schools ha e prod ced fo r star recr its in the past fi e years. eca se of these two being in the same conference and both ha ing pre io s s ccess, no one sho ld be shoc ed to see these two meeting p this early on. ports are f ll of moments when elite teams play earlier than some say they are s pposed to. There is another way to loo at this. To rnaments wor to whittle down a field to the best participant of them all. This on rownsb rg game accomplished this tas . The game determined the better team to ad ance, regardless of when it happens. n theory, rownsb rg wo ld ha e won the game at any point in the to rnament, sectional or championship. The two best teams do not need to play in the title game. hile epic title bo ts spar e citement and memories that will li e fore er in sports lore, sometimes sports does not follow the “best for last r le. Thin e ent c y in the egional inal or hargers olphins in the i isional layoff. perts consider both to be in the small handf l of greatest games in their respecti e sports. ports wo ld not be as f n if e ery step of the way a committee or panel planned it o t. f e ery to rnament was perfect, we wo ld not ha e psets, nderdog r ns and players carrying their teams to new heights. ports are random. mbrace it.
FHS kicked off their season with a 26-0 victory over North Central on Aug. 23 in Lucas Oil Stadium, the site that also hosts the state championship for all class levels. FHS did not end their season at the stadium. Photo by Leen Mahmoud.
