If you do not understand how calendars work, I envy you. Because I would love to just imagine every day is a late June day.
But that’s not how calendars work, or, for that matter, prep sports seasons.
As we roll into October our local high school athletes prepare for postseason action. You can toss out the regular season records because everyone starts at 0-0. Well, except for those football teams that don’t make the playoffs. The WIAA cruelly chose the sport of football to be the only one under its cover that needs to qualify for postseason play.
Which is too bad, to be honest. Because a volleyball, baseball or basketball team could go 3-19 and still stun a 19-3 team in the first round of regionals. But could a football team that is 1-8 or even 2-7 have that opportunity? No.
The WIAA desperately needs to adopt the proposed football realignment. While I was against the old district plan, this new one makes a lot more sense and has won me over. Because if teams need to stack on the Ws to qualify for a playoff spot, the challenge should be nearly the same around the state.
Instead what we have is conferences like the Capitol, where a team can go 2-2 in league play and qualify for the playoffs, while the Rock Valley or Big Eight schools need to fight every week for the magical trip in October.
What else we’ve seen are conferences where some schools have nearly 1,000 more students enrolled than others. Even if 10 percent of the student body plays football, a school of 700, like Monroe, would only boast 70 in its program (currently about 60) while Watertown, also of the Badger South, has 1,345 students and could presumably have over 130 players from freshman through varsity.
That’s an ugly discrepancy, especially if you say that only one third of those potential players could make an impact on Fridays. At Monroe, that would be about 23 kids, while Watertown would be around 40.
Yes, this is all theoretical, I understand, but this discrepancy runs deeper than just my alma mater, which has lost nearly 300 students from its enrollment count in less than two decades.
Coaches will never make an excuse for why a team is struggling, because teams can only play the opponent across the field from them every week.
In Monroe’s case this year, what we’ve seen is a 2-1 record against teams with enrollments under 1,000, and an 0-4 record against teams above 1,000 (without Friday’s game vs. Oregon — 1,160 — included). Monroe is at 690 this year. Broken down by division, Monroe, a Division 3 school, is 2-0 against other Division 3 schools and 0-6 against Division 2.
How could these Cheesemakers do in a Division 3 playoff field? Could they win in the first round? Potentially, if I’m being honest.
Why teams miss out on the playoffs is a product of not just talent on the field, scheme and offseason workouts, but also of school enrollment and the ability to compete in a respective conference (and maybe a little bit of luck). This is the same reason a team like Southwestern wants out of the SWAL and into the Six Rivers. This is why Palmyra-Eagle and Parkview left the Rock Valley for smaller waters. Not to dominate, but to compete. At a certain point it is no longer about continuing rivalries as it is making sure schools from around the state all have a fair shot, even if it means just in the regular season.
Maybe the Badger should go Big-Small instead of North-South. Maybe Monroe, the smallest public school in the conference, should follow McFarland and just relocate to the Rock Valley and push a smaller team like Brodhead (413) into the Capitol.
Or maybe the WIAA needs to finally fix the discrepancy once and for all (as well as add a 1.5-multiple to private schools).
— Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times and thinks any leaf color other than green is hideous. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
