Aurora – Is this thing going to work, or what?
“In a sense, yeah, it will, we’ll get a champion,” Rangeview coach Dave Gonzales said.
Keep in mind Gonzales’ Raiders (2-7), the No. 32 seed and final entry into the new Class 5A football postseason bracket, have been given the opportunity to visit top-ranked, top-seeded and 9-0 Mullen on Friday night in the first round.
Big schools had already planned to go big with a 32-team field (up from 16), but now seem even bigger – perhaps including the size of officials’ heads – because the biggest football teams now have one of the smallest 11-man fields (39 teams).
They have gotten so big the Colorado High School Activities Association has discontinued its annual barbecue for 5A coaches at the week’s outset of the playoffs.
Now, we have maybe too many playoff teams, probably not enough big schools and definitely no ribs.
The postseason shouldn’t be about entering as often as you like.
It all comes down to numbers, as in a low number of schools that stayed in or switched to 5A that obviously don’t know their history and are doomed to repeat it (see: in-state 6A, 1990-93). Of course, there would be significantly less sticker shock if 5A schools this season and next in a two-year cycle shift numbered in, say, the high 40s – or when the proposal made its move – but they don’t number in the high 40s.
Big-school parents be advised: Don’t play 32 or 39 in Lotto or Powerball this weekend. They’re bad numbers together.
Does anyone else have buyer’s remorse? This can’t be what we ordered or was advertised.
If it seems like we’re playing both sides, we are, as Colorado is – again – about to explore the duality of its playoff personality, an ever-changing mood of not enough or too many.
“The positives outweigh the negatives any time you give kids a chance to play in a playoff game,” Mullen coach Dave Logan said. “Then they’ve got something to look forward to.”
And, certainly, middle-seeded games such as No. 16 Cherry Creek against No. 17 Arvada West highlight the reasonable matchups that appear to be backed by the promise of others involving seeds into the mid-20s.
“Without it, we’d be playing for nothing this week,” said Arapahoe coach Mike Campbell in referring to the bottom seven teams completing a 10th round of games today through Saturday. “We’re a perfect example.”
The Warriors, seeded No. 21, had a rough regular season from the start with suspensions, removals and injuries to key personnel well into double figures. At 4-5, Arapahoe is like so many in-state teams at this time of year – they feel much better about themselves and are confident in practically demanding a playoff shot.
But there are new quirks.
At the moment, little can be said about overall league supremacy. All five took a hit with teams missing the elimination rounds, two each from the 10-team Continental and South Metro, 5A’s largest groups.
However, leagues now have opportunities to replay portions of their regular-season schedules – there will be seven league rematches, nearly half of the 16-game first round.
Basketball’s version of bracketology in 5A football has begun.
“With only seven teams not getting in, it does seem like a basketball situation,” Mountain Vista coach Ric Cash said and soon added that “it’s not like basketball, not the same kind of dynamic.”
How far down the seed line will we go before an upset?
The spirit of Milan, Ind., aside, 21 of the top 22 5A seeds finished with winning records; 37 of 39 teams began the season with at least 1,684 students; and the field is regarded as top-heavy as a tree branch during one of Colorado’s early, wet snows – seeds Nos. 1-7 dropped a combined six games.
The intent of the larger bracket is readily understood, Cash agreed, “but how do you give these middle-round guys the shot to get in without giving the top four or eight seeds a bye week?”
Being idle isn’t the Colorado schoolboy football way.
“Maybe we need to wait and see what happens the first year or so,” Logan said.
And don’t get caught looking ahead.
“I suppose somewhere down the line one of those lower seeds will beat a higher seed and it could be us,” Cash said of his fourth-seeded Golden Eagles.
The Raiders hope it’s them.
“The bottom line is,” Gonzales said, “it’s an honor to be there, I don’t care about the circumstances. We played a hellacious schedule and had some of them on the ropes … our kids aren’t afraid of the challenge. We got invited to the dance, so we should bring something.”
Like others in 5A, the Raiders are working on it.
Staff writer Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
