Decision About playoffs to be made Wed

[Deana_King]

2 minutes ago

Fall Season Update​

Good morning,

Our thoughts and prayers continue for our membership in Western North Carolina. We appreciate the consideration and compassion being shown to them.

During the past week, the NCHSAA Board of Directors and staff were busy collecting information relative to the impact of Hurricane Helene on the Fall Sports Season and the Playoffs. Using this gathered information, decisions will be made by the Board members and announced on Wednesday morning. Thank you for your patience.

If you have any questions, please contact Brad Alford, Rhonda Dreibelbis or Karen DeHart.

Sincerely,

Que Tucker
Commissioner

 

[SWE'98]

I hope they don't cancel the playoffs, or the Western regional playoffs. Can't wait to hear what they do.

 

[sammyk]

More important than football right now.

 

[tarheel fan1]

More important than football right now.

Yes, I agree. But I'm not sure I'd cancel the playoffs.

 

[amaidendevil]

Probably move it back a week or two. I believe that's what they did when hurricane flooded eastern side

 

[Frank Lost Password]

Probably move it back a week or two. I believe that's what they did when hurricane flooded eastern side

Moving it back one week puts the title games on the weekend of the 21st. Doubt they go further as that would run into Christmas

 

[Otis4411]

Probably move it back a week or two. I believe that's what they did when hurricane flooded eastern side

This don’t compare in any way to the flooding in the East. It’s terrible in the mountains. Some may not know this but a lot of those mountain roads and bridges are not state roads but private roads. Homes were not flooded they were washed away. Numbers I’m hearing from my co-workers that have been working for Hayward cooperative is that over 1000 people are missing/ lost. That is not factored in any death reports yet. It’s going to be a long and frustrating time for those that live there.
I don’t know what to say about high school football. To have playoffs in the East and they are not able to have school / football in the West just don’t seem right. Don’t look like my team will be a playoff team anyway unless they quickly turn things around. But I still enjoy going to other games. I’m just glad I don’t have to make that decision.

 

[footballstar_17]

Moving it back one week puts the title games on the weekend of the 21st. Doubt they go further as that would run into Christmas

This is what I posted on 1A:

I think it would be crazy to just cancel them all together.

Maybe get rid of the first round and push it back two weeks. This would only cause it to start a week later than normal. You would probably have to push winter sports back a week as well, but I think this would be a lot better than canceling the whole playoffs.

Original schedule:
Playoff Seeding November 2
1st Round November 8
2nd Round November 15
3rd Round November 22
4th Round November 29
Regional Round December 6
State Championship December 13-14

New proposed (from me) schedule:
Seeding moved to - 11/15
Round of 32 (this would be like the 2nd round, since there are normally 64 teams that make it) - 11/22
Round of 16 - 11/29
Round of 8 - 12/6
Round of 4 - 12/13
Championship - 12/20-21

 

[footballstar_17]

This don’t compare in any way to the flooding in the East. It’s terrible in the mountains. Some may not know this but a lot of those mountain roads and bridges are not state roads but private roads. Homes were not flooded they were washed away. Numbers I’m hearing from my co-workers that have been working for Hayward cooperative is that over 1000 people are missing/ lost. That is not factored in any death reports yet. It’s going to be a long and frustrating time for those that live there.
I don’t know what to say about high school football. To have playoffs in the East and they are not able to have school / football in the West just don’t seem right. Don’t look like my team will be a playoff team anyway unless they quickly turn things around. But I still enjoy going to other games. I’m just glad I don’t have to make that decision.

I don't think they would have playoffs in the East and not the West. There are plenty of teams in the West that are still playing. This is something that I posted on the 1A board as well.
@BlueDevil1996 listed several counties/school systems that are closed or delayed. I just put the division they are in.

***Closed thru 10/11***
Watauga County High - 4A
Ashe County High - 3A
Mountain Heritage - 1A
Hendersonville - 2A
West Henderson -3A
North Henderson - 3A
East Henderson - 3A

Athletics can resume Thursday:
Rosman - 1A
Brevard - 2A

***Closed Until Further Notice***
Avery County - 1A
T.C. Roberson - 4A
A.C. Reynolds - 4A
North Buncombe - 3A
Owen - 2A
Enka - 3A
Erwin - 3A
Polk County - 1A
Mitchell County - 1A
Madison - 2A

Edit to add:
Both are closed this week, I would imagen probably longer but could not find any set details other than the county would give a 48 hour notice before schools opened.
Pisgah - 3A
Tuscola - 3A

P.S.
Obviously everything that is going on is larger than football, but canceling the playoffs, I don't think, is the answer. I have family members that live and own businesses in Asheville & Swannanoa area. Luckily they are alive but did lose just about everything, so other than actually being there myself, I can relate. I just don't see how canceling the playoffs will help anything.

 

[notanyonesfan]

Cancelling the playoffs shouldn't be an option IMO. I like the idea of pushing it back a week or two and reducing from 64 to 32 teams...

Honestly neither option is fair for the kids at the schools that can still play but you may not even be able to field a 64 team bracket in the West even if they wanted too.

 

[notanyonesfan]

Or another idea is they could push the playoffs back a week, keep the same number of teams (if possible) and do 3 games in 2 weeks.

1st round on Friday November 15
2nd round on Tuesday November 19
3rd round on Saturday November 23

Then it's back on schedule. Probably not the best option but it's an option

 

[judeallman]

I think the best option is to give the teams a week. Cut the number of teams in the playoffs in half. And have the same finish dates. This allows the state to keep from
Losing the money they have tied up in the championship venues. And has the less of an impact on winter sports

 

[btango]

Changing the dates of the title games will not be a huge logistical issue. There are only four games now so it is not as hard to do as when there were eight and UNC only allowed one game on Saturday or Duke allowed no game on Saturday.

 

[SimmonsRatings]

I think they should move it back 1 week like they did before, and the western teams can just play whatever games they are able to play during the remaining season. Should still be able to make the playoffs if they are able to play. If some schools are done, that would certainly be understandable.

 

[Dadof23]

Remember, NCHSAA is being ru"i"n by a bunch of idiots so don't expect a straight forward answer here. Either way, kids/schools will suffer. Honestly, some kids that play sports (football) probably aren't even thinking about football as much as their family losses right now. On the other hand, sports shouldn't be stopped for others as well. I don't see how some of the schools and towns will even operate normally for the next year or two, much less play sports. Remember also that some of these kids had to endure COVID and now this. Truly devastating and hard to grasp how anyone from those areas really care about sports right now. If they are that distraught about missing football, simply let them play in the spring. IDK. No right/wrong but I promise NCHSAA will not have a solid plan for all. That I can almost guarantee.

 

[footballstar_17]

Per Deana's post:

Football​

Effective immediately, a minimum of three calendar days (72 hours) must occur in between contests.

· Reporting deadline: November 9, 11:59 p.m. (revised from November 1)

· Seeding: November 10 (Sunday, after 1 p.m.)

· First round: November 15

· Second round: November 22

· Third round: November 29

· Fourth round: December 6

· Regionals: December 13

· State Championships: December 20-21

 

[HoeyMan76]

Remember, NCHSAA is being ru"i"n by a bunch of idiots so don't expect a straight forward answer here. Either way, kids/schools will suffer. Honestly, some kids that play sports (football) probably aren't even thinking about football as much as their family losses right now. On the other hand, sports shouldn't be stopped for others as well. I don't see how some of the schools and towns will even operate normally for the next year or two, much less play sports. Remember also that some of these kids had to endure COVID and now this. Truly devastating and hard to grasp how anyone from those areas really care about sports right now. If they are that distraught about missing football, simply let them play in the spring. IDK. No right/wrong but I promise NCHSAA will not have a solid plan for all. That I can almost guarantee.

What would your plan have been. Is the delay of one week acceptable to you? When there are many possibilities, I, not being a fence sitter", will guarantee no one solution will be acceptable to all. It is easy to criticize.

 

[wolfpackjj78]

Per Deana's post:

Football​

Effective immediately, a minimum of three calendar days (72 hours) must occur in between contests.

· Reporting deadline: November 9, 11:59 p.m. (revised from November 1)

· Seeding: November 10 (Sunday, after 1 p.m.)

· First round: November 15

· Second round: November 22

· Third round: November 29

· Fourth round: December 6

· Regionals: December 13

· State Championships: December 20-21

So the playoffs are officially pushed back a week?

 

[footballstar_17]

So the playoffs are officially pushed back a week?

Yes.

 

[SWE'98]

Not really sure how this helps at all, but it's not like I have a better solution. I just don't see what would be different in starting on time vs starting one week later for those western schools. But again, I wouldn't have known what to come up with.
One good thing for all teams is that they all get to enjoy a bye week after the last regular season game. That's huge for teams with injuries.

 

[beamer24]

Not really sure how this helps at all, but it's not like I have a better solution. I just don't see what would be different in starting on time vs starting one week later for those western schools. But again, I wouldn't have known what to come up with.
One good thing for all teams is that they all get to enjoy a bye week after the last regular season game. That's huge for teams with injuries.

It helps trust me.