'Let's play!'

The Indians will have a better shot at making the playoffs this fall.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors on Thursday approved expanding the football playoffs this fall to 16 teams per region, up from the previous 12.

This decision comes on the heels of the OHSAA announcing in May the playoffs would expand to 12 teams from eight (the top four seeds in each region were to receive a bye).

But last fall, the OHSAA introduced an all-inclusive payoff system for the 2020 season, which was shortened to six games because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Last fall we received overwhelmingly positive feedback when we allowed every team to enter the football playoffs due to the shortened season because of COVID-19,” OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said in a press release. “We know there are some who want to keep the football postseason to a smaller number of schools, but the postseason tournament gives such a positive experience for our student athletes, the schools and their communities that we felt strongly about giving that opportunity to more schools to make the playoffs.

Fort Recovery coach Brent Niekamp is in favor of the expansion.

“More chances to compete? Sign us up!” he tweeted Thursday evening. “1 seed or 16 seed. Doesn’t matter to us. Let’s play.”

Niekamp, who started as FRHS coach in 2005, offered more thoughts Friday afternoon.

“I think it’s going to take the pressure off of scheduling,” he said. “With eight-team playoff there was a lot of pressure to schedule the right non-conference games to maximize the most computer points before you got into conference play.”

Don Kemper, commissioner of the MAC, agreed with Niekamp’s assessment, saying the conference’s member schools generally have a tough time scheduling non-conference games for the first two weeks of the season because of the reputation the conference has established as being one of the best in the state.

“At the end of the day, teams are reluctant to play teams they think can beat them,” he said. “Hopefully it resolves that issue and makes it easier to find non-conference opponents in week 1 and week 2.”



Tribe history

The OHSAA football playoffs began in 1972 when four schools in each of the three classes qualified for the playoffs.

Eight years later, the field was expanded to five divisions with eight playoff teams in each division. A sixth division was added in 1994, with four qualifiers per region. The field was then increased to its current format, eight teams per region, in 1999.

It wasn’t until 2013 that the OHSAA added a seventh division.

“The eight teams, that wasn’t perfect and this method isn’t perfect,” Niekamp said. “People that are just in love with it being eight teams per region, they probably forget that when it was expanded 20 years ago when they made it eight teams they said it was watered down.

“I’m sure those arguments came up in 1999 when they changed it from four to eight. None of those that made it as an eight (seed) would want to go back to four. I don’t think anybody who gets in now at 13 (seed) or 14 (seed) is going to turn around and say ‘No thanks, we won’t do it.’”

Fort Recovery began playing a varsity football schedule in 1992. The Tribe’s first winning season came two years later — its first full, 10-game schedule — but it did not qualify for the playoffs until 2014.

The Indians were the No. 5 seed in their region and fell in the regional semifinal to eventual state champion Marion Local. The Indians caught fire the following year and won the program’s first state championship, finishing the year 13-2.

Fort Recovery qualified for the playoffs the next two years, but 4-6 records in both 2018 and 2019 kept them out of the postseason.

In the all-inclusive playoff format for the 2020 season, the Indians were a No. 12 seed in their region and lost in the second round to eventual state champion Coldwater.



More games

Niekamp is a competitor, and there is perhaps no more competitive football conference in the state than the Midwest Athletic Conference.

The MAC routinely dominates the small-school state tournaments, especially football. Since its inception in 1975, the MAC has won 140 total state championships; 37 in football.

In a typical season, half of the MAC’s 10 member football schools qualify for the playoffs. In 2019, Kempber noted seven MAC schools earned playoff berths, and had it been a 16-team regional format an additional two conference teams would have had a playoff game.

And in order for MAC teams to make deep tournament runs, they generally meet one another again in the playoffs.

Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to avenge a regular-season loss during the playoffs, or keep bragging rights by beating the same team twice in the same season?

Expanding playoffs gives the MAC more of an opportunity to manhandle the state when it comes to postseason play.

“This gives us more chances to compete longer, play more games,” Niekamp said. “Why not? I don’t get the idea that you get to a point where you don’t want to compete.

“If you’re having a bad season — you might say, ‘We just want the season to be over with’ — I’ve had plenty of those seasons where you’ve got a bad record. We’ve gotten blown out by 60 before. My attitude is I will always take another game if I could get one.”

Win to get in?

Opponents of the 16-team regional playoff field could argue teams without a winning record may be granted postseason play.

Football is the only OHSAA sport in which there are no automatic qualifiers. Therefore, there’s a sense of having to win in order to get in.

But a winning record doesn’t always guarantee qualifying for the playoffs.

Based solely on computer rankings, the New Bremen Cardinals would not have qualified for the playoffs in 2020. At 4-2, they were seeded 11th in Division VII’s Region 28. But because of the all-inclusive playoff format in 2020, they got in. Then they dominated.

New Bremen beat No. 16 seed Southeastern Local, No. 13 seed St. Henry, No. 2 seed Fort Loramie and top-seeded and defending state champion Marion Local on its way to the regional championship.

The Cardinals edged Lima Central Catholic, the top-seeded team in their region, 26-24 in the state semifinal before blowing out Warren John F. Kennedy, another No. 1 seed, 31-0 in the state championship.

“You can manufacture a winning record by scheduling games you can go out and win,” Niekamp said, noting most conferences schedule non-league games against teams expecting to win in order to gain computer points (which decides regional rankings and playoff berths). “That’s part of the system where you have to earn your way into the playoffs.

“As far as taking pressure off of scheduling, that maneuvering and gamesmanship in scheduling has gone way beyond scheduling games. Leagues are breaking up because of football.”

Under the 16-team playoff format, Fort Recovery would have qualified for the playoffs with losing records seven times. In 2018 and 2019, when the Indians were 4-6, they were 15th and 16th, respectively, in their region. They would have also qualified in 2012 (3-7 – 16th seed), 2011 (4-6 – 14th), 2007 (5-5 – 16th), 2000 (4-6 – 16th), 1999 (3-7 – 14th). At 6-4 in 1994, computer points had Fort Recovery ranked 13th in its division.

“That illustrates something,” Niekamp said. When we had those 3-7 seasons two of those wins were non-conference and those were typically quality wins. Sometimes we were beating teams that were getting into the playoffs with losses to a 3-7 team.

“The idea you have to have a winning record to get in the playoffs is a joke.”

Kemper went on to say coaches within the MAC can change one of their goals each season.

“Some of our best coaches continually say their goal is to just make the playoffs,” he said. “They feel if they can make the playoffs they can win some games.

“I think ultimately there are more positives than negatives. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out.”



New format

Prior to the 2020 season, the higher-seeded team hosted regional quarterfinal games, while the rest of the state tournament was held at neutral sites.

With the new format, seeds one through eight will host the first round. Out of the eight teams that advance out of the first round, the higher-seeded team in each matchup will host the quarterfinal.

Regional semifinal and championship games will be at neutral sites, along with the state semifinal games.

The site of the state championship games, scheduled for Dec. 2 through 5, has not yet been determined.

The first Friday of the regular season is set for Aug. 20, with week 10 games to be played Oct. 23 and playoffs to start Oct. 29 and 30.