SOME DAY, THE computers will do the thinking for us.
They (or is it it?) will decide which football teams are the best in the state and seed each accordingly into the playoff brackets.
Sound hokey? Well, the Oregon School Activities Association already does it for its football state tournaments.
There had previously been talk that the WIAA would eventually use a panel of former coaches and athletic directors to seed the tournament, but it appears the computer method is now the one gaining steam.
Why? Because people are sick of seeing first-round match-ups like the one from last year’s Class 2A tournament that pitted No. 1 Lynden vs. No. 3 Tumwater.
Depending upon how such a system is weighted, that may or may not be a good thing for North Olympic Peninsula teams.
One might think lifting the human element can only be a good thing for area schools given how often teams from this area are easily dismissed.
Yet a look at two different computer rankings — one done by maxpreps.com and another presented by the News Tribune out of Tacoma — reveals that even those can disagree substantially.
Sequim and Port Angeles, for example, have totally divergent rankings from one poll to the next.
On maxpreps.com, the Wolves are rated as the 11th best team in 2A and the Roughriders the 23rd best. But in the News Tribune rankings, the Wolves are No. 2 and the Riders are No. 8.
Pretty big difference to say the least.
For now, of course, that matters as much as The Associated Press poll.
That is to say all three have absolutely no bearing on where teams will end up come playoff time.
All of the state brackets have already been decided, and can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/3hxwal4.
Still, that likely will not be the case in the future, when the machines take over.
Somebody alert John Connor.
Forks playoffs?
The Forks Spartan football team may get a major assist from Southwest Washington League administrators this fall.
Previously, league athletic directors had decided that only three teams from the Evergreen and Trico divisions would advance to the playoffs to play for four state berths.
It appears the league will put four teams from each division into postseason, however, to assure more participation, according to Montesano athletic director Tim Trimble.
The way the system would work, the division champions would each take on the No. 4 seed from the opposite division and the 2’s would face the 3’s.
Obviously, that extra spot increases the chances of Forks — currently fifth in the Evergreen — getting in.
“The rest of our season is on our hands,” said Forks coach Mark Feasel, whose squad still has two games against teams (Elma and Tenino) above it in the standings.
“It’s in our hands what happens. We’ve just got to come out and play.”
More seating
Once again, Port Angeles and Sequim are the last two unbeaten teams in the Olympic League.
Here’s guessing that if Port Angeles gets past North Kitsap in its homecoming game Friday, the two will be playing for the outright league title for the second year in a row.
As anyone who attended last year’s contest knows, such a scenario is likely to attract a whole bunch of fans.
The good news: Sequim has added three more sets of bleacher seats to its stadium.
The bad news: Who knows if it will be able to fit the 4,200-plus that showed up to last year’s game?
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors and sports columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column regularly appears on Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.
