GSL post-season grid picture clears

30 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

• 

  wildcat17 on October 27 at 2:51 p.m.

  Huge games again this weekend for a lot of schools. Being a northside homer, I am cheering for Mead all the way. For one, if they beat CV and we beat Rogers we will be alone in first place. And two, it would be great for the Mead School District to have the #1 seeds in 3A & 4A. I really think Mead will win, putting them #1 and CV #2. The rest of the games leave a lot of what if scenarios. Prep has everything to play for with the Tigers coming in. Which Prep team is going to show up?

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  Prepgrad on October 27 at 4:06 p.m.

  Being a Prep grad I can speak with some confidence. Everyone gets up to play Prep! Even in years when we are not dominating, everyone wants to see us lose. LC is the one game you can always count on Prep being up for! The Prep team that beat Ferris and CV will show up this week; if not we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs no matter what else happens!

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  deadzinner on October 27 at 9:13 p.m.

  So what happens if CV beats Mead, Prep beats LC and Ferris beats U High?
  The records would be as follows:
  CV 7-1 wins the 4A #1 seed
  Prep 6-2
  Mead 6-3
  Ferris 5-3
  U High 5-4
  LC 3-5

  What isn’t clear is how the 2nd and 3rd seeds will be decided. Does Prep get the # 2 seed? I think not, because supposedly the 6 wins for each are what matters as the extra game for Mead is a loss and isn’t supposed to count. Is there a 4 way tie for the #2 seed because if extra games don’t count then Ferris’s 5-3 is the same as Mead’s 6-3 and U High’s 5-4 is the same as Ferris’s 5-3. Which would make U High’s 5-4 the same as Mead’s 6-3 and Prep’s 6-2.
  Congrats to the GSL for having a postseason scramble that makes the BCS look positively fair.

• 

  Al_Loysius on October 28 at 9:59 a.m.

  It was looking like a slow week with no contoversies to talk about on this board. I was afraid we were all going to have to just work and have nothing to post.

  GSL playoff spots are a mess since some schools play a nonleague game and some just play an extra GSL game. The fact this has not created a mess in the past is due to pure dumb luck. Why could the GSL Principals and AD’s not just get together and tell everybody to get on the same page? There are a bunch of local teams that can be played in non-league games for little or no travel expense. Don’t tell me Mead and U-Hi could not have played a non-league game if GP, F, CV and LC could.

  GP-LC is historically the closest thing to a true rivalry game for Prep. A lot of the kids went to school together at Cataldo and All Saints, so the kids and their families know each other well.

  If CV loses to Mead, and GP beats LC, then Prep would get the #1 seed based on head-to-head result (I think). Home field advantage (especially at GP or CV) is huge this time of year, and staying home to play a CBL opponent can make the difference between moving on versus getting ready for basketball.

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  mossy on October 28 at 11:45 a.m.

  Al
  I agree about the non league match ups. Don’t forget, Mt. Spokane traveled to Clarkston at a higher travel expense.You failed to mention any of the 3A teams that also play in the GSL that played a non league schedule. It’s funny reading theses blogs that most of the 4A posters don’t give the CATS their due. Most likely they will go 8-1 and win the GSL title. One more thing. The only reason there is no contraversy this week is because you didn’t stir it up!

• 

  Cavebear on October 28 at 11:57 a.m.

  The past two years are the only time in GSL history when league schools played a different number of league games. Why the University-Mead games were scheduled as league contests is beyond me. In years past league schools did indeed play each other beyond the allocated number of contests for a particular year. When they did, it was always considered a non-league game. Why it wasn’t in this instance, you would have to ask league officials.

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  Question on October 28 at 12:40 p.m.

  Al - No, the winner of the Mead-CV game is the #1 GSL 4A seed. Remember, Mead beat Prep, so Mead would be #1 if they also beat CV…..

• 

  Al_Loysius on October 28 at 2:01 p.m.

  So, are there any scenarios that call for mini-games Tuesday night as tie-breakers? It has been a few years since we had to do that.

• 

  Prepgrad on October 28 at 2:04 p.m.

  It is my understanding that Mead is either #1 or #2 regardless of what happens in the CV game. I predict Mead beats CV and gets the #1 seed. Prep beats LC and goes #2 CV gets the #3 seed. Ferris and U-Hi are left on the outside looking in. I think it is a shame as Ferris probably has the most talent but hasn’t played up to it. U-Hi has played over their head and their coach should be coach of the year, they will be even better next year. It always frustrates me how the team with the most talent and experience wins league and their coach is the “coach of the year”. What about the coach who shocks the league, gets his team to play better then their talent suggests. That is coaching! It is easy to run with the Big dogs when you have the biggest dogs!

• 

  Prepgrad on October 28 at 2:14 p.m.

  It used to be much easier. When I played, the GSL was AAA and consisted of nine teams.
  Ferris
  LC
  NC
  Rogers
  Shadle
  CV
  Prep
  U-Hi
  Mead.

  Everyone played everyone and the top two teams moved on. I think it is time to think about going back to this.

• 

  Question on October 28 at 2:57 p.m.

  For those who are interested in GSL football & how we compare across the state, you might want to check out this website. As I’ve said a number of times on these blogs, we have by far the best league, and we’ve basically beat the crud out of each other here in Spokane, and this certainly supports this:

  www.maxpreps.com/state/football/washington

  If you scroll down & check out the rankings for 4A, the GSL actually has ALL SIX OF OUR 4A teams in the MaxPreps rankings out of the top 25. And that doesn’t count Mt. Spokane, which is #5 in the 3A. And this is better than the polls that you see in the newspapers - these rankings actually take into account strength of schedule, etc.

  It’s no wonder the the West Side AD’s have gotten together & convinced the WIAA to re-bracket so that the East side of the state can only get one team past the semi-finals. And that’s not just in football, either…

  As a side note, you can see how well the CBL stands up - their two undefeated teams are ranked below three or four GSL teams with at least two losses. For Wenatchee to be 8-0 and ranked #14 and Ike to be 8-0 and ranked #23 certainly says something.

  Lets go GSL - sweep the CBL/Big-9 for a second straight year!!!

• 

  Prepgrad on October 28 at 3:19 p.m.

  How about this: two divisions

  Falls Division
  Prep
  Mt. Spokane
  Ferris
  NC
  Rogers

  River Division
  Mead
  U-Hi
  Shadle
  CV
  LC

  Still schedule rivalry games, and this allows for everyone to play everyone in their division plus non-league games. EV drops down since they are the smallest GSL school based on the last count. The #1 from the “Falls” would play the #3 from the “River” and so forth the next to last week of the season. The other teams just play each other based on a coin toss or something. This gives more teams an opportunity to play for the post season. The overall #1 seed would be done on a rotation “Falls” one year “River” the next. The winner of the other 1-3 game would be the #2 seed and the winner of the 2-2 game would be the #3 seed.

  Just an idea, and having some fun. I know it works well in other leagues across the state.

• 

  EWaHSFootballFan on October 28 at 3:23 p.m.

  Question

  Here’s another good site to check out regarding the strength of GSL football, has all 6 of the 4A GSL Football teams rate in the top 10!

  http://www.highschoolsports.net/defaultcal300x250.cfm?ct=stateratings&conftodisp=Washington&year=2009&conf_id1=CFB76388&spt=4&division=1

  This is done by Massey Ratings, same folks that USA Today Sports and others use, as I understand.

  Avoids a bit of the Westside/Seattle Times bias.

• 

  EWaHSFootballFan on October 28 at 3:47 p.m.

  Does someone have a copy of the GSL playoff rules they can post here. I thought Mike/Spokesman Rewiew published them a few weeks back, but I can’t seem to find them.

  If UHS beats Ferris, LC beats GP, and CV beats Mead, wouldn’t UHS be #3 as the tie with Mead and GP, but beat GP head-to-head earlier in the season? #2 to Mead because they beat UHS and GP?

  #1 CV 7-1
  #2 Mead 6-3
  #3 UHS 6-3
  #4 GP 5-3
  #5 LC 4-4
  #6 Ferris 4-4

• 

  Al_Loysius on October 28 at 4:09 p.m.

  Prepgrad, I agree we should have the old WIAA classifications. However, your plan for GSL divisions won’t work for the future.. As we discussed several days ago, there may only be 2 4A teams next year: LC and CV. Prep has to decide whether to opt up or not. They are going to be affected by how many other teams stay 4A. Ferris and Mead might be close to the 3A/4A dividing line. Preliminary decisions have to be declared by mid Dec. and final decisions by the schools in the spring. Those are locked in for 2 years.

  That means that only one 4A team will advance out of GSL in all sports to regionals. The flip side is that the GSL would likely have more 3A teams qualify. A lot of AD’s and coaches are going to be stressed out over the next few months while the numbers come in from WIAA.

  Prep’s dilemma is this: stay with tradition and go 4A and have less chances to go to State, or go 3A (which is still an opt-up for them based on population) with more chances to get teams to State. As i understand it, the public schools are not even entertaining the notion of playing up. They would just go 3A or 4A based on where their numbers fall on the scale.

• 

  Prepgrad on October 28 at 5:20 p.m.

  Prep has played up forever (not literally). It is sad other schools won’t do the same. I suppose Prep could always choose to play 2A. I would enjoy seeing them possibly winning state every year in football and basketball, if not in every sport! Come on people do the right thing, use common sense!

• 

  Cavebear on October 28 at 10:11 p.m.

  The WIAA with their politically correct way of making sure every school in the state has a better shot at state competition has made a wreck of the larger classification. If it’s true that only CV and LC would be the only 4A schools left in the GSL after the next enrollment check, they’re basically trapped in a situation where they may play each other every year for the one allocation, no matter their records, and probably only to the regionals, where the Columbia Basin would throw who knows how many teams at them. The CBL has forced many of its 3A schools to be 4A, hence the current disparity between the two leagues in playoffs. Prep would have to decide, as previously mentioned, if it wants to continue to opt up to 4A’s narrowing window, or just to 3A, where the larger participation and allocations would be. Personally, I would love to see a state classification eliminated. There are currently way too many.

• 

  gslguy on October 29 at 9:28 a.m.

  To PrepGrad:

  I like the Falls vs River Division idea, but dropping East Valley because they are the smallest is not logical, nor fair. GPrep is the smallest. Using your logic, Prep should be the one that drops out. I know they “opt” up, but you don’t punish a legitimate 3A by replacing them with an “opt” up.

  I’m assuming that you’re proposing the idea for football only because other sports really would be imbalanced. Secondly, I’m not sure why they’re separated the way they are in your divisions. If it’s based on strength of teams this year and creating balance, it won’t carry over well from year to year. Just throw District 81 teams in one league and the outlying areas (Mead district, CV District, EV District & GPrep) in the other. have a crossover to determine who qualifes for playoffs.

• 

  Cavebear on October 29 at 10:16 a.m.

  Always have hated divisions. Probably just a personal thing, A and B, I and II, River and Hills, just doesn’t do it for me. I prefer Greater Spokane League and there you go. You still know who finished first through sixth for playoffs.

• 

  GSLFan on October 29 at 10:18 a.m.

  LC and Prep would never go for a setup where either they did not play one another annually OR the game they played had no implications.

  Old school hate runs deep.

• 

  Al_Loysius on October 29 at 10:22 a.m.

  I would agree with Prepgrad that Coach Diedrick at U-Hi ought to be Coach of the Year. They have been mired in the doldrums for a long time, but he managed to take the same kids and make them a winner. In HS football, coaching is probably more important than any other sport, even more than talent (although good talent can make a good coach better !!).

• 

  Al_Loysius on October 29 at 10:29 a.m.

  I am told that California HS sports has its classifications based on quality of the program, rather than how many bodies are in the school attendance zone. Intriguing idea. I suppose some sort of analysis would have to be done weighting strength of schedule, and some sort of “quality wins” determination. I don’t know exactly how CA does it. Maybe somebody knows.

  What really hurts WA schools is that WIAA counts kids against a school’s numbers even if they are special ed, “alternative programs,” and I think they even count kids in home schooling.

• 

  Cavebear on October 29 at 11:32 a.m.

  California has some real problems with its playoff methods. I have some relatives in northeastern California. The school their kids attended went 13-0 last season. It came down to a playoff for a regional title to be played in the bay area, and a committee chose which school from their area would compete. A school with 2 losses was chosen, the undefeated team was left out. In most states you keep playing until you lose, not so in California. By the way the school chosen got hammered.

• 

  Question on October 29 at 11:46 a.m.

  One of the reasons Mead’s football team has ended up doing so well this year after such a tough start has to be related to the fact that they’ve just won the 4A football academic award - a 3.44 cumulative GPA for 44 football players? Wow!

  See the WIAA for this & all of the other fall sport winners around the state: www.wiaa.com/

  The Spokesman never seems to highlight this stuff much, and has, I believe, completely ignored the results of the WIAA’s Scholastic Cup, which is awarded annually based on a compilation of every girl & boy athlete’s academic performance, sportsmanship, and athletic results in state competions.

  Mead has actually won the last two 4A Cups, and was third three years ago. Ferris is also always right up there, with 10th, 3rd, & 2nd places finishes over the past three years. I’d bet Prep would be right there too, but their decision to opt up several classes into 4A probably really hurts them in this type of all-sport ranking against the schools that are over twice their size.

  I don’t understand why more emphasis at every level isn’t put on striving for this type of award, because it focuses on the STUDENT-athelete. Have you ever heard of Washington’s Scholastic Cup before?

• 

  mjbcoug on October 29 at 2:03 p.m.

  Here are all the possible 4A postseason scenarios before tonite’s CV-Mead game:

  CV, LC, UHi win = CV 1st, Mead 2nd, UHi 3rd
  CV, LC, Ferris win = CV 1st, Mead 2nd, GP-UHi-Fer playoff for 3rd
  CV, GP, UHi win = CV 1st, Mead 2nd, UHi 3rd (by virtue of win vs GP)
  CV, GP, Fer win = CV 1st, Mead 2nd, GP 3rd
  Mead, LC, UHi win = Mead 1st, CV 2nd, UHi 3rd
  Mead, LC, Fer win = Mead 1st, CV 2nd, GP-UHi-Fer playoff for 3rd
  Mead, GP, UHi win = Mead 1st, CV-UHi-GP playoff for 2nd & 3rd
  Mead, GP, Fer win = Mead 1st, GP 2nd, CV 3rd

  Would it really have been that hard for the paper to list out all of these actual scenarios?? It took me all of 20 minutes to figure it out.

  Basically it doesn’t really matter what happens for CV in tonite’s game. They win they are in, they lose they are in unless GP and UHi also win then they play in a 3 teams-for-2 slots playin. G-Prep has to be rooting for Ferris to win because they at least have a chance in every scenario where that happens. If U-Hi wins then Prep only has a shot in that 3-for-2 playin if they and Mead win. On the other hand Ferris has to win and needs Prep to lose for their only chance at a 3-for-1 playin. U-Hi is truly the only team that controls its own destiny. If they win they can do no worse than the 3-for-2 playin game, but if they lose they have to pull for LC to win so they can get in a playoff with Ferris and Prep.

• 

  GSLFan on October 29 at 2:21 p.m.

  CV, LC, Ferris win = CV 1st, Mead 2nd, GP-UHi-Fer playoff for 3rd
  Mead, LC, Fer win = Mead 1st, CV 2nd, GP-UHi-Fer playoff for 3rd

  That would be a helluva Tuesday afternoon at Albi.

  Saw one back in ‘75 (3-way KC tiebreaker between Ferris/LC/Prep) - still remember Niksich put his QB in motion on the first play and drew a 5 yard offside penalty. Had never seen that before and don’t think I have since. LC ended up winning that one.

• 

  Question on October 29 at 2:43 p.m.

  Thx, mjbcoug - this was really top secret stuff, but now the cat’s out of the bag. Don’t know why somebody just didn’t cut to the chase yesterday.

  It seems to me, based on the very limited info you can discover about how we’ll bracket with the CBL (must be top secret too), that the #2 GSL spot might well be better the better one, at least for the initial game. The way their Cascade/Columbia spots fall this year, our #1 get’s their #4, which barring upset, should be the 8-1 Southridge team. Our #2 seed would then get their #3 seed, 7-2 Kamiakan, which from everything I can tell, is less talented than Southridge.

  But the next game may be even more important than the play-in game. The two state-wide rankings that don’t just look at records (Massey & Max-preps) both indicate very strongly that the GSL is the much better league and that our teams w/two or three losses are better than even the CBL’s undefeated teams.

  So, if this holds true & the GSL seeds all win like last year, two of the GSL teams will have to play each other the first round of the playoffs, and the third gets a second game with a CBL team. So this is the secret I haven’t been able to discover…how are the GSL’s seeds #1, #2, & #3 bracketed? Normally, our #1 would be bracket with their #2 (Wenatchee) & #4 (Southridge) - is this the case here?

• 

  Prepgrad on October 29 at 2:45 p.m.

  Valley Follower,
  I actually drew the teams out of a hat, there was no reasoning behind the division set ups. I totally agree with Question! Believe it or not kids are in school to learn! More emphais/attention needs to be placed on those teams that do well off the field as well.

• 

  rawkmandale on October 29 at 10:33 p.m.

  Mead trounces CV 31-12 (as expected by many of us). Mead looks really tough. They could be a serious title contender.

• 

  mossy on October 29 at 11:03 p.m.

  Congratulations to Mead upending CV to take the #1 seed in the 4A of the GSL. There’s only one problem however! If anyone knows the PA announcer at Albi they need to let him know that Mead is not the GSL Champ. If Mt. Spokane beats Rogers tomorrow they will win the outright title. The announcer said at half “only 24 minutes to determine the GSL Champ” then he said it agian after the 3rd Qtr. At the end of the game he said congratulations to Mead for being the GSL Champs. I’m sure he meant for the 4A but come on. If anyone knows this guy, please tell him to correct himself tomorrow when Mt. Spokane wins the title.

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