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SKINNER: Glide to play in 3A, 2A hybrid league
Any other year, the next fall's prep football schedule would already be complete at schools like Glide, Reedsport and Riddle. But amid the massive changes that are taking place in Oregon prep sports, schedules will have to wait until a format is decided upon.
The Oregon School Activities Association approved for 2010-2014 a new alignment of leagues, one that includes hybrid leagues composed of teams from multiple classifications.
The new alignment aims to reduce travel time between schools and restore traditional rivalries that were broken when the OSAA went to a six-classification format in 2006. Locally, Glide is in the Sunset Hybrid League with fellow Class 3A foes Bandon, Coquille, Myrtle Point and Class 2A Reedsport and Gold Beach.
Now the OSAA championship committee is tasked with figuring out how teams from hybrid leagues qualify to the playoffs in their respective classifications.
“That's the $64,000 question,” Glide athletic director Al Skinner said. “I think the (OSAA's) idea of reducing finances to make things easier on schools has merit, but it also brings up a lot of questions that haven't been discussed, like how it is going to be equitable.”
In the second of seven meetings on Nov. 2, the committee discussed several options and outlined a tentative allotment of playoff berths for each league.
Roseburg will be in the Southern Oregon Hybrid League composed of 6A and 5A schools. In football, the Indians and its four 6A rivals will be paired with the the 6A teams from the Midwestern Hybrid — Sheldon, South Eugene and Thurston. That group of teams would receive four bids to the state playoffs with the possibility of a fifth rotating from year to year.
For playoff purposes, it appears schools in the Sunset League will be paired with other Class 3A and 2A schools in the Southern Hybrid League, schools close to the California border.
An earlier proposal from the OSAA outlined a separate alignment for football that strictly adhered to teams of the same class. Under that scenario, Glide, Myrtle Point, Bandon and Coquille would be in a special district with Cascade Christian, Illinois Valley, Rogue River, St. Mary's and Lakeview.
A 2A district might include Reedsport and Gold Beach from the Sunset and Lost River, Bonanza and Chiloquin from the Southern.
“We don't want to travel that far to play league games,” Reedsport athletic director James Hixenbaugh said. “Traveling to Lost River, Chiloquin, Bonanza, as the weather gets worse during the season, I just don't see it working.”
For Reedsport, it would also create the irony of traveling through many of the 2A schools in the Mountain View Conference on their way to the Klamath Basin.
If the OSAA were to completely redraw the league alignment for football, one option would be to add Reedsport and Gold Beach to some MVC schools in central Douglas County.
“That was my original proposal to the OSAA,” Hixenbaugh said. “It was like that for a while in the Big Fir (2002-2005). North Douglas, Yoncalla and Oakland are just down the road from us.”
That scenario would likely put Riddle, Glendale and Days Creek — moving up to 2A next year — with Bonanza, Chiloquin and Lost River.
Glendale and Riddle were in the South Cascade League from 2002-05 and were mentioned in one proposal to join the Southern Hybrid next season.
Another scenario could include teams from the Sunset and Southern Hybrids meeting during the final week of the regular season in a qualifier, where the first place teams would meet to determine No. 1 and 2 seeds to the playoffs, and the second place teams would meet to decide the league's third and final playoff berth.
The committee also raised the topic of using a power rating system, similar to the Bowl Championship Series in college football, to determine playoff teams.
“You know how that works out in college — somebody is always left out,” Hixenbaugh said.
“I think a power rating would really put some schools at a disadvantage,” Skinner said. “We could easily play a Douglas, Sutherlin or South Umpqua, and boost our rating. But other schools wouldn't have that option, and by no fault of their own be rated lower.”
The hybrid discussion could be moot for Sunset teams by the next reclassification in 2014 as many of its 3A schools are close to the 2A cutoff of 226 students.
“We need to pay close attention to what is going in 2A, because we're probably going to be there in a few years,” Skinner said. “Our sophomore and junior classes are high, so once this year's sophomores are seniors, we're looking at a big drop-off in enrollment and under the cutoff for 2A.”
• You can reach sports reporter Rob McCallum by e-mail at rmccallum@nrtoday.com, or by phone at 957-4221.
The Oregon School Activities Association approved for 2010-2014 a new alignment of leagues, one that includes hybrid leagues composed of teams from multiple classifications.
The new alignment aims to reduce travel time between schools and restore traditional rivalries that were broken when the OSAA went to a six-classification format in 2006. Locally, Glide is in the Sunset Hybrid League with fellow Class 3A foes Bandon, Coquille, Myrtle Point and Class 2A Reedsport and Gold Beach.
Now the OSAA championship committee is tasked with figuring out how teams from hybrid leagues qualify to the playoffs in their respective classifications.
“That's the $64,000 question,” Glide athletic director Al Skinner said. “I think the (OSAA's) idea of reducing finances to make things easier on schools has merit, but it also brings up a lot of questions that haven't been discussed, like how it is going to be equitable.”
In the second of seven meetings on Nov. 2, the committee discussed several options and outlined a tentative allotment of playoff berths for each league.
Roseburg will be in the Southern Oregon Hybrid League composed of 6A and 5A schools. In football, the Indians and its four 6A rivals will be paired with the the 6A teams from the Midwestern Hybrid — Sheldon, South Eugene and Thurston. That group of teams would receive four bids to the state playoffs with the possibility of a fifth rotating from year to year.
For playoff purposes, it appears schools in the Sunset League will be paired with other Class 3A and 2A schools in the Southern Hybrid League, schools close to the California border.
An earlier proposal from the OSAA outlined a separate alignment for football that strictly adhered to teams of the same class. Under that scenario, Glide, Myrtle Point, Bandon and Coquille would be in a special district with Cascade Christian, Illinois Valley, Rogue River, St. Mary's and Lakeview.
A 2A district might include Reedsport and Gold Beach from the Sunset and Lost River, Bonanza and Chiloquin from the Southern.
“We don't want to travel that far to play league games,” Reedsport athletic director James Hixenbaugh said. “Traveling to Lost River, Chiloquin, Bonanza, as the weather gets worse during the season, I just don't see it working.”
For Reedsport, it would also create the irony of traveling through many of the 2A schools in the Mountain View Conference on their way to the Klamath Basin.
If the OSAA were to completely redraw the league alignment for football, one option would be to add Reedsport and Gold Beach to some MVC schools in central Douglas County.
“That was my original proposal to the OSAA,” Hixenbaugh said. “It was like that for a while in the Big Fir (2002-2005). North Douglas, Yoncalla and Oakland are just down the road from us.”
That scenario would likely put Riddle, Glendale and Days Creek — moving up to 2A next year — with Bonanza, Chiloquin and Lost River.
Glendale and Riddle were in the South Cascade League from 2002-05 and were mentioned in one proposal to join the Southern Hybrid next season.
Another scenario could include teams from the Sunset and Southern Hybrids meeting during the final week of the regular season in a qualifier, where the first place teams would meet to determine No. 1 and 2 seeds to the playoffs, and the second place teams would meet to decide the league's third and final playoff berth.
The committee also raised the topic of using a power rating system, similar to the Bowl Championship Series in college football, to determine playoff teams.
“You know how that works out in college — somebody is always left out,” Hixenbaugh said.
“I think a power rating would really put some schools at a disadvantage,” Skinner said. “We could easily play a Douglas, Sutherlin or South Umpqua, and boost our rating. But other schools wouldn't have that option, and by no fault of their own be rated lower.”
The hybrid discussion could be moot for Sunset teams by the next reclassification in 2014 as many of its 3A schools are close to the 2A cutoff of 226 students.
“We need to pay close attention to what is going in 2A, because we're probably going to be there in a few years,” Skinner said. “Our sophomore and junior classes are high, so once this year's sophomores are seniors, we're looking at a big drop-off in enrollment and under the cutoff for 2A.”
• You can reach sports reporter Rob McCallum by e-mail at rmccallum@nrtoday.com, or by phone at 957-4221.
