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Sting of missing out on the state playoffs lingers for Panthers By Don Hunt South Medford High football coach Bill Singler doesn't need a copy of the Class 4A football playoff bracket to know his Panthers are better than about half the teams in it. At 7-2, South Medford posted a superior record to 13 of the 32 teams in the playoffs. Nine other squads registered identical 7-2 marks. There has been a lot of talk around town the past couple days about how the Panthers suffered a great injustice by not qualifying for the postseason. South Medford finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Southern Oregon Conference and lost out to Grants Pass and North Medford on a coin flip prior to last Friday's game between the Panthers and the Black Tornado. It was bad enough for the Panthers that they lost to North Medford, 31-28, in perhaps the most hotly-contested and well-played game in the history of the Black and Blue Series. When they learned afterward that they weren't going to the playoffs, their collective hearts dropped to the locker room floor. "It's like we lost twice in one day," Singler said. "Our kids are devastated. They know they deserve to be there (in the playoffs)." Singler wants something done about the inequities of the playoff system. He plans on approaching the Oregon School Activities Association and pleading with them to make changes. Singler will propose some sort of power rating system that would reward the tougher football conferences in the state, such as the SOC, and penalize the weaker ones, such as the Portland Interscholastic League. (Jefferson, the No. 4 representative from the PIL, enters the playoffs with a 4-5 record and began its season with 34-0 and 24-0 losses to Tualatin and Westview, respectively.) Singler doesn't think it's right that the SOC periodically only gets three teams in the playoffs - that's the case this season - while the PIL always gets four. The SOC has eight teams in it while the PIL has 10. Let's count up the wins from the different conferences in the state playoffs over the past 10 or 15 years and go from there, Singler says. I wish him luck but doubt whether his proposal will make it past the presentation stage. For one thing, the OSAA doesn't make the rules, it only enforces them. The ones making the rules are school administrators - principals, athletic directors, coaches - and it's obvious the administrators in lesser football conferences would never go for something that would reduce playoff teams in their neck of the woods. And if changes are made for football, what about other sports? The SOC has been traditionally weak in basketball; does that mean fewer of its teams should go to the playoffs? The fact is, there are always going to be inequities in any playoff format. It happens each year at the college level in the Bowl Championship Series. It happens in the NFL when certain teams that finish 8-8 one year make the playoffs and ones that go 10-6 the next year don't. Life isn't always fair. Just ask the man who is headed to the electric chair for a crime he didn't commit. One thing that definitely needs changed, though, is the process to break ties within the SOC. A coin flip isn't the answer. A better solution would be to do what the Skyline Conference does - break ties through point differentials between the teams involved. In other words, add up the points scored and points allowed. Under that system, South Medford would have come out at plus 18, Grants Pass at minus 3 and North Medford at minus 15. The Black Tornado, which finished the regular season with five straight wins and is probably among the top eight or 10 teams in the state right now, would have been the odd team out under this scenario. But at least the deadlock would have been settled on the field. THERE WAS NO press conference, no TV cameras and no reporters scribbling on notepads when South Medford quietly hired Ken Thompson to become its head wrestling coach two weeks ago. And that's just how Thompson wanted it. South Medford administrators were desperate to find a replacement for former coach Ken Wharry, who took a job in Sacramento, Calif., in September, and were fortunate to hire someone with Thompson's credentials. Thompson, 33, was the head coach at North Medford from 1997-98 through 1999-2000 and led the Black Tornado to a third-place finish at the Southern Oregon Conference district tournament during his second season with the team. Thompson stepped aside for personal reasons. While he won't get into the specifics, he admits his temperamental ways got him into trouble, particularly with officials. "In the time I've been away from coaching, I've assessed how I'm viewed by other people and have worked hard to tone down my act," Thompson says. "I'm a passionate, emotional individual who loves kids and coaching, but I realize in talking to my mentors that I didn't always conduct myself right. "I think I've grown up a little since I was in this business the last time." Thompson, who works as a campus monitor at North Medford, has never had a problem with his wrestlers, who can sense his devotion to them and the sport. Thompson had 25 grapplers show up for the first practice Monday, 18 of whom were freshmen, and is picking up a few of the football players later in the week. "The freshman class is outstanding," says Thompson, who was hired by South on an interim basis. "They had a lot of success at McLoughlin (Middle School), and they're a hard-working group of kids. I think they can lay the foundation for a strong wrestling program at this school." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail dhunt@mailtribune.com |
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