Expanded playoffs meet city’s growth

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Nov. 3, 2000 | 11 a.m.

All games Friday unless otherwise noted.

4A Sunrise Region Playoffs

Green Valley (4-5) at Eldorado (7-2), 7 p.m.

Desert Pines (7-2) at Foothill (5-3), 7 p.m.

Silverado (4-5) at Las Vegas (5-4), 7 p.m.

Valley (4-5) at Basic (5-4), 7 p.m.

4A Sunset Region Playoffs

Clark (2-7) at Cimarron-Memorial (9-0), 7 p.m.

Western (4-5) at Palo Verde (6-3), 7 p.m.

Cheyenne (6-3) at Durango (4-5), 7 p.m.

Centennial (2-7) at Bishop Gorman (6-3), 7 p.m.

3A Regular Season Game

Boulder City (2-6) vs. Lake Placid (Fla.) (2-6) at Disneyworld All-Star Sports Complex, 4:30 p.m.

2A State Playoffs

Faith Lutheran (4-5) at The Meadows (8-0), Saturday 1 p.m.

Welcome to a new era in Southern Nevada high school football.

Call it November Madness, the Little Dance or a more effective system of crowning a champion than the BCS if you want, but one thing is certain: These aren't the prep playoffs your father knew.

After a nine-week regular season, 16 of Southern Nevada's 20 4A schools will start from scratch tonight, with two berths in this year's four-team state tournament at stake.

Home-field advantage aside, teams with 2-7 records will technically have the same chance to earn a state bid as 9-0 Cimarron-Memorial -- providing an NCAA Tournament-like anything-can-happen atmosphere for the next three weeks.

And for the first time in Las Vegas, the playoffs will come and go without crowning a "city champion," with the winners of the separate eight-team Sunrise and Sunset Region Tournaments not scheduled to play one another.

For many local coaches, some of this year's changes are unwelcome, while others are pleased to have opportunities to continue playing after their seasons normally would have ended.

Either way, there's no denying that for any high school football fan, the 2000 postseason format will provide an endless array of possibilities, from tonight's eight local first-round contests all the way through to the 4A state title game on Dec. 2.

Everything kicks off tonight at 7, with four Sunrise and four Sunset games on tap in round one.

With seven teams coming into the playoffs with losing records, several matchups look like mismatches on paper. But as the regular season proved on more than a few occasions, records can rarely be counted on as indicators.

"It's a second season for us, and everybody is 0-0 again," said Centennial coach Greg Murphy, whose 2-7 Bulldogs will visit 6-3 Bishop Gorman. "We're lining up Friday night ready to play ball, and we're excited about it."

Since the announcement of the new playoff format, Clark County Athletic Director Larry McKay has urged patience, reminding naysayers that the system was conceived with an eye toward the future, with 16 new high schools slated to open by 2008.

"A new type of system needs to be evaluated over a period of time," McKay said. "Once these leagues get bigger, eventually growing to eight teams each, a 4-3 league record might not get you in."

And, McKay added, with so many teams hovering around the .500 mark this year, the 2000 campaign may prove to be have been the ideal time to implement the change.

"I'd rather put teams in that maybe shouldn't be there than leave out teams that should," McKay said. "If we had a four-team tournament, Desert Pines probably wouldn't be in the playoffs and they're 7-2."

Cimarron coach Greg Spencer, whose two-time defending state champions host 2-7 Clark tonight, had a different point of view.

"I think the system will work when you get more schools, but I think it's premature," Spencer said. "When you're taking 80 percent of the teams into the playoffs, I think it's watered down, and I don't think it's necessary."

Crowning a champion

Tonight's games will pare the field to four teams per region, a number that will cut in half again in next week's semifinals. Sunrise and Sunset champions will be determined on Friday, Nov. 17, with those teams joining the two finalists in the Northern Region Tournament for a two-week state tournament.

Home field for the regional tournaments will be determined by seed, with the Northwest and Northeast divisions hosting their counterparts from the Southwest and Southeast.

In week one of state bracket, the Sunrise champion will travel to play the Northern champion, with the Sunset champion hosting the Northern runner-up. The following week, the title will be played in Southern Nevada (provided it's not an all-north game), with the Sunset champ hosting the Sunrise champ in the event of an all-south final.

Spencer objected to the idea of a team earning a spot in the state tournament after losing in the regional tournament -- with the northern runner-up in this year, the Sunrise runner-up in in 2001 and the Sunset runner-up in in 2002.

"When a team loses in the playoffs and still gets in, they can't be a true state champion," Spencer said. "

Eldorado coach Ken Trujillo, whose Sundevils host Green Valley tonight, supported aspects of the new system, including the possibility of an all-south state final.

"I like the idea of having a Sunrise champion and a Sunset champion, because now you've got the top two teams from each side playing in state," Trujillo said. "We could go up north and win and come back and have a big blowout down here, with two teams from this section playing for the state title."

That scenario aside, the Sunrise and Sunset champs will not meet in the playoffs, a break with tradition. Despite some grumblings, though, McKay said most people he has talked to are adjusting.

"People were excited about winning the old Southern Zone, but winning the state championship is what people remember," McKay said. "No system is perfect, but I'm satisfied with it. There are always going to be people who think they can do a better job, but every team that should be in is. There's a game in front of them, and if they win it, they advance."