Columnist Spencer Patterson: State football playoffs resemble political fiasco

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000 | 3:51 a.m.

Spencer Patterson's prep sports column appears Thursday. Reach him at 259-4085 or spencer@lasvegassun.com

If you think the presidential race is confusing enough already, imagine what things would be like if Bill Bradley and John McCain -- two men who lost in their respective primaries -- were suddenly allowed back in.

In essence, that will be the situation when McQueen hosts Wooster Saturday in this year's 4A state football championship. Though the Colts lost two weeks ago -- in the Northern Region finale -- they are still alive and well and hoping to lay claim to the title.

With three 4A regions in Nevada and four teams in the state tournament, a selected region will send two schools to the tournament on a rotating basis: Northern this year, Sunrise next year and Sunset in 2002.

So, despite losing to McQueen in a lopsided 28-3 affair two weeks ago, Wooster remained in contention. And after last week's win over Gorman, the Colts are a win away from the championship.

A Wooster victory will be Nevada's worst nightmare -- the first time in state history a school has lost in the playoffs and still been awarded a title. But whether or not they defeat McQueen, the Colts' mere presence in the year's biggest game is already calling into question the legitimacy of the 2000 tournament.

Certainly, defending champion Cimarron-Memorial has a beef. After all, the Spartans lost just one game all season, compared to Wooster's three defeats. Yet because Cimarron's loss came one week before the Colts', the Spartans will sit home on Saturday.

Likewise, Bishop Gorman and Eldorado have cause for complaint, with both suffering their first playoff losses in last week's semifinals, a full week after Wooster lost. If what is good for the goose is good for the gander, the Gaels and Sundevils should have a second chance in the double-elimination format.

And if you want to carry things out to the extreme, even 2-8 Centennial and 3-7 Sparks could argue that they have yet to suffer their second postseason loss, and should therefore still be alive.

Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association officials argue that there is no way around this predicament, apart from offering a bye to one of three regional champs -- another clear-cut case of inequality.

I offer this simple solution: Don't play a title game in the region sending two teams to state. Because both McQueen and Wooster were already guaranteed state berths, it was hardly imperative for them to play off and raise doubts about the loser's right to remain in the hunt.

Seeds could be pre-determined beforehand, the same way home-field advantage was set in place long before the 2000 season even kicked off. As for the need to crown a champion in each region every year, I say it's far more important to wind up with a state champ with an unblemished playoff record.

After a longstanding tradition of playing all of the state's championship games at Sam Boyd Stadium, the 4A contest was moved to a high school field last season when UNLV replaced its artificial turf with natural grass. UNR recently replaced its grass with field turf.

Basic girls basketball coach Jan Van Tuyl has announced that this season, his 10th with the Wolves, will be his last...

KRLV AM-1340 will air Saturday's football state title game live at 1 p.m.