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By Owen Gotimer
LoCoSports Editor
Leesburg (May 13, 2015) – Mid-sized Loudoun schools compete in the VHSL 4A Conference 21. And for VHSL purposes “21” directly translates to “no one has any idea what the heck is happening.”
This conference uses the most convoluted method in determining which games count and which games don’t count and which games they should count towards their conference records and which games they shouldn’t.
From the onset of the season, LoCoSports was told that the last originally-scheduled game between two Conference 21 opponents would count towards the Conference 21 standings.
So if Dominion was originally-scheduled to play Park View twice on April 12 and May 5, then the April 12 game was a throw-away – a strategic-planning meeting, if you will – and the May 5 game would give one team a loss and one a win in the Conference 21 standings. If Woodgrove was originally-scheduled to play Heritage once on April 25 then that game would count towards the Conference 21 standings.
A refresher from an athletic director – who was very helpful in clarifying the process for me – indicates that only Conference 21 games between Loudoun schools originally-scheduled on Tuesday nights count. So basically, if you play a team on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday, it means nothing. There’s a lesson for you kids: only work hard on Tuesdays.
The tiebreaker system for Conference 21 is as follows:
- Conference record – each Conference 21 team will finish with seven games.
- Head-to-head record – did you beat the Conference 21 team you are tied with in the “money” game?
- A coin flip…yes, someone is going to toss a coin in the air and decide which team was better than the other this year.
Time out. WHAT?!?!
Reasons why this is the most ridiculous set up ever:
- It’s so stupid.
- I mean it’s really stupid.
- Like, really, really stupid.
Just schedule every Conference 21 opponent twice. Doesn’t that make sense? You play in Conference 21 so why not schedule the meat of your schedule against Conference 21 opponents. If you finish with 14 games in your Conference 21 record, you get a much clearer picture of who the top teams in the conference really are.
In other states around the country, states where teams get a lot less games because of extraneous circumstances like weather (i.e. in the Northeast), conference teams play each other THREE times. And guess what! All THREE of those games count towards the conference record. If a team beats a team – which one of them will – two out of three times, they are deemed the better team and win a tie breaker in the conference standings.
AND no one, including coaches, players, fans, media outlets or the actual organizers of the system – because I know some of them in Conference 21 still have no idea what is happening – will be confused about the system.
Here’s the bottom line: if you play a game, it should count. Those games that don’t count are called scrimmages. You schedule those before opening day to get live reps before you play a game that counts.
But in VHSL 4A Conference 21 you can schedule twelve scrimmages throughout the season because only your seven, Tuesday night Conference 21 games count for ANYTHING! The other games are just glorified practices.
No matter how much I rant this season, nothing can be done to fix this ridiculous system, so below you will find the completed brackets for Conference 21 baseball, softball, boys soccer and girls soccer! As always, times and dates are subject to change.
Big O, out.
Owen Gotimer is a graduate of Syracuse University where he earned a degree in broadcast and digital journalism. Before attending SU, Owen graduated from Heritage High School in Leesburg. Follow LoCoSports on Twitter (@LoCoSports) for up-to-date news and scores from around Loudoun County.
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Such a GREAT article, Owen! And soooo true. It’s unbelievable how they have it set up.