For those of you who can remember 1993

[Teetime]

I was in a discussion with some old time football fans and none of us could remember how the IHSA would determine the home team in the round one playoff games before "Playoff points".

A Clifton Central guy pointed out in 1993 the 9-0 Clifton team had to travel to a 6-3 Mahamot-Seymor and it looks like that used to happen all of the time.

Anyone remember that playoff format well enough to explain how that happened?

 

[Golden Warrior]

if you look at the brackets from those early years, it appears as though the pairings were done based on geography.

 

[RockSoup]

1988 9-0 St. Rita barely escaped a Wednesday night first round road game at 6-3 St. Patrick 14-13 at their home Hanson Stadium. Don’t know why they opened on the road either

 

[ignazio]

They used to punish you by making you lose before your home fans.

 

[McEvergreen]

Ahhhhh the good ol mad dash days to get game film for Wednesday night.

 

[johnndoe]

Ahhhhh the good ol mad dash days to get game film for Wednesday night.

If you want to go VERY far back on the subject of game film, I wonder how many Southland coaching oldsters out there remember dropping off 8mm footage at the Oak Forest police station where it was picked up, processed up the City (went up there a couple times, but can not remember exactly where) and reels brought back to OF for pick-up and early Sunday morning use? All this well before 1993, however, by about 20 years!

 

[McEvergreen]

If you want to go VERY far back on the subject of game film, I wonder how many Southland coaching oldsters out there remember dropping off 8mm footage at the Oak Forest police station where it was picked up, processed up the City (went up there a couple times, but can not remember exactly where) and reels brought back to OF for pick-up and early Sunday morning use? All this well before 1993, however, by about 20 years!

Before my time. When I came in, you had to lug around those big, bulky VHS recorders............... and hope that you didn't get a film from someone who edited out a TD play lol .

 

[StormFire]

1988 9-0 St. Rita barely escaped a Wednesday night first round road game at 6-3 St. Patrick 14-13 at their home Hanson Stadium. Don’t know why they opened on the road either

I was at that game. St. Pats scored very late in the game and then went for two and the win. It didn’t work. :-(

 

[King MJ]

in the early 90s, all classes were divided into 8-team geographic quadrants, which created some huge early round matchups.

in 5A or 6A the largest classes back then, it wasn't unusually to see 4 top 10 teams (Nap North, Nap Cental, Wheaton Central, St. Charles, Waubonsie) all in the same quarter of the draw.

Also, they played first round on Wed and second round on Saturday back then, really rewarding depth and often enouraging teams to tank their final regular season game.

 

[NNFAN]

1993 was the last year the IHSA paired teams geographically. There was no seeding. The biggest travesty that year was when they paired undefeated #1 state ranked Downers Grove South against #2 state ranked Naperville North in the FIRST ROUND!!! Unreal! DGS won 29-28, ultimately advancing to the championship four weeks later. Meanwhile... the morons paired (6-3) Naperville Central against (6-3) Waubonsie Valley right down the street. The IHSA changed the disgraceful and biased format the following year, seeding the teams ever since.

 

[septon34]

1988 9-0 St. Rita barely escaped a Wednesday night first round road game at 6-3 St. Patrick 14-13 at their home Hanson Stadium. Don’t know why they opened on the road either

I was at that game. Brian Hamilton stuffed a 2-point attempt to preserve the lead IIRC.

 

[King MJ]

1993 was the last year the IHSA paired teams geographically. There was no seeding. The biggest travesty that year was when they paired undefeated #1 state ranked Downers Grove South against #2 state ranked Naperville North in the FIRST ROUND!!! Unreal! DGS won 29-28, ultimately advancing to the championship four weeks later. Meanwhile... the morons paired (6-3) Naperville Central against (6-3) Waubonsie Valley right down the street. The IHSA changed the disgraceful and biased format the following year, seeding the teams ever since.

and played undefeated St. Charles in the next round. They won 20-15, despite being outgained 450-58.

 

[ignazio]

It’s nice to hear that the IHSA stuck it to other schools too.

 

[Quags57]

I was in a discussion with some old time football fans and none of us could remember how the IHSA would determine the home team in the round one playoff games before "Playoff points".

A Clifton Central guy pointed out in 1993 the 9-0 Clifton team had to travel to a 6-3 Mahamot-Seymor and it looks like that used to happen all of the time.

Anyone remember that playoff format well enough to explain how that happened?

Back then it was based upon which team played last at home. It could even go back a number of years. It never made any sense.

Now if they would just let the top seeds play at home....

 

[McCaravan]

Back then it was based upon which team played last at home. It could even go back a number of years. It never made any sense.

Now if they would just let the top seeds play at home....

I often wondered why we played Lindbloom on the road in 1989 in round 1

 

[Teetime]

Back then it was based upon which team played last at home. It could even go back a number of years. It never made any sense.

Now if they would just let the top seeds play at home....

Thank you!

 

[penlight]

1990 had the State's Top Ranked team & USA Today's #4 Ranked Morris (9-0) travel to Joliet on Halloween for a Wednesday afternoon 1st Round Match Up.
The Hilltoppers had a Junior RB named Mike Alstott ---- that Fall all boys JCHS had merged with all girls SFA to form JCA ---- and in front of 10,000+ spectators, delivered a 36-10 blow to the Redskins.

 

[SOUTHSIDECFD]

Did any of these teams give up the first home game on a Wednesday to ensure a Saturday home game ? Has anyone given up a home game? Is that an option?

 

[USD24]

Did any of these teams give up the first home game on a Wednesday to ensure a Saturday home game ? Has anyone given up a home game? Is that an option?

As far as I know, it has never been an option.

 

[Teetime]

It was never an option.

 

[tjjrr]

I don't think that system of pairing playoff teams was "disgraceful", nor was it "biased". The fact is you played where they sent you. Yes, they did do it geographically to keep a first round game from being a 150 mile trip on a Wednesday night. It was the playoffs, meaning you play your best, and bring it every game or go home, plain and simple. I think the current way it's done is probably better for some of the reasons stated above. Certainly there should be some reward for going 8-1 or 9-0 and winning your conference. There's also been a few cases where a team has played ALL or at least 3 out of 4 playoff games at home. It's just how the seedings worked out in that particular season. I haven't seen any posts complaining or crying about that. Case in point: Rochester played 3 playoff games at home this year and only traveled once......

 

[NNFAN]

Tjjrr: So you think that pairing two 9-0 teams against each other in the first round, while two 6-3 teams play each other makes sense? In my case the closer matchup would have had Naperville Central travel to Downers South. The flawed system allowed for bias and manipulation. The IHSA agreed... that's why they have seeded teams ever since then. So does the NCAA and the NFL. And the NHL and the NBA. I'm glad you're not in charge.

 

[prince_of_pilfer]

All horrible stories, but let's be honest it's the IHSA!! WTH did you expect? They couldn't do the logical thing if there lives depended on it.