AAA high school football gets an FFFF for competitive balance

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This article was published 11/10/2023 (969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg High School Football League has quickly learned that geographically-based divisions are not the most conducive alignment to competitive games.

The WHSFL’s new top ‘AAAA’ conference has seen 21 contests end by a margin greater than 30 points and several in-game forfeits this season.

Varsity football was tiered into five divisions last season — Division 1 (six teams), two Division 2s (12 teams) and two Division 3s (12 teams). A vote among the league’s 30 head coaches in the offseason ended in an overwhelming majority to axe the tiered system and introduce a geographically-driven format that now sees 22 programs play in the AAAA conference — separated into four divisions — while another eight teams battle in the AAA conference.

“I think there’s going to be discussion in the offseason, I think the coaches are going to sit down and look at this and I think some coaches need to evaluate their programs and see where they are because the reason we went to a quad-A and triple-A is to separate those schools that can compete at a higher level,” said WHSFL commissioner Jeffrey Bannon.

“I think this season is almost going to be a calibration year,” he continued. “I don’t have any safety concerns right now, I just do have some concerns on moving forward, maybe teams need to realign and be truthful of where they sit overall.”

A student body greater than 650 is now the only requirement to compete in the top conference, but larger schools don’t always equate to better football programs, as many have learned the hard way.

Case in point for Brendon Brydges’ squad at Portage Collegiate (0-5), who have scored 12 points and given up 217 in a southwest division that features St. Paul’s and Oak Park, two Division 1 programs from a year ago. The gap was most noticeable when Portage was handed a 75-0 defeat by the Crusaders on Sept. 28.

“In hindsight, we should have maybe looked at going down to triple-A just based on our numbers and the age of our roster,” said Brydges, who heads a young team with just three players in Grade 12.

“The tiering process has its pros and cons. Obviously, for us, getting away from the tiering system put us against much tougher competition than where I feel we should be this year. In the long run, I think it’ll be good for us to face that competition and go through that struggle.”

The Dakota Lancers, another Division 1 team from a season ago, have been on the other side of blowouts in the southeast division, outscoring their first four opponents 213-22 before falling to the Crusaders in an entertaining 38-22 bout. Lancers’ head coach Mitch Harrison, who was on the committee that proposed the new alignment with Brydges, said the recurring blowouts have made it difficult to manage potential injury, develop his players properly and are not going over well with his group.

“(The tiering structure) has been a very contentious issue,” said Harrison. “It was based on returning players, coaching staff, admin support — really subjective things that are difficult to measure.

“I was on board for sure with how this was designed, like the intention of it. We did the best with the mandate that we had to try and structure the league to accommodate (school size, socioeconomic status and removing the tiering process) but then, in practicality, how it’s played out has not been ideal for certain programs.”

The Lancers’ biggest blowout came in a cross-over game that saw them down the Springfield Sabres 54-0. The outer-division contests, which each team plays upwards of three each season under the current format, have produced some of the most lopsided outcomes this year.

“Everyone loves to win, but you also want to be competitive,” Harrison said. “There is a bit of frustration with it and then as a coach, you just have to help them realize, ‘You’ve done your job’ and, ‘Everyone deserves an opportunity to play.’ But, yeah, I’d prefer not to have that be the case. I’d rather have competitive games week in and week out.”

Bannon said the league with offer some teams the chance to play in AAA going forward (with an opportunity to move up to AAAA when appropriate) and that he’ll also look at tabling the idea of nine-person football as an option for some varsity programs.

Though, the idea hasn’t gained much traction in past years.

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

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