Log Jam Officially in Play in Tri-9

PHOTO BY RAY BLACK III - THE NEWS & OBSERVER

It certainly feels like we are rounding that final corner and with just three games and in some cases two games remaining for most of the area teams, conference automatic bids are at stake and reaching the four win playoff qualification plateau is in the forefront for a number of teams.  Every Friday night during the fall is a great one to get out and watch a football game, but with the weather appearing to move even more into those 40's and 50's and with teams angling for a top three conference finish - tonight is guaranteed to be a great night for Football Friday.

In the following capsules (this post and others to follow and already submitted), we'll briefly hit on the 4A conferences around the area and talk playoff implications for this evening's games.

TRI-9

Fuquay, Panther Creek, Middle Creek, Cary or Athens Drive; who do you have winning the Tri-Nine?  Good question, perhaps, but I have to admit it's an easy one to ask as it seems that every year the conference is typically the one that has the most riding on the final few games of the year and the potential for a three way tie that results in the dreaded random draw is always lurking near-by.  This year appears to be no different.  Fuquay-Varina and Panther Creek both sit at 5-1 in conference play, although FV holds the head-to-head tie breaker over the Catamounts.  Close behind are Middle Creek at 4-1 and Cary and Athens Drive both at 3-2.  And oh by the way - don't count out a Holly Springs squad at 2-3 and still three conference games to go!

Fuquay is definitely in the drivers seat as they have Holly Springs this evening and then will finish the season against a 1-5 Apex squad next week.  If the Bengals can close out with two wins, they'll be conference champs assuming that both PC and Middle Creek don't also finish with only one loss (read random draw) or if only Panther Creek equals them as the head-to-head is securely in the Bengals' den. Worst case scenario for the Bengals would be to have PC lose once more in conference and have Middle Creek win out.  In that situation the Mustangs would snag the title. Holly Springs could create some turmoil if the battle of the double-wing/ wing-t oriented offenses concludes with the upset this evening.  The Hawks need two more wins to get to four on the season, but if they can pull that off, it's possible that they could find themselves in a tie for third place in the conference.  Either way, every game in these three is uber-important for the Hawks as they close out 2011.

Multiple Endowments, Oh My!

PHOTO BY LIZ CONDO - THE NEWS & OBSERVER

The following is an addendum to our post from yesterday entitled 'When Does 4 Wins Not Equal 4 Wins?' [Link to previous story].  Suggest you read that post prior to delving into the additional information below.

In further discussions since the original story was posted I was made aware (and went back to read the handbook a few more times) that in fact teams can actually have more than one endowment game (assuming NCHSAA approval)!  The key here is that any team can only have a total of 11 games in the season (there are only 11 weeks of playable dates).  If you play an 11 game schedule, you must have one of those games as an endowment.  If you play a 10 game schedule you can still have an endowment game.  So here are some additional points.  According to the NCHSAA football handbook, you must report a 10 game schedule at the end of the year.  So, if you are a team that has played only 10 games without an endowment, easy, you report that entire record, no games are dropped.  If you played a 10 game schedule and one of those games was an endowment, then you also keep that 10 game record. You don't drop the endowment in this case.  Or at least that is what it appears the handbook is saying.  It does not explicitly say this, rather the exact quote is as follows:

"Each school will only report a record indicating a total of 10 games and must drop the designated non-conference endowment game, provided they played an 11th game (endowment)."  NCHSAA handbook - section on football, page 53. [Link to NCHSAA Football Handbook Section]

As I read that, it looks to be saying what I wrote above for teams that played a 10 game schedule and also had one of those games listed as an endowment game.  You keep all of your games, the dropping of the game only occurs when you've played 11 total games and of course in that situation, one of them would have been an endowment.

Now, if you played an 11 game schedule and one of those games was an endowment.  You drop that game, the endowment game, again getting you down to a 10 game reportable schedule.

Where it may get a bit more interesting is that you can potentially play 'two' or more endowment games.  But, you had to designate prior to the season beginning which of those 'multiple' endowment games you chose to drop, win or lose.  This gets even more interesting due to at least one example that I've unearthed.  Jordan, Wake Forest-Rolesville and Panther Creek.  According to both the Jordan athletic sports calendar [Link to calendar posting] and Wake Forest-Rolesville athletic sports calender [Link to calendar posting], their contest that opened the season was an endowment game.  Not a big deal you say.  Sure, means that both teams drop that game.  Jordan gets rid of one of their losses, WFR has to give up a win (although that is tough on their end as it would have been nice to give up that East Wake loss instead, which would of been how it worked given last year's rules).  But, enter Panther Creek.  According to the article run by J. Mike Blake in the Cary News on Wednesday, 10/5/2011 [Link to article], it is reported that Panther Creek will play an endowment against Jordan, later this month.  Interesting or maybe not.  So, could the Jordan at Panther Creek game be an endowment, but simply not be the endowment designated by Jordan, but was designated by Panther Creek?  That's what it appears to be, at least based on all of the information.  And, it's important to note that as the NCHSAA handbook reads, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with this situation - perfectly fine in fact.  Still, you can see how a very complex system is simply getting more complex and I can't help but think that this may lead to just a bit more confusion come Selection Saturday.  If everything runs smoothly, kudos to the NCHSAA and athletic directors and coaching staffs across North Carolina for being tuned into these new changes!

Photographs courtesy of newsobserver.com (The News & Observer)