Kansas football’s 3A schools now looking at their options, too

Postseason high school football has dramatically changed in Kansas.

Class 4A split into two divisions of 32 teams each — with two champions — in 2014.

Class 6A and 5A will move to a seeding system, dismantling the district system, in 2016.

So is it Class 3A’s turn?

“Oh yes. It’s been time for a change,” Cheney coach Cory Brack said. “… It’s time that we do something ourselves and get something changed here.”

Eighty-five percent of people responding to Conway Springs coach Matt Biehler’s survey, which he sent to all 3A schools, said the system should change – though the question didn’t offer specifics.

Why is change needed?

Sixty-four schools make Class 3A the state’s biggest class. The size makes 3A playoffs one round longer than others, meaning to keep the championship on the same day, 3A playoff teams must play three games in the first 10 days. The final regular-season game is on a Thursday, the first playoff game on Tuesday and the second-round game Saturday.

“I can’t understand why we can’t get a better system than that,” Biehler said. “And then we’re told … it’s recommended to limit practice time and contact (all season), yet we have three games in 10 days.

“It’s tough to swallow. We’re working on that and trying to protect kids and their safety, and as it evolves, we’re still looking at that same system.”

The Kansas State High School Activities Association put in protective measures before the 2015 season which limited contact time in practice to 90 minutes each week.

But then the postseason arrives along with the potential for three games in 10 days, and some coaches are confused as to why that much contact is acceptable.

“With all the things coming down the line — safety protocol, limited contact, education on concussions, education on heat awareness — as 3A coaches we step back and look at it,” Hesston coach Clint Rider said. “We wonder, ‘What are we doing? Is this really good for our players?”

Chaparral coach Justin Burke believes his team, which was 9-2 in 2014, would have fared better with more time between games.

“We struggled last year and didn’t make it to Saturday,” he said. “That’s the time of the year where you need the most preparation and it takes the most amount of time.”

What are the options?

The best way for 3A to get its postseason changed is to follow the path forged by 6A, 5A and 4A — do it yourself.

Class 4A went out on its own and got a proposal in front of the KSHSAA. The proposal didn’t involve any other classification because if it had, it would’ve needed approval by other classesthe proposal would have needed to pass in the other class.

Split 3A into two divisions

This would create two divisions of 32 teams, the same number of schools as classes of bigger enrollments. It would erase the need for Tuesday first-round games while creating a second 3A championship game.

With this option, there would be nine champions crowned in Kansas.

“I’ve heard the talk that we’d have nine champions instead of eight — how much difference is one more?” Biehler asked.

But Brack isn’t sure.

“For selfish reasons, yes, I like it. It makes it easier to have success,” he said. “But I don’t want to see it watered down. Talking to the 4A schools, it’s not as great a process as they thought it would be.”

In Biehler’s survey, the response was split 50-50 on whether to split 3A into divisions.

Start games one week earlier than the other classes

“It’s a good idea,” Burke said. “… It’s a bigger field, and it should go a week earlier.”

Brack added: “People say you only have two weeks of practice (instead of three) … but it’s doable.”

This is an option that Biehler thinks could be installed before the 2016 season, though schedules and district assignments have already been set for 4A, 3A, 2-1A and 8-Man for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

More than 52 percent of those responding to Biehler’s survey did not like this option.

▪  Seed the playoffs like 6A and 5A

This option would mean an eight-game regular season, then seed 1 through 32 on the east and west side. It still would mean playing games in close succession.

▪  Play an eight-game regular season

As in Class 6A and 5A, in this option, 3A would play eight games in the regular season and start the playoffs in the ninth week. It would eliminate the three games in 10 days, but half the teams in the state would be losing a game.

Fifty-six percent said no to this.

▪  Take one team from each district to the playoffs instead of two

The geography-based district system has been criticized maligned for years, but the talk quieted some once the KSHSAA took the two teams from each district instead of one. While there were more teams in the playoffs with losing records, more of the top teams advanced.

Ninety-three percent of those responding to Biehler’s survey said no to an idea of eliminating second qualifiers from districts.

What’s next?

The KSHSAA currently has a committee designed to look at the classification system. It has not met to release its findings.

Class 3A coaches don’t want to wait.

“We’ve got to get our coaches to have a stronger voice,” Chaparral’s Burke said. “It makes a lot of sense what 6A and 5A have done. The lesson there was, they were unified with their approach and came together. Class 3A has a lot of ideas, but we can’t settle on one.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Kansas football’s 3A schools now looking at their options, too."