Dougherty Valley

There has been some talk in the comments section regarding Dougherty Valley and I think it has more to do with the seeding process as a whole as opposed to one team in particular. Again, the seeding process can be very subjective, but there's no way to make the process 100% objective. At the meeting itself, there is a whole lot of politicking going on.

When the committee doesn't have the luxury of head-to-head games to decide if team A is seeded ahead of team B, they instead look at their games with common opponents. This can be misleading. Middletown and Fort Bragg both lost to St. Vincent early in the season (21-14 and 12-7 respectively). Middletown and Fort Bragg both beat Clear Lake by a fairly comfortable margin (35-0 and 28-6), yet Clear Lake beat St. Vincent 8-7. This is common in high school football, especially small school football. One or two players out for a game can change the whole dynamic.

If the seeding committee doesn't have a common opponent to judge team A and B, then they look to common opponents of common opponents. This is where the rubber leaves the road. Of course, this is also where we get into strength of schedule. Some Division IV schools play in leagues that are stocked with Division III and II schools, such as Bay Shore and Marin County, and Dougherty Valley, a freelance school, played six such opponents (including two Division I schools). Those schools, of course, have a tougher schedule, but one thing that should be very clear is that the size of the school doesn't necessarily relate to how good a team is. I don't think that anyone doubts that Ferndale is the number one Division IV school, even though they are really a Division V school. And, on the other side, I think that Division I American, a team Dougherty Valley just beat 24-17, would finish near the bottom of every league with Division IV teams.

My one gripe in all of this is the lack of great preseason games. Some Div. IV leagues just don't have enough non-league games. The NCL I teams only get one true non-league game. Each team from the NCL I North must play each team from the NCL I South and visa-versa. Ferndale only gets two non-league games. I think if you want to be competitive and you have true playoff hopes, you should either schedule games with top teams in the other leagues, or schedule games with Division II or III teams in the section.

But this year, there has been little head-to-head between potential playoff teams (I think Middletown's 49-20 win over Salesian is the only one) -- not to mention all the potential playoff teams in the NCL I.

So the results of this year's seeding process is likely to make us scratch our heads once more. But we will still pull and root for the top teams in Division IV as the final curtain for 2008 draws to a close.