RENTON — There’s a first for everything, and how the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s new football state playoff seeding committee views it, this first is a good thing in a step toward a better state playoff system in Washington.
That was the overwhelming positive response from committee members, and some calling it a historic day for the state after committees seeded playoff-bound teams for first-round state matchups Sunday at the WIAA’s Renton-based headquarters.
Three committees — 4A/3A, 2A/1A and 2B/1B — met for three hours with good dialogue, debate and discussion to seed the 16 state teams in five of the six classifications. (The Class 1B eight-team bracket will be finalized next week.)
Three of Southwest Washington’s five state-bound teams received top seeds by the committee.
Union (Class 4A) and Hockinson (2A) are No. 1 seeds. Mountain View earned a No. 3 seed in 3A, and Skyview (15) and Stevenson (13) earned double-digit seeds in 4A and 1A, respectively.
Union hosts Skyline, Mountain View hosts Squalicum of Bellingham and Hockinson hosts Washington out of Parkland near Tacoma.
Skyview and Stevenson hit the road to open state tournament play. The Storm travel to No. 2 seed Woodinville while Stevenson faces district-rival Hoquiam, a No. 3 seed.
All times, dates and locations of games are to be determined early this week, the WIAA said.
In June, the WIAA did away with its traditional system of placing teams on the state bracket based off predetermined draws in favor of committees made up of retired and active coaches and administrators plus media members statewide.
Lind/Ritzville Athletic director Greg Whitmore, the state seeding committee chair and RPI committee head, said he couldn’t be happier with how Sunday transpired.
And while too early to say if the one-year trial will return in 2019 or beyond, nothing Sunday told Whitmore it shouldn’t continue.
A review process will take place after the playoffs, he said.
“I’m confident the theory behind the committees for football is here to stay,” Whitmore said.
As a starting point of figuring out matchups and seeds, Whitmore said each committee member personally ranked teams 1-16, then all rankings were averaged out based on the committee members’ submissions.
The committee members also used input from online rankings Cascadia Preps, ScoreCzar and Evans Rankings.
After that came dialogue, debate and discussion in separate rooms for 4A/3A, 2A/1A and 2B/1B committees.
And it was a good, healthy discussion all around, Heritage coach Matt Gracey said, one of four Southwest Washington coaches on the committees.
Gracey has coached high school football in three states with different state playoffs processes, and believes what was accomplished Sunday is the best thing he’s seen. Gracey estimated he watched close to 20 potential playoff-caliber teams’ game film this season to better assess teams’ season performance.
“There’s a human element in it,” he said, “but it’s a communal effort. You’re not getting one person’s opinion; you’re getting an entire groups opinion.”
Mountain View athletic director and football coach Adam Mathieson is one of three 3A coaches with teams playing in first-round state playoff games who is on the 4A/3A committee.
He said he didn’t need to speak to other members on behalf of the Thunder’s 9-1 season — “the body of work speaks for itself,” he said — but noted the challenging, albeit good, process to try to make fair, accurate matchups.
“You’re trying to honor a lot of great programs,” he said. “To get the right matchups and honor all the hard work that players and coaches have done.”
Nailing down the top seeds across all classifications wasn’t the committees priority. Rather, ensuring to properly seed what they believe are the top four teams based on rankings and other data, Whitmore said.
“It’s not perfect (1-16),” he said, “but we need to get 1-4 right. Our job is to try to create a balance that got what we think, the committee and what the data shows, is the best teams to play later.
“And it creates a more exciting tournament.”
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Click here for WIAA’s complete state football brackets
CLASS 4A
No. 1 seed Union v. No. 16 Skyline
No. 15 seed Skyview v. No. 2 Woodinville
CLASS 3A
No. 3 seed Mountain View v. No. 14 Squalicum
CLASS 2A
No. 1 seed Hockinson v. No. 16 Washington
CLASS 1A
No. 14 Stevenson v. No. 3 Hoquiam
