A new high school sports season killer has finally roared its head yet again.  This is the killer that leads to lopsided state championship games and good teams’ seasons ending too early in the playoffs.
I, of course, am talking about the unbelievable disparity between the strength of districts that the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) has created.
This happens when several of the best teams in the state in a particular sport are grouped into one district with each other based on location and in some aspects, type of school education-wise.  This essentially means that the state title game in some sports is really played in the district championship or state quarterfinal because the teams on the other side of the bracket are not even close to as good as the teams that lose in the really good district.
I personally have fallen victim to this cold-blooded killer.  This fall, as many students know, the Clayton High soccer team was pretty good, posting an 18-6-2 record.    However, our district was stacked with basically four of the top six teams in Class 2 soccer.
This meant that we were guaranteed a tough semifinal and final matchup, while lesser teams on the other part of the soccer state bracket were able to move through their district with ease while facing no competition.  After the team beat a very good MICDS team, we had to turn around and face an extremely talented Westminster team in the district final two days later.
Westminster then faced the winner of the second best district, which turned out to be St. Dominic.  And while St. Dominic defeated Westminster in overtime of the state quarterfinals, many people in the state believe that was the true state title game.  This is because St. Dominic blew out the competition in the semifinals and finals (winning 7-0 in the finals in the biggest blowout in state title history).
While we faced tough competition, the 15-12 Cape Girardeau Notre Dame Bulldogs got to face DeSoto, Hillsboro, and Farmington on their way to a district title.  Another example would be the Bolivar Liberators.  Their schedule handed them West Plains High School, Webb City, and Marshfield en route to a district title.
Bolivar ended up being the team that was crushed in the state finals.  Now I’m not saying that we would’ve definitely beat Bolivar or Cape Notre Dame if we were in their district, but that schedule would’ve been a lot easier than playing MICDS and Westminster.
This is why MSHSAA needs to make a change in how they set the districts up.  Yes, Clayton is close to the other schools in our district, which cuts down travel costs.  But the cuts come at the expense of good teams losing early in the playoffs, although they probably deserve to be playing for the state title or at least winning their districts if the districts were set by recent performances by each school, creating a ranking system of sorts.
While this may not be the most efficient system, it is still an idea, one that should at least have thought given to it.  The players deserve it, and so do the fans to see a good state title game.  No one wants to see another state final like the one this year in Class 2 soccer.
Let the best teams duke it out for the championship, and no more real state title games in the state quarterfinals.