Schedules taking rivalries out of local sports scene

Another early-winter attack from Mother Nature, this one a crippling one-two punch of devastating ice followed by non-stop snow, made something of a mess out of the winter sports schedules for local high schools last week, creating cancellations and postponements and forcing some teams into the holiday break without so much as a single game under their belts.
Despite it all, though, Mother Nature gets only a cursory assist from this reporter.
Honestly, most of the schedules were a mess already.
In an effort to save schools money – at least that’s what I’ve been told – the NHIAA altered its scheduling process this year, abandoning the two-year alternating schedule in favor of one designed to save as many schools as possible on traveling expenses.
What the machine churned out, though, is a complicated mess for most of those in The Villager coverage area. This docket has all but eliminated good, local competition and has instead forced a handful of teams to hit the road more than ever. It should make for a truly bizarre winter, and that’s got nothing to do with prolonged power outages or mountainous snow banks.
Take, for instance, the John Stark boys and girls basketball teams. Historically, the Generals could count on 10 games against fierce local rivals, with emphasis on the words “local” and “rival.” They would play two games each against the likes of Bow, Merrimack Valley, Bishop Brady, Pembroke and Kearsarge.
We’re talking must-see TV here. When the Bow or Pembroke boys basketball teams made the trip to Weare, the situation was always the same: good luck finding a seat. And in Kearsarge the Generals had cultivated the ultimate foe, a heated and passionate rivalry that was equally strong on both the boys and girls side. Those Kearsarge games were four contests you could always mark on your calendar.
This year’s calendar only got two such marks, a Jan. 10 girls game (rescheduled from early December) at John Stark and a Feb. 27 boys game at Kearsarge. Gone is that annually memorable home-and-home series. Also gone are any games, for boys or girls, with Bow and Merrimack Valley.
Likewise, the Generals play Brady and Pembroke only once, and regional newcomer Bedford doesn’t appear on either schedule, meaning that a grand total of three games out of 18 will be played with natural rivals.
Replacing them on the docket are nearby adversaries like Portsmouth, Pelham, Hanover, Hollis-Brookline and Kennett, the latter of whom is a breezy two-and-a-half hour jaunt from anywhere in the state.
It makes for a season long on travel and short on guaranteed emotion. What makes the rivalry games great is the opposing crowd, and with short trips from the Concord area teams like Pembroke, Bow, MV, Brady and Kearsarge always brought along packs of rabid supporters. Often times the interaction between student sections was as entertaining as portions of the game.
But somehow I can’t see the John Stark faithful getting geeked up for battle with the Eagles from North Conway.
John Stark may be getting acquainted with more unfamiliar faces, but other schools were certainly not exempt. Hopkinton draws Class M newcomers Stevens (twice) and Fall Mountain and also picks up showdowns with White Mountains and Winnisquam.
The Hopkinton girls add the same teams, though they get the luxury of traveling to White Mountains, a one-hour journey north of Kennett, according to Mapquest.
The Hillsboro-Deering boys and girls play largely the same schedule in terms of teams, though somehow the Hillcat boys wound up with 11 home games in an 18-game schedule.
This is certainly not meant to be an attack on the NHIAA. I wouldn’t wish the task of drawing up schedules for a state as spread out as New Hampshire on anyone, and forcing a few teams to play new competition is hardly a crime. And most certainly there are teams out there who have drawn more favorable lists this year than usual.
But all of this does raise the interesting question of regionalization. New Hampshire has long dictated division placement by size of school alone, a strategy that requires constant updating and allows for teams to float in and out of divisions on an almost yearly basis, essentially eliminating any hope of creating rivals.
But at least one coach I spoke to said the NHIAA has considered allowing teams to play a more regional schedule in the future, including opponents from all divisions, in order to solve some of the travel problems.
I say give me the box to check and I’ll check it. Such a pleasing solution would allow John Stark to add regional foes like Class M Hopkinton and Hillsboro-Deering as well as Class L Goffstown, a former heated rival. It would allow ConVal to add teams like Class L Keene, Class M Conant and Class S Wilton-Lyndeborough.
It would create the very thing that makes high school sports so exciting – guaranteed rivalry. Teams could play 12 or 14 games a year against foes that matter, foes that inspire fans to paint their faces or chests or whatever else they want to paint. Such a consistent schedule, played over years and years, establishes a healthy and interesting history.
Of course, as with any dramatic overhaul, there are a handful of logistical nightmares, which is most likely why the NHIAA hasn’t already made such a switch. With so many teams in the more-populous southern reaches of the state and more spotty competition up north, drawing up an 18-game schedule of diverse local teams would be difficult for those in Coos County.
There’s also the matter of weighing the schedule, so that a Class I team that adds a number of games against Class M competition doesn’t have an easier path to the playoffs than the rest of the division.
Perhaps they could establish a minimum number of games – say, 14 – to be played against teams in your division, and only those would count toward playoff seeding. Or they could establish a point system – four points for a win over a Class L team, three for a win over a Class I team, two for Class M, and one for Class S – thus rewarding those who build a more difficult schedule while not allowing teams to stockpile Class S schools and pave their way to the No. 1 seed.
And in regards to travel headaches, in all honesty those aforementioned northern schools have had to voyage to make up their schedules for years anyway, so the switch wouldn’t likely lead to any new adventures.
No matter what the magical answer is, there’s one out there somewhere. If there’s a group of people that spent the off-season brainstorming the current winter campaign, there’s got to be a brain trust that could devise an effective, regionalized schedule. If they’re looking for a committee to research and plan the idea, consider this my application to volunteer.
In the meantime, I’ll spend the free time I have driving to North Conway for a mid-January basketball game thinking of ways to make things better.