Over the past several years I've written a handful of columns relating to the MPSSAA. They were usually not in favor of a decision that was made that had major affects on one or more of our county teams in a particular sport.
Problems like our Class 2A schools being paired in a region with schools in and around Ocean City. Or a 1A school being in a region with Brunswick of Frederick County and in a region titled South. It still rubs me the wrong way.
That said, my latest finding trumps all of the past issues I had.
It was late last week when I decided to look at the field hockey playoff brackets, which had been recently drawn.
I started with the Class 1A bracket, but didn't get any further because of what I saw.
Honestly, I looked to see where Havre de Grace fell to see where the Warriors might have to travel to, to have their season end. Now that might sound mean, but this is a field hockey program that hasn't won a game in at least five years and maybe a few more.
Anyway, I was pleased to see that the Warriors only have to make the short trip across the Susquehanna River to play at rival Perryville. I realized that Perryville was the number two seed in the bracket, which piqued my interest, as well as my curiosity.
I knew that Perryville had a pretty good season, so if they weren't the top seed in this 1A north region, who was? Well, I scrolled up the page to find Fallston. This is not a misprint, it's state field hockey juggernaut and Class 2A Fallston.
It doesn't stop there. North East, Elkton, Harford Tech, Patterson Mill and Joppatowne are also in this bracket, and yes, they are all listed as 2A schools as well.
Bo Manor joins Havre de Grace and Perryville as the only true 1A schools in the region.
OK, so the region is light and the way to correct it is to muddy it with schools that are larger? I don't like it and there had to a better answer.
The 1A North region is not the only 1A region to be tainted. The other three are too, including the East region where eight-time defending champion Pocomoke, like Perryville, sits as a number two seed behind a 2A slider, Parkside.
In fact, the trickle affect is also in other classifications, with 3A teams dipping into the 2A pool and so on.
I know, one of the rules in sports is to be the best, you have to beat the best. Well, I won't disagree with that, but not in this case. While Towson or Morgan State might take on Maryland in a regular season men's basketball game, I don't see either wanting to try their luck in the ACC Tournament.
This just smells bad and I didn't like it last week and I don't like it any more this week.
When the field hockey games are over in a couple of weeks, we'll know then how all this unfolded. Nothing against Fallston or any other team that was made to drop, but I hope the eventual winners are in the class they are supposed to be in.