3rd Round Playoff Games
- Thread starter NWIA_37
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I’m *slightly* surprised with the Wahlert-Xavier and West Delaware-Washington pairings. I mean, seeding-wise that makes sense, I suppose - except the state *never gave us any criteria for seeding* this year, and kept saying they’d lean more towards geography in building matchups.
But *if* you’re saying Xavier is your top seed in the East (again, what criteria are you using?) then it makes some sense to match them with a Wahlert team that won on the road. But seriously, where do you find much seeding difference between Xavier/Assumption/Washington/North Scott/West Delaware? How much better does it make your brackets to send Wahlert to Xavier instead of to Manchester? (I guess they’ve already played, but avoiding rematches *also* was not included as a criteria in the postseason manual).
Anyway. It’s fine, all these teams are pretty good. I think the IHSAA must have been thinking the same seeding thing with sending a Carlisle team that won on the road to Harlan (probably your top seed in the West). I’m just a bit surprised that seeding took more prominence in the 3rd round - I mean, it’s good to try to seed at this point, it’s just we had no heads up that the state would do that.
Okay - what we‘ve got:
* a potential Harlan-Lewis Central rematch with a trip to the Dome on the line (Ballard and Carlisle aren’t pushovers, though)
* One of SBL/Spencer/BHRV/Webster City is Dome-bound
* Assumption and North Scott FINALLY get their D-4 game in
* Washington gets a tough draw, with West Delaware and then either Assumption or North Scott if they win
* If Xavier gets by Wahlert they’ll either get a Grinnell team they’ve handled easily or a Pella team with which they’ve had some epic playoff battles in the past
I‘m especially peeved the IHSAA took away that potential Washington-Xavier quarterfinal. Come on, Demons and Saints? It’s obvious! I still say Xavier-Washington and Assumption or North Scott-West Delaware would have been the best possible quarterfinal matchups, though.
I don’t think West Delaware gets enough credit - they lost a close game to Decorah but have romped over everyone else, including *two* big wins over Western Dubuque. They’re *practically* another undefeated team there in the East, along with actually undefeated Xavier, Assumption, and Washington, and a North Scott team that’s only lost to 4A Pleasant Valley. That’s five teams with just one loss *combined* in 3A.
But *if* you’re saying Xavier is your top seed in the East (again, what criteria are you using?) then it makes some sense to match them with a Wahlert team that won on the road. But seriously, where do you find much seeding difference between Xavier/Assumption/Washington/North Scott/West Delaware? How much better does it make your brackets to send Wahlert to Xavier instead of to Manchester? (I guess they’ve already played, but avoiding rematches *also* was not included as a criteria in the postseason manual).
Anyway. It’s fine, all these teams are pretty good. I think the IHSAA must have been thinking the same seeding thing with sending a Carlisle team that won on the road to Harlan (probably your top seed in the West). I’m just a bit surprised that seeding took more prominence in the 3rd round - I mean, it’s good to try to seed at this point, it’s just we had no heads up that the state would do that.
Okay - what we‘ve got:
* a potential Harlan-Lewis Central rematch with a trip to the Dome on the line (Ballard and Carlisle aren’t pushovers, though)
* One of SBL/Spencer/BHRV/Webster City is Dome-bound
* Assumption and North Scott FINALLY get their D-4 game in
* Washington gets a tough draw, with West Delaware and then either Assumption or North Scott if they win
* If Xavier gets by Wahlert they’ll either get a Grinnell team they’ve handled easily or a Pella team with which they’ve had some epic playoff battles in the past
I‘m especially peeved the IHSAA took away that potential Washington-Xavier quarterfinal. Come on, Demons and Saints? It’s obvious! I still say Xavier-Washington and Assumption or North Scott-West Delaware would have been the best possible quarterfinal matchups, though.
I don’t think West Delaware gets enough credit - they lost a close game to Decorah but have romped over everyone else, including *two* big wins over Western Dubuque. They’re *practically* another undefeated team there in the East, along with actually undefeated Xavier, Assumption, and Washington, and a North Scott team that’s only lost to 4A Pleasant Valley. That’s five teams with just one loss *combined* in 3A.
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With a few - very few - exceptions, it looks like the Boone boys picked east and west. No criteria given, no sense of how or why the boys from Boone picked who goes into to which pod, and apparent obvious that they will not share how they made their decision - extremely selfish - short sighted - and almost stupid on their part. The Boone boys "need" to address what the "seeding qualifications" are, and address them to the public - the coaches and teams. Hooah
I’ve reflected a bit more on West Delaware - they chose to play an extra game Week 0 against Anamosa, so they’ve played every week since August 21. They’ve won *nine* games, more than any other 11-player team in the state, in any class. They could have easily been given a home game with an easy trip for Dubuque Wahlert.
Instead, the Hawks get sent on a long road trip to undefeated Washington ... while 6-2 Pella gets a home game with 6-2 Grinnell.
If you go by 2018/19 criteria ... and if you don’t count the last two weeks as actual playoffs ... then you might understand this. Pella won their district, West Delaware did not. Trouble is, we’re not using RPI this year, we don’t have a handy way to seed anybody, and the IHSAA never told us what they might use to “seed.” Pella had a home “playoff” game already, last Friday (the IHSAA hasn’t said those games weren’t “playoff” games, even though nobody gets a banner unless they move on to this week).
(Todd Tharp at the IHSAA told me a few weeks ago that in some cases - specifically Assumption and North Scott, although I also asked about the D-1 three-way tie - that there just may not be any way to truly determine a district champion. But you know what they did last Friday? They brought together the schools involved in three-way district ties and flipped discs to determine who’d get the home-field advantage, They didn’t know that they’d do that a couple of weeks ago, but they made it up as they went along last week.)
Anyway, which is more “fair”? A 6-2 Pella team getting a home game since they won their district while a 9-1 squad has to play at an undefeated team miles away? Or that team that missed their district title by 4 points while winning more games than anyone else getting a home game with a neighbor while all the remaining 6-2 teams are on the road?
i know it’s been a weird year, and you maybe couldn’t foresee everything. But something so simple as a three-way district tie or seeding for home fields/matchups ... you *know* that’s gonna happen. Draw up a plan, have it in your postseason manual, and everybody knows what you’re using to make your decisions, instead of figuring it out from week to week on the fly.
Instead, the Hawks get sent on a long road trip to undefeated Washington ... while 6-2 Pella gets a home game with 6-2 Grinnell.
If you go by 2018/19 criteria ... and if you don’t count the last two weeks as actual playoffs ... then you might understand this. Pella won their district, West Delaware did not. Trouble is, we’re not using RPI this year, we don’t have a handy way to seed anybody, and the IHSAA never told us what they might use to “seed.” Pella had a home “playoff” game already, last Friday (the IHSAA hasn’t said those games weren’t “playoff” games, even though nobody gets a banner unless they move on to this week).
(Todd Tharp at the IHSAA told me a few weeks ago that in some cases - specifically Assumption and North Scott, although I also asked about the D-1 three-way tie - that there just may not be any way to truly determine a district champion. But you know what they did last Friday? They brought together the schools involved in three-way district ties and flipped discs to determine who’d get the home-field advantage, They didn’t know that they’d do that a couple of weeks ago, but they made it up as they went along last week.)
Anyway, which is more “fair”? A 6-2 Pella team getting a home game since they won their district while a 9-1 squad has to play at an undefeated team miles away? Or that team that missed their district title by 4 points while winning more games than anyone else getting a home game with a neighbor while all the remaining 6-2 teams are on the road?
i know it’s been a weird year, and you maybe couldn’t foresee everything. But something so simple as a three-way district tie or seeding for home fields/matchups ... you *know* that’s gonna happen. Draw up a plan, have it in your postseason manual, and everybody knows what you’re using to make your decisions, instead of figuring it out from week to week on the fly.
amazes me how harlan can stay competitive due the size of the school. lewis central is allmost twice as big as harlan if u go by the bed numbers....i looked at harlans class size, 127, wow.. back in 1969 when i graduated, there were 211 in my class. why is harlan getting so small in class size, thought they brought in some business,s..?????
I think that the cost of living has increased over the past several years in Harlan. The largest increases were found in Transportation, Food, and Housing, according to stats That I've seen. Harlan has seen the job market decrease by -0.9% over the last year. Future job growth over the next ten years is predicted to be 16.4%, which is lower than the US average of 33.5%. It seems more and more difficult to get any higher paying job positions in Shelby County and Harlan. he Sales Tax Rate for Harlan is 7.0%. The Income Tax Rate for Harlan is 9.0%. The US average is 4.6%. With a 2020 population of 4,747. Harlan is currently declining at a rate of -0.84%annually and its population has decreased by -7.03% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 5,106 in 2010. Harlan reached it's highest population of 5,357 in 1980. Spanning over 4 miles, Harlan has a population density of 1,081 people per square mile. The average household income in Harlan is $65,740 with a poverty rate of 9.12%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to $624 per month, and the median house value is $111,200. The median age in Harlan is 47.1 years, 46.8 years for males, and 47.4 years for females. For every 100 females there are 86.0 males.
Shelby County’s population has decreased for another consecutive year since 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent estimates, but hopes are that efforts to attract business and develop affordable housing will reverse that trend in the near future.
The population has dropped from 12,169 to 11,454 over the past nine years. This loss has been a steady trickle of 715, or an average of 79 citizens each year.
With a loss in population, communities can see an impact. Only Glenwood and Avoca are seeing positive resident increases during the last decade from among those of similar size or by geographical location.
Isn't Harlan the only HS in Shelby County?? In Council Bluffs you split the pie 4 ways. Their could have been some salty teams had their been one school. Glenwood is a 25 minute drive to downtown Omaha, not surprised they are growing. Avoca is beautiful country much like Harlan only a shorter drive to the city for work and play.
If you don't win your district, its always going to suck, no matter how many other wins you have. At least that's held true this year. One of Pella's State champ years they had to go to Davenport for the quarterfinals even though they had the better record, but both teams were District champs. Independence had to travel to Pella last year with better record, but worse RPI. I wonder if the state didn't use RPI somehow in all this. If you look at bcmoore on average the strength of schedule of most of the NE and SE teams are all in the lower half so I am not sure that West Del with all their wins is really as good as they appear. Time will tell.
thanks for the info, does not look good for future harlan growth. the sales tax in phoenix is 8.6% and the average rent is $1247, and it unfortunately keeps rising. The median home price in Phoenix is $239,400 .In the city of Phoenix, within the Phoenix school district, the primary rate on residential property is about 13% of assessed value, while the secondary rate is 8.2%. i do believe rent has increased across the united states from what observed, not good, only for the landlord
I live in Central Iowa. The smaller communities in our state that are thriving are in close proximity to larger metro areas or they invested in establishing Colleges and Universities in their towns long ago. Midwestern blight has mainly hit towns in our state of who had foolish founding fathers that failed to see value in Higher Education and failed to establish colleges or universities in their towns. Reap what you sow...or fail to sow. Newton Iowa is a perfect example of selling the soul of a town to a single industry and failing to acknowledge higher education. In its heyday, Newton was a GEM of a town that had a huge highly paid workforce. Due to the lack of vision of the community leaders over the last 75 years, the town is an absolute He!! hole now that Maytag has been gone for 10 years. I can't think of a single small town in Iowa that has a college or university that is struggling. I could be wrong but towns like Pella, Oskaloosa, Decorah, Waverly, Grinnell, Mount Vernon,...etc. are thriving communities.
I've heard around the "bs horn" that in some very short time, Harlan may become a 2A school because of the enrollment drop. I guess that's a possibility.
Some community college towns, (i.e- Ottumwa, Marshalltown, Fort Dodge) are fairly dumpy but outside of that yes that trend seems to be correct especially with four year colleges
Excellent points Ozzy, my only disagreement with your generalization is the word "Thriving"/ Sioux Center ( Dordt) and Orange City ( Northwestern) are wonderful places to attend school and raise a family /not sure they are the same as they have been in the past. The opportunities are in the Southeast/Southwestern part of the United States. I don't know the median ages of those communities but most of our youth are heading South I'm afraid.
I believe Harlan did get 4 or 5 really good athletes from Woodbine. It was a coin flip between Harlan and Kuemper Catholic
Sioux Center is crazy booming, so not sure where you get that information from JAB. A big difference I see in Sioux County is that people that grow up there, come back home more often as well (or never leave depending on college choice).
Ouch!! Dordt was recently cited in the Wall Street Journal as a top college to attend ahead of some Blue Blood Schools. Feel free to google, it was in about a month ago. As far as the increases in population if we are honest about it I believe Sioux Center now has a significant Hispanic population that has driven that growth. I am married to a Hispanic woman, A United States Citizen, so I am all for the labor pool increasing legally which is clearly driving economic development in Sioux County. Yes, some younger people do move back to the area but that is not what's driving population growth big picture.
Top Colleges in the Midwest for Student Engagement
Dordt University is No. 1 in the region and nationwide in this category of the WSJ/THE College Rankings.
www.wsj.com
they look like legit colleges to me...not big, but nice campus,s ...it looks like more 1 on 1 learning, not huge compus where u are just a number
I have had two children that attended American Rivers Conf schools and participated in sports, so I’ve been to almost every college in this state. Dordt and NW are both as legit as the Simpson’s and Luther’s of the world. Iowa is fortunate to have as many quality institutions as they do. I hope we keep them all.
I posted an additional post in that I was kidding. I don't see that post. I'm sorry for the poor attempt at a joke. Of course I see them as real colleges. Orange City is a lovely town. Sioux Center I can say the same. It seems like Sioux Center is a bit smaller. but its been years since I have been there.
