Silverhawks’ State Snub
The Lincoln Southwest Silverhawks boys soccer team lost to Millard South last night 0-1, ending the season they began at #1 with an 11-5 record. They won’t be going to State this year.
The Silverhawks’ State snub raises some interesting questions about the way the NSAA makes District assignments. Currently teams are assigned to Districts before the season begins. Come District Tournament time, that can lead to goofy situations like we saw this year, where 9 of the top 10 teams were in three of the six Districts. District A-1, for example, included Lincoln East, Lincoln Southwest, and Millard South, each of which deserved their shot at State.
So there’s the downside of the NSAA’s current approach: good, deserving teams will get screwed and be denied a State berth. But the plan isn’t entirely without merit. The current districting plan roughly groups teams by geography, so travel time and expenses are decreased. (But not minimized—that would make for all-Omaha and all-Lincoln Districts.) The current plan also assures that Central and Western Nebraska are represented at State. Let’s be honest, one doesn’t have to try very hard to argue that some of those teams don’t deserve to make State based on merit alone. But a strong argument can be made that it is in the interests of many of the parties involved to assure that Nebraska west of York is represented at the State Tournament.
I don’t have a good answer, but Southwest coach Andrew Ferguson would sure like to find one, if only so that other teams don’t face the same fate in the future.
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