4 Downs: Gazette staff breaks down Iowa high school football topics

This marks the penultimate 4 Downs for The Gazette’s Iowa sports staff and contributors. See what Jeff Linder, Jeff Johnson, K.J. Pilcher and Scott Unash have to say about high school football in 4 Downs:

1ST & 10: Which No. 3 or No. 4 district finisher is capable of a first-round postseason upset?

Jeff Linder: I hate to pick on Class A District 5, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that district went 0-4 in the opening round. That includes third-place finisher Maquoketa Valley winning at Danville, and that includes Earlham knocking off unbeaten, district-champion Pekin. Springville is certainly capable of winning at Turkey Valley. Crestwood (at Alburnett) and Union Community (at Cascade) also are potential “upset” winners.

Jeff Johnson: Totally throwing darts at a dart board here: Lawton-Bronson over Manson-Northwest Webster in Class 1A and Earlham over Pekin in Class A (4 seed versus 1 seed). The 2-3 upsets? Bellevue over Waukon in 2A, Hinton over Emmetsburg in 1A and Maquoketa Valley over Danville in A.

K.J. Pilcher: The top three teams in Class 2A District 5 are capable of moving on, including Bellevue (7-1), which didn’t lose until the regular-season finale against West Branch. The Comets head to Waukon (5-3). Watch out for Springville (5-4) and BGM (6-2) in 8-Player. The Orioles started the season 0-4 and have won five straight. All four losses were to ranked teams – No. 4 Iowa Valley, No. 6 Edgewood-Colesburg, No. 9 Montezuma and No. 10 Easton Valley. The losses to Easton Valley and Montezuma were by a combined seven points. Springville appears to overcome early-season injuries and is an athletic group. The Orioles will be a tough out for anyone, especially Turkey Valley (5-3) in Round 1. BGM travels to Oakland Riverside (6-2). When you have Beau Burns on your side, you are capable of winning.

Scott Unash: There are a few teams capable of first-round upsets because they play in very competitive districts. In 2A, I like Bellevue and Dike-New Hartford to possibly pull off wins. In 1A, defending Class A champ Tri-Center could spring an upset, as well as Clarion-Goldfield-Dows. In Class A, watch out for Maquoketa Valley and never count out Beau Burns and BGM, despite a Rand McNally road trip. And Springville is playing well in 8-Player.

2ND & LONG: A few Class 5A teams were upset in Week 8: a fluke or sign of parity?

Jeff Linder: Parity, for sure. Waukee’s win over Waukee Northwest was a surprise, yes, but remember that the Warriors had been competitive against their other Central Iowa suburban brethren. Maybe they were simply due for a breakthrough. Linn-Mar’s upset of Cedar Falls? I didn’t see that one coming, but the Lions are the hottest team in the Metro (other than Cedar Rapids Xavier, of course).

Jeff Johnson: There might be parity within Eastern Iowa and within the Des Moines suburbs. But I don’t think there’s parity across the state in 5A. Central Iowa still rules the class.

K.J. Pilcher: Parity is a word hated by coaches. Many of them think dominance is achievable. Sectionally, we have seen it. The Linn-Mar win over Cedar Falls, which beat Cedar Rapids Prairie the previous week, and the Lions losing to Prairie earlier in the season proves it. Now, we’ll see how Linn-Mar does against Iowa City West, which was upset by Prairie. Sioux City East’s emergence with wins over Central Iowa teams is more evidence. Waukee is 3-5 after its win over former No. 1 Waukee Northwest and has outscored its opponents, 198-196. There is a reason 5A is the only class without multiple unbeaten teams.

Scott Unash: The days of multiple unbeaten Class 5A teams are behind us. In fact, there are no undefeated teams in the class. There are too many great coaches, great players and programs with resources and backing to run the table any longer. Take last season, for example, Southeast Polk won Class 5A with a 5-4 regular-season record. It's cliche but on any given Friday night in Class 5A you will see at least a couple of upsets.

3RD & SHORT: What changes would you like to see with the current playoff system or postseason qualifying?

Jeff Linder: I like the RPI system in 5A, 4A and 3A, and I would like to see it expanded to the smaller classes. Instead of automatic bids to the top four teams in each 2A/1A/A/8-Player district, I would cut that back to the top two teams in each district, with the rest of the field determined by RPI. Then you wouldn’t have any 2-6 teams qualifying.

Jeff Johnson: I don’t know, I kind of like the way things are now. There is NO perfect system. The only thing I really dislike is that there are certain schools in 5A that will never qualify for the playoffs because football exposes the enormous socio-economic difference between some schools.

K.J. Pilcher: I played at a time when a 4A team could make the playoffs after playing a 3A schedule. It still seems wrong. We are also beyond the days of watching a team suffer its only loss in the season finale and miss the playoffs. The current system works as well as anything that has been in place. The only thing I don’t like is the staggered start to the playoffs. I wish all the teams began the playoffs at the same time.

Scott Unash: The toughest question there is! After many tries by the IHSAA, this current system, to me, is by far the best. Is it perfect? No. I think there can be some tweaks. In 5A, if you play a class above or below in your non-group games, I think there should be a small addition or subtraction to the RPI. I would like to see non-district games count for something in the other six classes instead of playing only four or five games that actually count for anything toward the postseason. But that is being picky. This system is, by far, the best that has been created. With that being said though, there are going to be many, many blowouts in the first round this Friday.

4TH & GOAL: Some teams canceled seasons this fall and forfeits seemed more prevalent. What does football need to do to improve participation levels?

Jeff Linder: Schools, especially small schools, need to consider merging programs when numbers are low. For instance, Lone Tree canceled its season shortly before it began and Highland cut the cord after Week 2. Those neighboring districts once shared a program, a successful one at that.

Jeff Johnson: Only thing I can think of is more combined programs.

K.J. Pilcher: I think football unfairly battles a safety issue. The sport needs to continue to show it is a safe sport, and it has become safer than ever. I also think there are some athletes that are specializing, playing their primary sport in the fall instead of football. Schools should always emphasize multisport athletes, regardless of size. The easy fix is to consolidate more programs. Football games are a source of community pride for many towns and sharing them, even if that means with a rival, can maintain those traditions. The only thing I will suggest to the IHSAA is to make sure these forfeits are legit and not a way to avoid specific teams. Make teams prove they have to forfeit if they are going to resume competition a week or two later. Forfeits affect more than just one program.

Scott Unash: How can schools increase participation? Continue to try and make football a safer sport. Show the naysayers that football is and can be safe. With that in mind, I think we will see more rule changes, such as bringing the NFL kickoff rules to High School football. It's also, many times, cyclical for some schools to have smaller numbers for a particular class and then come back and have success. We have seen that on several occasions. And, as I have said several times this season, I think we will start to see more combined squads to help out with participation numbers. Hopefully, every player that wants to play football will get that chance.