MHSAA Class 7A, 6A and 5A Playoff Scenarios.

[maroontide06]

37 minutes ago, Mississippi Queen said:

Yeah, I'm not sure what the answer is. But whoever is playing those Thursday games gets screwed - especially if they are big schools with big student body populations who tend to travel well.

That takes a whole lot of student participation out of the question - especially when games are not centrally located. These games in Hattiesburg are 4+ hours away from a lot of these North State schools. Kids cannot go by themselves and stay overnight. Parents cannot take off 2 days work (Thursday & Friday) just so their kids can go watch a game. And then for the parents of athletes who cannot afford to lose 2 days money right here at Christmas. They can't even go watch their own kids play these games. I know when Horn Lake traveled to USM in 2018 and won the 6A championship, the footage showed hardly any fans present. Like maybe 100? How sad for the team. And they won!

Horn Lake played on a Friday night in 2018.  Thursday wasn't a factor because we didn't have 7 classifications then.

[Mississippi Queen]

51 minutes ago, maroontide06 said:

Horn Lake played on a Friday night in 2018.  Thursday wasn't a factor because we didn't have 7 classifications then.

Exactly. And they still only had a tiny number of fans. Moving a game like that to a Thursday night makes it even worse, thus proving my point.

Edited November 11, 2024 by Mississippi Queen

[Vott]

1 hour ago, maroontide06 said:

Horn Lake played on a Friday night in 2018.  Thursday wasn't a factor because we didn't have 7 classifications then.

Thats why you save your vacation days. Plan ahead. If you think your team is gonna have a chance at state put in for time off the first week of December 

[Mississippi Queen]

13 minutes ago, Vott said:

Thats why you save your vacation days. Plan ahead. If you think your team is gonna have a chance at state put in for time off the first week of December 

Easy for salaried people and those with well paying jobs. Been to Horn Lake recently?

[Vott]

11 minutes ago, Mississippi Queen said:

Easy for salaried people and those with well paying jobs. Been to Horn Lake recently?

No but Oxford is close enough

[Mississippi Queen]

9 minutes ago, Vott said:

No but Oxford is close enough

Oxford and Horn Lake are 2 very different areas socioeconomically.

[pancho]

Horn Lake is on the rebound school wise.  I know coaches who still live same place in the county but recently left Desoto Central to work at Horn Lake. What's the problem anyway?

[Mississippi Queen]

18 hours ago, pancho said:

Horn Lake is on the rebound school wise.  I know coaches who still live same place in the county but recently left Desoto Central to work at Horn Lake. What's the problem anyway?

No problem at all with Horn Lake school. At all.

The discussion involving Horn Lake was regarding playoff games on Thursday nights & how far a drive it is for fans to attend a game at USM in Hattiesburg.

Now that the 7A game has been moved to a Thursday night, the teams playing at that time get screwed for a fan base because that's basically 2 days off work/school. Or at minimim 1.5 days off with an overnight hotel stay for anyone in Region 1. And we all know high school aged kids cannot get hotel rooms even if they could get down to USM & back by themselves. (In 2018 Horn Lake won the 6A title playing at USM and attendance of the fan base was abysmal...and that was still when the game was on a Friday night. A Thursday will be even worse for North State!)

 

Someone commented that North State fans should just know "plan for" the days off work and set aside those vacation days and funds to attend. I responded that it's not that easy for everyone - especially around the holidays and especially in certain parts of the state. That comment was met with the statement that Oxford does it and Horn Lake isn't that far from Oxford. My response was: Horn Lake and Oxford are very different areas socioeconomically. And that's not a slight to anyone. It's just the reality of the situation. And that should be kept in mind when considering playoff games, distances and fan involvement. We've got a lot of great fans and student athletes in our state. We need to do whatever we can to ensure everyone equal opportunity to compete and attend. There was a suggestion to consider moving from Thur/Fri/Sat to Fri/Sat/Sun & it was met with "nobody in MS wants to play on a Sunday." I get that opinion - but I also know how many travel ball teams play every weekend away from home. So taking one Sunday for a championship game seems like a much better option than a weekday night & would actually allow a greater portion of fans bases to attend instead of having games on Thursadys. My 2 cents.