R-C Sports Notebook: That's why 8 is so great

Any arguments as to why the Northern 4A is keeping eight out of 11 teams in the playoff structure were probably ended with last week's wild finish to the regular season.

Granted, all eight playoff teams had already clinched a berth heading into the week, but Reno -- a team that would've been out of the playoffs under the four-team format -- upended an unbeaten Carson squad and Galena came up with an upset over Douglas.

It just hammered home the point again that any team could beat anyone else on any given week. In a time where the most exclusive playoff sport of them all (Major League Baseball) is talking about adding teams to the postseason, what would make high school football think it was time to narrow down the postseason bracket, especially when the field of competition is so even.

I saw a week or two ago where a colleague said the current structure is rewarding mediocrity.

I don't see that as the case at all. This is an exceptional league top to bottom (Hey, even winless Damonte Ranch has been in the game against Manogue, Douglas, Hug, Reno and Spanish Springs) and I haven't seen anything mediocre about it this year.

Every week has been an interesting week. There have been no sure things and the playoffs are open for anyone to step up and take. Remember, it took a last-second fourth-down TD for eventual league champ McQueen to beat No. 7 Spanish Springs earlier this season.

Eight-seeded North Valleys came up just four points short of Reno and one-point short of Spanish Springs.

I read in the RGJ that the 4A commissioner's office, with the help of former Hug coach Rollins Stallworth, spent a considerable amount of time having to hammer out tiebreakers involving six of the eight playoff teams.

It was a season well-played from all avenues and the playoffs will be the real reward to the fans. I don't care that the eight seed only won two games. You can't tell me McQueen is exactly looking forward to seeing the Panthers' passing attack again.

These next three weeks will mirror the regular season: No sure things, intriguing matchups and probably a surprise or two along the way. Buckle your seatbelt, it's going to be a wild ride.

Sure Douglas was missing more key players than any other game this season.

Sure the Tigers fumbled more times than any other game in the last seven years.

Sure the weather was kind of crummy, and Conner Peterson appeared to break the plane of the end zone on that late two-point conversion for what would've been the go-ahead score.

There are any number of things that might have changed the outcome Thursday night, but the simple fact of it is, this is how Galena High School plays football in late October/early November.

I don't care what their record is, Galena is simply one team you don't want to see late in the season.

Last year? The Grizzlies upset Manogue in the final week of the regular season, upended Spanish Springs in the first round of the playoffs and pulled off the biggest shocker of them all, beating Carson 14-7 in overtime to advance to the regional title game.

Push it back a few years and you can add late-season upset wins over Hug, Reno, Manogue, Reed and even Las Vegas' Palo Verde.

Three regional championship appearances, one title and two state appearances in the last five seasons alone. This coming from a program that has gone only 19-15 in league play during that stretch.

Galena knows how to play late in the year. The staff up there knows how to game plan based on a year's worth of film and, more importantly, knows how to bring a team along through the trials of a tough regular season.

Thursday was a great example of that. Galena hasn't shown much life at all this season, but they had a solid defensive scheme to counter Douglas' depleted lineup, they rode a strong wave of emotion after Senior Night festivities and managed to hold off the late rally for the win.

Sometimes you just have to tip your cap.

In my breakdown from last week of potential Player of the Year candidates, I had no idea Galena's Eric Johnson would be so impressive.

Lost in the mire of a two-win season, Johnson is a very capable receiver and has one heck of a leg as a place kicker.

There've been some impressive individual performances in the Northern 4A this year, but Johnson accounted for every single point the Grizzlies scored Friday night, including a 50-yard field goal that ended up clinching the game. He was three-for-three on field goal attempts, three-for-three on PAT attempts and caught three touchdown passes. He finished with nine catches for 154 yards.

I don't think he really ends up winning Player of the Year, but his performance last Thursday is among the most impressive and complete individual efforts I've seen in a football game in quite some time.

If Douglas football would've won at Galena, there was the distinct possibility Saturday could have had Douglas football, girls' soccer and volleyball teams hitting the Manogue, Damonte and Damonte at 1, 4 and 5 p.m. in order. That's a little too much Tiger playoff action in one day for my blood.

It's also a whole lot of time outside in a particularly windy part of town.

I'm planning to be at these games this week, so check online for updates (Cover It Live is the tool we use to post automatic updates during games and also allows for comments and questions from fans during the game, so be sure to check out our Web site if you can't make it to the games I will be posting from.):

Here's where I'll be:

Tuesday: Douglas girls' soccer vs. Reed (Cover It Live)

Wednesday: Douglas volleyball vs. McQueen (Cover It Live)

Thursday: Girls' Soccer semifinals? (Cover It Live)

Friday: Douglas football at Reed (Cover It Live)

Saturday: Regional volleyball/soccer finals? (Cover It Live)

- Thursday night was the first time Douglas had played a game on natural grass in a calendar year - 370 days to be exact.

- That couldn't have come at a better time, though, as Douglas will now have venture to Reed -- the only natural grass venue in this year's playoffs -- to take on the Raiders in the first round.

- This marks Douglas' first consecutive weeks on natural grass since defeating Reno and Reed early in the 2008 season.

- The Douglas football coaching staff passed out the team's first "Tiger Striker" awards of the season last week. It marked the second year in a row the staff waited to pass the awards (an orange stripe down the middle of the helmet given to impact players who best respresent the ideals of the Douglas football program) out until the final week of the regular season. This year's current strikers are defensive tackle Zach Falanga, safety Matt Metz, offensive tackle Spencer Fellows, offensive lineman Zac Tierney and offensive tackle/defensive end August Greth.

- I mentioned the Douglas boys' basketball team beating the Douglas girls' volleyball team in an exhibition volleyball match last week. Turns out I was misinformed. The boys won one game, but the girls won the match. My apologies to the Lady Tigers.

- Not about sports at all, but is there a rule somewhere that when you file for political office, you have to provide the most unflattering picture of yourself for the opponent's use? Or when you do your first promotional photo shoot, you have to have a five minutes worth of "Evil" poses in the interest of full disclosure? All I know is if I ever run for office, I'll just hand over the picture of myself choking on a mouthful of pizza right out of the gates to get it over with.

- "You don't want to be standing outside of the Stalingrade in January." -- Beano Cooke, Making his college football pick of the week on ESPN Radio.

- I got my traditional one-per-season haircut last week on the night before covering a game at the base of Mount Rose. You can blame that wind chill on me. That snow storm against Damonte Ranch two years ago? My fault too.

It's a given that if I get my hair cut, it'll be the coldest night of the season so far. I'll wait until basketball season next year.

I've made no small passing mention of my time at TCU in this column over the past couple of years. So, you all know my keen interest in the Horned Frogs somehow finagling a way into the BCS title game.

All of the suddent, the list has become remarkably short. Nebraska blasting Missouri and Iowa walking all over Michigan State took care of two of the more troublesome items. Baylor (again, a team that TCU dismantled early in the season) beat Texas IN AUSTIN, giving even more creedence to the Horned Frogs' schedule.

So it comes down to the do-or-die week. TCU must beat Utah in Utah. For a true national-championship contender, this shouldn't be a problem. For a "pretender" it could prove disastrous. This week will go a long way toward defining the Horned Frogs as one or the other.

A big win over the No. 5 team in the BCS stadings means TCU has as good of a shot as it will ever get, outside of a playoff system (and here I though last year was the big one). Any stumble (and I'm not even talking about a loss, which is still imminently possible), and that's the end of the story. You'll see the Horned Frogs in one of the other BCS bowls or even some consolation bowl with a loss.

Here's the revised Purple Perfect Storm (items with an asterisk are things that must happen, items with a # are things that would be nice if they happened and items with a @ are things that would provide some nice cushion.):

Nov. 6: TCU needs to blow away an unbeaten Utah on the road*; Alabama loses at LSU#, Baylor beats Oklahoma State#.

Nov. 13: Utah wins at Notre Dame#

Nov. 20: Nebraska loses at Texas A&M#; Baylor beats Oklahoma#.

Nov. 27: Boise State loses at Nevada@; Ohio State loses to Michigan#; Auburn loses at Alabama*

Dec. 4: Oregon loses at Oregon State*; Final stop-gap: Alabama loses in SEC title game@. Baylor wins Big 12 title game#.