The section playoffs wrapped up last week and a number of teams were sent home with heartbreaking losses and disappointing finishes to the season.

One of the biggest stories was Stephen Argyle losing to Kittson County Central 7-0 in the Class Nine-man Section 8 championship. It ended the Storm’s 76-game winning streak, the longest in Minnesota history.

When I started thinking about the loss, it occurred to me that maybe the Minnesota State High School League consider a different state playoff format in Minnesota.

Stephen Argyle was the No. 1 team in Class Nine-man and with them out, how does that impact the state tournament? Kittson County Central is a very good team, ranked No. 7 in the polls, but it begs the question if the right teams are getting into the state tournament.

It would be interesting to see if the state tournament were to expand to include more teams. Instead of one, maybe there could be two teams from each section that advance. That would eliminate the section final game, but the matchups that would ensue would be exciting.

Year in and year out there are some sections that have stronger teams and one misses out on a trip to state where they could conceivably perform well, but because their section is so tough they can’t advance to state. That’s been the case with Kittson County Central for a number of years.

Iowa used to take the top two teams from each district and put them in the state tournament. This year they expanded the field to the top four teams. It has put teams with below .500 records in the state tournament and probably watered down the prestige that gets associated with going to state. There have been relatively few upsets but some teams that wouldn’t have gotten in the state tournament in a section champion format have done well.

The Iowa system seems a bit fairer, but the whole organization is different. Teams play in districts, not conferences, and are matched with similar sized schools. Doing away with conferences would be a huge hassle. Minnesota could make the regular season all section opponents and then take the top two from each section for state, but that’s a massive logistical nightmare.

In Section 3 of Class 4A in Minnesota there were three teams that ranked in the top 10 poll. St. Thomas Academy was the only one to advance. The other two, Minneapolis Washburn and Simley, were left at home. Washburn and Simley would likely make the state tournament if they played in any other section. The bad part is we’ll never know how they would match up with other teams across the state.

Neither system is great but the Iowa system gives those teams that miss out on going to state, because of the difficulty of their district, a chance at state.

The section playoffs in Minnesota are essentially the same. Every team gets a shot in the section playoffs, but is there a true champion crowned in the state tournament if the top team gets eliminated in the section playoffs?

Minnesota qualifies about six percent of all teams for state, the most difficult in the Midwest.

Teams that would have a shot at a state title get lost in the mix because teams from other sections, which some can say weaker sections, get into the tournament.

More often than not the better team will prevail, but if the best team doesn’t get a chance at state does that make the championship invalid?

At the state level you ideally want the best to be there, it’s makes it more competitive and there would be more exciting matchups, unfortunately there is no simple solution.