Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Still some bugs in the playoff system

Year two of the radically revamped MIAA football playoff system is upon us, and while the format yielded legitimate state champions at all levels in 2013, it still has some kinks.One of them is the second league qualifier. In every other sport, if you finish first or second in your league, you automatically qualify for the post-season tournament. However, please remember that while there are all these automatic qualifiers, there is also an unlimited number of spaces. Anyone with a .500 record, or who finishes second place, is in.In football there are only eight slots per division. And there was almost an instance this past weekend where a team with a better record in Division 4 would have missed out because Swampscott sprung an upset – and a comeback upset no less – on Beverly and ended up gaining the second qualifying spot in the Northeastern Conference/Large.That team was Saugus. And it would have been one heck of a shame if the 5-2 Sachems missed out – for a number of reasons.The biggest is that no matter what format you want to talk about, Saugus is one of the few teams in the area that has never had a team go to any post-season game, be it Super Bowl or playoff. The Sachems have had good teams in the past, but there were always better teams in those years.Last year, Saugus made an ill-advised decision to move to the Cape Ann League and decided – after the year was up – that the CAL wasn’t where it needed to be. This obviously upset some CAL teams that had counted on games with Saugus – especially in football – but realistically, returning to the NEC was the best move for the school.The problem was the decision to move back into the NEC happened so late that most of the football teams had already filled their schedules, so Saugus agreed to play an independent slate for the 2014 season. Because of that, the Sachems had no guaranteed spot, and would have had to cede their berth in Division 4 to teams who got automatic bids had the situation arose.That almost happened. But St. Mary’s saved the day by defeating Arlington Catholic, thereby enabling the Sachems to grab the last spot.Now, they’re seeded sixth in Division 4 and will play Lynnfield Saturday (6) at the Pioneers’ new field (yes, this is a change from the previously-released schedule). It ought to be a great game. Both teams are loaded with offense, so unless one of the two defenses asserts itself over the other, we could have a old-fashioned slugfest. Don’t forget, Saugus put up 41 points on Winthrop in Week 1. The Vikings have only allowed 65 since.Onto other observations: Classical coach Tim Phelps decided to use Devin Crayton more on offense last Friday night against Revere, and the results speak for themselves. Crayton ran for 139 yards and scored four touchdowns as the Rams defeated the Patriots and clinched a post-season spot … One of the other chinks in the new system’s armor is when teams play each other more than once. The first such instance of this locally comes Saturday when Tech entertains Chelsea for the second straight week in a non-playoff setting. The Red Devils defeated the Tigers and knocked them out of the post-season last Saturday night … Swampscott’s reward for working so hard to get into the tournament? An all-expense-paid trip to Watertown on a Friday night. Classical has the same type of deal. The Rams get to fight Rte. 128 traffic all the way to Lincoln-Sudbury … In all 13 teams from Lynn and its surrounding environs made the post-season, and some of them have good chances to go all the way. Four of them – Winthrop, Lynnfield, Marblehead and Bishop Fenwick – enter the playoffs with undefeated records, and the defending Division 5 champion Crusaders are working on a 23-game winning streak.