Must-wins for some?

Last year, St. Mary's Springs and Ripon played in a state championship game. The Tigers even won.

Now, both teams are in desperate need of a victory, and their playoff hopes may depend on it.

If you need a playoff refresher, I'm not sure I have the mental capacity to explain all the nuances to you. The gist of the story is: if you finish with a winning record in conference (above .500), you are in the show. If you finish with a losing record in conference (below .500), you are not in the show.

And if you finish dead even in conference play (.500), it's possible the loose change in Doug Chickering's pocket could decide your fate.

There are 224 teams that make the playoffs. If the number of teams with winning conference records is less than 224, then they add the teams with .500 conference records. If there are more than the number of spots available, one of the deciding tiebreakers is a coin flip (after head-to-head and conference finish, I think). Now, I'm not sure if Chickering, the WIAA executive director actually does the coin flip with the change from his own pocket, although I'd like to believe that's what happens.

I guess all .500 teams made the playoffs last year. I know for a fact that in 2003, Markesan lost a coin flip that kept it out of the playoffs. They were the only team to miss that year.

So if you finish with a .500 record, chances are good that you will get in, but you may be leaving it to chance.

At this point, that's the best Springs can hope for. With an 0-3 mark in the Wisconsin Flyway, the Ledgers need to win each of their last three games to have a shot.

Unless someone changes the rules of football and/or math, Ripon can't finish at .500. With five conference games Ripon can't lose more than two. The Tigers already lost a conference game against WLA. They have Waupun coming up in the last game of the year, and the way the Warriors are playing right now, I'm sure coach Rick Kelm would like it if he didn't have to win that game just to make the playoffs.

What does all that mean? Ripon has to beat Berlin tonight. Has to.

So, while the matchups this week may not be all that intriguing, we've got a state champion and a state runner-up from last year facing must-win games just to make the playoffs.

And once again, I can't find a word that begins the letter F to describe it.