Top seed does belong to Eagles, after all

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By Brian Eller -- beller@nvdaily.com

BERRYVILLE -- Prior to the release of the Virginia High School League Group A, Division 2 playoff seedings Tuesday, Clarke County football coach Chris Parker knew his team had a chance to be either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed.

As it turns out, Parker's team got to spend a little time as each.

Following a press release issued by Clarke County High School that declared the Eagles as the No. 2 seed in the upcoming playoffs, the seedings issued by the VHSL just a few hours later in fact said Clarke County received the top seed, meaning the Eagles will host Appomattox on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

"We just acted as what we were told," Parker said. "Even with people in our region, with teams playing each other and that whole scenario, who's playing who and all that, we thought we were gonna be one or two, and we thought we had a chance to be one."

There had been some confusion as to whether Clarke County or Gretna High School would receive the No. 1 seed.

Despite having a 10-0 record, compared to Gretna's 8-1 mark, Gretna actually held a higher rating over the Eagles, 24.22 to 24.20.

But according to VHSL Information and Communications Specialist Mike McCall, the ratings are only counted to the tenths, meaning the teams were tied with a 24.2 rating. The Eagles received the tie-breaker, not because of their undefeated record, but due to the fact that they played 10 games that qualified under the VHSL compared to Gretna's nine games. McCall also said the initial release stating Clarke County as the No. 2 seed was not issued by the VHSL.

"Since the 1970s, the rule has been you take it to the 10th place, not the 100th," McCall said. "Now every so often, the football rating committee will meet and they'll meet in February, and there may be some talk about possibly changing the rules, but right now those are the rules."

For the Eagles, the news came Tuesday afternoon. Parker had taken the team seniors to FedEx Field to view a 4th-and-Life presentation by the Washington Redskins, but as they were heading back to the bus to return to school, the coach got a call from Clarke County athletic director Casey Childs, informing him that a correction had been made, and the Eagles are the No. 1 seed.

Fortunately for all teams involved, the mistake was corrected in a timely manner, meaning coaches didn't waste much time game planning for the wrong teams. Parker said he has already exchanged film with Friday's correct opponent Appomattox, and planned to spend Tuesday evening with the coaches in preparation for the game.

"We didn't even know who we played until earlier this morning," senior running back Sam Shiley said of the confusion. "So we hadn't had a practice preparing for who we needed to prepare for anyway, so it really wasn't costly. It plays out well."

But the biggest advantage to having the No. 1 seed would benefit Clarke in two weeks. Assuming the Eagles win Friday and No. 2-seeded Gretna wins its first-round game, the two would meet on Clarke County's field, as opposed to Gretna's. Last year the Eagles fell to Gretna, 51-27. And although Parker said he is solely focused on Friday's game, he admitted having the home-field advantage would be a big factor should the two teams meet.

"It's a great advantage," Parker said. "We gotta take care of this week first, it's a big game. They're a really good team. But we took that trip to Gretna last year and it's a haul, so it's nice if we have the luxury of that happening -- which I hope [does].

"It would be nice to be home two weeks in a row."