One ramification of game and season cancellations is unbalanced schedules — something we now see in the Class 1A nine-man West Conference.
Decisions by St. Stephens and Wyoming Indian to cancel their fall sports have created unbalanced conference schedules for other members of the Class 1A nine-man West Conference.
In conference play, Greybull and Shoshoni have three home games against just one road game. Meanwhile, Riverside and Wind River have three road games against just one home game.
The helped: Greybull and Shoshoni.
- Greybull: Home games against Wind River, Rocky Mountain, Riverside; road game against Shoshoni
- Shoshoni: Home games against Rocky Mountain, Greybull, Riverside; road game against Wind River
The neutral: Rocky Mountain.
- Rocky Mountain: Home games against Riverside, Wind River; road games against Shoshoni, Greybull
The harmed: Riverside and Wind River.
- Riverside: Home game against Wind River; road games against Rocky Mountain, Greybull, Shoshoni
- Wind River: Home game against Shoshoni; road games against Greybull, Riverside, Rocky Mountain
The easiest fix? Flip-flop the locations of two games. Have Wind River play at home against Greybull (Week 2) and have Riverside play at home against Shoshoni (Week 8). That would give everyone in the conference two home games and two road games.
Would Greybull and Shoshoni be willing to make those changes? Are Riverside and Wind River willing to ask?
More importantly: Is this the last time we’ll see this happen in 2020?
We may see more unbalanced schedules like this in 2020 if more games or more seasons are canceled. The 1A nine-man West may be just the first example.
–patrick