Meeting could determine playoff berths

Or as muddied as an old grass football field after a long season and a deluge of rain.

Or as fluid as a rushing river.

And the situation will be settled as much in a meeting room Monday as it will on the playing field Saturday, when the CIC's eight teams play the final four regular-season games.

That's because the board of directors of the Alaska School Activities Association, the sanctioning body for high school sports, on Monday will hear an appeal from Chugiak, which recently had to forfeit two conference wins, and three victories overall, for using an ineligible player.

If that appeal is denied -- and ASAA executive director Gary Matthews said he's never seen the board reverse itself on forfeitures -- the results of Saturday's four games will not change the playoff picture. The CIC's four playoff berths would go, in order, to Service, South, East and West.

But -- and this but is bigger than that of a 300-pound lineman -- if the ASAA board reinstates the Chugiak conferences wins that were forfeited, a myriad playoff possibilities exist. And all those, of course, also would hinge on the outcomes of Saturday's games.

The various scenarios aren't quite so mind-boggling as to require a doctorate in mathematics; an advanced degree, however, would come in handy.

One possibility in such a scenario -- Chugiak wins its appeal and certain outcomes unfold on the field Saturday -- is that Chugiak, South, East and West could all end up at 4-3 in conference and vying for three playoff berths. In that case, Chugiak would climb from its current status, which is completely out of the playoff picture, to the conference's No. 2 seed. South would be the No. 3 seed and East the No. 4 seed, and defending state champion West would be turning in its pads for the season.

So ... stay tuned.