The tip that led to the Georgia High School Association discovering that its playoff draws were flawed came not from coaches or school officials but from a fan, according to Steve Figueroa of the GHSA.
"Ralph [Swearngin, the GHSA executive director] got three, four e-mails from some sharp-eyed fans who were looking down the line and noticed that their team would have to play the No. 3 team from their own region in the semis instead of the No. 4 team," Figueroa said. "What they pointed out was correct, so we changed it to make it right."
The primary instigator was Stuart Glenn of Pelham, who also alerted some newspapers and message boards.
"I have this thing now that if I see something that is wrong, I bring it to the attention of the people that can fix it," Glenn said. "I brought this up on message boards but couldn't get most to understand what I was talking about. I guess now they know. I never once considered who was playing who, just the positioning of the region seeds in the brackets."
The changes startled many coaches who found their potential quarterfinal opponents had changed.
"Speechless," one coach of a top-10 Class AAAAA team told GHSF Daily. "Haven't those brackets been published since July?"
The problem with the brackets was that it put the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds from regions 1 and 6 on the same side of the draw. Regions should have their Nos. 1 and 4 teams (and Nos. 2 and 3) on the same side.
-- Produced by The Georgia High School Football Daily Staff
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