MIAA Tournament Management Committee reduces margin of victory component

FRANKLIN  — This won’t completely pacify those who detest the margin of victory component in determining the MIAA power rankings formula, but Thursday’s unanimous decision by the MIAA Tournament Management Committee to reduce the maximum MOV from 10 to 7 was applauded as a step in the right direction.

At the prodding of lacrosse coaches throughout the state, the TMC briefly sought opinions from committee members representing the various districts. While Wellesley athletic director John Brown said the members of District 9 are against any MOV component, many others in the meeting said the majority of schools in their district were fine with a six- or seven-goal MOV.

The MOV vote was one of two taken during the hour-long meeting at the MIAA’s Franklin headquarters, the other being forfeited contests. Concerned with the effect that a forfeited contest has on many other teams, MIAA assistant director Jim Clark suggested that any forfeited game be removed from the original rankings and added in after the fact so that the only teams affected would be the team benefitting from the forfeit and the team who actually forfeits.

Clark pointed out a situation where a baseball forfeit last year affected teams in all five divisions. He said one such forfeit affected the final power ranking positions for exactly 10 percent (32 out of 320) of all MIAA baseball teams for the 2023 season.

After giving its approval for all of the spring sports (outdoor track, volleyball, team tennis, softball, rugby, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse, golf and baseball), the TMC weighed in on the recent court injunction allowing the Oliver Ames boys basketball to participate in the MIAA Division 2 state tournament after the school’s clerical error resulted in the Tigers being left out of the original tournament draw.

The court decision forced the MIAA to reseed the Div. 2 field, resulting in 19 teams being moved around. Plymouth South was on its way to a preliminary round game in Agawam when it learned that it would not be playing the Brownies, but Burncoat instead.

Another school which paid the price was Melrose. Because the division was reseeded, Melrose wound up playing Marblehead a day later. As fate would have it, a leaky roof on the day of the newly rescheduled game results in the Red Raiders having to “host” Marblehead at nearby Stoneham High School.

Many of the committee members expressed disappointment over the court decision. They felt this essentially opens the doors down the road for others to display a more cavalier attitude towards the MIAA Rule Book.