Deep dive at No. 1 vs. No. 4 playoff results

Five times area teams have been involved in a first-round upset

A little more than a decade ago, the UIL introduced the fourth playoff team in Class 2A districts and above. The highest classes (then called 5A and 4A) already had started this trend, but in 2013 it trickled down to the rest of the 11-man programs.

There was instant some outrage about “watering down the playoffs.” After all, six-team (and even five-team) district sizes are in abundance at the smaller levels.

But it also got rid of first-round byes for district winners at the then-Class 2A/1A level. Unless your team suffered from an injury bug, you didn’t want to stay idle during bi-district while your second-round opponent collected a win.

This week we’ve got three district champs playing four seeds (Graham, Holliday, Windthorst), while Iowa Park (vs. Jim Ned), Petrolia (vs. Wellington) and Quanah (vs. Windthorst) are the area’s four seeds hoping to pull off upsets.

The No. 1 seed vs. No. 4 seed playoff matchup has delivered plenty of blowouts in the past 11 seasons. Fifty-five of the 67 games involving area teams (82.1 percent) have been decided by 20 points or more (sometimes it’s a lot more).

But five times the four seed has pulled off the upset. Three area schools have lost in the first round as district champs, while two area four-seeds have picked off No. 1 seeds. Here are those five games and a look at some close calls.

AREA UPSETS

2015: Windthorst 34, Forsan 12 (2A Division I): The Trojans weren’t your typical four seed. They were in a difficult district with Hawley, Stamford and Anson, losing to those three teams to end the regular season (Hawley and Stamford won 10 games that year). Forsan was a seven-point favorite on pigskinprep.com, but it had played only one school with a winning record. Windthorst led 21-6 at halftime and put the game away with two third-quarter TDs, picking off four Forsan passes in the process.