Coin Flip Puts Bowie In Playoffs

It didn't quite feel like a victory, Bowie Coach Jae Jackson said after his team earned the final berth in the Maryland high school football playoffs. The Bulldogs lost three consecutive games late in the season when one win would have clinched a spot in the postseason. It sounded as if Jackson felt guilty yesterday morning after Bowie won a coin toss to determine the last qualifier for the Maryland 4A South Region playoffs.

"I would rather have extended my week and play Crossland head-to-head to decide what happens," Jackson said. "But the system doesn't let us do that.

"I'm happy for the kids. We're getting a second chance because we blew our first chance. Well, we blew our first three chances."

Among those three losses was a 33-7 defeat to seventh-ranked C.H. Flowers, its opponent in Saturday's region semifinals.

It was a strange situation yesterday morning as coaches and administrators from across the state gathered for their annual pre-tournament meeting. Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association Executive Director Ned Sparks talked for a few minutes about the importance of diligent accounting for gate receipts. Then there was a presentation about hiring and paying game officials as Jackson and Crossland Coach Keith Howard sat in opposite corners of a small conference room at a Laurel hotel.

Then the time came for the toss, and Sparks asked each coach to the front of the room, saying "this is the first time ever" the state had needed to use its final tiebreaker. Both teams finished 7-3, producing the same results against the same schedule.

Sparks pulled Jackson and Howard to a corner and said Bowie would be heads because it is first alphabetically, prompting Jackson -- who prefers to call tails -- to think his team was doomed. As the coin turned end over end and hit the carpet, both coaches peered over to see the result, though Jackson was unsure which side landed face up until Sparks announced, "Heads."

"Tails must never fail when I get to choose it," Jackson said.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed for our players, coaches and the school," Howard said. "We worked so hard. But we wish Bowie good luck. I can't believe we're here flipping a coin to see who moves to the playoffs."

"That's crazy," Jackson said.