In 1971, the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) introduced the Harbin computer ratings to the football landscape. The ratings were released on a weekly basis, but used only as a trial run to determine their future viability.

At the end of the ’71 season, Warren G. Harding finished second in its region behind Parma in the final computer poll. However, the Panthers were crowned state champs by the Associated Press Poll — the only ranking that mattered at the time.

One year later, high school football in Ohio changed forever with the introduction of playoff football.

From 1972 on, state champions have been determined by a tournament whose participants are selected via the Harbin ratings. The ratings used to determine playoff qualifiers were developed in 1970 by Jack Harbin, who at the time was a cash register repairman and volunteer coach at Wickliffe High School.

The idea behind Harbin’s system was simple. Teams earned points for each win. They earned additional points for each victory recorded by a defeated opponent. Point values for each school were based on enrollment, with the highest point values given to the largest schools.

The method was designed to objectively reward schools for their success on the gridiron, while placing an emphasis on strength of schedule.

Fifty-two years later, the system used for determining playoff qualifiers remains the same. The formula has been slightly tweaked to account for a divisor for teams which do not play a 10-game schedule. Third-level points — points awarded based on the strength of not just your schedule, but your opponents’ schedule – were eliminated in 1974 (though used today in tie-breaking scenarios). And of course, the number of playoff participants has increased from 12 to 448.

Otherwise, the system developed by Harbin more than half-a-century ago remains intact.

The way Beau Rugg sees it, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Rugg is the Director of Officiating at the OHSAA. He previously served as the organization’s assistant commissioner.

“Our system of determining playoff qualifiers has stood the test of time, and with good reason,” Rugg said. “At the end of every season, when you look at the ratings you’ll see that the teams in the playoffs deserve to be there.

“The combination of earning points for wins and earning points based on strength of schedule has proven to be a good system. Everyone knows going into the season how things work, so there are no surprises. In terms of the formula used for determining the playoff field, everyone is on the same page.”

In 2020, some of the objectivity was removed when the COVID-shortened season allowed for all schools to participate in the playoffs. Rather than use the Harbin system to determine playoff seeding, coaches across the state casted votes in a seeding process similar to other sports.

“Coaches were going crazy, they hated the fact that we couldn’t use the unbiased (Harbin) point system that we’ve grown accustomed to,” Rugg said. “In the end, things worked out for the best, but coaches appreciate the fact that the current system removes the human element when it comes to tournament selection.”

Springfield coach Sean Guerriero has experienced the heartbreak that can be associated with the Harbin ratings. In 2018, his Tigers went 9-1, losing only to McDonald (11-1). Despite the nine wins, they finished ninth in their region, missing the playoffs by less than one-tenth of a point.

The following year Springfield played the exact same schedule and with a 10-0 record they finished first in region 21.

Still, Guerriero believes there is a reason the current system has been in place for more than half-a-century.

“It’s fair, it works and really no one has come up with a better system, which might suggest this is the best one out there,” Guerriero said. “Our region just happened to be extremely strong in 2018, loaded with a lot of really good area teams.

“In a way I think missing out (in 2018) the way we did helped us move forward. Our kids were extremely motivated and determined to not let that happen again.”

In 2019, Springfield advanced to the Division VI state championship game.

Over the years there have been suggestions of altering the current system. Recently a suggested proposal would have awarded points to teams who played a highly-ranked opponent, regardless of outcome. There have also been suggestions of eliminating regions and seeding teams 1-through-64 in each division.

Rugg noted that coaches statewide widely rejected such ideas.

Guerriero says he is of the “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mindset.

“Some suggest that maybe we should get points just for playing up against, say a South Range, but the current system places an emphasis on winning, and that’s a good thing,” Guerriero said. “As far as eliminating regions, that would create a traveling nightmare.

“You look at the college system, and every year it turns into a train wreck. Our current system is objective, it’s fair and with the number of teams now qualifying everyone controls their own destiny.”

Former Warren John F. Kennedy and Twinsburg head coach Dennis Zolciak began his coaching career during an era when a team’s destiny was largely controlled by sportswriters, who collectively voted on and determined state champions. When he was an assistant at JFK from 1970-72, Zolciak says the Eagles’ coaching staff spent Sunday mornings typing letters to sportswriters throughout the state.

“You had to sell your team, you had to get the information out there because otherwise these writers in other parts of the state aren’t familiar with your program,” Zolciak siad. “It must have worked, in 1971 we finished 7-1-2 and we were in the top ten in the state.”

In 1979, Zolciak guided Kennedy to a 10-0 finish, but the Eagles failed to make the playoffs. They finished second in Division III, Region 9 in what was the final year in which just the top finisher in each region qualified for the tournament. The following year JFK went 8-2 and was one of two teams which qualified in region 9.

“You wonder how that 10-0 team could have done, because they did all they could do in the regular season,” Zolciak said. “But that was the system at the time, and what we still have in place today seems to be a pretty fair way of doing things. I don’t think that anyone has come up with a better system. This one works.”

Zolciak noted that history suggests the Harbin ratings offer a much more practical and unbiased method of ranking teams.

“What always stood out to me was the number of state titles that Massillon won prior to the playoffs,” Zolciak said. “Then it took them 51 years to win one on the field. I think it showed the flaws in the old way of doing things.”

Today, all 50 states hold some type of high school football tournament. Qualifications range from winning a league title to owning the best record in your district to a system similar to Ohio’s computer rankings.

Indiana and Missouri allow all of their schools to compete in the playoffs. Illinois uses a combination of league champions and a system similar to Ohio’s computer rankings to fill its tournament field.

In Massachusetts, playoff qualification is based largely on strength of schedule and margin of victory.

In Wyoming home field advantage is based on seeding. Several years ago Upton-Sundance was forced to travel 515 miles to play Cokeville in a state semifinal game.

“Every so often there is talk about maybe tweaking our way of doing things, but in the end, everyone seems very content and satisfied because our current way has always been reliable, it always works,” Rugg said.

The OHSAA tournament field will be announced Oct. 27. The six-week tournament begins Nov. 1.