WATCH: Utah high schools have bizarre 3-way play-in game to decide who gets playoff berth
By Adam Spencer
Published:
It Utah, there was an interesting situation heading into the 5A playoffs — three teams were tied for one of the spots.
So, they came up with a unique solution — all three teams would play each other in one game. Yes, you read that right — one game, three teams.
As you can see in the highlights below, Murray took down West in the first half of the game, meaning they advanced to play Skyline in the second half. That half needed to go to overtime, but Murray eventually emerged victorious there:
Murray and Maple Mountain secure final @UHSAAinfo 5A football playoff spots by winning region play-in games Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/XtuzuE7aEO
— Jeremiah Jensen (@JeremiahJensen) October 24, 2018
According to Jensen, who tweeted the above highlight, the teams that play in the first half are the two teams that lose a coin flip. The winner of the coin flip plays in the second half.
As someone who covered Utah high school sports for four years, I don’t remember this ever happening. However, this does seem like a fairer way to decide who makes the playoffs than leaving the results up solely to the coin flip, as chronicled in the popular movie “Friday Night Lights.”
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
