Alex Rychwalski | Neutral sites? Not for us

May 27—For the first time in years, a Western Maryland Athletic Conference team played at a "neutral site" on Tuesday.

Sure, teams out west have played in a dozen games over that span that the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association has designated as neutral site contests.

The games are intended to be played at locations that give no team a competitive advantage, but for the first time Tuesday, one of our teams wasn't making a much further trip than its opponent.

Miraculously, Northern and Colonel Richardson were equidistant from McCurdy Field for Tuesday's Class 1A state semifinal baseball game, with both programs traveling 124 miles, or two hours by car.

Not only was this an uncommon occurrence, it's unheard of, and the data backs it up.

In wrestling, boys and girls soccer and boys and girls basketball, such neutral site bouts are played at high schools. Volleyball semifinals were previously held at Harford Community College, but they were moved to high schools this school year.

Baseball semis take place at Shirley Povich Field (Rockville), Joe Cannon Stadium (Hanover), Regency Furniture Stadium (Waldorf) and McCurdy Field (Frederick).

Softball semis are held at the Bachman Sports Complex in Glen Burnie.

Since the beginning of the 2021 fall season, there have been 224 participants in neutral site semifinals across the state, not including lacrosse, which hasn't made its way to Western Maryland yet.

There have been 12 such teams hailing from the WestMAC to compete at that stage with an average commute of 141 miles — a staggering, but unsurprising, 89 miles further than the state average.

Just within Class 1A, of the 56 teams to compete in neutral site semifinals, WestMAC participants boast 12 of the 13 furthest commutes.

Northern holds the record for the state's longest trip over the last two years, making a 197-mile trek to North Point High School for the wrestling semifinals/finals the past two years.

The "shortest" trip by one of our five public schools was made by Allegany in the 2022 Class 1A baseball semifinals, a mere 93.4-mile trek to McCurdy Field.

Its opponent, Clear Spring, traveled just 39 miles for that game.

Even expanded to all of Maryland's four classes, all 12 of the WestMAC semifinal participants were among the 25 furthest trips. Remember, there are more than 200 schools total to have made it that far since 2021.

The state may call them "neutral sites," but they're not for us.

Just because a game isn't played at a team's home field, it doesn't mean there isn't a competitive advantage.

To pour salt on the wound, six teams have hosted semifinals: Winston Churchill and Arundel (volleyball), Montgomery Blair and Crofton (girls soccer), Montgomery Blair (boys soccer) and North Point (wrestling).

Those across the Potomac River in Frankfort territory know all too well the shenanigans that exist in such "neutral site" designations.

In West Virginia's Class AA, Region II, Section 1, section finals are played at whichever of the section's three teams doesn't make the championship game. In a section of Frankfort, Moorefield and Petersburg, the Falcons are usually in that game.

That means that the section final is almost always played at Moorefield or Petersburg high schools — far closer to whoever Frankfort plays, and the crowds often reflect that.

Elderly fans have a much harder time making the hour-plus commute, so imagine how inconvenient the 120-mile, two-plus-hour trips are that Maryland schools regularly make in the semifinals — just to play a school that's making a half-hour drive.

Yet, Western Maryland teams have consistent fan participation at these games.

I counted well more than 100 Mountain Ridge supporters at the beginning of its girls basketball semifinal at Richard Montgomery last year, and I was sitting among 18 Forest Park supporters.

Maybe that's part of the problem. The state doesn't see a need to accommodate the far reaches of Maryland because fans out west always show up in droves.

I'm aware that there aren't many possible sites west of Frederick, but maybe throw us a bone and give us Hagerstown one time?

The MPSSAA clearly believes that Frederick is Western Maryland, as much of the state does. Montgomery County, meanwhile, is considered "west" when looking at the basketball neutral site locations.

But I assure you, Hagerstown, "just" 60 miles from Cumberland, would not be too far west.

The distance from Stephen Decatur High School, located eight miles west of Ocean City, and Hagerstown is 203 miles.

How far did Dave Taylor's Southern wrestling team travel to North Point when it won duels titles in 2018, '19 and '20? A mere 192 miles.

There is also precedence for holding state events west of Frederick County.

Mike Calhoun's Fort Hill Sentinels took on Dunbar at South Hagerstown High for the Class 2A title in 1994, a 30-15 Dunbar win before an estimated 10,000 red-clad fans.

Or, here's an idea, why not just do what football does at the semifinal round?

If you're not going to hold semifinal games in stadiums and arenas as West Virginia does, and you're playing them at high schools anyway, just play them at the site of the higher seed.

And before someone says baseball does play semifinals in stadiums, please, I beg you, do not compare McCurdy Field to the sites the classes other than 1A are given — a minor league park and two college facilities.

I'm sure it was quite nice back in 1936, but in comparison to the beautiful park all of West Virginia's semifinals and championship games are played in at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, McCurdy Field is hardly a reward.

I still have the splinters in my rear end from McCurdy's wooden bleachers to prove it.

Anyway, back on topic, with the not-so-neutral sites, there is no advantage to exiting regional play as the No. 1 seed in any sport other than football.

If travel is the issue, why isn't it an issue in football, when teams are sent up here as fodder for Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge on cold November nights?

Fort Hill captured the top seed in boys basketball this year, and its reward was traveling 117 miles to play Edmondson at Richard Montgomery, 80 miles further than its opponent.

Edmondson High School is 67 miles from Hagerstown. Food for thought.

The reality is this, the MPSSAA does not have an anti-Western Maryland bias. It doesn't.

To have a bias, you have to pay something at least a fraction of attention.

The MPSSAA has a bias for laziness, and it has a bias for whatever will make the cheapest dollar.

I hate to keep going back to what West Virginia has going on, but that state consistently makes decisions that produce the best state tournament products imaginable.

Sure, the regional setups are just as shoddy as ours, but their state tournaments are held to honor their young athletes.

Maryland's are designed to finish as fast as humanly possible.

Revel in the coincidence of the Northern and Colonel Richardson neutral site, because it was only that. A coincidence.

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.