Shawn Jansen: Trouble fillin' schedules

It's almost panic time for Rob Scheidt.

The Merced football coach has stared at the same two schools on his white board for the past couple months.

So far, Clovis West and Fresno Edison are the only two schools on Merced's 2010 nonconference schedule.

Scheidt still needs to find three more games and feels the Sac-Joaquin Section's new football playoff format has made it more difficult to schedule games.

"It's killing us," Scheidt said. "We can't find anyone locally who wants to play us. We may have to schedule out of section or totally out of the area.

"The playoff system is not conducive to scheduling up."

Like the old playoff system, the new format awards the top two teams in the Central California Conference with automatic playoff spots.

Other CCC teams can also qualify for the playoffs if they can pick up enough wins.

Pitman and Buhach Colony both earned at-large berths last year.

That magic number appears to be six wins.

Who you beat doesn't really matter.

So it would only make sense some teams would avoid scheduling strong opponents.

That's why a team like Merced is having a hard time finding games.

Nobody really looks at Merced as the 4-6 team from last year.

Merced is a victim of its own success.

It's no secret Merced is returning a lot of players next year and Merced also compiled a 42-7 record in the previous four seasons before last year's hiccup.

Why schedule Merced when you can go play a Modesto Metro Conference school?

Why schedule a possible loss and hurt your chances of making the playoffs?

Merced's not alone.

Buhach Colony returns a lot of talent and has had a tough time filling out its schedule.

Buhach Colony has games scheduled against Enochs, Hilmar and Clovis East and has penciled in a game against Sacramento Christian Brothers.

Buhach Colony is still searching for one more game.

"Our schedule last year was decent, but we wanted to upgrade," BC coach Kevin Swartwood said. "We ran into a buzzsaw in the playoffs in St. Mary's and we weren't ready for them.

"We weren't looking just to get our six wins and make the playoffs. We've already done that."

Both Merced and BC have tried to get Los Banos, which is leaving the CCC for the Western Athletic Conference next season, on the schedule.

However, Los Banos coach Dennis Stubbs is still holding out hope of scheduling a Division III playoff caliber team.

So far he's had no luck.

Stubbs' search is even more difficult because he's looking for a one-year contract with a team that will travel to Los Banos.

"We're in a different situation because we're going down in division and we're having a hard time finding teams down in division to play us," Stubbs said. "You don't see everyone going out to play the top competition.

"People want to reach those six wins and have a chance in the playoffs. That's a big part of it.

"I don't know if I would go out and schedule St. Mary's and Tracy like we did if I had it to do all over again. It's all about making the playoffs and I don't know that scheduling St. Mary's and Tracy would have been the best way."

Scheidt would like to avoid the type of nonconference schedule his team faced last year, which featured two eventual section champions in Edison and Fresno Bullard and left Merced with an 0-4 start to the season.

"Honestly, I wouldn't purposely do that again," Scheidt said. "But we'll probably be forced to do something like that.

"They are the only teams willing to play us."