Less than a year ago, Jay Ball stood in Memorial Stadium, beaming as his Omaha Central Eagles celebrated their Class A state high school football championship.

Certainly, there were some outstanding players to replace this fall, but Ball and other Class A coaches thought Central would be a contender.

Instead, the Eagles have struggled, losing all six games. Central suffered narrow losses to Grand Island and Creighton Prep, both rated, but has lost by an average of 25.5 points in the other four games.

“If you had told me this would happen two months ago, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Ball said.  “It’s been one of those years. We haven’t caught any breaks.”

There are factors beyond the control of coaches, particularly the schedule and injuries. Four of Central’s opponents this year are rated and the other two are or have been contenders.

“We’ve had a few injuries that hurt us, even before the season started,” Ball said. “We didn’t have any last year, but it caught up to us. It hasn’t been our year.”

When expectations are high and the results don’t come close, that may be a coach’s most difficult situation. How hard do you work the kids? Is there a fine line for constructive criticism?

“It’s hard. As a coach, you do some soul-searching,” Ball said. “My only answer is that you just have to keep working, keep trying. You tell the kids they have to buck up and try to get better.”

Does that translate into a different practice regimen or emphasis?

“You tend to say, ‘What can we do differently?’What can we do better during practice or in games?’ You evaluate the things you’ve done,” Ball said. “When it’s going as bad as this, you tend to evaluate the whole year, even the offseason work.”

Ball said the pressure of being the defending champion can take a toll.

“Sometimes when kids get put in positions of a little more pressure, things don’t work out that well,” he said. “We’re not done with this season. Technically, we’re still not out of it.”

It will be an uphill climb. Central is in District A-3 along with No. 2 Millard West, fifth-ranked Omaha Westside, ratings contender Papillion-La Vista, and   Bellevue East and Omaha Bryan.

Things haven’t gone much better for Millard North, the state runner-up last year. The Mustangs also had a solid nucleus returning, including all-stater Nick Failla at quarterback.

But Millard North is just 2-4, with all four losses coming to rated teams. Their wins are against a pair of teams with a combined record of 1-11. Like Central, the Mustangs aren’t eliminated from playoff contention, but must contend with No. 4 Papillion-La Vista South, No. 6 Omaha North, No. 8 Bellevue West and No. 9 Omaha Burke in District A-4.

District reshuffle?

This year reinforces the idea that the Nebraska School Activities Association needs to review the policy on placing teams in districts in Class A. The current method places the 16 teams that belong to the Metro Conference in three districts, with the other 12 Class A teams divided into two districts.

The top three teams in each of the five districts qualify for the playoffs, along with the best fourth-place team.

That means every year two of those Metro districts have just five teams. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it’s easier to finish third in a five-team district than in a six-teamer.

Some fuel to add to the redistricting fire is the woeful state of one of those Metro districts. Top-ranked Creighton Prep and No. 10 Millard South are joined by Omaha Northwest, Omaha Benson and Omaha South, each of whom was winless through the first five games.

Northwest just beat South, but it is conceivable that each of those three teams could finish with one win and a tiebreaker would determine which team qualifies. Or rather, which one would be the sacrificial lamb for the top-seeded team, which at this point looks to be Creighton Prep.

With gas prices what they are, it’s difficult to pitch additional travel. But if schools and their booster clubs would get on board, it wouldn’t have to be that painful.

Enrollment in Class A isn’t always a barometer of success. A far better plan would be to figure a three-year wild-card average and then serpentine the teams into the five districts. In basketball, the NSAA took the step last year to serpentine teams into districts based on the current-year wild-card average. The top teams had the best percentage to qualify for state, but it didn’t preclude a team from getting hot and winning the district title and a state berth.

A version of that plan may never happen in football, but there is certainly no reason that the advantage of having just five teams in a district should always be in the Metro.

Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com