I served on high school football staff for 30 years.....I go back to the days when high school bowl games across the state were something. There were some great bowls with great matchups. You might have two 9-1 teams playing each other. This was way before the days if you could fog a mirror you made the playoffs. Many years you could lose 1 or 2 games and miss the playoffs.....
Back in those days you had a lot of schools across the state happy due to winning their bowl game....In the playoffs back in those days you didn't have many end the season happy.