Some 4A Playoff questions answered

[Rebel-Fan-74]

From the AAAA Handbook @ http://www.schsl.org

The top four (4) eligible teams from Regions I, II, & III and the top three (3) eligible teams from Regions IV, V, VI, VII, & VIII will advance to the AAAA playoffs. Five (5) additional “at large” teams will also be selected to complete the thirty-two (32) teams that will advance to the AAAA State playoffs. The five (5) “at large” teams will be selected using the points system currently used by AAAA. Each team will be given two (2) “mark offs” and the number of Big 16 teams is not limited. The sixteen (16) largest schools by enrollment from the most recent available data of 135-ADM (2012-2013) will be considered Big 16 in determining points for the “Point System” on a yearly basis.

After the thirty-two (32) teams are selected, the sixteen largest schools by enrollment of the thirty-two selected will compete for the Division I State Championship. In the event there is a tie for the last positions within these 16, the previous 45-ADM (2012-2013) will be used for the effected schools only. If this does not resolve the tie the previous year’s 135-ADM (2011-2012) will be used. The remaining sixteen schools will be the Division II and compete for the Division II State Championship. If there is a tie within a particular region or seeding for the 1st, 2nd, and/or 3rd place qualifiers the “Points System” will be used to break the tie if head-to-head competition does not break the tie.

This answers many questions in just these two paragraphs.

RED = what if there is a three way tie for Region Champs? Use the AAAA Points System

How many Automatic Bids per Region?

How many AT LARGE teams?

Who goes into which bracket?

Do you count every game?

Next is the point system and the tie-breaker rules....

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Out-of-state teams will be counted the same as South Carolina teams if the classification is also AAAA. If it is not, they will be classified by enrollment and placed in the proper point category by the South Carolina High School League standards.

Private schools, who are not members of the High School League, will be classified by enrollment and placed in the proper point category

So every game is worth "points" toward your playoff seeding. Important to note that Week 11 for AAAA is Week One of the playoffs for A, AA, and AAA and yes, those games determine if a 5-5 team will have a winning record (6-5 or 5-6.... 5-5 is NOT a winning record)

Those points are:

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Tie Breaking Procedure:

1. If two teams are tied in the point system and the two teams played, the head-to-head winner will get the top seed. If there is a three-way tie and one team beats the other two teams, the winner will get the top seed. Also, if there are more teams tied for a particular seed, the point system will be used to seed the team. Seeds will be filled one at a time and the process will start back at the top of the point system.

2. The team whose opponents have the most victories (all games except mark off).

3. The team whose opponents have the fewest defeats (all games except mark off) will receive the top seeding.

4. Start back at the first step of the point system but include the mark off game. In a situation where the two teams have played a different number of games (11 or 10), the team playing eleven games will include the one (1) mark off that maximizes points. If both teams played the same number of games, then all mark offs will be added back before totaling points.

If not resolved by above method, it will be resolved by a coin toss supervised by the Football Committee.

NOTE: If you have a Three Way Tie and you break that tie, the resulting tie could be setted by head to head.

Example of how this could be used this season: Dutch Fork, Lexington and North Augusta could all be tied with one loss in Region Five. For the sake of this example, DF beat LEX, LEX beat NA, NA beat DF. Points: NA37.0, Lex 36.5, DF 36.0

The three way tie would be broken by points giving North Augusta the Region V #1 bid {based on the 37.0 points}, while Dutch Fork beat Lexington head to head so they get second bid regardless of the points earned.

[trojangrad78]

As always, a thorough, clear, and concise post covering the playoff system.

THANKS!!!!!!

[DeCav]

We should consider bundling this with a couple of other posts on this topic and putting them in the "Resources" or "FAQ" section as stickies.

[bruindad79]

We should consider bundling this with a couple of other posts on this topic and putting them in the "Resources" or "FAQ" section as stickies.

I completely agree

[Rebel-Fan-74]

If there are other questions, post them here. If I know where to get the answer I'll share, if I don't know, I'll tell you that I don't know. Unlike some folks, I don't mind admitting that I dont' know everything there is to know. I've been married over 32 years, I'm used to being wrong!

[SF Band dad]

There was a question about which enrollment numbers should be used for bracket seeding. The ones used for the current alignment (2012-2013 135-ADM) or the most recent available (2014-2015 135-ADM)

From page 40 of this year's SCHSL 4A Handbook:

• The top four (4) eligible teams from Regions I, II, & III and the top three (3) eligible teams from Regions IV, V, VI, VII, & VIII will advance to the AAAA playoffs. Five (5) additional “at large” teams will also be selected to complete the thirty-two (32) teams that will advance to the AAAA State playoffs. The five (5) “at large” teams will be selected using the points system currently used by AAAA. Each team will be given two (2) “mark offs” and the number of Big 16 teams is not limited. The sixteen (16) largest schools by enrollment from the most recent available data of 135-ADM (2014- 2015) will be considered Big 16 in determining points for the “Point System” on a yearly basis.
  
  After the thirty-two (32) teams are selected, the sixteen largest schools by enrollment of the thirty-two selected will compete for the Division I State Championship. In the event there is a tie for the last positions within these 16, the previous 45-ADM (2014-2015) will be used for the effected schools only. If this does not resolve the tie the previous year’s 135-ADM (2013-2014) will be used. The remaining sixteen schools will be the Division II and compete for the Division II State Championship. If there is a tie within a particular region or seeding for the 1st, 2nd, and/or 3rd place qualifiers the “Points System” will be used to break the tie if head-to-head competition does not break the tie.

[gamecocksfootball62]

SF or EHS seeing as it looks like Spartanburg and NW are headed to D2 what teams in The Big 16 could probably give the Rebels a good game? From what the coaches are telling us we will either play Mauldin or BS in the first round. I'm not looking past those teams, but I just thought maybe Sumter could give us a good run. Give me your thoughts gurus

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Our most likely visitors for Round One are White Knoll or Gaffney, but there are a few other potential match ups, but I don't see Boiling Springs or Mauldin as round one match ups... I think Dorman -vs- Mauldin or Dorman -vs- Boiling Springs can happen with the Mauldin match up being most likely should the Bulldogs win, giving them a trip to Hillcrest.

As for the Second Round, a trip to Sumter is the most likely destination, should we both advance. If seeds hold true, the winner of the Sumter -vs- Byrnes would face a trip to Dutch Fork, or host Hillcrest should they beat Dutch Fork again....