Western Mass. high school football playoffs expanded to 16 teams
by Russ Held, The Republican
Wednesday October 29, 2008, 5:04 PM
The Republican file photo/CHRISTOPHER EVANSLongmeadow's Niko Sierra carries the ball and Minnechaug's Anthony Daniel wants to stop him during their recent game.By RUSS HELD
rheld@repub.com
Sweet 16 it is.
The high school football playoff system in Western Massachusetts will expand to 16 teams for the 2009 and 2010 fall seasons.
Word became official Wednesday when a proposal from Western Massachusetts schools was approved by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association's state football committee.
The structure and format were approved, but the process and criteria for seeding teams was not made official.
"We have some work to do on the power rankings, how teams are seeded if they are not league champions,'' said Dave King, athletic director at Athol, the region's chair school. "It was mandated that our realignment was taken care of today, so we asked for approval of what had to be done.
"With the power rankings, we didn't want to move too fast and not be smart about something before we locked that part in. We'd probably be looking at having that ready for the MIAA's January/February meeting.''
The region's 42 teams, including Berkshire County, were aligned into four divisions of 10 or 11 teams.
Champions of the region's five leagues receive an automatic qualifying bid in their respective division. The remaining 11 teams will be selected and seeded through power rankings, typically based on wins and strength of schedule
The playoff bracket format will match the No. 1 seed against the No. 4 seed in each division. That winner would advance to play the Nos. 2 vs. 3 seed game winner.
The eight semifinal games are planned for the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, with Super Bowl championships decided on the traditional first Saturday in December. All games would be played at Western Massachusetts sites.
Divisional alignment, used solely for postseason purposes, was devised by Western Mass. administrators and was based on student enrollment figures and strength and success of programs.
Division I will be aligned as follows: Agawam, Central, Chicopee, Chicopee Comp, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Minnechaug, Northampton, Westfield and West Springfield. It represents all eight AA Conference teams and Suburban League programs from Chicopee, Chicopee Comp and West Springfield.
Division II has a mix of four current leagues. Suburban League teams Commerce, East Longmeadow, Ludlow and South Hadley and Amherst from the AA Conference will be joined by Putnam and Sci-Tech from the Intercounty League. Berkshire County schools Hoosac Valley, Pittsfield, Taconic and Wahconah round out the 11 team division.
In Division III, Intercounty League teams Athol, Belchertown, Frontier, Greenfield and Mahar will mix with Cathedral from the Suburban and Berkshire County's Drury, Lee, Monument Mountain, Mount Greylock and St. Joseph-Central.
Division IV consists of Dean Tech, Easthampton, Franklin Tech, McCann Tech, Palmer, Pathfinder, Pioneer Valley, and Ware from the Tri-County League and Mohawk and Turners Falls from the Intercounty.
Under the current league alignment, some divisions could have as few as one, or as many as four, league champions as qualifiers.
Ties for league championships would be decided first by head-to-head record, and then by power rankings.
Leagues in all sports are eligible for alignment changes prior to the 2009-10 seasons.
"We will start looking at league re-alignment after the postseason coaches meeting Dec. 8 and we'll work on that during the winter months,'' King said.
A committee of athletic directors and principals from Western Massachusetts high schools voted in approval of the 16-team format two weeks ago.
The proposal from Western Mass. was made necessary when Central Massachusetts teams voted in September to play their own playoff system after the 2008 playoffs.
The current format, in existence for the last 12 years, includes 11 Western Mass. teams, 10 of which will compete in five divisional playoff games Tuesday, Dec. 2. Those winners and a predetermined Berkshire County League champion advance to the Super Bowl games against Central Mass. foes Dec. 6.
