Class A Playoff Format

[A - Football Fan]

There is a new playoff format in Class A football. First round games are played within the region. Number one against number four, number two against number three. Each region is guaranteed two teams to advance to the second round of the playoffs. NDHSAA says this is to cut down on the travel costs for schools and try to build fan base in those opening round games by keeping the games closer to their home schools.

Some of the thought I agree with but others I do not. Example: I believe it is Region 3 that has Harvey, North Prairie, Velva and New Rockford Sheyenne. That region is loaded with good teams. Automatically two of those teams will be eliminated in the first round. Whereas teams from region 4 which may or may not, be as tough will face each other. I say let regions play across other regions. If not make it a top two in the region move on to the playoffs because that is the long and short of how they are doing it right now.

Anyway, I just thought I would throw that out there and let those who are intersted in this to voice their opinion on the subject.

[ndfan]

[user=1147]A - Football Fan[/user] wrote:

There is a new playoff format in Class A football. First round games are played within the region. Number one against number four, number two against number three. Each region is guaranteed two teams to advance to the second round of the playoffs. NDHSAA says this is to cut down on the travel costs for schools and try to build fan base in those opening round games by keeping the games closer to their home schools.

Some of the thought I agree with but others I do not. Example: I believe it is Region 3 that has Harvey, North Prairie, Velva and New Rockford Sheyenne. That region is loaded with good teams. Automatically two of those teams will be eliminated in the first round. Whereas teams from region 4 which may or may not, be as tough will face each other. I say let regions play across other regions. If not make it a top two in the region move on to the playoffs because that is the long and short of how they are doing it right now.

Anyway, I just thought I would throw that out there and let those who are intersted in this to voice their opinion on the subject.

How do they think they are gonna get a bigger fan base when MPCG who just played Langdon last week and got beat pretty handly and have to go there again the next week you think MORE MPCG fans are gonna drive all that way for that game???? Highly doubt it. Same with Cavalier and Hatton Northwood game they just played 15 days ago. Think of the money these schools have to spend to get those kids up there for this game. Not cheap. All keep saying it and I maybe the only one who believes it is they have this extra game to make more money. I truly believe if your only gonna have SIX teams in a region only TWO should make the playoffs. Sorry for the rant but the NDHSAA disgust me when they do crap like this. I'd rather see region 1 play 2 and region 3 play 4. Most of those teams haven't seen each other yet. just my 2 cents

[rep]

by making the first round an in-region kind of thing, for me anyway, the first question is why even have it?

it makes the regular season quasi-meaningless, which is fairly pointless to me, and in all honesty, you've now got what...four of six teams in a region making the playoffs...that fairly waters down what used to be a significant achievement.

i might go for something where the top three teams make the playoffs, give the top seed a bye and have the 2 and 3 seeds from each region play each other with the winner advancing to play the top seeds from a different region.

but the way it is set up now, i just don't really like it. like that matters though, in two years it'll be different anyway.

[A - Football Fan]

by making the first round an in-region kind of thing, for me anyway, the first question is why even have it?

it makes the regular season quasi-meaningless, which is fairly pointless to me, and in all honesty, you've now got what...four of six teams in a region making the playoffs...that fairly waters down what used to be a significant achievement.

i might go for something where the top three teams make the playoffs, give the top seed a bye and have the 2 and 3 seeds from each region play each other with the winner advancing to play the top seeds from a different region.

but the way it is set up now, i just don't really like it. like that matters though, in two years it'll be different anyway.

I like the top two or three with a bye format that you mention. I agree, it is a bit watered down when four out of six make the playoffs. NDHSAA just seems to make decisions without thinking about the consequences. The funny thing is, that class A is the only class that went to this format....... what are they trying to say here?

[mike thingstad]

We had it that way at one time where the #1 recieved a bye, but a lot of coaches didn't like this because they would not have a game for two weeks, but there were more teams. It was perposed to have three for class a but coaches wanted 4. in my opinion NDHSAA got even with the change by going inregion. i think most coaches would rather have they bye then inregion.

[rep]

it is an interesting trade off...get time to rest up and get healthy, but be faced with the possibility of getting just a touch rusty while the teams you are likely playing are faced with being knicked up a bit but likely still being game-sharp.

tough call.

[Bison Rule]

I think this years playoff format is TERRIBLE.  Why would anyone want a system where there is even a chance you would have to play the same team two weeks in a row.  The strong regions are getting penalized and the weak regions are getting rewarded.  Advancement into the next round should be EARNED, not GRANTED, just because you play in a weak region.  The argument for less travel distance is weak at best.  Where ever you go in the playoffs, its a significant distance.  How much does it matter if you have to drive 80 miles, or a 110.  Change it back to what it had been the last few years. 

[TIMJACKSON]

I think this years playoff format is TERRIBLE.  Why would anyone want a system where there is even a chance you would have to play the same team two weeks in a row.  The strong regions are getting penalized and the weak regions are getting rewarded.  Advancement into the next round should be EARNED, not GRANTED, just because you play in a weak region.  The argument for less travel distance is weak at best.  Where ever you go in the playoffs, its a significant distance.  How much does it matter if you have to drive 80 miles, or a 110.  Change it back to what it had been the last few years. 

I absolutely agree with this.  I have never seen such a shoddy playoff system in place anywhere.  The travel wouldn't be that different for a game against another region as to play ones within.  And it does help some of the regions push people through as if you have a very weak region you can have two people move on farther than they probably should have in the first place.  I believe a system like the 9 man one is better off, so then no team has two weeks off between games and the teams with the best records get a deserved game off for their accomplishments during the season. 

[89Dragon]

Tis a shame the playoff's are in a West vs West and East Vs East Format.

[toughregion2]

leave it up to the ndhsaa to mess it up.  Two years ago North Border and Langdon were put in a west region in 11 man.  They had to travel to Garrison 270 mile away and killdeer 375 miles away.  The weird thing was that cavalier, grafton, hatton nw ect were in the area region.  Made no sense to me

[Wombat]

For some of the teams the travel wouldn't be much different... But it's 4-5 hours from Cavalier to Linton, 3-4 hours from cavalier to lisbon... That's a big difference from 40 minutes to langdon, 1 hour to larimore, less than 2 hours to MPCG or Hatton...

But I agree with NDFan 100%, I don't know how many MPCG fans made the trip to Langdon, but I was at the Cavalier/Hatton-Northwood game and I have serious doubts that hatton/northwood had more than 100 fans there. I know Northwood was having a big volunteer weekend again this past weekend that may have had some influence on this, but the cavalier side looked very small compared to the crowds I have seen there before.

[7-11]

With only 24 teams in the Class, you are getting 2-win teams in the playoffs.  But 9-man early playoff scores have big spreads too.   Part of that in Class A is that some of the less competitive teams went to 9-man districts rather than co-op so the wins didn't come easy, and some schools in the remaining teams in A scheduled tougher games across regions while others took the lesser talented teams.  Region 2 is down this year, from almost every team.  But two years ago, NB was in Harvey's region and went to Killdeer and gave them a good game.  Larimore (#4 seed in Region 2) went to #1 Linton, and knocked them off.  Last year was more predictable, and this year even more so up to now.  All of the 1 and 2s advanced in their own region.    So we're probably seeing a decrease in overall competition for at least a period of time.  With declining enrollments all around, maybe it isn't a temporary situation.  Where would the North Prairie teams be this year if they had stayed 9-man?  One would have been competitive, and the other probably not.  I'd rather see the cross-region competition, and then the stronger region teams should make it higher in the playoffs.  It wasn't unusual to see 3 teams from one strong region get to the quarterfinals in past years.   It doesn't add to the popularity to see a MPCG team turn around a week later and get beat again by a Langdon.  It seems like the NDHSAA is moving towards a Class AAA/AA format with the Class A reduction where there will be an East vs. West regions.  If they do, you're back to maybe 8 teams in the playoffs anyway.  No matter what, someone will not be happy.

[GRIDIRON GURU]

The playoff format for "A" this year is trickey, I do not like it, but the same teams will end up in the final four either way you look at it. The biggest shame is that New Rockford had to play Harvey. New Rockford had a great season and was robbed of a couple playoff games.

 

 

[Wombat]

What's the difference if you play 9 regular season games and maybe get to schedule one more team that you may be competitive with and then 3 rounds of playoffs (that includes the title game) or if you have 8 regular season games and an extra round of playoffs where the first round games are all blowouts?.... I"d rather see a competitive regular season game than a blowout first round playoff game between 2 teams who have already played!

I disagree with the same 4 teams ending up where they are now... in the East MPCG beat Linton... in the old format Hatton Northwood would have played Linton in the first round and Hatton Northwood beat MPCG throughout the year. I think the North-East region would have had a good shot of having 3 and maybe even that 4th team advance to the second round this year. I think Lisbon probably would have won, but it would have been a better game probably than the 20 pt. loss to langdon.  I know there were lots of times when I played in AA that one of the regions 3 seed knocked off the other regions 2 seeds. Heck I was part of a team that was a 1 seed that ended up getting beat in the first round by the other regions 4 seed.

[Wombat]

Now I just thought of another question...

How many times has a team lost to someone in the regular season and then beaten them in the playoffs? Did it happen in the west this year cuzz the east was 4 for 4 in repeat wins. I can't think of any times this has happened, i'm sure it has but it's rare.

[89Dragon]

This year, had the East and West Regions been mixed, a No. 4 seed very well could have beat a number 1 seed. S-NR/Langdon is one example.  So are we truely getting the best in the championship?  This year I would say not.

[Bluecoach]

I agree that the intra region format is not the best scenario.  As far as getting the best teams in the state to the championship that will be an issue most years unless teams are somehow seeded.  In recent years the west has dominated the Dakota bowl and specifically Region 3.  The championship team has come out of Region every year since 1999.  Harvey was the last east team to win in 98 over Stanley.  Harvey of course is now in Region 3 so the streak may continue.  How many times did Velva and Stanley lock up in the quarters or semi's resulting in a slugfest where whoever survived that game went on to win the title. 

[A - Football Fan]

Now I just thought of another question...

How many times has a team lost to someone in the regular season and then beaten them in the playoffs? Did it happen in the west this year cuzz the east was 4 for 4 in repeat wins. I can't think of any times this has happened, i'm sure it has but it's rare.

I know that a few years ago Velva made one of their runs for a title by going to Hettinger, Stanley, and then I think Renville County. The lost to both Stanley and Renville County in the regular season and then won in the playoffs to make the Championship against either Lamoure or Larimore. Not to mention that back in the earlier years of "Class A" Velva and Stanley always seemed to trade blows with one winning in regular season and one winning in playoffs when they faced each other. I'm sure that Velva is not the only team to do it though.

[A - Football Fan]

Unfortunately for New Rockford they were the number four seed in Region 3, so if the playoff format would have been the same as in previous years they would have gone to Killdeer to face another tough team. That is the worst part about being number four in a region, you have a tall task of facing the number one somewhere. I will not disagree, New Rockford had one heck of a team this year. They gave Harvey more than they wanted or were expecting in the first round. 10-0 against Harvey this year is pretty respectible. The thing that suprises me the most about New Rockford is how they seem to come up with great sports year in and year out and if you have ever been to the town it doesn't seem like there is much there. That's pretty darn cool.

[coachu]

I know most coaches weren't in favor of this format.  Region 3 does look very strong this year, but I know Langdon is a much improved team from the beginning of the year.  They have got a couple new line starters from Munich that have made a HUGE difference in their team, especially the offense they run.  Alot of the results are based on how teams match up and turnovers.  Langdon had alot of new linemen who were just getting their feet wet at the beginning of the year.  It would be pretty much impossible to seed the playoffs fairly because there aren't alot of common opponents and every week its a whole new game.  Injuries, officiating or lack of, eligibility issues, weather also play a big factor.  It doesn't hurt to have a little luck on your side also.  State Basketball and Baseball don't always have the True Championship game on Saturday night, but if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best somewhere along the way.

[21]

Velva played Williams Co. not Renville Co. in 2004 but you were close lol