D6 Playoff Picture Clear As A Dark Cloudy Night
Before last week, it looked like the Chantilly Chargers were looking at a possible rematch with Robinson, WT Woodson, or South County. Now, suddenly the Chargers are looking at a potential rematch with the Westfield Bulldogs--- as the Bulldogs are looking to secure home field advantage with a four seed.
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TC Williams could find themselves in the playoffs for the first time in a decade if they win Saturday....
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The South County Stallions, currently ranked #14 in the Gameday Power Poll, need a win to hold onto a potential home game in the upcoming Northern Region Playoffs...
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NORTHERN REGION, VA - Every SINGLE game played by a Division 6 Northern Region team the past weekend had PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS! It surely sounds hard to believe BUT--- this will hold true yet again this weekend! Does it get much better than Friday Night Lights come Northern Region Division 6 Playoff season?
The past weekend, who could have possibly seen TC Williams knocking South County from a potential home field advantage in the playoffs? Only last week it appeared that the top four Northern Region D6 teams had all but locked up home field advantages. Chantilly's Chargers were looking at a possible rematch with Robinson, WT Woodson, or South County (all teams that the Chargers held leads in the second half against before tough losses). Now, suddenly the Chargers are looking at a potential rematch with the Westfield Bulldogs--- as the Bulldogs are looking to secure home field advantage with a four seed. That would match the Bulldogs against a five seed, which Chantilly could possibly secure with a victory over this week's rival, the Oakton Cougars. It just doesn't really pay to speculate about playoff match ups until the rating points are calculated from THE FINAL GAME OF THE FINAL REGULAR SEASON'S MATCHUPS.
Which leads me to, if I had a roll of nickels for every time I have been asked "Just how are the playoff ratings calculated", I would need some really big pockets. Virginia's playoff point rating system is determined and calculated by its' governing body, the Virginia High School League (VHSL). The VHSL gives each region the latitude to determine how many teams will be eligible for its Regional championship. For example, the D6 Northwest Region sends six teams to its Regional playoffs (giving the top two seeded teams a bye). Battlefield and Woodbridge look to be locks (careful though with that kind of thinking) for those byes. The past decade the Northern Region made a monumental decision to expand its regional playoff field from four to eight. Give the Northern Region KUDOS for expanding the field to create such excitement and opportunity throughout so many communities in Northern Virginia.
Give the VHSL KUDOS for refining and fine tuning the VHSL playoff rating system to create a model system that is the envy of many other states. In fact, wouldn't it be nice if the NCAA BCS system accepted a pointer or two from Virginia's High School League. A simple breakdown of the VHSL format--for every defeated group AAA team (the classification of Virginia's largest schools) a team receives 24 points. If a team loses to an AAA team, it receives 12 points. A team receives 20 points for beating an AA team, 8 points for losing to an AA team. Finally, a team receives 16 points for defeating an A team (the classification of Virginia's smallest high schools) and 4 points for losing to an A team. This system obviously rewards teams for being willing to play larger schools. Conversely, it discourages teams from playing teams in a classification smaller than their own.
The legislative body responsible for the system does not assume that schools from a larger classification are necessarily better than teams from a smaller classification. Fans in Northern Virginia recognize that defending class AA champion Broad Run would beat many AAA teams throughout Virginia. Many have in fact debated whether Broad Run could run the table in the Northern Region's AAA playoffs. Regardless, the system doesn't attempt to answer these kinds of debates. In fact, these debates ultimately add even more excitement and interest in tracking your favorite team throughout their potential run to the playoffs. However, what the system does IS CREATE A SYSTEM THAT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS FULLY BEFORE CREATING THEIR REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULES EVERY TWO YEARS. Has anyone ever understood fully the NCAA BCS system's expectations up front?
Finally, the VHSL system rewards a team two points for every win secured by a defeated opponent. One point is gained for every win secured by a non-defeated opponent. These bonus points reward teams most willing to schedule those teams that are traditionally most competitive; as opposed to scheduling what are perceived the teams that are more likely to be SURE WINS. The VHSL calculates each team's total number of cumulative points weekly and divides that total by the number of games played by that team.
Here at Gameday, we JUST HOPE that you took last week's advice and started getting the hot chocolate, blankets, and seat pads ready (those darn aluminum seats can get mighty cold). For sure, once it is all sorted out after this coming week's action, the VHSL has created a format that is just about as fair as humanly possible (thank goodness there aren't any CONFUSING computer ratings the BCS seems so fond of). AND FOR SURE BE ASSURED---you will continue to get the very best of high school coverage available anywhere, right here at GAMEDAY. So hats off (maybe hats on is a much better idea) to the VHSL, the Northern Region, and of course to the teams that have worked so hard to provide the very best of high school football to Northern Virginia.
