NCHSAA Seeding Process

QUALIFYING FROM CONFERENCES INTO PLAYOFFS

Teams advance into the playoffs based on the percentage plan which was adopted by the NCHSAA Board of Directors several years ago. The number of berths each conference receives based on that plan can be found in the Handbook. Generally speaking, for example, a 10-team conference would get

twice as many berths as a five-team conference over a four-year period. In a

normal 32-team bracket, 16 berths are available in the East and 16 in the West.

Each conference determines its representatives using the final

conference standings. The tiebreaker system as found in the Handbook must be used if applicable.

SUBDIVIDING

A total of 64 teams in each of the four classifications will qualify for the 2002 football playoffs. After qualifying, they will be listed from largest to smallest, based on the average daily membership figures obtained from the State Department of Public Instruction for the current school year.

The largest 32 will go into the AA bracket of each classification (1-AA, 2-AA, 3-AA, 4-AA), while the remaining 32 will go into the A brackets (1-A, 2-A, 3-A, 4-A).

SEEDING BEGINS

A total of 16 teams in the East are seeded 1-16; 16 teams in the West are seeded 1-16.

All number-one teams from conferences are seeded in the first "tier," based on their overall won-loss record or winning percentage. A 10-0 record is considered better than a 9-0 record.

If teams have identical records, look at head to head competition first; if they happened to have played one another, the winner receives the higher seed; if they didn't play head to head, a draw is made for the higher seed After seeding all the number one teams, the number-two teams are seeded

using the same criteria. Please note that the overall record of a number two or even number-three team may be better than a number-one team; however, under no circumstances will a number-two or three team from a conference be seeded higher than any number-one, nor will a number-three team be seeded higher than a number two.

Seed all number-three teams using the same criteria.

Seed number-four teams, if any, using the same criteria, then number-fives, etc. Once seeding is complete, 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, etc; in football the higher seed will always play at home.

Please note that two teams from the same conference will not play each other in the first round of the playoffs. To prevent this, the lower seeded team may be replaced by the next lowest seeded team (if possible).

For instance, if number-three is to play 14 in the first round and both are from the same conference, 14 and 15 may swap places to avoid the conflict.