With new high school football playoff formats, divisions, and regions and the regular season coming to an end, here is a look at how the brackets would look if the season ended today. Check out the possible bracket, and read on why it is set up the way it is.
Bracketology comes with a disclaimer:
– Hence the title, this would be the bracket if the playoffs started TODAY. There is one week left to go, and games to be played that can and will change the seeding.
– Where tiebreakers are needed (and known by our staff), they are reflected in the seeding
– Two teams are listed on the same line if they are tied for a position in the standings, but have not played yet. These will be updated as the season continues.
– RPI rankings only consider Upper State teams unless otherwise noted. For example, Dorman’s #5 RPI rating means it is the 8th best ranking out of Upper State teams, not the entire classification.
5A – DIVISION 1
STRUCTURE
– Division 1 Upper State teams that are in the top four of Regions 1, 2, 3, and 5 automatically qualify. Division 1 Upper State teams in the top three of Region 4 also automatically qualify.
– All region champions are seeded first, then all runners-up, all third place finishers, and fourth place finishers in order.
– After automatic bids are distributed, the rest of the bracket is filled with non-automatic qualifiers based on MaxPreps RPI.
BYES
– #1 Dutch Fork
– With one game to go against Irmo, Dutch Fork is tied for first and the top team in RPI. The Silver Foxes will be the top-overall seed with a win, but can drop to the second seed with a loss and a Spartanburg win because…
– #2 Spartanburg
– The Vikings have a region championship game at Gaffney this Friday, but will be the top Division 1 team in the region. If Spartanburg wins and Dutch Fork loses this Friday, that would make the Vikings a first-place team and the Silver Foxes a second-place team, therefore putting them in the bracket before Dutch Fork.
– #3 JL Mann
– After last week’s results, JL Mann is still stuck in a three-way tie for first in Region 1. It looks very unlikely that the Patriots miss out on a bye even with a loss this Friday, but with help could finish as high as second. With tons of help JL Mann could finish first, but this would mean Dutch Fork, Spartanburg, and TL Hanna lose this week.
– #4 Rock Hill
– Rock Hill wins a three-way tiebreaker between Clover and Catawba Ridge for second in Region 3 despite not playing last week. Rock Hill gets a bye due to allowing less points than Clover and Catawba Ridge in head-to-head games between the three (Rock Hill 47, Clover 48, Catawba Ridge 55).
FIRST ROUND
– #5 River Bluff, #6 Clover, #7 Byrnes
– River Bluff, Clover, and Byrnes all are third place in its regions. River Bluff is sitting in third place with one game left, while Byrnes and Clover have clinched a third-place finish and have no games left. Clover sits in third based off of losing the three-way tiebreaker to Rock Hill, but stays above Catawba Ridge on a head-to-head win from November 1st. The Gators are #3 in RPI and get the better seed over the Eagles (#6) and Rebels (#10).
– #8 Dorman
– Up next is fourth-place teams, just Dorman who has finished its regular season. Dorman is the 8-seed in the bracket, and with no other fourth-place team RPI doesn’t matter.
– #9 Lexington, #10 Boiling Springs, #11 Blythewood, and #12 Mauldin
– These teams represent the finishers from outside the automatic qualifying spots, and receive playoff bids strictly based on RPI. This can still change with Lexington, Boiling Springs and Mauldin playing games on Friday. For now, they are seeded on RPI where Lexington is 7th, Boiling Springs is 8th, Blythewood is 11th, and Mauldin is 12th.
5A – DIVISION 2
STRUCTURE
– The exact same as Division 1, replaced with Division 2 teams in the same regions with the same method.
BYES
– #1 Northwestern
– The Trojans have already clinched the region title in Region 3, and are the highest-ranked Division 2 team in RPI.
– #2 Gaffney
– For today, we are giving Gaffney the number two overall seed in the bracket. The Indians will get a bye no matter what happens against Spartanburg this week, but could finish below TL Hanna and/or Greenwood with a loss and the Yellow Jackets or the Eagles win Region 1 or the RPI factors in.
– #3 TL Hanna and #4 Greenwood
– TL Hanna and Greenwood are involved in the tie for first with JL Mann in Region 1. Either can still potentially win the region and move above Gaffney should the Indians lose this week. Both teams have great chances to get byes no matter what happens.
FIRST ROUND
– #5 Hillcrest and #6 Catawba Ridge
– More trickiness involving Greenville County 5A schools. Today, Hillcrest is in fourth and would be ahead of the Copperheads, but if the Rams beat TL Hanna and get in the mix in Region 1 they can move up to potentially getting a bye. Catawba Ridge is fourth in its region and will be one of the top seeds that play the first weekend of the playoffs. Hillcrest gets the seed with a 5th-ranked RPI over Catawba Ridge who is 6th.
– #7 Riverside, #8 Indian Land, #9 Eastside, #10 Woodmont, #11 Nation Ford, and #12 Greenville
– Just like the Division 1 bracket, once all of the automatic spots are filled the rest of the field is completed solely based on RPI. There are no other Division 2 teams currently in the top four of its region. Conveniently, the seeds match those team’s RPI rankings this week.
4A
STRUCTURE
– Very similar to 5A, with the highest finishers in each region being placed first.
– Auto-bids stay, with larger regions getting more slots
– At-large spots remain, but there are fewer than in 5A, decided based on RPI
TEAMS
– #1 Westside, #2 Daniel, and #3 South Pointe
– Westside clinched its region title with a win last week over Wren, and Daniel helped its chances a ton with a home win over Greer but haven’t clinched officially yet with one game to go. The Lions are still in first and will get a top-three seed today. South Pointe also clinched its region title and have no games left, but are behind Westside (#1) and Daniel (#2) in RPI with the Stallions in 3rd.
– #4 Camden, #5 Wren, and #6 Greer
– The next three seeds are for second-place finishers in each of the three upper state regions. Camden is second in Region 3 and wins the tiebreaker over AC Flora with a head-to-head win on November 1st. Wren and Greer lost to their first place counterparts last Friday, and while Greer has one game left and in a tie with Seneca today, we’ll put the Yellow Jackets here because of the head-to-head win on October 18th. Camden’s regular season is over and is ahead of both Wren and Greer in RPI, with the Bulldogs 5th, the Hurricanes 6th and Yellow Jackets 8th.
– #7 Seneca, #8 AC Flora, and #9 Emerald
– Third place teams are next, and despite Seneca having a chance to force a three-way tie for first with a win over Daniel this Friday, they stay in third because of the loss to Greer. Today, the Bobcats have the edge in seeding based on RPI. Seneca is 4th, with AC Flora in 7th with no games remaining and third place clinched, and Emerald rounds it out in 11th.
– #10 Richland Northeast, #11 Fountain Inn, and #12 Pickens
– Each region gets an extra auto-bid, so fourth place teams from Regions 1-3 will be the next three teams in the field sorted by RPI. Richland Northeast is 9th, Fountain Inn is 10th, and Pickens is 12th
– #13 Lancaster and #14 Blue Ridge
– Two more auto-bids get handed out, one each to Regions 2 and 3 since those groups have seven teams and Region 1 only has six. Lancaster is in fourth place in Region 3 and in 13th in RPI, while Blue Ridge is fourth in Region 2 with a 14th place spot in RPI.
– #15 Fountain Inn
– The 15th seed in the playoffs goes to an at-large team in the Upper State, the highest ranked team in RPI not already qualified. At 10th in the rating, Fountain Inn is at T4th in Region 1.
– #16 Dreher
– The final slot in the upper state playoffs gets the whole state involved. Out of both the upper state and lower state, the highest ranked RPI team without an automatic berth gets in at the 16th seed. Out of 41 teams, the highest ranked team this week without a bid is Dreher at #29.
3A
STRUCTURE
– Teams are assigned positions into the bracket based on region finish
– RPI is not a factor in seeding.
TBDs
– #4 Christ Church/St. Joseph’s
– These two teams are currently tied for second place in Region 2, and face off on November 8th. The winner would clinch second-place in the region, where the Region 2 second-place team gets the #4 seed, and the loser would occupy the #9 seed for the second-place team out of Region 2.
– #5 Walhalla/Crescent
– Currently tied for 2nd place in Region 1, these two teams play this Friday. The team that wins goes into second and is the #5 seed, with the loser in play for third place and the #8 seed.
– #10 Palmetto/Southside Christian
– Going into this week these two teams are tied for fourth in Region 1 and play on November 8th. The winner will slot into fourth-place and sit in #10 in the bracket, while the loser will be #15.
2A
STRUCTURE
– Teams are assigned positions into the bracket based on region finish
– RPI is not a factor in seeding.
TBDs/NOTES
– #15 Buford/Chesterfield/North Central
– In Region 4, three teams are tied for one spot. All three teams have played head-to-head already and have one win and one loss against the other two, and we are tracking down the tie breaking procedure used by this region.
