Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Best teams are headed for prep playoffs

Two week push to postseason starts Friday

Enochs High started its season with five consecutive losses. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, however, the Eagles are only one win from the postseason.

While most teams are qualifying for the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs in the expected manner — by virtue of total wins — Enochs and a handful of others are hoping their second-half rallies are enough.

The section promised that its new, expanded playoff format would include every deserving team, and a glance at the current qualifiers shows the section is true to its word.

Every seven-win team is assured of making the playoffs, and virtually every 6-4 team is expected to get a bid, too.

Of the 76 playoff slots, 58 are automatic berths and the remaining 18 are at-large. After the first 58 slots are filled, the rest of the teams fight it out for at-large berths based on their total number of wins.

Enochs and Merced (both at 3-5) realize that an at-large entry is unlikely, so they're facing a sudden-death situation every time they take the field.

If one or both keep winning and grab one of their conference's two automatic berths, it could mean a 6-4 team stays home in favor of a 5-5 squad.

That would have happened even if the section had not reorganized the process. There was a clear mandate with the new system: Any team that would have made the playoffs under the old format will be in the playoffs this season.

That's assured because the guest list grew from 60 last season to 76. The top four divisions are in 16-team brackets, vs. eight-teams brackets for all but Division 1 last season.