New playoff format has interesting twists

By Richard T. Estrada
restrada@modbee.com

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High school football gains a sense of urgency this season.

When the Sac-Joaquin Section overhauled its playoff selection process, following a storm of controversy after 8-2 Manteca was bypassed in favor of a 2-8 team, it shifted the emphasis to winning games.

The priority had been finishing in the top two or three spots in your league, regardless of what your record was.

The new format is a hybrid, combining old with the new.

While the top two teams in each conference are still assured playoff berths, the rest of the spots will go to teams that win the most games � regardless of when they won.

It puts as much importance on winning a game the first week of the regular season as the last. Coaches who once used non-league games to determine starting roles and install new schemes now have to balance that with winning.

That puts something on the line every game, every week.

Had the format been used a year ago, every team with at least six wins would have advanced. Even some 5-5 teams would have earned berths.

There is a twist this year � the Valley Oak, Trans-Valley and Mother Lode leagues each get three berths, a condition of the old playoff format that will end after this year.

The section�s 20 league winners, 20 runners-up and three third-place teams automatically qualify, then the section will invite the next 21 teams based on their total victories.

The section will split the 64 teams into four divisions based on enrollment, the 16 largest in Division 1, the next 16 in D-2 and so on. The teams will be seeded based on wins.

D-4 will have two eight-team brackets, 4A and 4B, based on enrollment. Following three weeks of playoff games, the winners of each bracket will play for the title.

Six-team brackets will also be used for divisions 5 and 6.

Had the format been used a year ago, we would have had:

— Turlock and Pitman in the playoffs, rather than excluded because they weren�t among the top two in the Central California Conference.

— Oakdale meeting Patterson in a D-3 first-round game.

— Sonora facing Calaveras and Escalon playing Colfax in D-4A playoff openers.

— Central Catholic and Hilmar as the top seeds in D-4B.