The Georgia High School Association concluded its reclassification process for the upcoming four-year cycle with few changes from its previous meeting. However, the reclassification committee finally put some clarity to the football playoff procedure in Region 6-AAA.
That region, which unexpectedly grew to 10 teams, was subdivided due to GHSA rules, but the procedure on selecting its four football playoff teams could not be agreed upon by league coaches. The GHSA intervened and decided that subregion champions will each face the No. 4 seed in the other subregion, while the second and third seeds will also play each other, with the four winners advancing to the playoffs.
North subregion teams – Coahulla Creek, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, Murray County, North Murray and Ringgold – generally had preferred that the No. 1 seeds get automatic playoff spots and play each other for the region championship with the two and three seeds determining the other two spots.
As is, all four playoff teams can now come from one subregion.
“With our region makeup this is the best way to get our four best teams to the state playoffs,” said Calhoun coach Hal Lamb. “I’m all about getting the four best teams.”
Teams in the south subregion- Calhoun, Sonoraville, Adairsville, Bremen and Haralson County – produced three of the four playoff teams this past season.
The decision was not well received on the north side.
“The team that wins the subregion in the north has to travel to the (south) No. 4 seed in order to make the playoffs,” Ringgold coach Robert Akins said. “I don’t agree with that. If you win your subregion you should be able to play for the region championship and automatically make the playoffs.
“Obviously the reclassification committee thought differently.”
The ruling left the region to determine tiebreaking procedures. For example, if both No. 1 seeds win their play-in games, which one is declared region champion?
The region decided on the following procedures to break ties:
(1) head-to-head competition;
(2) winning percentage in all 6-AAA games, which includes crossover games;
(3) plus-12, minus-12 point differential among common opponents;
(4) coin flip.
The “plus-minus” tiebreaker is based on margins of wins or losses, where a team receives bonus points for wins 12 points and above and loses points for such losses.
“It’s still too complicated this way,” Akins said. “All of this was just to try and get one more team in from a subregion. We’ll just have to make the best of it. If you win the games you need to, it takes care of itself but you better win by 12 points.”
* In other GHSA decisions, Cartersville’s appeal to move from Region 5-AAAA to Region 6 was denied and tennis will remain a spring sport after a motion was defeated to move it to the fall.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22.
GHSA final reclassification
2016-17 regions for area schoolsRegion 6-AAAAAAAllatoonaCreekviewDaltonHarrisonOsborneRiver RidgeSequoyahSouth CobbSprayberryRegion 6-AAAAGilmerHeritageLaFayetteNorthwest WhitfieldPickensRidgelandSoutheast WhitfieldRegion 6-AAASouth SubregionAdairsvilleBremenCalhounHaralson CountySonoravilleNorth SubregionCoahulla CreekLakeview-F.O.Murray CountyNorth MurrayRinggoldRegion 7-AAArmucheeChattoogaCoosaDade CountyGordon CentralModelPepperellRockmartRegion 6-ASubregion ABowdonChristian HeritageDarlingtonGordon LeeMount ZionNorth Cobb ChristianTrion* Excel Christian* Morris Innovative* does not play footballSubregion BFellowship ChristianKings RidgeMount ParanMount PisgahPinecrest AcademySt. FrancisWalkerWhitefield Academy