I must say I'm a little disappointed with 4A East and the decision that was just made to change the playoff format. For years I liked the playoffs the way they were set up in 1A-3A and felt they had a good thing going. When 4A South decided to go 1-16 I always felt it allowed the best teams to get in, well that will no longer be the case in the new 4A East. Some AD's were complaining and so now we have a set up like this:
17 and 18 will seed 1-8 and play down to the final 2
19 and 20 will seed 1-8 and play down to the final 2
Those final four will cross bracket with the higher seeded teams hosting and the winners will meet for the 4A East title.
Last season conference 17-18 combined for 12 of 16 playoff teams while 19-20 only had 4. So with that being said 25% of the playoff field from a season ago would have been left out. Moreover here is what the playoffs would have looked like last season using this format
17-18
1. Lake Taylor (10-0)
2. Heritage (9-1)
3 .Kings Fork (8-2)
4. Phoebus (7-3)
5. Norcom (8-2)
6. Tabb (-3)
7. Nansemond River (5-5)
8. BTW (5-4)
Left out:
9. Grafton (6-4)
10. Smithfield (5-5)
11. Churchland (4-6)
12. Lakeland (3-7)
19-20
1. Monacan (8-2)
2. Powhatan (9-1)
3. Hanover (7-3)
4. Dinwiddie (8-2)
5. JR Tucker (3-7)
6. Midlothian (2-8)
7. Glen Allen (1-9)
8. Caroline (0-10)
Now I can see how people don't like teams with losing records in so you can say Churchland and Lakeland didn't belong in the 16 team field but in this new format you would have half the field from 19-20 with a combined 6 wins. The one thing they will do is rotate so in the 2016 season 17 and 19 will be matched up and 18 and 20 like they do in basketball just. In 2017 it will be 17 &20 and 18 &19. All in all I think it is a bad change and once again "travel" was the number one excuse to make this change. SMH
17 and 18 will seed 1-8 and play down to the final 2
19 and 20 will seed 1-8 and play down to the final 2
Those final four will cross bracket with the higher seeded teams hosting and the winners will meet for the 4A East title.
Last season conference 17-18 combined for 12 of 16 playoff teams while 19-20 only had 4. So with that being said 25% of the playoff field from a season ago would have been left out. Moreover here is what the playoffs would have looked like last season using this format
17-18
1. Lake Taylor (10-0)
2. Heritage (9-1)
3 .Kings Fork (8-2)
4. Phoebus (7-3)
5. Norcom (8-2)
6. Tabb (-3)
7. Nansemond River (5-5)
8. BTW (5-4)
Left out:
9. Grafton (6-4)
10. Smithfield (5-5)
11. Churchland (4-6)
12. Lakeland (3-7)
19-20
1. Monacan (8-2)
2. Powhatan (9-1)
3. Hanover (7-3)
4. Dinwiddie (8-2)
5. JR Tucker (3-7)
6. Midlothian (2-8)
7. Glen Allen (1-9)
8. Caroline (0-10)
Now I can see how people don't like teams with losing records in so you can say Churchland and Lakeland didn't belong in the 16 team field but in this new format you would have half the field from 19-20 with a combined 6 wins. The one thing they will do is rotate so in the 2016 season 17 and 19 will be matched up and 18 and 20 like they do in basketball just. In 2017 it will be 17 &20 and 18 &19. All in all I think it is a bad change and once again "travel" was the number one excuse to make this change. SMH