How West Virginia does playoffs

[bluebirder]

Take the top 16 teams from each division. 16 plays at 1, 15 plays at 2, and so on. West Virginia is not much smaller than Virginia. Some teams have to travel 6+ hours. But who cares? It's only for three weeks maximum. The fact that there is one less game in the playoffs will make up for some of the traveling.
Advantages:
1) Regular season means something again.
2) Teams will not be punished for being in a strong region. To the contrary, it will actually help them make the playoffs in the first place.
3) All the playoff games are meaningful. It isn't extremely uncommon for a top 3 seed in WV to lose the first week. This format will eliminate one game for everyone. So be it! Let's get rid of match-ups like Galax vs Bland. Many of these games are simply not justifiable.
4) Much more interesting match-ups in the first rounds. Playoffs in WV are more exciting because it is a chance to play teams that you would never play otherwise. Plus, it would give kids, parents, and fans an opportunity to see other parts of the state.
5) It would encourage teams to schedule stronger non-district opponents in the regular season.

The disadvantage is that you have to travel a little more. Many WV playoff games are held on Saturday afternoons.

Otherwise, it just seems like the common sense thing to do (which is probably why we don't do it).

For 1A, if I didn't make a mistake, we would have the following. As it would work out this year, there are indeed a lot of cross-state trips. (approximate travel times from google maps in parenthesis)

#16 Hurley @ #1 Essex (6:35)
#9 West Point @ #8 Chilhowie (4:49)

#13 W&L @ #4 William Campbell (3:21)
#12 Northumberland @ #5 Narrows (5:07)

***

#15 Covington @ #2 Riverheads (1:03)
#10 Patrick Henry @ #7 Colonial Beach (5:26)

#14 George Wythe @ #3 Sussex (4:31)
#11 Grundy @ #6 Galax (2:39)

 

[eh31]

You bring up some good points but there's a little more to it.

WV only has 3 classifications to VA's 6. WV only has around 105-108 schools with football teams where as in Virginia just 5A and 6A have more than that combined. WV's schools are more spread out and in rural areas where the districts/regions wouldn't necessarily make sense like they do in VA for scheduling and travel purposes. In WV AAA there's only 29 schools which means 55% of the schools make the playoffs.

You bring up travel time and that would be the biggest factor barring Virginia from going to something like this. The longest trip for a potential matchup in WV would be Oak Glen in the northern most county Hancock and Riverview in the southern most county Mcdowell. That's a 5.45 drive by car. One of the longest I could think of in Virginia would be Colonial Beach vs. Thomas Walker. From Ewing, VA to the coast is around 7 hours 30 mins by car. The longer the trip means less people will travel which will hurt the VHSL's pockets. WV's system has some long road trips but imo WV is ok with that because their interstates have tolls lol same reason that WV holds all 3 of their state championship games in Wheeling where it's in north, 4.5 hours from Bluefield and they can get more $$$ from toll fees and their cut from all the gambling that goes on at the casinos there.

Your theory could work in VA but it will never happen. Less playoff games and more travel = less Gate money for the VHSL. They have to pay a good chunk of money to The venues for the state championship games so they have to squeeze in all the highly attended games they can so they can still turn profit.

 

[bluebirder]

You are right that WV has little choice because they don't have enough schools to have a regional system. But that is a blessing in disguise. As for travel times, the 6+ hour trips occur when a team in the southwestern part of the state plays a team in the Eastern Panhandle. In general, as you point out, WV teams travel a lot more during the regular season.

I will concede that there would be more travel in Virginia. I will also concede that 1A would have the worst deal in terms of traveling because teams are more concentrated in the extreme corners of the state in 1A. This increases the potential for 6+ hour trips. Travel in the other divisions would be much lighter.

But in general, this would be the fairest and most compelling way to run the system. And, who knows, if regular season games (and the first round playoff games) were more meaningful and interesting, perhaps the till wouldn't suffer too much when it's all said and done.

 

[HighestPoint]

Two regions. Gotta cut some of the travel. 6:35 easily turns into 8+ after stopping for breaks/food etc. 8 hours to have the same result as Essex 1st round game.
But it would be cool to see some of the more even matchups

 

[riversportsfan]

I am sure it will never happen, but it would be awesome to see some of those matchups.

 

[2kings4]

Are districts needed for 1A? Three regions, no districts would work best for 1a.

 

[bluebirder]

Having two regions with eight teams each is of course a major upgrade to what we have now. Compared to the WV system, it would cut down travel--except for teams like PM and Covington who would be put in the East. One downside is that if there is disparity between the East and West, teams would be penalized for being in a strong region--and vice versa--rewarded for being in a weak region.

Take this year, for example. If there were two regions, Galax would have a much easier road to the state championship than Riverheads, Sussex, or Essex. In an enormous state like Texas, you have to allow for some unfairness to be built into the system. But Virginia is not prohibitively large--especially for 6A, 5A, 4A, and 3A. Many teams in Alaska have to charter planes to participate in the playoffs.

One long bus trip wouldn't hurt anybody. The kids might even enjoy it. Hypothetically, you could have a lower seed win twice and have three long trips. But that would be unusual. In any case, securing home field might be another incentive to have a strong regular season.

There will be years (like this one), where the 16th seed would indeed have to travel 6+ hours only to be slaughtered. But there will be years when the 16th seed has a real chance. Even this year, I bet the kids from Hurley would think of the trip to Tappahannock as a reward for a good season rather than a punishment.

 

[trutiger16]

Having two regions with eight teams each is of course a major upgrade to what we have now. Compared to the WV system, it would cut down travel--except for teams like PM and Covington who would be put in the East. One downside is that if there is disparity between the East and West, teams would be penalized for being in a strong region--and vice versa--rewarded for being in a weak region.

Take this year, for example. If there were two regions, Galax would have a much easier road to the state championship than Riverheads, Sussex, or Essex. In an enormous state like Texas, you have to allow for some unfairness to be built into the system. But Virginia is not prohibitively large--especially for 6A, 5A, 4A, and 3A. Many teams in Alaska have to charter planes to participate in the playoffs.

One long bus trip wouldn't hurt anybody. The kids might even enjoy it. Hypothetically, you could have a lower seed win twice and have three long trips. But that would be unusual. In any case, securing home field might be another incentive to have a strong regular season.

There will be years (like this one), where the 16th seed would indeed have to travel 6+ hours only to be slaughtered. But there will be years when the 16th seed has a real chance. Even this year, I bet the kids from Hurley would think of the trip to Tappahannock as a reward for a good season rather than a punishment.

Bluebirder I totally agree with you the kids would enjoy to see parts of State that are different from where they reside, if a team gets in at 5-5 I'm ok with that , it's like a reward for them to be in the show, 0-10 records make the playoffs wateredown and embarrassing for the kids who are winless!