As we hit the midway point of the AHSAA football season this week and teams head to play non-region games, it seemed like a good time to start giving an indicator of where teams were lining up in the playoffs. Let me preface these brackets by saying that there is still a lot of football to be played.
Some of these standings may not make much sense. For instance, Bessemer City is the #1 seed in 6A Region 5 and Hoover is the #2 seed – 99% of people will say that is wrong. As of right now, the tiebreaker gives it to Bessemer City on who they have played so far in the region. That won’t matter much because Hoover and Bessemer City play each other next week when they get back into region play. So if you ever see a team that you know should probably be a one seed, it’s solely because they are losing tiebreakers right now with no head to head game to break the tie first.
These standings are on the official AHSAA tiebreakers which are, in order:
1) Head to head competition. Basically, if there is a tie between two teams, who won the meeting between them. This gets skipped at this point because most of the top ranked teams in a given region haven’t played yet.
2) If more than two teams tie, whoever won the games between them moves on. So if A, B, and C are tied right now, if A beat both B and C, then they are ahead of them, and then B and C will go to head to head to determine who is next in line.
2a) If more than two teams are tied, then you go down the list and see who they have beaten. For instance, if A, B, and C are tied at 1-2, who is that one win against? The team with the highest ranked win gets the highest spot. So if one of those wins was an upset over the top ranked team (at the present time), then they move on. Do the same from the first place team on down.
3) If two or more teams are still tied, take their record against similar non-region opponents. This is impossible with only one non-region game so far for each. But for instance, if Team A beats non-region Team 1 and Team B lost to non-region Team 1, then Team A wins the tiebreak.
3a) If two or more teams are still tied, then just take their non-region record and see whose is better. At this point that is only one game, but it will be three at the end.
There are more rules, but to be honest, at this point, most of them can’t be used. We’ll get deeper into that later in the season. Also, most of the time, these rules don’t have to come into play. But sometimes teams will get all tangled up and it will be a mess to see who goes to the playoffs and in what spot. If you’re really curious about the official wording and rules when it comes to tiebreakers in the AHSAA, you can see their tiebreak section here.
Also, I should note that in a couple of instances, there were no clear tiebreakers in place. So instead of just flipping a coin in my office to determine it (which is the final tiebreaker, FYI), I went on how the teams were “trending”, meaning how well have they played, how good was their competition despite records, etc. to see how the team was projecting for the future when they actually meet up with these other teams.
So without further ado, here are the brackets for 5A and 6A. Once the season progresses and I have more time to sit down and work on these with a MUCH clearer picture, I will get 1A-4A up as well.
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6A Bracket
First round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||||||||||
R1-1 | Murphy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-4 | Dothan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-2 | Smiths Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-3 | Thompson | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-1 | Fairhope | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R1-4 | Theodore | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-2 | Prattville | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-3 | Carver-Montgomery | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-1 | Opelika | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-4 | Pelham | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R1-2 | Murphy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-3 | Foley | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-1 | Spain Park | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-4 | Auburn | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-2 | Daphne | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R1-3 | Blount | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-1 | Bessemer City | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-4 | Hewitt-Trussville | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-2 | Oxford | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-3 | Buckhorn | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-1 | Vestavia Hills | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-4 | Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-2 | Florence | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-3 | Pell City | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-1 | Clay-Chalkville | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-4 | Decatur | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-2 | Hoover | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-3 | Gardendale | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-1 | Bob Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-4 | Huntsville | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-2 | Shades Valley | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-3 | Tuscaloosa County |
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5A Bracket
First round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||||||||||
R1-1 | Vigor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-4 | Russell County | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-2 | Saraland | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-3 | Chilton County | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-1 | Eufaula | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R1-4 | LeFlore | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-2 | Briarwood | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-3 | Demopolis | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-1 | Jackson | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-4 | Chilton County | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R1-2 | Spanish Fort | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-3 | Valley | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R4-1 | Homewood | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R3-4 | Greenville | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R2-2 | Ben. Russell | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R1-3 | St. Paul’s | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-1 | McAdory | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-4 | Moody | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-2 | Etowah | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-3 | Hartselle | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-1 | Center Point | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-4 | Brookwood | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-2 | Cullman | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-3 | Scottsboro | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-1 | Southside-Gadsden | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-4 | Russellville | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-2 | Pleasant Grove | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-3 | Mortimer Jordan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R8-1 | Muscle Shoals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R7-4 | Fort Payne | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R6-2 | Pinson Valley | ||||||||||||||||||||||
R5-3 | Parker |