News: Dulles District Appears the Winner as Region II Levels the Playoff Playing Field with Expanded Format

(Aug. 26, 2010) - Region II has unveiled a new payoff format that addresses previous unequal representation in a region where the Dulles District, with nine schools, is almost twice as large as the Northwestern and Evergreen districts, which each have five schools.

The Dulles District appears the winner in the new format that will see some sports (volleyball, baseball, softball, girls and boys soccer) expand to an 11-team regional tournament with four of the teams qualifying from the Loudoun County-based Dulles District. In the past just two Dulles District teams from each sport moved onto regional play.

In addition, football and basketball, which run their regional playoffs based on VHSL criteria, have expanded their Division 3 and Division 4 playoffs in Region II from six to eight teams, eliminating the need for first round byes.

Background
Starting the fall of 2010, Region II has adopted a new tournament representation formula. Each and every year it is determined by the following criteria based on percentage of teams in each district moving on to region tournament. They are named Small, Medium and Large:

SMALL DISTRICT: District with 6 or fewer schools Qualify 2 teams to Region
MEDIUM DISTRICT: District with 7-8 schools Qualify 3 teams to Region
LARGE DISTRICT: District with 9-10 schools Qualify 4 teams to Region

For the 2010-2011 school year, there will be four Dulles teams, three Jefferson, and two from the Northwestern and Evergreen Districts in all tournaments, unless specificed other than divisional sports (Basketball and Football). This will mean an 11 team tournament bracket.

In addition to the new 11-team tournament bracket, several other sports have new information regarding their specific region qualifying format:

Region II Qualifying Format/Seeding Criteria
FALL
Sport - # of Teams
Volleyball - 4 Teams
Cross Country - 4 Teams – 15 # of individuals (inclusive)
Golf - 2 Teams – 6 # of individuals (exclusive)
Theatre Festival - 4 Schools
Cheer - 4 Teams
Football - VHSL criteria

WINTER
Sport - # of Teams
Boys’ Basketball - Region criteria
Girl’s Basketball - Region criteria
Wrestling - 5 Per Weight Group +1 on rotational basis
Forensics - 3 In Each Category
Debate - 3 In Each Category
Swimming - 4 Relay Teams (plus qualifiers); 8 Individuals In Each Event (plus qualifiers)– No Bumping Up
Scholastic Bowl (Academic) - 2 Teams

SPRING
Sport - # of Teams
Baseball - 4 Teams
Softball - 4 Teams
Boys’ Soccer - 4 Teams
Girls’ Soccer - 4 Teams
Boys and Girls Lacrosse - 3 Teams
Boys and Girls Tennis - 2 Teams; 2 Singles; 2 Doubles
Boys and Girls Track - 4 Relay Teams (plus qualifiers); 8 Individuals In Each Event (plus qualifiers)

Divisional sports (currently football and basketball)
-School assignment to Division 3 or Division 4 will be based on the VHSL criteria.
-Schools will be assigned to the same division for all divisional sports.
-Eight (8) Division 3 and eight(8) Division 4 schools/teams will qualify for the Region II tournament.

Football:
-Division 3, 4 – 8 teams qualify per Division
-Division 3, 4 – No byes

District champions will receive an automatic bid to the tournament.
VHSL power rankings will be used to seed the tournament.
-When seeding the tournament, if a tie occurs in the VHSL Power rankings, the VHSL tiebreaking procedure will apply.
-First(1st) round games will be hosted by the higher seed, unless the lower seed is a district champion.
-If 2 district champions are scheduled to play in the first (1st) round, the higher seeded district champion will host the game.
Remaining rounds (after 1st round) will be hosted by the higher seeded school.

Basketball:
-Division 3, 4 – 8 teams qualify per Division
-Division 3, 4 – No byes

The following criteria will be used to rank the divisional teams for the purpose of qualifying for and seeding the Region II Tournament:
Seed Criteria District designed
#1 #1 seeds from All Districts
#2 #2 seeds from All Districts
#3 #3 seeds from Large Districts
#4 #3 seeds from Medium Districts
#5 #4 seeds from Large Districts
#6 #3 seeds from Small Districts
#7 #4 seeds from Medium Districts
#8 #5 seeds from Large Districts
#9 #5 seeds from Medium Districts
#10 #4 seeds from Small Districts
#11 #6 seeds from Large Districts
#12 #7 seeds from Large Districts
#13 #6 seeds from Medium Districts
#14 #8 seeds from Large Districts
#15 #7 seeds from Medium Districts
#16 #5 seeds from Small Districts

Teams that qualify on the same seed criteria line will be seeded according to the following tiebreaking criteria:
Tiebreaking Seed Criteria
#1 Head to Head results
#2 Regular season winning % in District games only
#3 Winning % versus common opponents
#4 Overall winning %
#5 Total wins
#6 Coin flip