News: VHSL Expands Upon How Postseason Would Work in Proposed 2013-15 Model

(March 16, 2012) - Change is hard.

Let's just get that out of the way at the start, as the VHSL is trying to lead its member schools into the most sweeping changes the public high school sports governing body in Virginia has made since 1970 when the current A, AA and AAA classification model was put into place.

The VHSL's proposed model starting for the 2013-15 cycle would alter the postseason landscape as it moves schools into six classifications for all sports. Football currently is the only sport with six state champions.

The working model would allow for schools of different classifications to remain in districts together, thus eliminating some of the constant shifting we especially seen in Loudoun where Loudoun Valley and Heritage were shipped off to the AAA Cedar Run District  and then when they moved back down AA Dulles District, they were replaced by Broad Run and Freedom. This occurs for Loudoun schools as enrollment here typically skirts the AA/AAA cutoff line.

The current model (district regular season and tournament play leading to play in four regions leading to a 3-game state tournament for most sport except for football) could be replaced by a model that would start postseason at a new Conference level leading to play in two regions (down from four regions) leading to a 2-game state tournament.

Why the need for change, many ask.

It simply comes down to equity and balance. The A, AA, AAA model was put into play when the state had half as many participants as it currently does. While the state should be divided up evenly in theory under the current model -- thus making it fair for every school to have the same chance at a state title -- it has changed over time with enough schools choosing to play up a level to maintain district harmony.


While Loudoun schools have always chosen to move into their classification based upon their enrollment in certain areas, especially in the Virginia Beach area, around Richmond and even in Fairfax County, schools have maintained AAA status when they should be AA.

The result? In the current classifications there are 130 schools in AAA, 84 in AA and 99 in A.

Under proposal for six classifications: 54 schools would be in 1A (the smallest enrollment class), and 52 schools in the other five classes 2A thru 6A.


The next problem with the current system is maintaining balance while trying to split the state into four equal regions. Consider this an impossible mission with schools choosing to play up, some areas showing rapid growth while others have seen schools close, and the fact that some regions have never made sense -- the "Northwest Region" in AAA for example includes schools all the way from Halifax County to the Potomac River.

Broad Run, in the Northwest Region, could face a regional contest this spring at a school that is a longer drive than every school in the Northern, Central and Eastern regions.

Under the current model, two schools emerge from region play to advance to the state tournament but the odds are far from equal as the range goes from a high of 39 schools in the AAA Eastern Region to a low of just 16 schools in the AA Region IV.

The proposed new model, with the state split in half into two regions, allows for a balance with each region ranging from 24 to 28 schools.

Why not just keep the current model and split A, AA and AA into two divisions which is how the football playoffs work? The answer lies in how the divisions are split in the current model. Each region draws a line with half of its larger schools going to the higher classification and the other schools going to the lower classifications. Across the state, however, this creates situations where a Division 3 school in one region could be bigger than Division 4 schools in other regions.

In fact, under the current model only two AAA Central Region schools would qualify as Division 6 if they were AAA Northern Region schools. At the A level, in Region B there is a Division 1 school that is bigger than every Division 2 school in Region C.

The idea of classifications is to allow schools of similar size to compete for state titles and under the current model this doesn't work.

Given this framework, the VHSL made a presentation on March 8 that fleshes out how postseason could work under the new model.

Under the proposal, districts would be used for regular season play only and not the first level of postseason advancement as they currently are. Districts could still crown regular-season champions, hold tournaments if they wished and have all-district teams selected.

Under the proposal, the first level of post-season would be a new level called "Conference" and for all sports except for football it would be an "all in" advancement as every school would play in the conference level tournament. Since the conference level replaces the current first level of play which is typically the "all in" district tournament, the change is mainly in name and how schools would be grouped.

Schools would be grouped by size and geography into a conference with just five to eight schools per conference for a total of 48 conferences across the state.

The VHSL presented at the March 8 meeting a draft model of how schools could be divided into conferences. Each of the six classifications across the state were divided into two regions and into each region were placed four conferences. Here is how the Loudoun schools were placed for this draft model:


Loudoun would have its own 5A conference with Briar Woods, Broad Run, Potomac Falls, Stone Bridge and Tuscarora making it up. Five other Loudoun schools (Dominion, Heritage, Loudoun County, Park View, Woodgrove) would be in a 8-team conference at the 4A level with Handley, James Wood and Sherando.

That leaves three Loudoun schools -- Freedom which for the current draft model is in a 6A conference with Gar-Field, Hylton, Colonial Forge, Riverbend, Stafford and Forest Park but the opening of Champe in Aldie should give Freedom an argument for moving down to at least 5A and into the Loudoun-based conference.

Smaller Loudoun Valley is slated for a 3A conference along with Manassas Park, Central-Woodstock, Warren County, William Monroe, Skyline and Brentsville. And Champe would be at the 2A level with Clarke County, Madison County, George Mason, Strasburg, Stonewall Jackson-Quicksburg, Luray, and Page County


A hypothetical look at how a team would advance from regular season play to a state title under the proposed model:

*A 5A Loudoun school, Tuscarora for example, could play in the regular season in an all-Loudoun district that includes 3A, 4A and 5A schools.
*For the postseason conference tournament, Tuscarora would advance with other 5A schools nearby
*Conference play would be an 8-team bracket with seeding criteria with champion and runner-up advancing to Regionals.
*With four conferences sending two teams to each of the two regionals, there would be an 8-team tournament in each region.
*The champion and runner-up from each region would then advance to a state tournament Final 4

Comparing this to the current model for all sports except for football:

Currently, schools play two to three games in district tournament and advance to region tournament where they play two to three games and advance to a state tournament where they play three games if they make the finals. A postseason run of anywhere from seven to nine games.

Under the new model, a team would play two to three games in a conference tournament and advance to a 3-game regional tournament followed by a two-game state tournament. A postseason run of anywhere from seven to eight games.

For football, a 15-game schedule would be maintained with a max of five postseason games to win a state title. Currently, in Region II for example, Briar Woods won three games at the region level and then two state games to be crowned a state champion. Under the new proposal schools would advance to a 16-team regional to start and the winner of each of the two regions would square off in the state title game.