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With 292 out of 313 member schools in attendance this morning, a proposal was brought to the general membership to scuttle the plans approved in emergency legislation last month by the VHSL executive committee. AAA schools voted 78-40 in their meeting to overturn the plan, advancing it to a vote on the floor in front of the general membership.
Needing almost 200 schools to vote to overturn the plan (as a two-third vote is needed to overturn an executive committee decision) just the opposite happened after debate as only 110 schools voted to overturn and 189 schools voted to move forward with the change.
Since 1970 the VHSL has held state championships in three classifications -- A, AA and AAA -- with football moving to six classifications in 1986 and basketball expanding to five state tournaments several years ago. Under the new plan, the majority of varsity sports in the state will hold postseason play in six classifications.
The current VHSL model has teams advancing from their respective regular-season districts to play in four regions per classification and then advancement from regionals to an 8-team state tournament. The new model allows schools to play in districts of choice with other schools that could be larger or smaller in classification (thus reducing the need for district realignment every two years when school enrollment bumps schools up or down in classification).
Postseason play now starts at a new conference level with each of the six classifications in the state divided into two sectionals (still called regionals) and each sectional featuring four conferences. Schools are placed into conferences based on enrollment and geography. Schools are not allowed to play up or down for postseason and are slotted into their classification based on enrollments across the state. Previously some AA schools opted to play up at AAA levels and classifications were split on regional basis thus creating an inequality in enrollment for some classifications at the state play level.
Each conference will hold a tournament to advance teams to the sectional tournament and from that tournament a state Final 4 will be held to determine the state champion in each classification.
The exception to this postseason model will be football which will start next year with schools advancing straight to a 16-team seeded sectional in each classification.
There are many details to be ironed out regarding these new sectionals and VHSL member schools are breaking out today in these new groups to start the process of laying the groundwork for these new structures. A major question to be answered will be how teams are seeded into their conference tournaments. Football currently uses a rating system to determine seeding and all sports will need some sort of rating system in order to accomplish this.
Changes in Loudoun are coming in three main areas:
1. The new VHSL plan for regular season play has created a new Potomac District which will feature five Loudoun schools (all slated to be 5A classification, the second largest of the six classifications): Briar Woods, Broad Run, Freedom, Potomac Falls and Tuscarora. The Dulles District will be a 7-team all Loudoun district with classification 4A and 3A schools: Champ, Dominion, Heritage, Loudoun County, Loudoun Valley, Park View and Woodgrove. Stone Bridge is the only Loudoun school playing in the regular season out of county, choosing to remain in the Fairfax County-based Liberty District.
2. Continuity is now achieved as the previous VHSL model required Loudoun schools to shift districts as they moved in enrollment between AA and AAA size. Heritage and Loudoun Valley, for example, were in the AAA Cedar Run District before returning to the AA Dulles and Broad Run and Freedom moved up and out of the Dulles to the Cedar Run last year. Schools will no longer have to move as districts can now feature schools that cut across classifications.
3. Postseason play is changed. At 5A, Stone Bridge will join the five Potomac District schools to form Conference 14 in the 5A North sectional. At 4A, Dominion, Heritage, Loudoun County, Park View and Woodgrove join Millbrook, James Wood and Sherando to form Conference 21 in the 4A North sectional. And in 3A, Champe and Loudoun Valley join Central-Woodstock, Skyline, Warren County and William Monroe in Conference 28 of the 3A East sectional.
2013-14
Regular Season Play -- selected districts of interest
Dulles District: Champe, Dominion, Heritage, Loudoun County, Loudoun Valley, Park View, Woodgrove
Potomac District: Briar Woods, Broad Run, Freedom, Potomac Falls, Tuscarora
Liberty District: Fairfax, Langley, Madison, Marshall, McLean, South Lakes, Stone Bridge, TJ
Cardinal District: Battlefield, Forest Park, Freedom-PW, Gar-Field, Hylton, Osbourn, Osbourn Park, Patriot, Potomac, Stonewall Jackson, Woodbridge
Evergreen District: Brentsville, Culpeper County, Eastern View, Fauquier, Kettle Run, Liberty
Jefferson District: Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna County, Lousia County, Monticello, Orange, Powhatan, Western Albemarle
Northwestern District: Handley, James Wood, Millbrook, Sherando, Skyline
Postseason Play -- sectionals that include Loudoun schools
5A North Sectional (23 schools)
Conference 13 (8 schools): Edison, Falls Church, Marshall, Mount Vernon, R.E. Lee, Stuart, TJ, Wakefield
Conference 14: (6 schools): Briar Woods, Broad Run, Freedom, Potomac Falls, Stone Bridge, Tuscarora
Conference 15: (6 schools): Brooke Point, Freedom-PW, Massaponax, Mountain View, North Stafford, Potomac
Conference 16 (3 schools): Albemarle, Halifax County, Orange
4A North Sectional (29 schools)
Conference 21 (8 schools): Dominion, Heritage, James Wood, Loudoun County, Millbrook, Park View, Sherando, Woodgrove
Conference 22 (7 schools): Caroline, Chancellor, Courtland, Eastern View, Fauquier, King George, Liberty
Conference 23 (6 schools): Amherst County, Charlottesville, Fluvanna County, Handley, Harrisonburg, Louisa County
Conference 24 (8 schools): Bassett, Carroll County, E.C. Glass, GW-Danville, Jefferson Forest, Pulaski County, Salem, William Fleming
3A East Sectional (27 schools)
Conference 25 (8 schools): Colonial Heights, Lafayette, New Kent, Park View-SH, Poquoson, Southampton, Warhill, York
Conference 26 (7 schools): Armstrong, George Wythe-Richmond, Hopewell, Huguenot, John Marshall, Petersburg, TJ-Richmond
Conference 27 (6 schools): Brentsville, Culpeper, James Monroe, Kettle Run, Manassas Park, Spotsylvania
Conference 28 (6 schools): Central-Woodstock, Champe, Loudoun Valley, Skyline, Warren County, William Monroe
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This is really interesting from a football perspective. The Potomac District only has 5 teams, which means each team will need to schedule 6 non-district games. Stone Bridge will still only have to schedule 3 non-district games. Do they schedule Broad Run AND Briar Woods or do they stick with 6A Concorde District teams to earn more power points? Should be an interesting offseason.
ReplyDeleteDepends on if VHSL tweaks football ratings system as Briar Woods move up to D5 means that a game w them earns the same power points as a D6 Concorde school ... My thinking: How can local schools pass up the gate potential of a BWoods vs. SB ... Chantilly game in Ashburn probably had half the attendance a BW-SB match-up would draw ...
ReplyDeleteWhy is Woodgrove Districted with the smaller schools in the county. I believe they are the second biggest Division 4 school in the Region right now and are only growing. Park View/LV/HHS/LC/DOM/Champe makes for a good competitive district which I believe LVHS would be the class of....why have the other schools compete with 2 schools that will most likely battle for #1 as oppose to everyone having a chance every year. I know these things are cyclical like anything else but the County needs to put WHS with the rest of the big schools.
ReplyDeleteLoudoun or the school district has no say in this matter as it is crafted by VHSL which runs the playoffs in the state.
ReplyDeleteWoodgrove is initially D4 as their May enrollment figure was 1,442, just under the cutoff at 1,470 (Potomac Falls for example came in at 1,507 and Tuscarora 1,501) ... I'm not sure if the classifications will be adjusted on a yearly basis or every two years so expect Woodgrove to bump up in next classification alignment ...