Back to the old ways
CIAC to adopt six-division format for state championships
Expanding the number of teams to make the CIAC football playoffs has been bandied about for quite some time.
On Tuesday, it became a reality.
The CIAC Board of Control approved a new sixdivision format for the postseason beginning next year.
“It was a matter of the coaches association in the state of Connecticut wanting it to happen,” said Gregg Simon, CIAC associate executive director and the organization’s staffer responsible for the football committee.
The current format includes four divisions (Class LL, L, M and S) with eight teams qualifying for each division and then three rounds of playoffs.
Hamden coach Tom Dyer is also a member of the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA), which put together the original proposal. He said this proposal was approved by 88 percent of the membership.
“That is an incredible thing considering the way a lot of votes have gone in the past,” Dyer said. “We want to increase access for the playoffs. It’s very difficult to make the playoffs in the sport of football. There’s the possibility someone with an 8-2 record might not make the state playoffs this year. That’s the same as telling a basketball or softball team that is 16-4 that you can’t go to the playoffs.”
Dyer said it then had to be approved by the CIAC football committee. After that, it had to be vetted by both the CHSCA and the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors before coming before the CIAC Board of Control on Tuesday.
Simon said the state’s athletic directors were even more supportive of the new format than the state coaches. The CIAC’s sports medicine advisory committee signed off as well, Simon said, with what Glenn Lungarini, the CIAC’s executive director, called a “negligible” tweak to rules controlling contact time.
“It equates to a reduction of 12 minutes over the course of the year,” Lungarini said.
This is the first major expansion of the state playoffs since creating the current format in 2010, which added a quarterfinal round and contracted the state playoffs to four divisions. It marks a return to a sixchampion format which was last used between 2002-09.
The CIAC said it will base the six divisions by enrollment for single
school programs and by an enrollment-based formula for coops, with successful schools of choice bumped up a class.
Dyer said there would be “another 30 teams in the mix for the playoffs” if there were six divisions this season.
“If the goal is to get more teams involved in the state tournament, it’s a good thing, but ultimately, it’s going to boil down to who ends up in what division,” Norwalk athletic director Doug Marchetti said. “Depending on how it breaks down, you could potentially get one strong team in a division with some weaker teams and that team can probably order the state championship trophy before the season even starts. Then you may get others where you’re going to be loaded up with really strong teams.”
SCC commissioner Al Carbone said the new format will only help the Connecticut High School Football Alliance, which includes a majority of the state’s conferences, with scheduling games.
“Now teams don’t have to shy away from good matchups for fear of missing the playoffs,” Carbone said.
Both Dyer and Carbone do not feel the expansion will water down the playoffs, but instead provide more opportunities for teams to have a chance to qualify for the postseason.
But not everyone feels that way. “For a small state like Connecticut, I think it’s ridiculous. It kind of fits right in with the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ type thing,” New
Canaan coach Lou Marinelli said. “If you have six divisions, why not put all the co-ops in one division and then all the schools of choice in another division? That makes more sense than what they’re doing.”
There has been discussion over the years about expanding the number of playoff teams within the current division setup. But that would have meant expanding the number of weeks of playoffs, starting some time in mid-November, and relegating Thanksgiving Day games meaningless, or played earlier in the season.
This new format will allow the regular season to still end with Thanksgiving Day and not increase the round of playoffs.
“It’s a much better option than expanding the playoffs to 32 teams, shortening the season and getting rid of Thanksgiving,” Ansonia coach Tom Brockett said.
Said Carbone: “Obviously, those games are always a source of spirited discussion.”
Southington 972 Hamden 930 Glastonbury 915 Staples 909
East Hartford 894 Brien McMahon 886 West Haven 868 Manchester 858 Wilbur Cross 835 Crosby 793 Ridgefield 793 Fairfield Warde 770 Enfield 757 Fairfield Ludlowe 757 Wm. Hall 757
L (617-756) (23)
Fairfield Prep 743 Amity Reg. 734 Kennedy 734 Conard 729 Darien 725 Newtown 722 Bridgeport Central 707 Harding 702 Shelton 699
New Canaan 689 Simsbury 678 New Milford 673 South Windsor 672 Naugatuck 670 Cheshire 665 Newington 664 Xavier 663 Wilby 661 Maloney 647 Farmington 636 Middletown 635 Wilton 626 Hillhouse 617
MM (518-616) (23)
Bristol Central 605 Wilcox Tech. / Kaynor Tech * 600
Fitch 579
Norwich Tech/St. Bernard/ 571 Grasso Tech * Pomperaug 570 Guilford 569
Windsor 569
Wethersfield 567 Stratford 558
Cheney Tech 551
Bristol Eastern 545 Wolcott Tech / Nonnewaug / Wamogo * 539 Hartford Public 536 Ellis/Putnam/Tourtellotte * 536 Daniel Hand 535
East Lyme 534
New London 534 Woodstock Academy 534 Vinal / Goodwin / Whitney * 531
Platt 530
Bunnell 526
Masuk 520
Platt Tech 518
M (423-517) (23)
E.O. Smith 512
Abbott Tech/Immaculate * 512 Bassick 509
North Haven 504
Avon 501
Bethel 497
Notre Dame, WH 495 Windsor Locks/Suffield/ 491 East Granby * Torrington 490
Lyman Hall 489 SMSA/University/Classical/ 470 Bulkeley/HMTCA * Berlin 468 Bullard-Havens/Kolbe Cath. * 463
Bloomfield 461
RHAM 459 Coventry/Windham Tech/ 453 Bolton/Lyman Mem. Granby/Canton * 439 Coginchaug/Hale Ray/ 439 East Hampton Rockville 436
East Haven 432 Watertown 425
Joel Barlow 423 Jonathan Law 423
SS (354-422) (23)
Branford 420
Foran 415
Ellington 412
Weston 412 Civic/MLC/AAE * 410 O’Brien Tech. 409
A.I. Prince 406 Waterford 398 Gilbert/NW Reg/Housatonic * 383
Plainville 379
St. Joseph 377
Tolland 376
Sheehan 374 Montville 373
Bacon Academy 371 Lewis Mills 369
Valley Reg/Old Lyme * 366 Wolcott 361 Cromwell/Portland * 358 Windham 358 Ledyard 357
New Fairfield 355
Rocky Hill 354
S (Up to 353) (23)
Stonington 337 Killingly 335
Amistad 332 Woodland 326 Seymour 319
WCA 317 Stafford/E. Windsor/Somers * 315
Ansonia 310 Haddam-Killingworth 305 Morgan 298 Griswold/Wheeler * 283 Bloomfield 266 Plainfield 266
East Catholic 252 Oxford 247
Holy Cross 236
North Branford 231
N.W. Catholic 230 Capital/Achievement * 228 Old Saybrook/Westbrook * 217 Notre Dame-Fairfield 209 St. Paul 200
Derby 186