The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Playoffs to expand beginning in 2021
Field will grow to 12 teams per region; top four will receive a bye in first round
The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced it will expand the high school football playoff field.
Are you ready for some (more) football?
If not, get ready, because it’s coming in 2021.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced May 20 that it will expand the high school football playoff field from 8 to 12 teams per region starting in 2021.
“We still have details to work out regarding the format and specific season dates. But this vote by the board gives us the green light to finalize those details for 2021,” said Beau Rugg, senior director of officiating and sport management for the OHSAA and the association’s football administrator. “We are thankful for the board’s support on this proposal, which will bring all the great things of playoff football to 112 additional schools and communities.”
The expansion will increase the number of playoff qualifiers from 224 to 336, meaning that nearly half of the 709 schools in Ohio that play 11-man football will be postseason-bound.
If the playoff field was expanded to 12 per region a year ago, 44 teams with a .500 record or worse would have made the playoffs, including 12 teams with a losing record.
The motion was approved by a 9-0 vote by the OHSAA staff, giving a thumbs-up to the proposal that came from the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association.
“This wasn’t just ‘Hey, let’s expand the playoffs,’” said Tom Pavlansky, head coach at Cortland Lakeview and president of the OHSFCA. “Surveys went out to coaches, feedback was gathered and a lot of hard work went into this.
“All we are trying to do is enhance our game. We think making the playoffs in football, there’s a uniqueness there. More communities and more school districts should have an opportunity to experience that.”
During the first round of the playoffs, the top four seeds will have a bye, while the No. 12 seed will play at the No. 5 seed, No. 11 at No. 6, No. 10 at No. 7 and No. 9 at No. 8.
In the second round, the No. 1 seed will play the winner of the 8 vs. 9 game; the
No. 2 seed will play the winner of 6 vs. 11; the No. 3 seed will play the winner of 7 vs. 10 and the No. 4 seed will play the winner of 5 vs. 12.
Pavlansky said schools will still play 10 regularseason games. However, he said the regular season will begin a week earlier and that state championship weekend will still be played as previously scheduled (Dec. 2-5).
Under the proposal, practice days are cut back from 25 to 18 days, since the season starts a week earlier, and one scrimmage (likely the No. 3 scrimmage, a jamboree type of game scrimmage) is also eliminated.
“I wasn’t in favor of the expansion at first,” said Perry coach Matt Rosati. “But I like the provisions they laid out, eliminating a scrimmage and reducing the number of practices. Once they laid that out, I was in favor of it.”
The playoff expansion, had it happened two years ago, would have affected a number of News-Herald area schools.
In 2019, West Geauga and Chagrin Falls finished ninth and 10th in Division
IV, Region 13 and out of the playoff picture. Geneva (13th in Division III, Region 9), Berkshire (13th in Division V, Region 17) and Fairport (14th in Division VI, Region 21) would have been just barely out of a playoff spot.
In 2018, Benedictine (ninth in Division II, Region 5), Madison (11th in Division II, Region 5), Brush (12th in Division II, Region 5), Beachwood (11th in Division V, Region 17) and Richmond Heights (12th in Division VI, Region 21) would have been in the playoff dance.
“Expanding the playoffs sure makes Weeks 7, 8, 9 and 10 more exciting,” said Chagrin Falls coach Mark Iammarino. “If you’re at 12 in the last few weeks, you need a lot of movement to get up to 8. (Expansion) makes those October games a lot more exciting for many programs.”
Iammarino laughed when asked how many times his program finished in the 9-through-12 range over the years.
“A lot,” he said. Those such teams would get a chance now.
“I think it’s a positive, I really do,” he said. “There’s nothing more exciting than playoff football. Now you add four more teams per region. Bottom line is playoff football is exciting for everyone — players, coaches, schools and communities. This means so many more will get to experience that.”
There are potential downsides to expansion. Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt said the season is already long and physical, isn’t a fan of taking a bye week — especially for teams that are playing well in Week 10 — and questions the motivation to do so.
“My initial reaction is it’s an attempt for the state to recoup some of the funds they might have lost this spring,” Hewitt said of the novel coronavirus canceling spring sports in Ohio. “I’m not a fan of the expansion, for sure. I think it’s watering down the ability to make the playoffs. Essentially, half the teams in every region will make the playoffs.
“Expansion takes something that’s special and sacred — making the playoffs — and diminishes it.”