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Unique Class 6A playoff format approved

By David LaVaque, Star Tribune, 08/16/11, 3:24PM CDT

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Road to state championship takes on a new look for football's top class

Wayzata wins 2010 championship

Top-ranked Wayzata's players celebrated their third Class 5A championship in the past six seasons after the 2010 Prep Bowl. Star Tribune file photo

The 32 football programs in the newly created Class 6A now have a map for plotting their course to a state championship.
 
On Tuesday, the Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors unanimously approved a playoff format for Class 6A beginning in 2012. The 32 teams are divided into four sections, and the section quarterfinals will feature the No. 1 seeded team playing the No. 8 seeds, 2 vs. 7 and so on.
 
Next, the four remaining teams in each section will square off in predetermined section crossover games. The eight winning teams will then be the state tournament field, and those teams will be seeded 1-4 by coaches’ votes. The remaining four teams will be selected by blind draw.
 
There is a Pandora’s Box element to the new format. In every other team sport, a section with several top teams could produce only one state qualifier. Not so now in football. The new format allows, for example, Section 6 heavyweights Eden Prairie, Minnetonka and Wayzata to all reach the state tournament.
 
So will other sports petition for a new playoff format?

MSHSL News Release

DEERWOOD – The MSHSL Board of Directors held its August meeting at Ruttger’s Conference Center here Tuesday, and football grabbed the headline.
 
During a meeting that contained plenty of boilerplate board material, the members voted unanimously to approve a playoff format for Class 6A football. The new division will begin play in 2012.
 
The 32 Class 6A teams will be split into four sections, with eight teams in each section. (Sections are listed below.) For the first round of playoffs, each section will seed its teams 1 through 8. After the first round of games have been played, the four winning teams from each section will be matched with the top four from a different section by random draw; higher seeds will play lower seeds, with higher seeds being the home team. Those section-to-section pairings will rotate every two years.
 
After two rounds of games, eight teams will advance to the state quarterfinals and be seeded under the current format, with coaches voting to seed the top four teams and a blind draw deciding their opponents from the remaining four.
 
The 6A state quarterfinals will be played under the same timetable as quarterfinals in other classes. The 6A state semifinals will be played at the Metrodome on the Thursday evening prior to the traditional Friday-Saturday semifinals. The 6A championship game will be played on Friday night of Prep Bowl weekend.
 
The section lineups look like this …
 
SECTION 3
Burnsville High School
Eagan High School
Eastview High School
Lakeville North High School
Lakeville South High School
Park High School
Prior Lake High School
Rosemount High School
 
SECTION 4
Cretin-Derham Hall High School
Forest Lake High School
Mounds View High School
North High School
Roseville Area High School
Stillwater Area High School
White Bear Lake Area High School
Woodbury High School
 
SECTION 5
Anoka
Blaine High School
Brainerd High School
Centennial High School
Champlin Park High School
Coon Rapids High School
Maple Grove High School
Osseo
 
SECTION 6
Eden Prairie High School
Edina High School
Hopkins High School
Minneapolis South
Minnetonka High School
Robbinsdale Armstrong High School
Shakopee High School
Wayzata High School
 
– John Millea, MSHSL Media Specialist

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