PIAA Sets Football Playoff Brackets for 2008-2009

Although the PIAA state playoff brackets aren’t yet in stone, my friends at EasternPAFootball.com, with the help of high school football guru, Josh Funk, has a run down on how things will shake out in the 2008 and 2009 football seasons. Most of the information below is based on that information that I received today.

The only real change in the state, as far as districts are concerned, has to do with a couple of east-west swaps at the AAA level. District 3 will move from the eastern bracket to the west. Replacing District 3 in the east will be Districts 4 and 6, which will move from the west to the east bracket. Of course with the Philly Pub splitting from 2 to 4 classifications, and the addition of the Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) in the PIAA, the changes in the city will expand the high school football landscape to statewide proportions.

As I explained in an earlier post, the PCL will split from a Red/Blue configuration into separate “AAAA”, “AAA” and “AA” divisions, with each team competing in a division at the PIAA defined classifications. Each division will hold a separate playoff, crown a separate league champion and each of these three champions will play their public league counterpart for the district 12 championship (city title game) at their classification. The “A” classification in district 12 will be represented by the pub champ, as the PCL does not have “A” level teams. But, once the district champ is crowned, it’s becomes a new round of playoffs, as the district champ will now represent the entire city in their respective classification. I’ll explain how the state playoff bracket works with respect to the city teams (district 12).

AAAA
At the “AAAA” level, which has the largest enrollment schools, the district 12 champ will enter the state playoffs at the quarter-final stage. They will play the winner of the District 2/4/11 (Northeast PA) sub-regional playoff. If they can get past that game, they will meet the District 1 champ (Southeastern PA, excluding Philly). The winner of this game will move on to the state championship, where they will face the western PA bracket champ. Clean and simple, huh?

AAA
The “AAA” classification is similar to the “AAAA” bracket, with just a few exceptions. Like the “AAAA” champ, the district 12 “AAA” champ will enter the state playoffs at the quarter-final round. This district champ will face the District 1 champ in the quarter-finals, and the winner of that game will play the winner of the District 2/4/6/11 sub-regional playoff in the state semi-finals. This game will decide who represents the east in the state championship game. Note: As mentioned above, district 4 and district 6 (central PA) moved from the western bracket to the east.

AA
The District 12 “AA” champion will have a longer road to get to the state championship game. Whereas the District 12 “AAA” and “AAAA” champs enter the state playoffs at the quarter-final round, the “AA” champ will need to win 2 state playoff games just to get to the quarter-finals. First of all, the District 12 “AA” champ will compete in a preliminary sub-regional playoff with District 1. The winner of this playoff will then have to beat the district 11 champ in a second preliminary game. The quarter-final round will the winner of this preliminary game against the District 2 champ. This only gets the team as far as the state semi-finals, which would be against the winner of a game between districts 3 and 4. If you’re counting, that’s 4 games just to get to the state championship game. Then, the team would need to play the western PA champ for the state title. Counting league playoffs and the city championship game, a city team would need to win 8 playoff games to be the state champion. That’s a lot of post season football.

A
Since the “A” classification in district 12 only includes pub teams, the pub “A” champ will represent the city in the state playoffs. Their road to state glory is just as grueling as that of the “AA” champ. In the first round, the district 12 team will participate in a preliminary sub-regional playoff contest with district 1. If they can get past that game, they will then play the district 11 champ. This would only get the district 12 team as far as the state quarter-final game, where they’d have to play the winner of the district 2 vs. district 4 playoff game. And, if a team can manage to get this far, they’d then face the winner of a game between districts 3 and 6. Only at this point would the district 12 team qualify for the state title game. But, because there would not be a city title game at the “A” level, this team would only need to win 7 playoff games to become state champ.

To sum all of this up, the “A” and “AA” will need to run a gauntlet of state teams to win a state title in PA, whereas the “AAA” and “AAAA” district 12 champ would only need to win a few. But, don’t judge a team by the number of playoff games, as the road to a state title will be a formidable one for any city team.