Week 5 quickly approaches, and it is time to look closer at the playoff format for 2020, which will be very different than previous seasons.
All schools are eligible for the postseason, starting in Week Seven, and 664 schools have opted in, according to the OHSAA’s press release. The original press release can be found here: https://www.ohsaa.org/news-media/articles/ohsaa-announces-new-football-regions.
Let’s take a look at the break down division-by-division for what this all means for the Butler County schools:
Division III, Region 12 (Friday games)
Total Teams In the Bracket: 26
Teams Earning a First-Round Bye: 6
Butler County Teams: Badin, Monroe, Ross
Other Teams in the Bracket: Aiken, Alter, Bellbrook, Carroll, Celina, Chaminade-Julienne, Dunbar, Elida, Fenwick, Franklin, Goshen, Greenville, Hughes, Lima Shawnee, Mount Healthy, New Richmond, Northwest, Ponitz Tech, St. Mary’s Memorial, Tippecanoe, Trotwood-Madison, Vandalia Butler, Wapakoneta
Analysis: I would expect Badin and Bellbrook to be the 1 and 2 seeds, in either order. Both are 4-0, have won a tight game against a traditional powerhouse — Badin over Alter, Bellbrook over Valley View — and have been destroying everybody else they’ve played.
Bellbrook was in Region 11 last year and missed the playoffs at 8-2, finishing 9th in their region. They get geographically shuffled over to Region 12 this year, making this a tougher bracket for all involved.
Interestingly enough, Badin and Bellbrook were originally scheduled to play each other in Week 2 of the original 10-week schedule. It got scrapped because of the re-made six-game schedule, but they may see each other yet.
Bellbrook does have a more quality Week 5 opponent in Brookville, if that breaks the tie in the minds of the coaches. Or perhaps the coaches might respect the GCL Co-Ed a little more than the Southwestern Buckeye League, it’s hard to say.
Bellbrook and Badin are actually 2nd and 3rd in the current Harbin ratings, behind 4-0 New Richmond. New Richmond will play against powerhouse Clinton-Massie in Week 5. New Richmond will most certainly not be favored in that game, but if they were to win it, they, too, would have a legitimate claim to the 1-seed in the coaches vote.
Ross is currently 5th in the Harbins, and those Rams have been putting up some impressive wins after the Week 1 loss to Badin. Ross will absolutely be hosting at least one playoff game at Robinson Field, and it is a strong possibility that its grabs one of those six first-round byes.
Games against Edgewood and Mount Healthy are all that stand in between them and an outright SWOC title. And then there’s the “How do you seed them?” teams: Alter and Trotwood-Madison. Both are absolutely good enough to win this bracket. Alter is 2-2 after “scheduling up” and losing to Clinton-Massie out-of-conference and dropping a 14-12 nailbiter to Badin. The Harbin points show Alter at 14th currently, but the Knights will almost certainly be seeded higher than that. The Harbins only take straight wins and losses into account, and the subjective nature of the coaches poll will allow the coaches to show Alter quite a bit more respect, and deservedly so.
Trotwood-Madison will also garner respect, and those Rams are the defending Division III state champions. But Trotwood did not play a game in the first three weeks, leaving them only a 34-6 win over Ponitz Tech and a Week 5 matchup with Thurgood Marshall to evaluate them on.
And then there are the five Western Buckeye League teams to consider. That conference is completely topsy-turvy from where it normally is. Elida, who was 0-10 last year, is currently the highest-ranked WBL team in the Harbins at 7th. Lima Shawnee went 4-6 last year and has already won 3 games this season. St. Mary’s Memorial, a playoff team from last year and state semifinalist from two years ago, sits at 2-2. And the powerhouse Wapakoneta Redskins, the 2-seed in last year’s playoffs and seemingly ALWAYS in the hunt for the WBL title, sit at an astonishing 0-4.
Monroe is currently 19th in the Harbins, and if the Hornets knock off Oakwood in Week 5, they might garner enough sentiment in the coaches poll to host a first-round game.
SAMPLE BRACKET
