The most recent official scuttlebutt on the MPSSAA playoff system is this: The MPSSAA is looking to move to 5 classifications instead of the 4 we have had forever. As I have stated here many times they are NEVER going to do away with the regional format. That won't change. The other part of that new 5 class expansion is that they are likely to do what West Virginia has done...where they divide up the schools based on enrollments, not balance - or should I simply say there will not be an equal amount of teams in each class. The second part of the logic seems to be this will incorporate more football teams into the playoff system.
In WV, there are way more teams in Class AA (44 teams) and Class A (54 teams) as opposed to the amount of teams in Class AAA (29 teams). The upside of this is that teams are more closer to enrollments now. The downside from a football standpoint is that a team like Keyser is furious they now have to compete against more teams to make the playoffs. If they are going to use this formula then they should maybe have only 8 teams make the AAA football playoffs instead of 16. Or they should let 24 football teams in the playoffs for Class AA. They didn't.
The real reason the MPSSAA is looking into this new realignment is based on Class 4A having teams like Blair with 3105 students in the school. While the bottom of Class 4A like Urbana only has 1693 students. That is almost double the enrollment. Or in the case of Class 1A we have Chesapeake with 994 students while Hancock only has 149 students.
I suspect we will see a really small Classification in Maryland like WV and PA have. The only problem is hardly any of them have a football program.
All this came about with the recent rewording of COMAR regulations. Don't ask, you will only get confused. In the simplest explanation COMAR are regulations set forth by elected officials so they can control every facet of life in Maryland much like any regulations contractors have to meet before they can dig a hole to build something 2 years later.
I'm not sure how I personally feel about having 5 classes. I see pros and cons to both.
MPSSAA BALANCE
If I'm going to spell out my typical Western Maryland beef about the MPSSAA and the fact they don't give a hoot about Western Maryland this would be it: So this school year of 2017-18 the MPSSAA determined for the first time in 43 years that there was not enough balance in all 4 classifications. In the past 43 years they took every MPSSAA school and divided by four evenly so each class would have an equal amount of schools. But for this school year they decided to pull out teams that did not have a football program and divided by four - then reinserted those schools back into Class 1A. So now we have an equal amount of schools in all classes for just football but 1A now has about 16 more schools for all other sports. Here is the massive problem.
CATOCTIN AND FRANCIS SCOTT KEY
The MPSSAA was looking for balance!!!!! So they gave the 1A West 12 football teams and gave the 1A South 7 football teams. THAT IS NOT BALANCE!!! The 1A South is mostly PG County. Can someone please explain to me how both Catoctin and Francis Scott Key got placed into the 1A West region? First off, those schools are closer to PG County than they are Allegany and Garrett County. What this did was allow multiple teams with a 3-7 type record in the South Region into the football playoffs while 8-2 teams in the West didn't make the playoffs. The point of hypocrisy is that the MPSSAA wanted balance -- that is unless PG County says otherwise. Catoctin and FSK should be in the 1A South. I expected nothing less however. So next year if say Southern Garrett and Clear Spring meet in the basketball final again, Southern Garrett will have to travel 2.5 hours to play the regional final in Carroll County as they are the host for 2019. That just isn't right.
In WV, there are way more teams in Class AA (44 teams) and Class A (54 teams) as opposed to the amount of teams in Class AAA (29 teams). The upside of this is that teams are more closer to enrollments now. The downside from a football standpoint is that a team like Keyser is furious they now have to compete against more teams to make the playoffs. If they are going to use this formula then they should maybe have only 8 teams make the AAA football playoffs instead of 16. Or they should let 24 football teams in the playoffs for Class AA. They didn't.
The real reason the MPSSAA is looking into this new realignment is based on Class 4A having teams like Blair with 3105 students in the school. While the bottom of Class 4A like Urbana only has 1693 students. That is almost double the enrollment. Or in the case of Class 1A we have Chesapeake with 994 students while Hancock only has 149 students.
I suspect we will see a really small Classification in Maryland like WV and PA have. The only problem is hardly any of them have a football program.
All this came about with the recent rewording of COMAR regulations. Don't ask, you will only get confused. In the simplest explanation COMAR are regulations set forth by elected officials so they can control every facet of life in Maryland much like any regulations contractors have to meet before they can dig a hole to build something 2 years later.
I'm not sure how I personally feel about having 5 classes. I see pros and cons to both.
MPSSAA BALANCE
If I'm going to spell out my typical Western Maryland beef about the MPSSAA and the fact they don't give a hoot about Western Maryland this would be it: So this school year of 2017-18 the MPSSAA determined for the first time in 43 years that there was not enough balance in all 4 classifications. In the past 43 years they took every MPSSAA school and divided by four evenly so each class would have an equal amount of schools. But for this school year they decided to pull out teams that did not have a football program and divided by four - then reinserted those schools back into Class 1A. So now we have an equal amount of schools in all classes for just football but 1A now has about 16 more schools for all other sports. Here is the massive problem.
CATOCTIN AND FRANCIS SCOTT KEY
The MPSSAA was looking for balance!!!!! So they gave the 1A West 12 football teams and gave the 1A South 7 football teams. THAT IS NOT BALANCE!!! The 1A South is mostly PG County. Can someone please explain to me how both Catoctin and Francis Scott Key got placed into the 1A West region? First off, those schools are closer to PG County than they are Allegany and Garrett County. What this did was allow multiple teams with a 3-7 type record in the South Region into the football playoffs while 8-2 teams in the West didn't make the playoffs. The point of hypocrisy is that the MPSSAA wanted balance -- that is unless PG County says otherwise. Catoctin and FSK should be in the 1A South. I expected nothing less however. So next year if say Southern Garrett and Clear Spring meet in the basketball final again, Southern Garrett will have to travel 2.5 hours to play the regional final in Carroll County as they are the host for 2019. That just isn't right.
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