> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ways to improve the high school football postseason - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/ways-to-improve-the-high-school-football-postseason/ - Published: 2014-11-07T13:00:08.000Z - Updated: 2014-11-07T13:00:08.000Z - Description: When the NHIAA revealed its plans for high school football realignment in June of 2012, there were undoubtedly those for it and those against it from all parts of the state. - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Fall Sports, conference, Division I, Division II, Division III, football, playoffs, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 ![Salem is this year's 7-2 team on the outside looking in at the Division I postseason.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/jmsalpafball092014-s4-1.jpg) Salem is this year's 7-2 team on the outside looking in at the Division I postseason. When the NHIAA revealed its plans for high school football realignment in June of 2012, there were undoubtedly those for it and those against it from all parts of the state. The plan also raised a lot of questions, many of which couldn't be answered until a couple of seasons had been allowed to play out. It's almost reached that point, with the second postseason of the latest system set to begin on Saturday. There was already one major tweak after the first year - Division III went from four conferences to two - but there should be several more on the table for the 2015 season and beyond. The biggest thing that players, coaches, administrators and fans have pointed to as needing a change is how the postseason field is selected. That was taken care of in D3 with the change mentioned above, but the overwhelming opinion seems to be that something needs to be done in Divisions I and II. Here are a few examples of why: - At 7-2, Salem is not in the postseason, while two teams - Bishop Guertin and Alvirne - are 4-5 and will play for a spot in the semifinals on Saturday. The Blue Devils defeated both teams during the regular season. It's the second time in two seasons in D1 that a 7-2 team was on the outside looking in while a 4-5 team that it defeated is in the postseason. - In D2, Sanborn and Hollis Brookline will compete for a spot in the semifinals, despite the fact that, according to their football ratings, Sanborn is tied for 10th in the division and HB is 12th. - Also in D2, Milford and Trinity finished with the same record (5-3) in the same conference, but despite losing to Trinity, Milford is in the conference championship because it had a better rating. Both teams had better ratings than Sanborn and HB. It's worth noting that all of the football teams knew before the season how the postseason would be determined, or at the very least, that information was easily accessible. The plan wasn't changed midseason and there was no selection committee that picked one team over another. The procedure for the postseason - and all postseasons, for that matter - is listed in the NHIAA handbook, which is online and updated before each school year. Every team in D1 and D2 knew going into the season that only the top two teams in each conference would make the postseason, while the teams in D3 knew it was the top four who where in. In D1, determining which teams were in the postseason was done by record, with head-to-head results breaking ties, because every team in a conference played an identical schedule. In D2 and D3, that process of determining teams was done by football rating, because every team in a conference played a different out-of-conference schedule. Had there been a tie in the ratings, head-to-head results would have been used to break it. So what, if anything, should be done? Here are a couple of ideas, which in no way are being presented here as actual plans being considered by the NHIAA. They're just some ideas that we came up with. ### Six divisions It would certainly be possible for the NHIAA to do an 180-degree spin and go back to the plan that many, at that time, deemed unfavorable. But only under one circumstance should it be considered. If football were to go back to six divisions, than there should be an additional round of the postseason added after the division championship games in which the winning teams from D1 and D2 play,the winning teams from D3 and D4 play, and the winners from D5 and D6 play. But even with that addition, this shouldn't be an option. It's worth noting that there's been some noise made this year by some affiliated with the schools that were in the former Division II that feel they can't compete in the current Division I for whatever reason. The question we'd ask is, how well did they compete in the old D2, when Bishop Guertin and Exeter were dominating the division? Those same schools would have said back then that they had "no chance" of winning because the other two belonged in D1. It's also a pointless argument. Look at what some of the former D2 teams (and D3 teams) have done against the supposed bigger competition. Keene is 4-1 in the last two years against the Nashua public schools, and Alvirne beat both Nashua schools this season. Goffstown and Portsmouth were 3-1 against Manchester schools this year. Bedford is 11th in enrollment, meaning it would be in D2 in the six-division format, and its 9-0. The teams in the current D1 compete against each other in every other sport. Football shouldn't be any different. ### Four divisions This would be challenging right now as there is an odd number of teams playing football in the state. That could change in 2016, if the co-op team from Hopkinton and Hillsboro-Deering continues on as scheduled to be a varsity program for that season. With the current number of teams, four divisions would mean that one division would have 15 teams, while the others had 14, if it was split evenly. It also creates the potential problem of an unbalanced schedule, since at most teams would likely play a nine- or 10-game regular season slate. Of course, D2 and D3 already play an unbalanced schedule now, and it happens in other sports in the small-school divisions. Of course, there's nothing that says each division has to have the same number of teams, or the same setup, seeing as how they don't now. D1 has 20 teams, while D2 has 21 and D3 has 16 with two conferences instead of four. And in other sports, the number of teams in the divisions is different, in some cases drastically. What if D1 stayed at the current 20 teams and stuck with the conference format? That would leave 37 teams, which could breakdown as 13 teams in D2 and 12 each in D3 and D4\. It's a possibility, but would be a major overhaul, the second such one in three years. Something worth considering, but ultimately, shouldn't be done. ### Three divisions, two conferences This seems to have worked out OK in D3 this season, although some could argue that the South Conference championship game will be the true division championship. But that would be no where near as unfortunate as what happened last year, when Pelham and Bow were the top two teams all year, but because they were in the same conference, had to play the first week of the postseason. The easiest way to do this would be to combine the East and North conferences and the South and West conferences in both D1 and D2. For example, that would mean this year's playoff field in the D1 East/North would have still been Bedford, Exeter, Concord and Portsmouth, while the South/West would have been all teams from the South - Pinkerton, Londonderry, Salem and Timberlane, because it beat both Bishop Guertin and Alvrine. The same would have happened in D2: the East/North would have the same four teams (Kennett, St. Thomas, Merrimack Valley, Kearsarge), while the South/West would have all been teams from the South (Windham, Milford, Trinity, Souhegan). It's the easiest, and perhaps, the lost most logical way to get rid of the potential for a deserving team to miss the postseason, but it also removes the drama that came this year with having four conferences. Would the Londonderry-Salem game have had as much hype surrounding it if we knew both teams where in the postseason? ### Three divisions, add a week Think back if you can to the six-division alignment and how the regular-season schedule was setup. The season often began before Labor Day and the teams in D1 and D2, and even some in D3, played 10 regular season games. That number is down to nine in D1, and just eight in D2 and D3. What if the regular season went back to starting before Labor Day? Move the entire regular season up by a week but instead of adding another regular season game, make that extra week for the conference championships. Then, seed everyone for three rounds of postseason play. It's the best of both worlds. The NHIAA can keep the four-conference format, with the top two teams in each playing for the conference title and an automatic berth in the playoffs. Then, take the next four teams with the highest rating to fill out the eight-team playoffs. This year, that would mean a team like Bishop Guertin or Alvirne or Sanborn or HB would still be rewarded for winning its conference, but it would also include Salem and Trinity in the postseason. Of course, there's always the chance of a team slipping up in the conference game and then missing out on the postseason, and there could be teams that are getting what amounts to a bye week before the playoffs. Make no mistake, regardless of whatever changes are made, someone will not be happy with them, just like there were some who aren't happy with the current format and the previous format. There will likely still be tweaks that need to be made, and there's no way to figure that out until actually letting a season or two run its course. But whatever changes are made - if any are made at all - we'll still keep coming back for more football.