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NCHSAA releases finalized football playoff brackets

By Nick Stevens

Nov 7, 2009

The N.C. High School Athletic Association has released the finalized brackets for the 2009 high school football playoffs.

64 teams from each of the four classifications (1-A, 2-A, 3-A and 4-A) make the playoffs, then they are divided in half based on their Average Daily Membership (ADM) numbers. This division subdivides the playoffs into 1-A, 1-AA, 2-A, 2-AA, etc. This leads to eight different playoffs and eight state champions.

The first round of the playoffs begins on Friday, Nov. 13. All games will be played at the highest seed until the state championship game. The state championships are played at N.C. State, North Carolina and Wake Forest. For a state championship schedule, click here.

Finalized brackets are not subject to change.

Earlier Saturday, the NCHSAA released preliminary brackets to the public. The purpose of preliminary brackets is to give coaches and administrators time to look at the match-ups and double-check the seeding done by the NCHSAA. Schools must report errors to the NCHSAA for corrections to be made.

HighSchoolOT.com will have much more on the playoffs over the next few days. Stay tuned for reaction from coaches and our experts, and be sure to join Nick Stevens for a special playoff preview Sunday evening at 6:30. You will able to ask Nick any questions you have, as well as question area coaches and prep sports figures.

Download the brackets:

4-AA Playoffs | 4-A Playoffs

3-AA Playoffs | 3-A Playoffs

2-AA Playoffs | 2-A Playoffs

1-AA Playoffs | 1-A Playoffs

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9 Comments

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No. Broughton finished No. 2 in the Cap 7. All No. 2's are seeded higher than all No. 3's regardless of overall record. All No. 3's are seeded higher than all at-large bids, regardless of overall record. That is why Leesville has to travel to Broughton. They got an at-large bid to the playoffs.

Nick Stevens
November 8, 2009 3:05 p.m.
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Good explanation DFF, but there still has to be a misprint in the 4AA East. Broughton and Leesville Rd have to be flip-flopped...yes?

pkucyk
November 8, 2009 1:36 p.m.
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durhamfbfan, thanks for the explanation and insight.

Where's my buddy Phil???

otaybw
November 8, 2009 12:10 p.m.
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check out www.fantastic50.net and you'll get a very in-depth look at how all of this works and why folks are where they are. fantastic50 and highschoolot are really providing some great insight to help in understanding a not very understandable playoff system! Great job to both sites.

durhamfbfan
November 8, 2009 9:02 a.m.
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Butler defeated Richmond and since they were the only 2 teams in the #1 seed bin that had a 10 game record of 10-0 they were evaluated head-to-head (now initially in the prelim brackets this was screwed up, but was later fixed for the final brackets) and because of Butler's victory they were given the overall 1 seed.

Concerning specifically I believe Hoggard at 7-4 and FV at 9-2. This follows that system. Hoggard was the #1 seed from their conference thus they will no matter their overall record be placed higher than FV since they were not in that bin for #1 seeds. Thus the reason they have a lower seed.

Folks say that doesn't make much sense, but think about it this way. By using this system the NCHSAA actually puts emphasis on two parts of ones season. They value the Conference record, ie where you finish in conference on the first level of seeding, while they value your overall record within seeding of a given bin.

Believe it or not, there is some good logic within

durhamfbfan
November 8, 2009 9:01 a.m.
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otaybw - to answer your question, it all comes down to how the playoffs are seeded.

When seeding, the committee takes all of the teams in the case you describe that will be in the east and puts them in different 'bins'. The first bin and highest bin is the #1 seeds, the teams that finished first in their conference, the second bin are all of the 2nd place teams, the third bin are all of 3rd place teams. Finally they have a bin with all of the at-large teams. At this point they compare the teams within each bin based on their overall adjusted record (the 10 game record after the one game being dropped). They then seed the teams based on those records so a 10-0 #1 seed and a 9-1 #1 seed would be placed in that order. After they have seeded all of the #1's they move to the #2's and so forth. If there are two teams in a given bin that have the same 10 game record they look at head-to-head (a good example of this is Richmond and Butler in the 4AA-West. Butler defeated Richmond and s

durhamfbfan
November 8, 2009 8:49 a.m.
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Cary is going to get crushed.

WhysoMad
November 8, 2009 7:13 a.m.
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The 4-AA and 4-A brackets don't look right to me. How does a 7-4 team take a #2 seed? FV is a #5 Seed at 9-2. Strange.

otaybw
November 8, 2009 12:14 a.m.
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INDY 6th seed!! Wow!!

dfmlythr
November 7, 2009 8:27 p.m.
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