Rep Council Wrap-Up: Winter 2017
April 1, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
To accommodate an increasing number of member schools moving to 8-player football, while continuing to provide a championship opportunity for schools with the smallest enrollments, the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association approved the addition of a second division to the 8-Player Football Playoffs among multiple actions taken during its annual Winter Meeting on March 24 in East Lansing.
A total of 60 Class D schools have declared so far they will sponsor 8-player varsity football teams this fall, a 20-percent increase in tournament-eligible teams from last season (only Class D schools currently are eligible for the MHSAA tournament in this sport). The Council voted to expand the 8-player tournament to two four-week, 16-team brackets, with schools divided based on enrollment. Since its first season of MHSAA tournament sponsorship in 2011, 8-player football has finished with one 16-team playoff.
The two-division, four-week format provides the smallest MHSAA member schools a shorter tournament involving schools with a smaller difference in enrollment, both of which may enhance participant health and safety. The championships games will occur the weekend before Thanksgiving. Qualification criteria, enrollment limits and MHSAA Finals venues will be discussed at the Council’s Spring Meeting, May 7-8.
The Council also discussed venue possibilities for future wrestling and basketball Finals rounds, with sites for the 2017-18 school year to be selected not later than the Spring Meeting. The Basketball Finals, played the last many seasons at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center for both girls and boys, would have with their currently-scheduled dates one or the other in conflict in future seasons with Breslin’s potential opportunity to host NCAA Tournament first and second-round games for MSU’s women’s basketball team. The Council will review proposals for hosting the Basketball Finals at the Spring Meeting, and also consider the possibility of altering schedules for the tournaments to accommodate venue availability.
The MHSAA Wrestling Finals have been conducted for the team tournament the last two years at Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena, while the individual tournament has finished the last 15 seasons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The contract with McGuirk Arena ended with this winter’s tournament, and with the future of The Palace uncertain, the MHSAA is considering options for moving that event as well.
The Council also approved a recommendation from the MHSAA Baseball/Softball Committee to classify those two sports independently beginning with the 2017-18 school year. Currently, schools are placed in the same divisions for both sports, and also play in the same tournament groupings for both. This action allows for the sports to be organized separately, and came in response to fewer schools sponsoring both baseball and softball teams, which has led to Districts with uneven numbers of teams (more for softball at a particular site than for baseball, or vice versa).
Also in football, the Council approved a Football Committee recommendation that the MHSAA seek permission from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to continue to experiment with a 40-second clock for use between plays. Teams taking part in the experiment will have 40 seconds from the end of the previous play to snap the ball to begin the next, unless there is an administrative stoppage (for penalty, measurement, etc.). MHSAA schools began experimenting with the 40-second clock during the 2016 season.
In addition to sport matters, the Council discussed a paper prepared by the Michigan State University Institute for the Study of Youth Sports entitled “Gender Differences in Youth Sport Concussion.” The paper delved into findings by the MHSAA during its 2015-16 concussion reporting that showed a greater number of reports of concussions for females than males in the same sport (for example, basketball and soccer). The MHSAA’s findings, and the Institute’s comparisons with findings of other organizations and researchers, will be used to help shape MHSAA services and support to school sports.
The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
Week 6 Football Playoff Listing
September 26, 2012
Here is a list of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playing schools, displaying their win-loss records and playoff averages through the fifth week of the season. Schools on this list are in enrollment order. An asterisk (*) beside a record indicates that a team has eight or fewer games scheduled. A carrot (^) beside a school’s name indicates that a team is one win away from playoff qualification.
Those schools with 11-player teams with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules, or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer, will qualify for the MHSAA Football Playoffs beginning Oct. 26-27. Schools with 5-4, 4-3 or 4-4 records may qualify if the number of potential qualifiers by win total does not reach the 256 mark. Schools with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer may be subtracted from the field based on playoff average if the number of potential qualifiers exceeds the 256 mark.
Once the 256 qualifying schools are determined, they will be divided by enrollment groups into eight equal divisions of 32 schools, and then drawn into regions of eight teams each and districts of four teams each.
Those schools with 8-player teams will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, and the top 16 programs will be drawn into regions of eight teams each for the playoff in that division, which also begins Oct. 26-27.
To review a list of all football playoff schools, individual school playoff point details and to report errors, visit the Football page of the MHSAA Website.
The announcement of the qualifiers and first-round pairings for both the 11 and 8-player playoffs will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 on the Selection Sunday Show on FOX Sports Detroit. The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the MHSAA Website following the Selection Sunday Show.
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11-Player Playoff Listing
1. |
Utica Eisenhower |
2772 |
3-2 |
62.000 |
2. |
Sterling Heights Stevenson |
2766 |
4-1 |
75.800 |
3. |
Clarkston ^ |
2721 |
5-0 |
94.400 |
4. |
Grand Blanc |
2644 |
3-2 |
57.600 |
5. |
Macomb Dakota |
2608 |
4-1 |
80.600 |
6. |
Lake Orion ^ |
2565 |
5-0 |
96.000 |
7. |
Rockford |
2526 |
3-2 |
57.400 |
8. |
Troy |
2502 |
3-2 |
57.400 |
9. |
Clinton Township Chippewa Valley |
2462 |
4-1 |
77.000 |
10. |
Dearborn Fordson |
2442 |
4-1 |
83.400 |
11. |
Holland West Ottawa |
2262 |
4-1 |
71.000 |
12. |
Northville |
2220 |
3-2 |
60.400 |
13. |
Detroit Cass Tech |
2200 |
4-1 |
77.400 |
14. |
Canton |
2166 |
3-2 |
51.200 |
15. |
Monroe ^ |
2154 |
5-0 |
83.200 |
16. |
Detroit Catholic Central |
2060 |
3-2 |
47.800 |
17. |
Plymouth |
2050 |
4-1 |
71.200 |
18. |
Salem |
2039 |
4-1 |
75.600 |
19. |
Livonia Stevenson |
2005 |
4-1 |
77.200 |
20. |
Holt |
1992 |
3-2 |
57.200 |
21. |
Hartland ^ |
1932 |
5-0 |
91.200 |
22. |
Warren Mott ^ |
1879 |
5-0 |
86.400 |
23. |
Livonia Churchill ^ |
1877 |
5-0 |
100.800 |
24. |
Walled Lake Central |
1857 |
3-2 |
52.200 |
25. |
Macomb L'Anse Creuse North |
1853 |
3-2 |
58.400 |
26. |
Saline |
1849 |
4-1 |
72.400 |
27. |
Grandville |
1846 |
3-2 |
53.600 |
28. |
Flint Carman-Ainsworth ^ |
1772 |
5-0 |
88.000 |
29. |
Grand Ledge |
1743 |
4-1 |
70.600 |
30. |
Rochester |
1725 |
4-1 |
72.800 |
31. |
Traverse City West |
1720 |
4-1 |
72.200 |
32. |
White Lake Lakeland |
1700 |
4-1 |
72.400 |
33. |
Harrison Township L'Anse Creuse |
1680 |
3-2 |