Bryson City – Following their final regular season game, everyone in the Maroon Nation felt sure of two things. First that Swain would make the playoffs, and second that the Devils would be on the road for every round. The NCHSAA new playoff format almost assured that whatever road the Devils would be on it would be a long one.
But the unlikely happened, Swain ended up as a host team for the first round. Even more unlikely their opponent, North Stanly, has a better record at 7-3 than do the Devils.
How in the world did that happen? Easy actually. In the new playoff scheme all 1A football schools are sorted by best 10 game winning percentage. Then they are narrowed down to the top 64 teams by winning percentage. From that point they divided those 64 into 2 sections of 32 teams based upon the school’s average daily attendance or ADM.
Swain was in the top 32 teams by ADM number putting them in the 1AA section, while the remainder of the Smoky Mountain Conference was in the smaller 32 or 1A section.
Once the 32 teams are found, they are then divided into West, Midwest, Mideast, and East based upon their longitude, or physical address. The 8 west most schools are lumped together, then 8 midwest, 8 mideast, and 8 east.
From here any team that won their conference, or finished as the highest 1A school in a 1A/2A split conference, are placed in the top spots and sorted by their 10 game winning percentage. After those are seeded the remaining qualifying teams are then sorted and placed according to their 10 game winning percentage.
For this year, Mount Airy, East Wilkes, Bessemer City, Avery County, Cherryville, Pine Lake Prep, Starmount, and Swain fell into the 8 western most group, or the West region.
Mount Airy, East Wilkes, and Bessemer City each either won their conference or finished highest in a 1A/2A split. So they get the top 3 spots and are sorted.
Swain finished 5-5 or at .500 and were the next highest team by winning percentage, giving them the 4th spot in the west.
The final wrinkle in the NCHSAA model for this year, is that the West teams do not play each other, instead they pair off with the Midwest teams. #1 seed in the West plays #8 seed in the Midwest, #2 West plays #7 Midwest, etc…
So Swain pairs off with the 5th seed from the Midwest, and as the 4th seed, or higher seed, is the host school for the first round.
So you see, it is all very simple, right?