The regular season for high school football has ended, which means playoffs are right around the corner. Like the NFL and college football, the end of the season usually means a playoff push for several teams.
This season, for the Bears, Berlin requires a few things to happen if they want to make the playoffs. A 0-5-0 start was clearly not ideal for the Bears, but luckily, none of those losses were in-conference.
Berlin is in the Ohio Cardinal Conference (OCC), which consists of five other teams: Olentangy High School, Marysville High School, Dublin Jerome High School, Hilliard Darby High School, and Thomas Worthington High School.
To determine playoff seeds, the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) considers several factors. This year, OHSAA introduced new playoff rules, along with a new bracket.
In past years, schools were divided into regions that held sixteen teams, which made it very easy for teams to make the playoffs. Examples include 2024 Dublin Coffman, who made it all the way to the third round of the playoffs despite a 2-8-0 regular season record.
This year, the number of playoff teams was narrowed down to twelve, and the regions were shifted. Now, all four Olentangy teams are in the same region.
Multiple factors go into the creation of the seeding for the playoffs; head-to-head matchups are one of these. As of post-Week ten, five-seed Olentangy Liberty, who is 6-4-0, is placed higher than six-seed Upper Arlington, who is 8-2-0. This is because Liberty beat Upper Arlington 16-6 in week seven.
Another factor in playoff seeding is the strength of opponents. 6-4-0 Newark is placed lower than 4-6-0 Westerville Central because Westerville Central beat tougher opponents. Newark’s combined record against teams they beat is 11-42-0, while Westerville Central’s is 15-30-0. In short, Westerville Central beat tougher opponents, which gives them a higher seed.
The way Berlin’s regular season schedule is set up this year, they played five non-conference games to start the year, and would finish out the year with five straight conference games. Each team in the conference plays each other every year, which creates the conference record.
This year, 5-5-0 Berlin is placed higher (an eight seed) than 5-5-0 Groveport-Madison because Berlin has a higher conference record than Groveport-Madison.
Before the end of the regular season, teams outside of the twelve qualified to make the playoffs are considered “In the Hunt.” These teams don’t meet all the qualifications needed to make the top twelve.
Playoff season can make people excited but also very stressed, just like any other sport. However, it is important to know the qualifications to get in as well as where your team is currently placed among the rankings.
