‘Now, it’s starting to get fun.’ Seeded playoffs are here. See the matchups.
The Kentucky High School Athletics Association’s new football playoff format came into full view Friday as each class’s brackets got reshuffled when the results came in.
What’s left is a regional-championship round seeded for the first time ever after district championships that saw a fair share of teams reverse regular-season outcomes.
“Now it’s starting to get fun, because every week, you get a better and better opponent as you move forward,” said Frederick Douglass Coach Brian Landis, whose Broncos managed to beat Scott County for a second time this season Friday night. “That’s a hell of a team we just played, no doubt about it. That will prepare us moving forward, I think.”
Moving forward, this week’s regional round has been seeded according to how each team ranked in the KHSAA’s Ratings Percentage Index in their respective classes at the end of the regular season. And the teams will all be reseeded again in the following week’s semifinals.
That means, in Class 5A for instance, the RPI’s No. 1 Covington Catholic and No. 2 Frederick Douglass, if they keep winning, won’t face each other until the state finals at Kroger Field.
That’s a departure from past playoffs when critics bemoaned hard-bracketed tournaments that would sometimes pit what some observers believed to be the best two teams remaining against each other in the quarterfinal or semifinal rounds.
District upsets
The new system has its critics, as well, especially regarding intra-district play in the first two rounds. Unlike how the playoffs have been run for more than a decade, this year teams had to rematch against district opponents to advance.
That meant the opportunity for teams to avenge regular-season losses. Some teams cashed in.
Of the 48 teams who entered the first round as the top team in their district, 38 survived. Some of those top seeds barely edged their rematched foes in the regular season, but others had beaten them handily.
In Class 2A, No. 3 Somerset turned the tables on No. 1 Lexington Christian, 28-26, after a one point loss in the regular season. McLean County converted a 55-21 defeat at the hands of Owensboro Catholic into a 37-36 win for a trophy.
In Class 3A, No. 14 Taylor County and No. 10 Bardstown upended their districts’ top seeds in No. 6 Glasgow and No. 4 Elizabethtown, respectively, after regular-season losses.
Class 4A saw No. 12 Central turn a 14-12 loss three weeks ago into an 18-7 win over previously unbeaten No. 3 Franklin County. No. 18 Scott, who lost to No. 15 Holmes 50-38 a month ago, won 40-29 with the season on the line. No. 6 Hopkinsville got the district’s top seed despite having lost to No. 7 Madisonville in the regular season because the Tigers had a higher RPI in the tiebreaker. The Maroons straightened that discrepancy out with a 28-21 win Saturday.
Class 5A’s No. 18 Madison Southern took a two-touchdown defeat last month and used it to fuel a 24-21 win over No. 8 East Jessamine in the second go-round. And red-hot No. 17 Southwestern, who had already knocked out No. 7 Pulaski County a week earlier, did the same to No. 12 Whitley County with a 21-15 victory. The Warriors lost that matchup 14-0 in the regular season.
Class 6A’s No. 3 Manual beat No. 9 St. Xavier 20-19 in the regular season only to see St. X advance with a 28-9 slight upset Friday.
Win when it matters
For the last 11 years, the first two rounds of the playoffs were “cross-districted” matchups that alternated home sites and set up games against relatively unfamiliar foes. This year, the top two teams in each district hosted teams they’d already faced in the first round and set up “district championships” in the second round. The KHSAA’s stated reasons for intra-district play when the move was announced were to 1) help save on travel and to 2) mirror other sports’ postseasons.
Despite criticism of it in the coaching ranks and on some high school message boards, that’s just fine, according to Tates Creek Coach Jonathan Smith.
“To me I enjoy it,” Smith said of intra-district play. “A district championship in the season, to me, is not really the championship. … You’ve got to match up and play them when it matters to win a championship. I’m probably not in the majority on this. I think it gives you a true district championship. Every other sport does it.”
Tates Creek defeated Paul Laurence Dunbar 46-7 in the regular season and found out that the Bulldogs had a lot more for them the second time, leading early before falling 37-29. Smith said it’s difficult, sometimes, to get high school kids to focus when maybe they’ve blown a team out before, and the Commodores experienced a little of that.
“It makes it harder on the coaching, but that’s what I like,” Smith said of rematches. “I like it when it gets harder.”
Regional championships
Below are the pairings for the regional championships round of the KHSAA playoffs. This round is split into eastern and western groups and seeded according to their final regular season RPI rankings. All rankings are RPI rankings.
All games Friday. All times local to site of game.
CLASS A
West Districts 1-4
No. 10 Crittenden County (10-2) at No. 1 Kentucky Country Day (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
No. 6 Newport Central Catholic (10-2) at No. 3 Louisville Holy Cross (10-2), 7:30 p.m.
East Districts 5-8
No. 16 Nicholas County (9-3) at No. 2 Pikeville (11-0), 7:30 p.m.
No. 5 Williamsburg (10-2) at No. 4 Paintsville (9-3), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 2A
West Districts 1-4
No. 28 Edmonson County (6-6) at No. 2 Mayfield (11-1), 7:30 p.m.
No. 17 McLean County (8-4) at No. 3 Somerset (11-1), 7:30 p.m.
East Districts 5-8
No. 18 Walton-Verona (8-4) at No. 5. Breathitt County (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
No. 12 West Carter (9-3) at No. 7 Beechwood (7-5), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 3A
West Districts 1-4
No. 14 Taylor County (10-2) at No. 2 Paducah Tilghman (9-3), 7:30 p.m.
No. 10 Bardstown (10-2) at No. 5 DeSales (9-3), 7:30 p.m.
East Districts 5-8
No. 12 Fleming County (10-2) at No. 1 Bell County (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
No. 9 Ashland Blazer (10-2) at No. 7 Belfry (8-3), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 4A
West Districts 1-4
No. 24 Franklin-Simpson (7-5) at No. 7 Madisonville (10-2), 7:30 p.m.
No. 13 Moore (8-4) at No. 12 Central (7-5), 7:30 p.m.
East Districts 5-8
No. 18 Scott (8-4) at No. 1 Boyle County (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
No. 4 Wayne County (10-1) at No. 2 Johnson Central (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 5A
West Districts 1-4
No. 14 Fairdale (11-1) at No. 4 Owensboro (11-1), 7:30 p.m.
No. 13 Bowling Green (8-3) at No. 5 South Oldham (11-1), 7:30 p.m.
East Districts 5-8
No. 18 Madison Southern (7-5) at No. 1 Covington Catholic (12-0), 7 p.m.
No. 17 Southwestern (7-5) at No. 2 Frederick Douglass (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 6A
West Districts 1-4
No. 9 St. Xavier (8-4) at No. 1 Male (12-0), 7 p.m.
No. 7 McCracken County (9-3) at No. 2 North Hardin (12-0), 7:30 p.m.
East Districts 5-8
No. 17 Oldham County (8-4) at No. 4 Trinity (10-2), 7:30 p.m.
No. 13 Simon Kenton (8-4) at No. 10 Tates Creek (8-4), 7:30 p.m.
