2021 9B State Football Playoffs

[Sorenson23]

Will update when bracket becomes available.

[bison football73]

Does anybody know how the bracket looks after the second round? If a region champion was to lose in the second round would the team who beat them take over their seed in the bracket?

[WalkingStick]

Does anybody know how the bracket looks after the second round? If a region champion was to lose in the second round would the team who beat them take over their seed in the bracket?

They all still have a seed of 1, 2, 3 out of the region which will play into home seeds in case of upsets...but the seeding of 1-8 for Region champs opens the door for cross state brackets and the possibility for an ALL East or ALL West Final

https://ndhsaa.com/regulations/football

9B
-Top three teams in each region as determined by region record will qualify for the playoffs
-Coaches vote will rank the eight region champs and seed them #1-8. All eight region champs will receive a bye in the first round

-First round matchups

Reg 2 #2 vs Reg 1 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 1 #1 in second round
Reg 1 #2 vs Reg 2 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 2 #1 in second round
Reg 4 #2 vs Reg 3 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 3 #1 in second round
Reg 3 #2 vs Reg 4 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 4 #1 in second round

Reg 6 #2 vs Reg 5 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 5 #1 in second round
Reg 5 #2 vs Reg 6 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 6 #1 in second round
Reg 8 #2 vs Reg 7 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 7 #1 in second round
Reg 7 #2 vs Reg 8 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 8 #1 in second round

[ChickenNuggets]

So if I get this right (The way the brackets work, not the seeding!)- Hypothetically it could look like this:

#1- LLM vs. Bye
R1-3 MVE vs. R2-MPCG

#8- Surrey vs. Bye
R8#2 Ray/Powers Lake vs. R7#3 Mohall/L/S

#5- Bottineau vs. Bye
R3#2 New Rockford vs. R4#3 St. John

#4- Divide County vs. Bye
R7#2 Lewis & Clark/Berthold vs R8#3 Tioga

#3- Cavalier vs. Bye
R1#2 Wyndmere/Lidgerwood vs. R2 #3 FSHP

#6- Nelson County vs. Bye
R4#2 North Prairie vs. R3#3 Northstar

#7- Hettinger/Scranton vs. Bye
R5#2 South Border vs. R6#3 Mott/Regent

#2- New Salem vs. Bye
R6#2- Grant County/Flasher vs. R5#3 Napoleon

The one thing I don't like about this is that the first two rounds potentially feature a lot of rematches from the regular season. The way the regions are paired for playoffs are exactly the same as they were paired for non-conference play at the beginning of the year. You could still use geographical neighboring conferences, but go the other direction. Instead of North/South go East West.
Region 1 vs. Region 5
Region 2 vs. Region 3
Region 4 vs. Region 7
Region 6 vs. Region 8

[bison football73]

Does anybody know how the bracket looks after the second round? If a region champion was to lose in the second round would the team who beat them take over their seed in the bracket?

They all still have a seed of 1, 2, 3 out of the region which will play into home seeds in case of upsets...but the seeding of 1-8 for Region champs opens the door for cross state brackets and the possibility for an ALL East or ALL West Final

https://ndhsaa.com/regulations/football

9B
-Top three teams in each region as determined by region record will qualify for the playoffs
-Coaches vote will rank the eight region champs and seed them #1-8. All eight region champs will receive a bye in the first round

-First round matchups

Reg 2 #2 vs Reg 1 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 1 #1 in second round
Reg 1 #2 vs Reg 2 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 2 #1 in second round
Reg 4 #2 vs Reg 3 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 3 #1 in second round
Reg 3 #2 vs Reg 4 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 4 #1 in second round

Reg 6 #2 vs Reg 5 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 5 #1 in second round
Reg 5 #2 vs Reg 6 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 6 #1 in second round
Reg 8 #2 vs Reg 7 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 7 #1 in second round
Reg 7 #2 vs Reg 8 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 8 #1 in second round

See this is what I don't get. What happens after round 2? What is going to determine who Lamoure plays in the 3rd round (assuming they make it)? For example, if a team like Hettinger is the #8 seeded region champion but they get beat by a team like Napoleon or Grant County are they automatically playing Lamoure in the 3rd round?

[The Schwab]

Does anybody know how the bracket looks after the second round? If a region champion was to lose in the second round would the team who beat them take over their seed in the bracket?

They all still have a seed of 1, 2, 3 out of the region which will play into home seeds in case of upsets...but the seeding of 1-8 for Region champs opens the door for cross state brackets and the possibility for an ALL East or ALL West Final

https://ndhsaa.com/regulations/football

9B
-Top three teams in each region as determined by region record will qualify for the playoffs
-Coaches vote will rank the eight region champs and seed them #1-8. All eight region champs will receive a bye in the first round

-First round matchups

Reg 2 #2 vs Reg 1 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 1 #1 in second round
Reg 1 #2 vs Reg 2 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 2 #1 in second round
Reg 4 #2 vs Reg 3 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 3 #1 in second round
Reg 3 #2 vs Reg 4 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 4 #1 in second round

Reg 6 #2 vs Reg 5 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 5 #1 in second round
Reg 5 #2 vs Reg 6 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 6 #1 in second round
Reg 8 #2 vs Reg 7 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 7 #1 in second round
Reg 7 #2 vs Reg 8 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 8 #1 in second round

See this is what I don't get. What happens after round 2? What is going to determine who Lamoure plays in the 3rd round (assuming they make it)? For example, if a team like Hettinger is the #8 seeded region champion but they get beat by a team like Napoleon or Grant County are they automatically playing Lamoure in the 3rd round?

Yes. Once the 8 seeds are set we will know what the whole bracket will look like. There will be no re-seeding of teams

[bison football73]

Does anybody know how the bracket looks after the second round? If a region champion was to lose in the second round would the team who beat them take over their seed in the bracket?

They all still have a seed of 1, 2, 3 out of the region which will play into home seeds in case of upsets...but the seeding of 1-8 for Region champs opens the door for cross state brackets and the possibility for an ALL East or ALL West Final

https://ndhsaa.com/regulations/football

9B
-Top three teams in each region as determined by region record will qualify for the playoffs
-Coaches vote will rank the eight region champs and seed them #1-8. All eight region champs will receive a bye in the first round

-First round matchups

Reg 2 #2 vs Reg 1 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 1 #1 in second round
Reg 1 #2 vs Reg 2 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 2 #1 in second round
Reg 4 #2 vs Reg 3 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 3 #1 in second round
Reg 3 #2 vs Reg 4 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 4 #1 in second round

Reg 6 #2 vs Reg 5 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 5 #1 in second round
Reg 5 #2 vs Reg 6 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 6 #1 in second round
Reg 8 #2 vs Reg 7 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 7 #1 in second round
Reg 7 #2 vs Reg 8 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 8 #1 in second round

See this is what I don't get. What happens after round 2? What is going to determine who Lamoure plays in the 3rd round (assuming they make it)? For example, if a team like Hettinger is the #8 seeded region champion but they get beat by a team like Napoleon or Grant County are they automatically playing Lamoure in the 3rd round?

Yes. Once the 8 seeds are set we will know what the whole bracket will look like. There will be no re-seeding of teams

So I guess my whole critique of this system is that they aren't seeding the "teams" necessarily, they are seeding the regions themselves

[WalkingStick]

Does anybody know how the bracket looks after the second round? If a region champion was to lose in the second round would the team who beat them take over their seed in the bracket?

They all still have a seed of 1, 2, 3 out of the region which will play into home seeds in case of upsets...but the seeding of 1-8 for Region champs opens the door for cross state brackets and the possibility for an ALL East or ALL West Final

https://ndhsaa.com/regulations/football

9B
-Top three teams in each region as determined by region record will qualify for the playoffs
-Coaches vote will rank the eight region champs and seed them #1-8. All eight region champs will receive a bye in the first round

-First round matchups

Reg 2 #2 vs Reg 1 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 1 #1 in second round
Reg 1 #2 vs Reg 2 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 2 #1 in second round
Reg 4 #2 vs Reg 3 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 3 #1 in second round
Reg 3 #2 vs Reg 4 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 4 #1 in second round

Reg 6 #2 vs Reg 5 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 5 #1 in second round
Reg 5 #2 vs Reg 6 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 6 #1 in second round
Reg 8 #2 vs Reg 7 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 7 #1 in second round
Reg 7 #2 vs Reg 8 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 8 #1 in second round

See this is what I don't get. What happens after round 2? What is going to determine who Lamoure plays in the 3rd round (assuming they make it)? For example, if a team like Hettinger is the #8 seeded region champion but they get beat by a team like Napoleon or Grant County are they automatically playing Lamoure in the 3rd round?

Can't seed until the season is over and the coaches vote on the Region Champs...yes I would assume so to your scenario given...these are my early thoughts on seeding and potential team to help give a visual to how the each round may look

Reg 2 #2 vs Reg 1 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 1 #1 in second round (#1 - LaMoure-LM)
Reg 5 #2 vs Reg 6 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 6 #1 in second round (#8 - Hettinger-Scranton)

Reg 3 #2 vs Reg 4 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 4 #1 in second round (#4 - Bottineau)
Reg 4 #2 vs Reg 3 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 3 #1 in second round (#5 - Nelson County)

Reg 1 #2 vs Reg 2 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 2 #1 in second round (#2 - Cavalier)
Reg 8 #2 vs Reg 7 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 7 #1 in second round (#7 - Surrey)

Reg 6 #2 vs Reg 5 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 5 #1 in second round (#3 - New Salem-Almont)
Reg 7 #2 vs Reg 8 #3 – winner will play vs Reg 8 #1 in second round (#6 - Ray/Powers Lake)

[Sportsrube]

I think the current bracket involves too many rematches. I would like to see more cross regional play (if that is the term for it) and have them go back to the east v. west format. I know it involves a lot of travel, but we have teams traveling 4-6 hours to play regular season games on a Friday so it shouldn't be that big of a deal to do it on a Saturday.

[WalkingStick]

Maybe we should throw out every issue and variable and just seed them all...

Region Champs = 1-8
Region 2nds = 9-16
Region 3rd = 17-24

#17 @ #16 - Winner plays #1
#24 @ #9 - Winner plays #8

#20 @ #13 - Winner Plays #4
#21 @ #12 - Winner Plays #5

#18 @ #15 - Winner Plays #2
#23 @ #10 - Winner Plays #7

#19 @ #14 - Winner Plays #3
#22 @ #11 - Winner Plays #6

[The Schwab]

my thoughts would be that we should have the region 2 and 3 seeds play each other like in the current plan. After the first round you seed them 1-16.

[WalkingStick]

my thoughts would be that we should have the region 2 and 3 seeds play each other like in the current plan. After the first round you seed them 1-16.

Similar to SD? Don't they reseed at some point

Then the question arises...who reseeds them because ND isn't like SD and has the logics to think up a quality formula (they could mimic it or create a similar one but that would be too easy to think of...)

[bison football73]

my thoughts would be that we should have the region 2 and 3 seeds play each other like in the current plan. After the first round you seed them 1-16.

I agree with this. As it is right now the first two rounds are a de facto "region tournament" like in basketball.

[james]

It really makes no sense. All you do is end up playing teams again that you played during the year with your partner region or your own region. Not much of an advantage being seeded besides a first round bye and then a home game against a team you have already played. Typical NDHSAA strategy.

[The Schwab]

my thoughts would be that we should have the region 2 and 3 seeds play each other like in the current plan. After the first round you seed them 1-16.

Similar to SD? Don't they reseed at some point

Then the question arises...who reseeds them because ND isn't like SD and has the logics to think up a quality formula (they could mimic it or create a similar one but that would be too easy to think of...)

I believe that South Dakota has had 16 teams in the playoffs and they seed it when they get down to 8.

[ChickenNuggets]

So if I get this right (The way the brackets work, not the seeding!)- Hypothetically it could look like this:

#1- LLM vs. Bye
R1-3 MVE vs. R2-MPCG

#8- Hettinger/Scranton vs. Bye
R5#2 South Border vs. R6#3 Mott/Regent

#5- Bottineau vs. Bye
R3#2 New Rockford vs. R4#3 St. John

#4- Ray/Powers Lake vs. Bye
R7#2 Lewis & Clark/Berthold vs R8#3 Tioga

#3- Cavalier vs. Bye
R1#2 Wyndmere/Lidgerwood vs. R2 #3 FSHP

#6- Nelson County vs. Bye
R4#2 North Prairie vs. R3#3 Northstar

#7- Surrey vs. Bye
R8#2 Divide County vs. R7#3 Mohall/L/S

#2- New Salem vs. Bye
R6#2- Grant County/Flasher vs. R5#3 Napoleon

The one thing I don't like about this is that the first two rounds potentially feature a lot of rematches from the regular season. The way the regions are paired for playoffs are exactly the same as they were paired for non-conference play at the beginning of the year. You could still use geographical neighboring conferences, but go the other direction. Instead of North/South go East West.
Region 1 vs. Region 5
Region 2 vs. Region 3
Region 4 vs. Region 7
Region 6 vs. Region 8

If this were to be how it shakes out, these would be potential rematches:
Round 1:
South Border vs. Mott/Regent (SB won 48-0)- If SB wins they would potentially have a Road game in Hettinger who they also have already beaten 26-8

New Rockford vs. St. John (NR won 18-6). If they won the rematch they would potentially play Bottineau who they lost to 50-14 already. If St. John won the rematch, they would then go on to play Bottineau who they play this week.

Lewis & Clark/Berthold vs. Tioga- They play this week and could match up in the first round as well. Regardless who wins, they would play Ray/PL for the 2nd time this year.

Wyndmere/FSHP have not played, but regardless who wins this one they would play Cavalier for the 2nd time this year.

North Prairie vs. Northstar (NP won 64-44)- The winner would play Nelson County. NP has already lost to Nelson County. Northstar plays them this week.

Divide County vs. Mohall/L/S- They play next week. The winner would play Surrey. MLS has played Surrey, DC doesn't play them. But here's another scenario. Lets say DC beats Ray/PL. Then Ray/PL would play MLS on the last week of the regular season and then turn around and play them again in 1st round of playoffs. In that scenario, the winner would play Surrey still, and both of these teams will have had games with Surrey.

Grant County/Flasher has NOT played Napoleon, but the winner would move on to play New Salem and both of these teams have already played New Salem.

[woodchuck10]

I kind of like the "region tournaments" in the first two rounds and the quarter-finals being like the state tournament. Maybe they should be Districts 1 though 8 with Regions 1 through 4 or NE, SE, NW, SW like in 11B.

I would rank the favorite region champions a little differently, I think the southwest regions are the strongest top to bottom. Will be interesting to see if we get an upset or two and have a 2 or 3 loss region champ being put at an 8 seed and having a 1 loss region runner up be a tough second round match up for a team receiving a bye.

#1- LLM vs. Bye
R1-3 MVE vs. R2-MPCG

#8- Surrey vs. Bye
R8#2 Divide County vs. R7#3 Mohall/L/S

#4- Hettinger/Scranton vs. Bye
R5#2 South Border vs. R6#3 Mott/Regent

#5- Bottineau vs. Bye
R3#2 Nelson Co vs. R4#3 St. John

#3- Cavalier vs. Bye
R1#2 Wyndmere/Lidgerwood vs. R2 #3 FSHP

#6- Ray/Powers Lake vs. Bye
R7#2 Lewis & Clark/Berthold vs R8#3 Tioga

#2- New Salem vs. Bye
R6#2- Grant County/Flasher vs. R5#3 Napoleon

#7- New Rockford vs. Bye
R4#2 North Prairie vs. R3#3 Northstar

[Bacon]

Does it really matter who plays who and when they play? If your team is good enough, you win and move on. If not your season is done and you go home. The best teams will end up in the dome. If you can’t beat them in the playoffs, you won’t beat them at State.

[ChickenNuggets]

Does it really matter who plays who and when they play? If your team is good enough, you win and move on. If not your season is done and you go home. The best teams will end up in the dome. If you can’t beat them in the playoffs, you won’t beat them at State.

Yes, I think it does matter when they play. You take a few strong teams like LaMoure and Napoleon who rely heavily on a passing attack to score for example. I would much rather play them in the semi-finals in the first week of November when it's likely to be cold/snowy than in early October.

I also think there are some teams who haven't played a real difficult/physical schedule. They may not be as effective after playing 2-3 weeks in a row of play-off football when they're banged up. Depth could come in to play a great deal in these situations. Playing a top ranked team coming off of a bye week is not the same as playing them coming off of back to back hard, physical games.

[Bacon]

Well, relying on weather or some other external factor to try to win a game is probably not the best thing. I have seen a bye week to be detrimental as well. So I’m not sure that is a positive either way. It all comes down to does one team have the talent to beat the other. Hoping one team is banged up so they can win is kind of stupid.

[ChickenNuggets]

Well, relying on weather or some other external factor to try to win a game is probably not the best thing. I have seen a bye week to be detrimental as well. So I’m not sure that is a positive either way. It all comes down to does one team have the talent to beat the other. Hoping one team is banged up so they can win is kind of stupid.

You're right, I apologize for having an opinion different from yours. It was obviously wrong no matter how logical and valid it may have been. Sorry for being so "stupid"

[bison football73]

Does it really matter who plays who and when they play? If your team is good enough, you win and move on. If not your season is done and you go home. The best teams will end up in the dome. If you can’t beat them in the playoffs, you won’t beat them at State.

I think we should be in the business of making sure the best teams are in the "state tournament" (Final Eight). As it stands a strong region like region 5 will have one of their 3 playoff teams eliminated by the round of 16. You also have a team like New Salem who has done the work to be the 1 seed in the region, but then they are going to have to likely play a team they have already beaten in the second round. It's hard to beat a good team twice. The state should seed the teams 1-16 and give the 8 region champions a first round bye.

[woodchuck10]

Will semi finals ever be at a neutral site? Heard it was talked about a few years ago. I'd prefer they stay outdoors but always be on turf. Only place it doesn't work too well is for the north east.

SE: Fargo (multiple sites), Casselton, Valley City, Jamestown
SW: BisMan (multiple sites), Dickinson, Killdeer
NW: Watford City, Parshall, Minot (multiple), Williston
NE: Mayville, Grand Forks

Devils Lake, Grafton, Belcourt etc getting turf would make neutral sites close to highest seeds possible

[ChickenNuggets]

With 2 weeks to go, lets look at some Playoff Scenarios:

Region 1-
There are still four teams in playoff contention here.
LaMoure clinches the Region 1 crown if they beat Hankinson this week.
Wyndmere/Lidgerwood controls their own destiny and would take 2nd if they win out against Richland and Hankinson.
Enderline/MV needs a win vs. Tri-State to give themselves a great chance to make playoffs. They also play LaMoure to end the year.
Hankinson is also still in the mix. They finish with LaMoure and Wyndmere/Lidgerwood. A win vs. W/L could create a 3-way tie for the last 2 playoff spots in the region.

Region 2-
The three likely play-off teams here are Cavalier, MPCG, and FSHP.
Cavalier and MPCG are 6-0 and play this week. MPCG already has beaten FSHP so a win would give them the region 2 title. Cavalier ends with FSHP so a win vs. MPCG wouldn't guarantee the title, but would put them in the drivers seat. A Cavalier win vs. MPCG and then a Cavalier loss to FSHP could create a 3-way tie for 1st place.
Hatton/Northwood could only get in if they win out and FSHP loses out (They play winless Griggs County next).

Region 3-
This region should be decided in week 8 when Nelson County faces off with New Rockford. Both teams are undefeated in the Region at this point. North Star and Four Winds play this week with the 3rd playoff spot on the line.

Region 4-
Bottineau, North Prairie, and St. John could all still win the region.
North Prairie and St. John play this week, then North Prairie and Bottineau play in the final week. A Bottineau win over NP guarantees them the region title. If North Prairie wins both of their remaining games, they would be the Region 4 champs. If NP loses to St. John and then beats Bottineau it could create a 3-way tie at the top of the region.

Region 5-
I believe New Salem has already clinched the Region. Even if they lost to Kidder County they would win the tie-breaker (Head to Head) vs. South Border.
South Border plays Central McLean this week. A win for SB would clinch the #2 spot and guarantee Napoleon the #3 spot. A South Border loss could create a 3-way tie, but assuming they would use point differential, the only way that it wouldn't result in SB #2 and Napoleon #3 is if CM blew out SB by 17 or more.

Region 6-
Hettinger and M-R-NE play this week. Winner is the Region Champ, loser is 2nd.
Grant county/Flasher plays Richardton/Taylor this week as well. A GC/F win guarantees them the #3 spot. If R/T got a win, it would create a 3-way tie for the 3rd spot between these two and Beach. Beach is a +6 in point differential right now, GC/F is +8. so if R/T won by 2 or less, GC/F would get the 3rd spot. if RT won by 3 or more, Beach would get the #3 spot. R/T is at a -14 point differential so even a 17 point win would only put them at +3 and would not move them ahead of Beach so R/T is officially out of the playoffs, but will directly effect who gets in this week.

Region 7-
1- Surrey
2- Lewis & Clark
3- MLS

Region 8-
Divide County is #1. They only have non-conference games left.
Ray/PL is likely #2 as they have one conference game left vs. 0-6 Alexander. A win guarantees the 2nd spot.
#3 should be determined this week between Tioga vs. Kenmare who are both 1-2 in the region. Tioga ends with Alexander but they have already played once so I assume the 2nd meeting is non-conference.

[Flip]

Does someone want to take a stab at potential seeds for the region winners?