How do football divisions work?

There are so many changes coming for the Cedar Rapids Xavier football program this fall. How do you replace 10 starters on one of the top defenses in the state? Can they find star performers to step in at quarterback, running back and receiver? Will they bounce back from two consecutive championship game losses, including a good thrashing from Dowling last November? But the huge change is: How do they adapt to playing a 3A schedule, instead of the 4A competition they've faced since the school opened in 1997? And how do these division thingys work?

I'll discuss the entire process of the conference/division change in a later post, but I thought I would start with an overview of how divisions work in Iowa high school football. Prior to 1992, all schools in the state played football in conferences. Playoff qualifiers were determined by a somewhat arcane point system, where you earned points for victories, and bonus points for playing teams that finished with a winning record. You also took a point penalty if you played a team from a smaller class; this pretty much ended any 4A team ever scheduling a smaller school, regardless of rivalry history or location.

In 1992 the state instituted a district system for all classes except 4A. The big schools remained in their conferences, setting up their own schedules and using the point system for playoff qualifiers. All the other classes, though, were regrouped into districts. This effectively ended athletic conferences (as far as football goes - all district groupings and schedules are determined by the state), and opened up more scheduling options while simplifying playoff qualification.

So, Xavier fans, who have known nothing but 4A conference football and playoff point systems for the entire history of the school ... how does this new world work?

Each class has its members divided into 8 districts. Classes 3A through 1A have 56 schools, so 7 teams per district. Class A has 62, so there are two 7-team districts and six 8-team districts. Eight-player football has 64 (yes, that is now the largest class for football in the state), hence eight 8-team districts. The large schools in 4A have only 46 members for 2014-15, so they end up with six 6-team districts and two districts with only 5 teams.

The only games that matter for playoff qualifying are district games. For Xavier, in a 7-team 3A district, that means their record in the six district games is what matters (against Solon, Central Clinton-DeWitt, Maquoketa, Western Dubuque, Dubuque Wahlert and Marion). The other three non-district games are, basically, "exhibition" games. I mean, they count for your overall record, but they don't matter one way or another for playoff purposes. The games against Dowling, Davenport Assumption and Iowa City Regina are purely for pride ... you could lose all three of those, yet go 6-0 in district games, and you'd be the undefeated district champion.

Okay, so ... since each class has 8 districts, and each class also has 32 playoff qualifiers, the math is pretty easy. Finish in the top 4 of your district (based on your district record alone), and you are in the playoffs. You'll notice those two 4A districts with only five members are playing the entire season to knock just one of those teams out of the playoffs ... well, that happens when you qualify 32 teams out of only 46 total. If you'll remember, in 2012 one of the west-side 4A districts was able to get a 1-8 Mason City team into the playoffs (in a five-team district, Mason City's one win was against a district foe that ended up 0-9. Therefore, they finished in fourth place and qualified for a first-round fast exit from the playoffs).

As far as playoff pairings go, the state is going to do things differently for the 2014-15 seasons. In past years, districts were "paired" for playoff purposes. Let's say Districts A and B were defined as paired. The champion of District A would play the 4th-place finisher in District B in the first round (likewise the champion of B would play the 4th-place team of A). Those victors would then play the winners of the 2nd-3rd place games between A and B in the second round, with those winners playing for the right to go to the semifinals in the Dome. So, each "pair" of districts would only be able to send one team to the semifinal round.

This year, it's different. The state will adjust matchups in each round based on travel, instead of sticking to a district pairing. So while the champion of District A might still play the 4th-place team in District B in a first round game, the champion of District B might play a 4th-place finisher from District C, if there was less overall travel involved. Likewise, Districts A and B are no longer locked together throughout the first three rounds ... second and third round pairings will be adjusted on the fly, depending on who advances and how travel can be minimized.

So, that's it in a nutshell. A rather long nutshell, but still ... For Xavier fans unfamiliar with the district process, this should serve as a good primer. Only district games count for playoff purposes, and there aren't any set "brackets" anymore as far as playoffs go, they'll be adjusted to lessen travel.

Next up: a discussion and history of how districts replaced the MVC and Xavier ended up in 3A.