Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

10/22/2009 - Expanded Brackets Good Idea

The end of October is always considered the scariest time of the year.

It is a time for ghosts and goblins, and something even more terrifying, adults dressed in costumes at Halloween parties!

But I digress. The end of October used to be a very scary time of the year for high school field hockey and boys and girls soccer coaches in the state as the most frightening day for some coaches falls at the end of the 10^th month of the calendar:

STATE TOURNAMENT CUTOFF DAY (cue the maniacal Vincent Price-like laughter and bloody lettering).

All right, it may not be that blood-curdling, but for years, teams on the brink of qualification had to sweat out Mother Nature and possible elimination games in the final week leading up to the cutoff in which teams needed a .500 or above winning percentage to get invited to postseason play.

That has all changed for seven sports this school year as the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association has expanded the state tourney brackets to include up to 16 teams in field hockey, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls hoops, boys and girls swimming, baseball and softball.

By expanding the brackets in those sports the state has lifted the .500 or better winning percentage requirement and I think it is a great move.

Due to the realignment, some schools would be playing tougher competition, so as result, the state decided to expand the brackets. The cutoff date for field hockey was Oct. 21 and for the soccer it is Oct. 23.

Here is how it works. Like every season, schools have to submit to the state a form stating whether they want to compete in the various tourneys if they were eligible.

Now, a school has a couple of choices. A school can request admission to the tourney no matter what record a team has or request admission only if it has a .500 or above record.

For example, all teams with a winning record at the cutoff are automatically entered like in years past. But now teams with sub-.500 records will be considered for entry to fill out the bracket.

According to the NJSIAA website and Executive Director Steve Timko, “Teams may request admission into the tournament having less than a 50 percent record by submitting the appropriate forms. Brackets will be filled in order by winning percentage; ties will be broken using standard procedure: head-to-head competition, common opponents and strength of schedule.”

So if you want to play in the states, and you are one of the top 16 teams in your section, you are in. Now I asked Timko about field hockey which has different classifications than the other sports, and thus, has smaller sections.

Timko told me if a 14-team section, like North 1, Group 2, has 14 schools willing to play, then all will be seeded. For boys and girls soccer which have much larger sections, only the top 16 will be entered, so even schools which requested admission, could be denied a bid.

For example, the snake bitten Wallkill Valley girls soccer team only has two wins this season, but the Rangers requested admission to the tourney. But by the looks of it, Wallkill will most likely not get in.

If you go to the state website you can see the intentions of all the member schools for the fall.

In the Mugs Media area, only High Point’s boys soccer team requested admission only if it had a .500 record, while the Lenape Valley boys soccer, Hopatcong girls soccer and field hockey, Sparta field hockey and Sussex Tech girls soccer did not request any sort of admission at all.

All the other schools requested admission no matter what in all three sports.

Timko also told me that schools that requested admission can back out at the 11^th hour right before the seeding meeting in the respective sport. If that happens, then the next team will be admitted.

The field hockey meeting is set for Oct. 26 with the tourney getting under way on Oct. 29. The soccer will be seeded on Oct. 29 with the boys and girls tourneys starting Nov. 3 and Nov. 2, respectively.

Now there are some cons to having expanded brackets. Scheduling can become an issue with regular-season and county tournament games, plus you run the risk of a blowout in the 1 versus 16 game.

But logistical issues can always be worked out, especially if it is for the good of the student athletes.

Now as the cutoff looms, most teams will be jockeying for seeding position, not qualification. And let’s be honest, if you are not one of the top 16 teams in the section, you really don’t belong in the state tournament.

So the days of ADs and coaches scrambling for games prior to the cutoff are over. When I first heard of the expansion I immediately thought of the Newton girls soccer team.

The last two years the Braves, who were as talented as any team in North 1, Group 2, were shut out of the playoffs on the cutoff. Newton tied Wallkill two years ago and lost to Red Bank in a last-ditch independent clash all the way down at the Shore last year.

Newton coach Jake Mull, however, was very happy that the Braves this season left nothing to doubt and finished with a .500 record at the cutoff and the Braves will be in the tourney.

As it looks now, the teams in the Mugs Media area will be well represented come tourney time, and as always, we will be there to cover all the action.

HUNTERDON/WARREN/SUSSEX TOURNAMENTS—This weekend marks the first round of the H/W/S tourney in boys and girls soccer and field hockey. Here are the matchups. Check with the home school for gametime and place.

The quarterfinals for boys and girls soccer is Oct. 26 at the home of the higher seed and the quarterfinals for field hockey is Oct. 27 at the home of the higher seed.

BOYS SOCCER

Lenape Valley (No. 8 Sussex) at North Hunterdon (No. 1 H/W)

North Warren (No. 5 H/W) at Sparta (No. 4 Sussex)

Wallkill Valley (No. 6 Sussex) at Hackettstown (No. 3 H/W)

Voorhees (No. 7 H/W) at Kittatinny (No. 2 Sussex)

Vernon (No. 7 Sussex) at Hunterdon Central (No. 2 H/W)

Warren Hills (No. 6 H/W) at Pope John (No. 3 Sussex)

Hopatcong (No. 5 Sussex) at Delaware Valley (No. 4 H/W)

Phillipsburg (No. 8 H/W) at Newton (No.1 Sussex)

GIRLS SOCCER

Lenape Valley (No. 9 Sussex) at Hunterdon Central (No. 1 H/W)

Hackettstown (No. 5 H/W) at Vernon (No. 4 Sussex)

Wallkill Valley (No. 6 Sussex) at Belvidere (No. 3 H/W)

North Warren (No. 7 H/W) at Sparta (No. 2 Sussex)

High Point (No. 7 Sussex) at North Hunterdon (No. 2 H/W)

Delaware Valley (No. 6 H/W) at Pope John (No. 3 Sussex)

Newton (No. 5 Sussex) at Voorhees (No. 4 H/W)

Warren Hills (No. 8 H/W) at Kittatinny (No.1 Sussex)

FIELD HOCKEY

Delaware Valley (No. 9 H/W) at Warren Hills (No. 1 H/W)

Hunterdon Central (No. 5 H/W) at High Point (No. 4 Sussex)

Vernon (No. 6 Sussex) at North Hunterdon (No. 3 H/W)

South Hunterdon (No. 7 H/W) at Pope John (No. 2 Sussex)

Kittatinny (No. 7 Sussex) at Voorhees (No. 2 H/W)

Hackettstown (No. 6 H/W) at Wallkill Valley (No. 3 Sussex)

Lenape Valley (No. 5 Sussex) at Phillipsburg (No. 4 H/W)

Belvidere (No. 8 H/W) at Newton (No.1 Sussex)

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

10/22/2009 - Expanded Brackets Good Idea