Football: Explaining Playoffs

Kasey Filler

A lot of people are confused about how playoffs work, how exactly you get in, and if our team has made the cut. Since, I know an abnormal amount about high school football for a teenage girl I’m here to hopefully answer most of your questions.

Basically, the football team plays 9 games during regular season. To be 100% guaranteed a spot in playoffs you have to have a 6-3 record or better. That means you have to win 6 out of the 9 regular season games you play to be guaranteed a spot in playoffs. Being playoff eligible is different than being guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. To be playoff eligible you have end the regular season with 5 wins. This means that you have a shot at getting into the playoffs but it’s not a sure thing like having a 6-3 record is. We get points for every one of our opponents victories. For example; when Rockridge beats another team we will get points for that. these points determine seeding for teams with similar records. Playing harder teams in the regular season will get you a higher seed in playoffs and will make it more likely for you to get in. Since, we play in one of the harder conferences in Illinois that will help us out a lot when getting into the playoffs.

Going into week 9 of regular season play our team is 5-3. They have beat Monmouth- Roseville, Kewanee, Rockridge, Riverdale, and Bureau Valley. This week the team will head to Morrison to play, and if they win they’ll be in a perfect spot to be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. IF they lose they’ll still have a shot to make it to the playoffs, it won’t be guaranteed, but MOST LIKELY they’ll be able to have a spot in playoffs.