SVillegrad
Well-known member
The situation in R1 this year had me look this up. What you have in R1 this year (and the last couple of years since they made Division I the top 72) is a joke. There is Ed's (who would be the team to beat in any region) and then maybe 5-6 others that are legitimately playoff worthy.
You don't have to expand it much, just go up another 16 schools. Doing so, you would have added the following (somebody correct me if I overlooked anybody):
1. Westerville South (605): R2/R3
2. Little Miami (582): R4
3. Riverside (577): R1
4. Avon (572): R1
5. Toledo Bowsher (571): R2
6. Shaker Heights (570): R1
7. Solon (566): R1
8. Licking Hieghts (560): R2/R3
9. Massillon Perry (550): R1
9. Hudson (550): R1
11. Anthony Wayne (546): R2
12. Toledo Start (543): R2
13. North Royalton (539): R1
14. Canal Winchester (535): R2/R3
15. Watkins Memorial (533): R2/R3
16. North Ridgeville (529): R1
Eight of the 16 that would come up are R1 schools, but right now R1 only has 17 total so that pushes it to 25. You could push a couple R3 schools into R4 and work out R2/R3 (since Columbus is split anyway) to make the numbers somewhat equal.
For R1, adding another 16 drastically improves the field there. Seven of the eight teams that would come back up (all, outside of Avon, have been D1 at some point) would have made the playoff field. The only school that wouldn't have is Shaker Heights, which is leaving the Lake Erie League to jump back into the D1 Greater Cleveland Conference next year anyway.
Here is what the playoff field would like like in R1 if those 16 schools were added into D1 (Bolded are the D2 teams that would have came up)
1. St. Edward (9-1): 45.19
16. Massillon Perry* (4-6): 10.70 (Ironically, Massillon Perry is the No. `16 in D2/R7 and will face Massillon in the first round ... Massillon being the only team to beat Ed's).
8. St. Ignatius (6-3): 22.01
9. Canton McKinley (5-5): 20.54
4. Hudson (10-0): 29.35
13. North Ridgeville (5-5): 14.80 (Both of those are D2 this year).
5. Medina (9-1): 24.89
12. Massillon Jackson (5-5): 15.85
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2. Painesville Riverside (9-1): 34.27
15. Solon (6-4): 12.56 (Two more that are D2 this year)
7. Cleveland Heights (9-1): 22.92
10. Wadsworth (6-4): 17.65
3. Avon (9-1): 33.20
14. Berea-Midpark (5-5): 13.05 (Two current SWC league members)
6. Mentor (6-3): 23.23
11. North Royalton (6-4): 16.45
This is a legit playoff field. Look at some of the potential second round matchups:
Eds-Iggy (part 2)
Hudson-Medina
Riverside-Cleveland Heights
Avon-Mentor (this is one I would love to see)
Every game from the quarterfinals on would be intriguing. Outside of the R1 schools, none of the others would tip the scales in the other regions. Since Northeast Ohio has so many large D2s now, the OHSAA needs to send some of them up to D1. And it's not like Avon (9-1), Hudson (10-0) or Riverside (9-1) have cakewalks in their current regions. ... though it's likely both Avon and Riverside both will go up to D1 anyway next time around even if things stay the same.
You don't have to expand it much, just go up another 16 schools. Doing so, you would have added the following (somebody correct me if I overlooked anybody):
1. Westerville South (605): R2/R3
2. Little Miami (582): R4
3. Riverside (577): R1
4. Avon (572): R1
5. Toledo Bowsher (571): R2
6. Shaker Heights (570): R1
7. Solon (566): R1
8. Licking Hieghts (560): R2/R3
9. Massillon Perry (550): R1
9. Hudson (550): R1
11. Anthony Wayne (546): R2
12. Toledo Start (543): R2
13. North Royalton (539): R1
14. Canal Winchester (535): R2/R3
15. Watkins Memorial (533): R2/R3
16. North Ridgeville (529): R1
Eight of the 16 that would come up are R1 schools, but right now R1 only has 17 total so that pushes it to 25. You could push a couple R3 schools into R4 and work out R2/R3 (since Columbus is split anyway) to make the numbers somewhat equal.
For R1, adding another 16 drastically improves the field there. Seven of the eight teams that would come back up (all, outside of Avon, have been D1 at some point) would have made the playoff field. The only school that wouldn't have is Shaker Heights, which is leaving the Lake Erie League to jump back into the D1 Greater Cleveland Conference next year anyway.
Here is what the playoff field would like like in R1 if those 16 schools were added into D1 (Bolded are the D2 teams that would have came up)
1. St. Edward (9-1): 45.19
16. Massillon Perry* (4-6): 10.70 (Ironically, Massillon Perry is the No. `16 in D2/R7 and will face Massillon in the first round ... Massillon being the only team to beat Ed's).
8. St. Ignatius (6-3): 22.01
9. Canton McKinley (5-5): 20.54
4. Hudson (10-0): 29.35
13. North Ridgeville (5-5): 14.80 (Both of those are D2 this year).
5. Medina (9-1): 24.89
12. Massillon Jackson (5-5): 15.85
-----
2. Painesville Riverside (9-1): 34.27
15. Solon (6-4): 12.56 (Two more that are D2 this year)
7. Cleveland Heights (9-1): 22.92
10. Wadsworth (6-4): 17.65
3. Avon (9-1): 33.20
14. Berea-Midpark (5-5): 13.05 (Two current SWC league members)
6. Mentor (6-3): 23.23
11. North Royalton (6-4): 16.45
This is a legit playoff field. Look at some of the potential second round matchups:
Eds-Iggy (part 2)
Hudson-Medina
Riverside-Cleveland Heights
Avon-Mentor (this is one I would love to see)
Every game from the quarterfinals on would be intriguing. Outside of the R1 schools, none of the others would tip the scales in the other regions. Since Northeast Ohio has so many large D2s now, the OHSAA needs to send some of them up to D1. And it's not like Avon (9-1), Hudson (10-0) or Riverside (9-1) have cakewalks in their current regions. ... though it's likely both Avon and Riverside both will go up to D1 anyway next time around even if things stay the same.