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It is that time of the year again, where I feel like an accountant on April 15th trying to crunch numbers and figure out the good and bad news for people. 

I have predicted every game for the last two weeks of the high school football season, thereby determining final conference records for all teams. With these predictions, I can put together a PROJECTED playoff field. To see full WIAA Playoff Regulations, please visit here.

Please note the emphasis on PROJECTED, as things can and will change between now and the end of the final game next Friday night. Even one or two games going differently amongst the nearly 400 I projected could throw things off. This is meant to give an idea of where teams may fall in divisional placement as we head to the busy final two weeks.

Based on my projections, 200 teams finish with a conference record of .500 or better. Hurley qualifies as an Independent by going at least .500 overall.

That leaves 23 spots available for teams that finish under .500 in conference. The first tiebreaker, something adjusted a few years ago, is conference winning percentage. This gives an advantage in the tiebreaker to teams from 10-school conferences that play 9 league games. A 4-5 league record (0.444 conference winning percentage) is better than a 3-4 league record (0.429 conference winning percentage).

There are six teams that I project to finish 4-5 in conference play: De Pere, Green Bay Southwest, Kohler/Sheboygan Lutheran/Christian, Madison West, Spooner, Whitefish Bay

That brings our total to 207 teams, leaving 17 more spots available for teams that finish 3-4 in conference. There are 16 such teams that finish 3-4 in conference in my projections: Badger, Brillion, Campbellsport, Catholic Central, Cuba City, Eau Claire Memorial, Gilman, Oregon, Osceola, Racine Case, Racine Park, Ripon, Riverdale, Webster, Westosha Central, Whitehall.

That brings the total to 223 teams. For the first time ever, we now dip into the teams that finish 2-3 in conference, of which there are eight in my projections, for one spot: Fall River/Rio, Lakeside Lutheran, Marathon, Milwaukee Pulaski co-op, Oconto, Pacelli, Southern Door, Watertown Luther Prep.

To figure out which one of those eight get into the postseason, we follow WIAA criteria.

First is the combined winning percentage of defeated conference opponents, conference games only. Basically, it rewards teams that have beaten some of the better teams in their league. 

Most of the teams had wins over a team that was winless and a team that was 1-4. However, Lakeside Lutheran beat Columbus, who I project to go 3-2. Therefore, Lakeside Lutheran's figure for combined conference winning percentage of defeated conference opponents, conference games only, is an impressive .4285714, easily the highest of the eight teams, and the Warriors are the final qualifier in my projections.

Interestingly enough, Watertown Luther Prep, one of the other 2-3 teams, beat Lakeside Lutheran head-to-head. However, because there are eight teams vying for one spot, head-to-head does not come into play yet, so despite beating Lakeside Lutheran, Watertown Luther Prep gets left out in favor of the Warriors.

Now that we know the 224 teams PROJECTED to be in the playoffs, we can break them into divisions. The full PROJECTED divisional placements are below.

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.