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PROJECTED 8-Player Football Playoff Qualifying Field heading into Week 9

10/15/2019, 8:30am CDT
By Travis Wilson

This feels a bit like deja vu, but 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 8-player 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 40 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.

Remember that playoff qualifying for 8-Player Football is different than 11-Player Football. In 11-Player Football, it is based on conference records. However, with there being fewer teams and different league structures in 8-Player, the WIAA uses overall records as the qualifying criteria for the playoffs. 

Also, after the first-ever 8-Player Football Playoffs last year featured eight qualifiers, this year's postseason will feature 16 teams.

The WIAA does place an enrollment cap of 200 student average over the past three years in order to be eligible for the playoffs. This means Algoma, Chequamegon, Green Bay NEW Lutheran co-op, Phillips, Saint Mary Catholic/Valley Christian, Washburn/Bayfield, Williams Bay, and Wisconsin Heights are NOT eligible for the 8-Player playoffs.

With that out of the way, we can turn to the projections. After picking winners and losers in every game left in the 8-Player regular season, I project that exactly 16 teams eligible for the playoffs will finish with overall records above .500. Thus, no tiebreakers are needed to determine the 16 team playoff field.

Below is our PROJECTED 8-Player Football Playoff qualifying field.

PROJECTED 8-PLAYER FOOTBALL PLAYOFF QUALIFYING FIELD

Team Projected Wins Projected Losses
Luck  9 0
Newman Catholic  9 0
Shell Lake  8 1
Suring  8 1
Belmont  7 2
Bruce  7 2
Florence  7 2
Gibraltar  7 2
Northwood/Solon Springs  7 2
Siren  7 2
Wabeno/Laona  7 2
Marion/Tigerton  6 3
Oakfield  6 3
Port Edwards  6 3
Frederic  5 4
Prairie Farm  5 4

About the Author

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.

Tag(s): News Archive  News  Travis Wilson  Football Playoffs