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The following is now an OFFICIAL football playoff field based on final scores for Week 9 games.

11:23 pm Update:  The WIAA has released its Playoff Field and as it has every year for more than a decade, it matches up 100% with what we have posted. See the WIAA list here.

10:49 pm - We have projected the Football Playoff qualifying field and have a PROJECTED field available. Please note it is not official until the WIAA releases their field.

The following is an UNOFFICIAL football playoff field based on scores for Week 9 games. While we have been 100% accurate in compiling this information for 10 years, it is not OFFICIAL until released by the WIAA, which is expected some time after midnight.

208 teams finish with a record in conference of .500 or better.

Independent teams Hurley and Northland Pines qualify by virtue of going over .500 overall. That brings us to 210.

That leaves 14 spots for teams that finish under .500 in conference play. The first tiebreaker, something adjusted two 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 five teams that finished 4-5 in conference play: Beloit Turner, De Pere, Madison La Follette.

That brings our total to 213 teams, leaving 11 more spots available for teams that finish 3-4 in conference. There are 14 such teams that finish 3-4 in conference. To figure out which 11 of those 14 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 13 teams had wins over a conference opponent who finished 2-5, one over a conference opponent who finished 1-6, and one who finished 0-7. So their combined tiebreaker number was 3-18. However, Sparta beat Holmen and La Crosse Central, giving them a tiebreaker number of 12 total, Chippewa Falls was next in with 7, Ellsworth in 6, La Crosse Logan and Two Rivers in with 5.

That gets us to 218 teams in. Nine teams were tied for the final six spots thanks to having conference wins over teams that had a combined three conference victories. 

Head-to-head result (since every team doesn't play every other) and result versus conference champion do not apply to any of those teams.

The next criteria is win/loss percentage against the playoff field as determined initially. Highland, thanks to wins over Ithaca and Brookwood, as well as Kenosha Bradford, thanks to a win over Badger, get in on this step, getting us to 220 qualifiers.

We go down to step 3(d), which is "Defeated opponents (conference wins only) overall win/loss percentage". Hayward and Ripon are in next, as the teams they beat in conference finished a combined 5-22 overall. 

This is where things get interesting, because Randolph beat Wayland Academy, who played just seven games and went winless, so while the teams they beat had the same number of wins as the others, they had fewer total games, and Randolph gets in by percentage points. Greenwood gets in in a similar position because they beat Thorp, who went just 0-8.

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

* - There was a tie on the D3/4 cutline between Freedom and Saint Francis. The tiebreaker in that case is the actual Third Friday in September 2018 count, which has Freedom with a number of 539 and Saint Francis at 530, meaning Freedom goes up to D3 and Saint Francis goes down to D4.

Division One
Group A Seeding Meeting Host - at HUDSON 
Schools: Appleton North, Bay Port, Chippewa Falls, De Pere, Green Bay Preble, Hudson, Kimberly, Neenah

Group B Seeding Meeting Host - at ARROWHEAD 
Schools: Arrowhead, Fond du Lac, Hamilton, Madison La Follette, Madison Memorial, Middleton, Sun Prairie, Verona

Group C Seeding Meeting Host - at MUKWONAGO 
Schools: Badger, Franklin, Janesville Craig, Kettle Moraine, Milwaukee Hamilton/Audubon, Mukwonago, Muskego, Milwaukee Marshall/Carmen Northwest/Juneau/Languages

Group D Seeding Meeting Host - at RACINE HORLICK 
Schools: Kenosha Bradford/Reuther, Marquette, Milwaukee King, Milwaukee Riverside/Golda Meir, Oak Creek, Racine Horlick, Shorewood/Messmer, Kenosha Indian Trail

Division Two
Group A Seeding Meeting Host 
Schools: Ashwaubenon, Hortonville, Kaukauna, Marshfield, Menasha, Menomonie, Pulaski, River Falls

Group B Seeding Meeting Host - at SLINGER 
Schools: Hartford, Homestead, Menomonee Falls, Milwaukee Vincent/Destiny, Slinger, Watertown, West Bend East, Whitefish Bay

Group C Seeding Meeting Host - at BARABOO 
Schools: Baraboo, DeForest, Holmen, La Crosse Central, Monona Grove, Oregon, Stoughton, Waunakee

Group D Seeding Meeting Host - at BROOKFIELD CENTRAL 
Schools: Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Burlington, Milwaukee Reagan, South Milwaukee, Waterford, Waukesha West, Wilmot

Division Three
Group A Seeding Meeting Host - at RICE LAKE 
Schools: Ashland, Hayward/La Courte Oreilles, La Crosse Logan, Medford, New Richmond, Onalaska, Rice Lake, Sparta

Group B Seeding Meeting Host - at NEW LONDON 
Schools: Antigo, Fox Valley Lutheran, Freedom, Mosinee, New London, Notre Dame, Seymour, West De Pere

Group C Seeding Meeting Host - at JEFFERSON
Schools: Berlin, Catholic Memorial, East Troy, Jefferson, McFarland, Mount Horeb/Barneveld, New Berlin West, Pewaukee

Group D Seeding Meeting Host - at PLYMOUTH 
Schools: Cudahy, Grafton, Greendale, Luxemburg-Casco, New Berlin Eisenhower, Plymouth, Port Washington, Wisconsin Lutheran

Division Four
Group A Seeding Meeting Host - at SAINT CROIX CENTRAL 
Schools: Adams-Friendship, Baldwin-Woodville, Ellsworth, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, Northwestern, Saint Croix Central, Somerset, West Salem

Group B Seeding Meeting Host - at CHILTON
Schools: Chilton, Denmark, Little Chute, Ripon, Two Rivers, Winneconne, Wrightstown, Xavier

Group C Seeding Meeting Host - at LODI 
Schools: Edgerton, Lake Mills, Lakeside Lutheran, Lodi, Mauston, River Valley, Turner, Wautoma

Group D Seeding Meeting Host - at SHEBOYGAN FALLS
Schools: Campbellsport, Kiel, Martin Luther, Racine St. Catherine’s, Saint Francis, Sheboygan Falls, University School, Obama SCTE

Division Five
Group A Seeding Meeting Host - at BLOOMER 
Schools: Arcadia, Bloomer, Cumberland, Elk Mound, Spencer/Columbus Catholic, Spooner, Stanley-Boyd, Westby

Group B Seeding Meeting Host - at BONDUEL 
Schools: Bonduel, Colby, Kewaunee, Northland Pines, Peshtigo, Rib Lake/Prentice, Southern Door, Stratford

Group C Seeding Meeting Host - at MARSHALL 
Schools: Belleville, Horicon/Hustisford, Lake Country Lutheran, Marshall, Mayville, New Glarus/Monticello, Palmyra-Eagle, Prairie du Chien

Group D Seeding Meeting Host - at SAINT MARY'S SPRINGS 
Schools: Amherst, Cedar Grove-Belgium, Dominican, Howards Grove, New Holstein, Omro, Saint Mary's Springs, Valders

Division Six
Group A Seeding Meeting Host - at GLENWOOD CITY 
Schools: Grantsburg, Lake Holcombe/Cornell, Mondovi, Regis, Spring Valley, Unity, Webster, Glenwood City

Group B Seeding Meeting Host - at IOLA-SCANDINAVIA 
Schools: Abbotsford, Auburndale, Coleman, Crivitz, Iola-Scandinavia, Manawa, Niagara/Goodman/Pembine, Three Lakes/Phelps

Group C Seeding Meeting Host - at FENNIMORE 
Schools: Brookwood, Cochrane-Fountain City, Cuba City, Darlington, Fennimore, Lancaster, Melrose-Mindoro, Wauzeka-Steuben/Seneca

Group D Seeding Meeting Host - at DODGELAND 
Schools: Cambridge, Dodgeland, Markesan, Mineral Point, Lourdes Academy, Ozaukee, Pecatonica/Argyle, Racine Lutheran

Division Seven
Group A Seeding Meeting Host - at GILMAN
Schools: Clear Lake, Edgar, Elmwood/Plum City, Gilman, Greenwood, Hurley, Loyal, Turtle Lake

Group B Seeding Meeting Host - at ROSHOLT 
Schools: Almond-Bancroft, Assumption, Pittsville, Reedsville, Rosholt, Suring, Wabeno/Laona, Hilbert

Group C Seeding Meeting Host - at BANGOR 
Schools: Bangor, Blair-Taylor, De Soto, Eleva-Strum, Highland, Independence/Gilmanton, Ithaca, Royall

Group D Seeding Meeting Host - at JOHNSON CREEK 
Schools: Benton/Scales Mound, Black Hawk, Cambria-Friesland, Fall River, Johnson Creek, Living Word Lutheran, Potosi/Cassville, Randolph

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.