Here’s the playoff situation for local HS football teams

Here are the playoff scenarios for the four regions in The Herald’s coverage area heading into the final week of the 2017 high school football season:

Region 4-5A

▪ Clover is eliminated from postseason contention.

▪ If Rock Hill beats Northwestern Friday, the Bearcats win Region 4-5A.

▪ If Northwestern beats Rock Hill and Fort Mill beats Nation Ford, then the Trojans would win the region title based on head-to-head tie-breaker with the Bearcats.

▪ If Northwestern beats Rock Hill and Nation Ford beats Fort Mill there would be a three-way tie for first place between Rock Hill, Northwestern and Nation Ford. The first tie-breaker is if any of the the three tied teams beat the other two (with one team removed, the remaining two teams would break their tie via head-to-head result). If that isn’t the case (which it won’t be in Region 4-5A), then the next tie-breaker goes to the team with the fewest points allowed in the games among the three tied teams.

▪ If Fort Mill beats Nation Ford and Rock Hill beats Northwestern, there would be a three-way tie between Fort Mill, Nation Ford and Northwestern (all with a 2-2 region record). That three-way tie would use the same tie-breaker system explained above.

Region to keep an eye on: Region 2-5A

Region 4 playoff teams are paired up with Region 2 teams in the first round of the SCHSL’s pre-set playoff brackets, so Region 4’s top seed hosts the fourth seed from Region 2, and so on. Hillcrest, Greenwood, Mauldin and Laurens are already booked for the postseason from Region 2, with only the seeding order still to be determined.

Hillcrest is 4-0, followed by Mauldin and Greenwood (both 3-1); Hillcrest plays Mauldin Friday and can clinch the No. 1 seed, which would host the No. 4 team from Region 4-5A in the first round of the playoffs. Greenwood beat Mauldin earlier in the season, so the Eagles have the inside track on the No. 2 seed. Mauldin beat Laurens and so should land in the No. 3 spot (if it doesn’t beat Hillcrest), followed by No. 4 Laurens.

Region 4-5A standings

Region 3-4A

▪ If South Pointe beats York, the Stallions win the Region 3-4A title.

▪ If York beats South Pointe then the Cougars win the Region 3-4A title.

▪ Westwood’s win over Lancaster gives the RedHawks head-to-head advantage over the Bruins.

▪ If Ridge View beats Lancaster the Blazers clinch the No. 3 seed.

▪ If Lancaster beats Ridge View and Westwood beats Richland Northeast then the Bruins, Blazers and RedHawks would be tied with 2-3 records. The first tie-breaker for three-way ties is whether any one of the teams beat both the other two (with one team removed, the remaining two would break their tie based on head-to-head result). If necessary, the next tie-breaker is won by the team with the fewest points allowed in the games among the concerned teams. In the small chance that the three teams are still tied, the tie-breaker then goes to the team with fewest total points allowed in all region games.

▪ Things get interesting if (winless in the region) Richland Northeast beats Westwood... if that happened and Lancaster beat Ridge View, the Bruins could land the No. 3 seed. If RNE beats Westwood and Ridge View beats Lancaster there would be a three-way tie for the fourth spot among RNE, Westwood and Lancaster. That three-way tie would use the same tie-breaker mentioned earlier.

Region to keep an eye on: Region 4-4A

Region 3 is paired with Region 4 in the first round of the SCHSL’s predetermined bracket. Undefeated North Augusta has clinched the Region 4-4A championship and will host Region 3’s fourth-seeded team. And South Aiken has the No. 2 spot wrapped up and will host Region 3’s No. 3 team.

Region 4 is a five-team region so Airport has already finished region games with a 2-2 mark; the Eagles almost certainly will get the No. 3 spot, while Midland Valley looks like a pretty safe bet for the No. 4 spot and a first round road game at the winner of South Pointe-York.

Region 3-4A standings

Region 4-3A

▪ Fairfield Central has wrapped up the Region 4-3A title already, even if it loses to Indian Land (thanks to head-to-head tie-breaker advantage over Chester).

▪ Chester has already clinched second place in the region.

▪ Camden owns the head-to-head tie-breaker over Indian Land.

▪ Columbia has to beat Camden or it’s eliminated from playoff contention. If the Capitals won and Indian Land lost, there would be a three-way tie with them and Camden at 1-3. The region’s first tie-breaker is whether any of the the three tied teams beat the other two (the two remaining teams would break their tie based on head-to-head result). The next three-way tie-breaker goes to the team with the least points allowed in the games among the tied teams.

Region to keep an eye on: Region 2-3A

Chester and Indian Land’s region is paired with Region 2-3A in the opening round of the predetermined 3A state playoff bracket. Emerald (4-0) beat Palmetto (3-1) and Powdersville (3-1) and has the No. 1 spot wrapped up. Palmetto and Powdersville play Friday, which will sort out second place. Berea and Southside are tied for the fourth and final playoff spot, with Berea facing Emerald on Friday and Southside playing Carolina Academy, the only team in the region already out of the playoffs.

Region 4-3A standings

Region 2-A

▪ Great Falls is eliminated from postseason contention.

▪ Lamar has wrapped up the region championship thanks to its win over Timmonsville.

▪ Timmonsville has clinched the No. 2 position due to its victory over Lewisville last week.

▪ Lewisville needs to beat Great Falls to nail down a playoff berth; if the Lions win, McBee’s result against Lamar wouldn’t matter since Lewisville owns the head-to-head tie-breaker with the Panthers. If McBee beats Lamar and Lewisville loses to Great Falls, then the Panthers would go to the playoffs as the region’s No. 3, and final, seed.

Region 2-A standings

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Here’s the playoff situation for local HS football teams."