Top 3 1A-7A north/south favorites

[maroontide06]

48 minutes ago, GTownDanger06 said:

Funny how those things just seem to stick with us! 

Especially when the Harrison Central PA announcer was praising our running back for his effort and asking the fans to give him a hand (applause).  That really made it stick.

[Football In MS]

On 11/11/2025 at 6:10 PM, Dubaction said:

If OS can beat Brandon and beat OG at OG they deserve to go to state at that point 

Dawned on me this morning …

Dialing back to the tiebreaker thing for 7A R3… it was stated that the 3-way tie for 2nd place among Petal, Brandon and NWR was broken using the “how did they fare vs the #1 seed” tiebreaker.

 

So let’s look back: Petal was the only one of the 3 to beat OG, so they’re automatically the #2 using that tiebreaker. Continuing on, NWR only lost to OG by 3 pts on the last second FG. Brandon lost to OG 20-7. So carrying out the tiebreaker scenario (that we were told they used) would’ve still put Petal at #2 BUT would’ve put NWR at #3 at Brandon #4.

 

So my question is: Why was the tiebreaker scenario not followed all the way through for R3?

 

I get that Brandon beat NWR in the head to head. But head-to head is not what we were told was the tie-breaker scenario being used, to sort out the  3-school pile up in 7A R3.

@s1nglewing @Vott @Rebel Bert@Dubaction y’all got any insight here?

Edited November 19, 2025 by Football In MS

[Dubaction]

Seems like they used how all teams fared against the 1 seed to figure out #2 , wether it be W/L or point differential if needed, and then used H2H to decide the remaining seeds 

Edited November 19, 2025 by Dubaction

[Football In MS]

2 hours ago, Dubaction said:

Seems like they used how all teams fared against the 1 seed to figure out #2 , wether it be W/L or point differential if needed, and then used H2H to decide the remaining seeds 

Interesting. Certainly looks that way.

 

But that’s not how it’s written in the list of tie-breakers. The way the tiebreaker is written, the only reason you’d need to go on to the next step (a head-to-head determination) is if at the previous step you’ve still got a tie. But using the “how’d they fare vs the #1 seed” there is no longer a tie among any of the groups. Petal won, then NWR and Brandon each lost to OG by different point spreads. So there would’ve been no need to progress on to a head-to-head… which is why NWR needed up at 4th instead of 2nd even though they beat Petal in the head-to-head.

 

Did somebody mess up here?? Was Brandon supposed to have played Gulfport last week instead of NWR????

ETA: According to these 2 things I found, it really looks like somebody screwed up & didn’t follow each step through to completion. 
 

https://oxchargersports.weebly.com/mhsaa-tiebreaker-procedure.html 

Edited November 19, 2025 by Football In MS
Add info

[Rebel Bert]

8 hours ago, Football In MS said:

Dawned on me this morning …

Dialing back to the tiebreaker thing for 7A R3… it was stated that the 3-way tie for 2nd place among Petal, Brandon and NWR was broken using the “how did they fare vs the #1 seed” tiebreaker.

 

So let’s look back: Petal was the only one of the 3 to beat OG, so they’re automatically the #2 using that tiebreaker. Continuing on, NWR only lost to OG by 3 pts on the last second FG. Brandon lost to OG 20-7. So carrying out the tiebreaker scenario (that we were told they used) would’ve still put Petal at #2 BUT would’ve put NWR at #3 at Brandon #4.

 

So my question is: Why was the tiebreaker scenario not followed all the way through for R3?

 

I get that Brandon beat NWR in the head to head. But head-to head is not what we were told was the tie-breaker scenario being used, to sort out the  3-school pile up in 7A R3.

@s1nglewing @Vott @Rebel Bert@Dubaction y’all got any insight here?

In a 3 way tie you break the tie then revert back to head to head. In a 4 way tie you break the tie then back to head and break the 3 way tie and then head to head again. Points were against Oak Grove in breaking the tie between the 3. Petal won out as the 2 seed then head to head Brandon won that as the 3 seed and so on.

[Football In MS]

58 minutes ago, Rebel Bert said:

In a 3 way tie you break the tie then revert back to head to head. In a 4 way tie you break the tie then back to head and break the 3 way tie and then head to head again. Points were against Oak Grove in breaking the tie between the 3. Petal won out as the 2 seed then head to head Brandon won that as the 3 seed and so on.

So the way they broke the 3 way tie wasn’t carried out the same completely through all 3 schools?

There’s certainly space for ambiguity here…

[Dubaction]

59 minutes ago, Football In MS said:

So the way they broke the 3 way tie wasn’t carried out the same completely through all 3 schools?

There’s certainly space for ambiguity here…

I think the main point here is exactly what’s written.. it STARTS with head to head. You can’t do that in a 3 way tie scenario. So once you determine the 2 seed…you go back to what it starts with to determine the rest of the field. 

[Football In MS]

1 hour ago, Dubaction said:

I think the main point here is exactly what’s written.. it STARTS with head to head. You can’t do that in a 3 way tie scenario. So once you determine the 2 seed…you go back to what it starts with to determine the rest of the field. 

Okay. 
i just find it interesting that you’d go back a step (head-to-head) before you even finish the step you’re on.

[Rebel Bert]

AI is not telling you exactly it is written. It states once the tie is broken you go back to head to head.

[Rebel Bert]

X.     Brd.      NWR.      Pet

Brd.   ---        +3.           -6.    =--3

NWR. -3.      ----            +6.   =--3

Pet.   +6.     -6.             ----    =0

0 trumps -3 therefore Petal is #2

Then at the bottom of 7.20-1in the handbook it states once the tie breaker is broken you go back to head to head between Brandon and NWR. Had Pearl beaten OG then Brandon would be out. 

1 Petal, 2 Oak Grove, 3 NWR, 4 Pearl

[Dubaction]

10 hours ago, Football In MS said:

Okay. 
i just find it interesting that you’d go back a step (head-to-head) before you even finish the step you’re on.

Well I personally think using H2H makes the most sense in said scenario once Petal is determined as the #2. And trust me, I’m just as aggravated about having to rematch Brandon again as you are so I know where a bit of this is coming from lol. 

[Football In MS]

25 minutes ago, Dubaction said:

Well I personally think using H2H makes the most sense in said scenario once Petal is determined as the #2. And trust me, I’m just as aggravated about having to rematch Brandon again as you are so I know where a bit of this is coming from lol. 

Nah - I was more wondering about what would’ve happened for NWR if they hadn’t had to face Gulfport in round 1. They beat Petal and only lost to Brandon by 3 and OG by 3 (at the last second). Arguably the more deserving #2 seed than Petal… or at the very least #3 seed.

Edited November 20, 2025 by Football In MS

[Football In MS]

9 hours ago, Rebel Bert said:

AI is not telling you exactly it is written. It states once the tie is broken you go back to head to head.

Understand here… this is a 3-way tie.

So untangling the entire tie involves carrying out the “how’d they do vs OG” question all the way through all 3 tied teams. Making it fair for all 3 tied teams by having the same standard applied to all 3. 
If after all that they’d still been tied past the “how’d they do vs OG” step, THEN you move on to the next step.

[pancho]

hope the blue turf is dry for germantown @ tupelo

[Dubaction]

9 hours ago, Football In MS said:

Understand here… this is a 3-way tie.

So untangling the entire tie involves carrying out the “how’d they do vs OG” question all the way through all 3 tied teams. Making it fair for all 3 tied teams by having the same standard applied to all 3. 
If after all that they’d still been tied past the “how’d they do vs OG” step, THEN you move on to the next step.

It’s a fair point for sure. And I think either way would be fine to determine seeding…I just think actual head to head competition and what actually happened on the field is valued more when comparing the two remaining teams. 

[maroontide06]

15 hours ago, pancho said:

hope the blue turf is dry for germantown @ tupelo

Does it not drain well or something?

[pancho]

oh, it's good.  just hope the rain misses us tonight.

[Mac7633]

On 11/5/2025 at 4:10 PM, Football In MS said:

Look, the data is there.

Tell yourself whatever you want.

We’re all about to find out which region is most prepared to run the gauntlet in playoffs. I’ll stand by my predictions until proven wrong 

Looks like, I wasn’t talking just to be talking, now go eat crow

[Football In MS]

22 hours ago, Mac7633 said:

Looks like, I wasn’t talking just to be talking, now go eat crow

Excuse me? Round 2 featured 3 teams from R3 and only 1 from R4. I’d say 75% from one region in the final 4 is pretty dominant. Yes, Gulfport did advance to play in the championship game for the first time since 1999 - and good for them! But I hardly think R3 is “eating crow” after beating 3 out of the 4 R4 teams in Round 1. Overall, R3 is just stronger top to bottom. Brandon got lucky and caught OG in Round 2 on a very bad week. I’d have enjoyed seeing a strong Gulfport team rematch at the end of the season against a healthy OG team who opened the season with a jamboree win against them. Brandon looked wholly unprepared for that south state game. It was embarrassing.