Tie possibilites abound as 6-AAAAA heads toward region play-in games

Mays completed its victory against No. 6-ranked Carver-Atlanta on Monday night and created the strong possibility of a three-way tie for first place in Region 6-AAAAA Division B.

Mays led 27-14 with 9:46 remaining Friday when the game was suspended because of a shooting outside of Lakewood Stadium. The Raiders added a touchdown when the game resumed Monday at Grady Stadium and went on to a 35-14 victory. Mays, Carver and Creekside have one loss in the subregion. Creekside has completed its subregion schedule, while Mays and Carver play this week.

Region 6-AAAAA will use a region play-in system to determine its teams and seeds for the state playoffs. The top team from each subregion will meet in the championship game; the winner will be the region’s No. 1 seed and the loser will be the No. 2 seed. The second-place team from each subregion will meet the third-place team from the other subregion for the other two state berths.

Below is a look at the scenarios for this week, which is the final one before the play-in games.

One important point to keep in mind is the tiebreaker steps for three-way ties. As always, the first step is head-to-head records. But if no team holds the advantage there, the second step is winning percentage against all AAAAA competition (according to a document forwarded from the region by one of the coaches this week).

I hope this clears up some questions you might have.

Division A

*The winner of this week’s Stephenson-Southwest DeKalb game will be the subregion’s No. 1 seed and will play in the region championship game. The loser will be the No. 2 seed and play the third-place team from Division B in a play-in game.

*The winner of the Druid Hills-Miller Grove game will be the No. 3 seed and play the No. 2 team from Division B in a play-in game. Druid Hills would be in sole possession of third place with a victory. A Miller Grove victory would create either a two-way tie for third place with Druid Hills if M.L. King loses to Dunwoody (Miller Grove would win the tiebreaker for beating Druid Hills head to head) or a three-way tie with M.L. King if the Lions beat Dunwoody (Miller Grove would win that tiebreaker as well because of having the best record of the three against AAAAA teams).

Division B

*Creekside, which does not play this week, will be the subregion’s No. 1 seed and play in the region championship game unless Carver beats winless Banneker and Mays loses to Tri-Cities. In that case, Carver and Creekside would finish tied for first place. Carver would get the region-championship spot because it beat Creekside, and the Seminoles would finish No. 2.

*If Carver and Mays both win this week, there would be a three-way tie for first place. In that event, because of the records against AAAAA competition, the order would be: 1. Creekside, 2. Mays, 3. Carver.

*Unless Banneker upsets Carver, Tri-Cities could sneak away with the No. 3 seed in the subregion if it beats Mays. Wins by Carver and Tri-Cities would leave Tri-Cities and Mays tied for third place, with Tri-Cities holding the tiebreaker for winning the head-to-head matchup. If Tri-Cities and Banneker both win, creating a three-way tie for second place, Tri-Cities would be the odd man out because of its record against AAAAA teams.

Computer analysis

Just for fun, here’s a look at this week’s games, with projections by the computer Maxwell Ratings:

Stephenson vs. Southwest DeKalb -6

Miller Grove vs. Druid Hills -2

M.L. King vs. Dunwoody -11

Mays vs. Tri-Cities -20

Carver at Banneker -29

If it works out that way, the final seedings would look like this:

Division A – 1. Stephenson, 2. Southwest DeKalb, 3. Miller Grove

Division B – 1. Creekside, 2. Mays, 3. Carver

That would mean Stephenson and Creekside would meet in the championship game. The play-in games with state tournament berths on the line would be Southwest DeKalb vs. Carver and Mays vs. Miller Grove.