The NCHSAA announced last week that football will hold playoffs this season.
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The N.C. High School Athletic Association released an updated list of guidelines and rulings on the upcoming sports seasons on Tuesday.
When the new scheduling for high school athletics was announced in August, the NCHSAA only outlined beginning and ending dates for each sport’s regular season. There was no mention of state playoffs.
A highlight of Tuesday’s release was that each sport will have the opportunity to compete in a modified postseason. In order to be eligible for a team sport playoff berth, all schools must fully participate in conference competition as determined by each individual conference.
Most dual-team sports traditionally conduct a postseason tournament with 64-team brackets. These tournaments have a maximum of six rounds concluding with the Regional and then State Finals.
Football usually subdivides each classification (1A, 1AA, 2A, 2AA) and has up to 32 teams in each bracket.
This year, playoffs are reduced to a total of 32 teams per classification in the following sports: volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball and baseball. Football will subdivide each classification as usual, but only 16 total teams will be included in each subdivision.
Teams will automatically qualify for the postseason based on conference finish:
- Conferences with 1-6 teams have 1 automatic bid
- Conferences with 7-8 teams have 2 automatic bids
- Conferences with 9+ teams have 3 automatic bids
The association will use predetermined brackets in an effort to minimize travel for qualifying teams. Conference winning percentage will determine wildcard sports.
Tennis and wrestling usually have both a dual-team tournament as well as an individual tournament, but will only have individual tournaments this year.
Wrestle backs, a format in which wrestlers who lose to bracket winners remain in the tournament in consolation matches, will not be allowed in regional and state championship tournaments.
Cross country, swimming and diving and track and field will hold regional and state championship meets.
A cheerleading invitational will be held on May 22 (initially May 1).
Regular season regulations
The NCHSAA also announced updates to its initial regulations for individual sports.
Cross country meets are limited to four schools per contest. Of the four schools, each can possess at most seven individuals. If there are three schools at a meet, each is allowed nine individuals. Meets with only two teams can have up to 14 individuals.
Cross country, along with swimming and diving and track and field, can now have up to 14 meets during the regular season.
This means each team sport can now have a maximum of 14 regular season games/meets, with the exception of football.
Golf season will look a little different as boys and girls teams will compete at the same time. Playing under the Triple Bogey Rule, dual matches are limited to five individuals per team. Tri-matches can have a max of 15 boys and 15 girls, and quad-matches can have a max of 20 boys and 20 girls.
Swimming and diving matches are now allowed to be held virtually. Schools taking part in virtual meets must compete against each other during the same week. Exhibition heats are allowed at virtual meets, but not at in-person meets.
In-person swim meets can be held with either two or three teams. Dual meets only allow for competing athletes and one alternate per relay team. In tri-meets, schools may have a maximum of 30 boys and 30 girls.
Tennis seasons are still separate for boys and girls, but they will overlap. Teams are allowed to hold simultaneously practice sessions but only during the overlap period.
Tennis matches are limited to two teams per contest. Each team can only bring competing athletes to matches. Two alternates are allowed if there are only six student-athletes competing.
Track and Field meets are limited to four schools per contest, with each team only allowed to bring participating athletes plus one alternate per relay.
Wrestling is allowed a maximum of two tri-meets per week. Tournaments during the regular season are not allowed, only “head to head” competition. Teams are limited to participating athletes.
Skill Development
Gov. Roy Cooper’s new state guidelines allow for a maximum of 25 people at indoor gatherings and a maximum of 50 people at outdoor gatherings. The NCHSAA followed suit and will allow the same amount of people at workouts. This total count includes players, coaches, trainers and other personnel.
A full list of sport-specific guidelines can be found on the NCHSAA’s Modified Skill Development document at https://bit.ly/33dOF6h A school or school system does have the ability to establish more strict guidelines if needed.