SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer High School Coaches (Upperstate) Should Unite

The Upperstate coaches and SC soccer coaches association should unite and file a protest against the realignment. The upperstate got the short end. A couple of upperstate regions have 7 TEAMS while one or two lower state regions have only 5. That means you have to beat out 3 teams to get into the playoffs while othere regions must only beat out 1. It's time to go to the state and demand that EVERY team get into the playoffs and add a round. It's sad that region 2 (Boiling Springs, Byrnes, Dorman, Hillcrest, Mann, Mauldin and Riverside) will only get 4 teams in (when 6 may be deserving).

Not completely true--the two regions with 5 teams have only one fourth-seed spot between them; one region will send four teams and the other only three, so someone has to beat out not only their own region competitors but those from the neighboring region as well to get to playoffs.

Analysis remains the same--this is one seriously messed-up system of dividing the regions. What suddenly happened a couple of years ago to make things go so silly?

But even with that, an upperstate team will not fill that void. Region 2 is a monster.

Region 5-4A in the current alignment has 8 teams...even worse. It is a team from that region that fills the spot taken from region 7 or 8. I haven't looked to see what their status is for the coming realignment.

Why not petition to allow all soccer teams into the tournament and add a round??? Seems like that would solve the problem.

If your not good enough to go to playoffs what makes you think you are going to win state? So whats the point?

Again relative. If you are the 5th place team in a 7 or 8 team region, you may be better then a 2 or 3 seed in a 5 team region. And really, outside of Irmo and Northwestern, who is going to win state??? Maybe everyone should not play but those two because on paper they will be in the final. Maybe the US should have just forfeited their game to Spain in the Confed. cup??? I don't know, do you VDS???

Well If you are a 5th place seed in any region i think that you dont desrve to be in the playoffs anyways. And i love how everyone thinks that irmo and northwestern are the only teams in 4a

Well, you must be affiliated with one of those 5 teams regions. I would put the 5th place team in a couple of the upperstate regions against the 2nd and 3rd place teams from the lowerstate. I think that the results may shock you VDS

I'm going to have to agree with Cid that a 5th-seed team in a large, talent-heavy region could actually be a better team than the 4th seed (or 3rd) in a different region. Seems unfair that a team that would make playoffs in almost any other region doesn't get to go because they are buried in an oversized pool--these past two years, the HSL's solution is to give a spot to Region 5's #5 seed, favoring them over Region 7 or 8's #4. Of course, the down side to this is that a team that might also have made playoffs loses their spot to a team that they never had a chance to play in the regular season...also seems unfair.

Not sure how to be "fair" to everyone--seems nigh impossible to balance out region size, talent, and geography all at the same time--but winning state isn't the only reason for going into the postseason; teams measure themselves by whether or not they make playoffs and how far they advance, not just whether they win the championship; there are many levels of accomplishment and pride between the state champion and why-bother-trying.