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On Aug. 19, the MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) voted 12-2 in favor of the Super 8 rule that will change high school football for many years to come.
The rule will restructure the current playoff format for the 2027 season. It will still consist of nine divisions, but instead of the Top 16 making the postseason from each division, only the Top 8 will make it.
The decisionmakers believe that there were many issues with the current format, and this new rule will maximize the relevance of the regular season.
The MIAA wanted to align each division evenly, forcing each one to have a minimum of 30 teams. This change will result in cutting the number of playoff teams from Division 3 to Division 8 roughly in half.
The state’s governing board for high school sports was also looking to find a way to reduce the frequency of non-competitive playoff games, particularly for seeds 9-16, which historically have a lower winning percentage.
The total number of wins for those seeds has been 52, with seeds 12-16 making up just nine of those. The total number of wins for seeds 1-8 added up to 546.
The committee was also taking into account the number of times that Division 1 and 2 clubs have appeared in the finals, hoping that it will give more teams a chance to compete for a championship.
The Xaverian Hawks, for example, have won the last three Division 1 state crowns. They were also looking to reduce the number of consolation games and the number of teams opting out after being eliminated from postseason competition.
These proposed changes will drastically impact the regular season, as well. Starting this season, every regular season game will contribute to a team’s power ranking, which are used to formulate the postseason matchups, and as a result teams will eventually play nine games, instead of eight.
There won’t be a minimum number of games to automatically qualify for the playoffs. A team could go 7-2, and may not qualify for the tournament, because of the strength of its schedule.
Division 1A will also be introduced in 2027, which will be considered a top-tier bracket featuring Division 1 and 2 teams. These two divisions will also include eight teams, which will be identified by the power rankings after Week 9.
The top eight teams in each division from one to eight, including the Division 1A teams, will qualify for the postseason. In summation, there will be 72 postseason teams over nine divisions. Under the current setup, there are 128 teams that make the postseason over eight divisions.
With the regular season now stretching over nine weeks, Week 10 is planned to be the first round of the playoffs and consolation games. Week 11 will be the state semifinal rounds. Week 12 will be the traditional Thanksgiving Day game.
The MIAA believes these games are important to most communities, and decided to keep them, despite the schedule changes. Finally, Week 13 will feature the nine Super Bowl games.
What will happen in Winchester?
How will this affect the Winchester High football program? Head Coach Wally Dembowski breaks everything down as clearly as possible, while stating that retaining the current format of eight divisions is possible with obvious revisions, which other states have already implemented for their high school teams.
“(I think) the MIAA is putting a band aid on a problem, just trying to please everyone,” Dembowski said. “Enough of the football tournament headaches. All other sports have four or five divisions. We don’t need eight. We don’t need a Super 8 (Division 1A). We need a Catholic Big, a Catholic Small, a Voke Big and Small, and then four public school divisions. That’s your eight. If you draw students from multiple communities then you are separated from the public schools. Many states separate Catholic/private schools from the public schools during tourney time in all sports. I’m just tired of talking about it (at this point in this state).”
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News in November 2024 and is currently its Sports Editor. He can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
