The new Class 6A football playoff format caused some scheduling quirks for Hutchinson High School. During the next two seasons, 6A and 5A will no longer have districts. All 32 teams in each classification will make the playoffs, meaning schools no longer had their schedules pretty much locked into place each season. Three district games were guaranteed, and schools like Hutchinson could fill the other six dates with Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Division 1 games. The new format still gives schools nine games. One will be a playoff game. That left eight dates to fill for Hutchinson athletic director Eric Armstrong. The Kansas State High School Activities Association released new football classifications nearly two weeks ago, and the numbers caused a shuffling in the four-division AVCTL. Division 1 now has six teams instead of seven, as Newton moved to Division 2. Andover Central and Maize South shifted down to Division 3. That gives Hutchinson five league games – Salina South, Salina Central, Derby, Maize and Campus. The schedule still had three openings, and tentatively, Hutchinson was slated to play Goddard, Goddard-Eisenhower and Newton the next two years. “We had mutually agreed as of Tuesday to not play Goddard,” Armstrong said. “That enables us to get another 6A opponent.” Armstrong said Hutchinson would take on Olathe East instead of Goddard, but that’s only if Goddard can find another opponent to fill the void. If Goddard can’t, Hutchinson would have to play Goddard. Armstrong said playing another 6A school could help in a postseason tiebreaker. The new playoff system will seed teams on both halves of the state 1-16, similar to other team sports like basketball and soccer. But whereas basketball has a 20-game schedule and soccer 16, and ties in postseason standings are few, football ties will be likely with teams playing just eight games before the postseason. That could mean a team that plays a tough schedule would get punished against a team that plays a weaker schedule. “My one question, and we won’t know for a year or two down the road, is how the tiebreaking will work,” Armstrong said. “From my experience, there’s a big difference from playing AVCTL 1 and other leagues. Year in and year out, our league has been the most competitive and has the best depth overall.” AVCTL 1 has sent at least one team to either the 6A or 5A state title game every year from 2004-2014, with the exception of 2010. If teams are tied in win percentage, the first tiebreaker is head to head. If that can’t be broken, the tie would most likely be broken via the 21-point rule, which gives teams up to plus-21 points or down to minus-21 points based on the final score of every game. Over eight games, teams could accumulate 168 points either way. After that, in 6A, the tiebreaker would be wins against 6A schools. If there’s still a tie, the tie would be broken via drawing names from a hat.