Nevada high school football playoff field, schedule released

The Southern Nevada high school football playoff field was set for a few hours Sunday. Then it changed.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, citing an update in MaxPreps’ rankings the NIAA was not aware of, had to update its final HRM rankings Sunday to determine which Class 5A and 4A Southern Region teams qualified for the playoffs.

A new team was the No. 4 seed in the Open Division state tournament after the update. Las Vegas High (5 HRM score) leaped over No. 5 Shadow Ridge (5 HRM), which was the No. 4 seed in the initial rankings.

MaxPreps’ rankings are used as a tiebreaker for teams with the same HRM score, which is a combination of Harbin points, rubric points and MaxPreps’ rankings.

Shadow Ridge was No. 9 in MaxPreps’ rankings when the NIAA sent out the initial playoff field at noon Sunday. The Mustangs were No. 14 after MaxPreps’ update. Las Vegas was No. 13 in the first MaxPreps rankings and No. 12 after the update.

NIAA executive director Tim Jackson said the only thing the update changed was the order of Shadow Ridge, Foothill and Las Vegas. They were No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 in the initial rankings, then No. 5, No. 6 and No. 4 following the update.

Las Vegas lost 57-28 to Arbor View on Friday, while Shadow Ridge lost 43-0 to Bishop Gorman. Foothill was upset 30-24 by Faith Lutheran at home.

Jackson said as of 3 p.m. Sunday, when the NIAA released its new rankings, he had not heard back from MaxPreps on why it updated its rankings after giving the NIAA a new set of rankings Saturday.

“The initial plan was for the NIAA to run the rankings from MaxPreps after the conclusion of all state games (on Saturday),” Jackson said. “We released (the HRM) rankings at noon per the agreement that we made with the schools that we would provide them that information at noon Sunday, only to learn MaxPreps had rerun those rankings after our release, which resulted in the change.

“The information that MaxPreps had rerun their rankings was not shared with us by MaxPreps.”

The other three teams in the Open Division state tournament are No. 1 Gorman, No. 2 Arbor View and No. 3 Liberty. Arbor View will host Liberty in a state semifinal Nov. 14, while Gorman will host Las Vegas in the other semifinal that same day. Only Southern Nevada teams will participate in the Open Division state tournament.

This was the first year the NIAA used the HRM rating system to determine which teams made the postseason instead of standings.

“Until we have confirmed exactly what occurred with MaxPreps and why the rankings were rerun, I don’t thing this would change (us using MaxPreps and the HRM system),” Jackson said. “We just need to find out what occurred and why it occurred so that we can plan accordingly.”

5A, 4A Southern Region playoffs set

Teams ranked No. 5 though No. 12 qualified for the Southern Region playoffs. Faith Lutheran, No. 14 in last week’s rankings, moved up to No. 10 (10.6667) after its win over Foothill.

Mojave got the 11th spot on a tiebreaker over No. 12 Centennial. Both had an 11 HRM score. The first team left out was No. 13 Coronado (11.333).

The 5A Southern Region playoffs begin Thursday, since Nevada Day is Friday, with region quarterfinal action. All games start at 6 p.m.

The 4A Southern Region playoffs also start Thursday with region quarterfinals. All games are at 6 p.m. Valley (8.3333 HRM score) got the eighth and final playoff spot over Eldorado (9.3333).

Final NIAA HRM rankings

(HRM score in parenthesis)

Open/5A

1. Bishop Gorman (1.6667)

2. Arbor View (2)

3. Liberty (2.3333)

4. Las Vegas High (5)

5. Shadow Ridge (5)

6. Foothill (5.3333)

7. Desert Oasis (7.3333)

8. Desert Pines (8.6667)

9. Green Valley (10)