CIF-SS Commissioner Rob Wigod formulating plan to change high school football playoff format

By Aram Tolegian
If CIF-Southern Section commissioner Rob Wigod gets his way, and he likely will, the complexion of the high school football playoffs could change drastically in two years.
Wigod said during a special one-on-one interview last week that he is exploring alternative playoff formats for football that would make it so playoff divisions are no longer determined by leagues but by teams, instead.
Under the current format, playoff divisions are a grouping of leagues with teams from every league competing in the same division. Under Wigod’s concept, teams from the same league would be dispersed to different divisions based on a formula that the commissioner is currently working to perfect.

“We’re going to hopefully create competitive, balanced divisions with teams that are there because of their performance and no other reason,” Wigod said. “It’s ultimately going to be the Southern Section Council’s decision. We’re either going to do this because it’s the right thing to do and if we don’t do it, it’s not going to be because we didn’t study it.”
Wigod’s model would use two years of data to set the divisions every year before the upcoming season. Hypothetically, the day after football season ends, that year’s data combined with data from the season prior would be used to produce division alignments for the following season.
Before Wigod’s idea comes to fruition, the CIF blue book would need an overhaul in terms of how the playoff divisions are currently configured and voted on. But there’s no denying that Wigod’s vision, at least for the very best teams regardless of present division, would create a super division at the very top, somewhat similar to the open division currently being used in the boys and girls basketball playoffs.
“We trying to study this to see if it’s going to be implemented for all sports so that we can be consistent and people won’t get confused,” Wigod said. “My goal for this year is to develop the formula that we believe would be utilized and be workable. If we believe we have a workable formula, then we’ll add the data and we’ll be able to look at what divisions would look like.”

BONITA’ VERDUGO LOOKING GOOD
It appears that after last Friday’s huge performance, Bonita running back Angel Verdugo may see his workload significantly increase.
Verdugo scored five touchdowns in the Bearcats’ 41-7 rout of Santa Fe. The senior, who left Bonita before last season and transferred to Damien where he did not play before coming back to Bonita this offseason, also had 142 yards on 20 carries.
Bonita improved to 2-1 with the win and needed the confidence boost after being shellacked by Monrovia a week prior. Verdugo and the Bearcats could be in store for another big night this Friday when they host winless South El Monte.

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