REALIGNMENT BLOG: 2/23/20

It's appears the realignment for the 2020 season is now complete. Regions came out on Jan. 28 and there was just one swap from that list (in the 6A Conference). One 6A school has already released its schedule for the season, so it looks like no schools made appeals to the region that the AIA Conference committees.

Northwest Christian has taken the AIA to court over its placement into 4A (the Crusaders were previously in 3A) and Round Valley might do the same. However, those cases don't affect the positioning of any of the 5A and 6A schools, which we'll look at in this article.

The biggest change for this realignment is enrollment was completely thrown out. For the past four seasons, that was the only factor used when placing teams.

One thing that will remain the same is that region champions are still not granted automatic playoff spots. The 16-team conference tournaments will be determined by power points. Once again, the Open Division tournament will be in play with eight teams from the 6A, 5A, and 4A being taken out for that bracket.

The final 6A number shows the total teams increasing by one to 38. The 5A also bumped up by a single team to a total of 44. Each of those two conferences are comprised of seven regions. Efforts were made to have each of the regions be competitive.

So, here's a look at what the final regions are (and note, this is just a single-year realignment):

Breaking Down the Regions: OK. Yes, the AIA actually used numbers instead of region names as it has done in the past (at least for now). Just my two cents: If I were naming the regions, I'd use North, Fiesta, San Tan, East Valley, South Valley, Southwest, and Northwest. . . Region 1 takes the three top teams from the Desert Valley Region and combines them with a Brophy team that went 8-3 in the Premier, and Centennial, which was 9-2 and comes up to compete in the top division for the second time in school history. Three of the five teams in this region made the inaugural Open Division last season. The five schools combined for a 43-15 record last year, and remember, Liberty is your defending 6A Conference champion. . . Region 2 rivals Region 1 for supremacy from top to bottom. Three schools from the Premier Region, including defending State Champion Chandler reside here along with Highland (which gave the Wolves their biggest scare in this run of four straight titles) and Higley, which will play in the top division for the first time. All five of these schools won a playoff game in 2019 and combined for a record of 45-16. . . Region 3 is arguably just as deep is the first two regions bringing up Casteel and Williams Field from the 5A (the Black Hawks won the conference championship last year) along with Red Mountain (which has broken away from the rest of the Mesa Public Schools, when it comes to these regions) and two of the Lions' playoff opponents from last season with Desert Ridge and Queen Creek. The Bulldogs return a few players that have received a lot of college attention and are certainly a threat to make the Open. Interesting that Higley and Williams Field were placed in separate regions. Hopefully, their rivalry continues in a non-region game. Three of the five schools in this grouping were region champs a year ago and they all combined for a record of 49-17. . . The dropoff from the first three regions is evident when you look at Region 4. It houses four of the Mesa schools that were in the East Valley Region along with Tucson (still the only Southern Arizona school in 6A), and Corona del Sol. Only Mesa (6-4) had a winning record last year and only Corona del Sol (as a 16 seed) made the postseason. The combined record of the six teams was 21-40. . . Region 5 gives us both Ahwatukee schools and the castoffs that left regions their district teams were in. Basha comes over from the Premier, Cesar Chavez from the Metro, and Mountain View from the East Valley. The combined record last year for the region was 28-29, but Mountain View pulled off a playoff upset, Basha's season unraveled with a key injury, and nobody expects Mountain Pointe to go 1-9 again. . . Region 6 welcomes Cibola back into a true region once again. The last two years, the Raiders (from Yuma) essentially played an independent schedule as Kofa was the only other team in the "region". Kofa is down at 5A now and Cibola joins three of the Southwest Region schools plus North and Trevor Browne from the Metro. The combined record of the six schools was 21-39 with no playoff appearances and only Cibola (6-4) had a winning record. However, Westview (4-6) was down last year and had a 14-year playoff streak snapped. I would expect the Knights to feast in this region. They will need to have some tougher schools in the non-region portion to be able to make the postseason, though. . . North was originally placed in Region 7, but was swapped with La Joya. The Lobos are now in Region 7 and will be with a pair of Surprise schools (Shadow Ridge & Valley Vista) and the bottom three schools from the Desert Valley Region. The combined record of the schools last year was 33-29 and this should be a very competitive region. After you take out the four teams that made the Open last season, all six of these schools ranked between 10 and 19. Any of these schools could win Region 7; any of these schools could come in 6th in Region 7.

By the Numbers:

3 teams moving down to 5A: Alhambra, Kofa, and Maryvale.

4 teams moving up from 5A: Casteel, Centennial, Higley, and Williams Field.

Total schools: 38

Breaking down the Regions: We have directional names this time, but there are two Wests and two Sonorans. To simplify it, I'd suggest calling the West II the Desert Sky and the Sonoran II the Southern. . . The Central gives some team the opportunity to win a region for the first time in a long time. Alhambra and Maryvale move down from 6A to join fellow Phoenix Union schools Camelback and Central. Those four will also compete with Apollo and North Canyon. The combined record of the six schools last year was 10-50. . . The East is much more formidable. Campo Verde, Gilbert, and Maricopa remain from the San Tan, which was the toughest 5A region last year. It remains one of the best with Horizon and Notre Dame coming over from the Desert Valley and Saguaro moving up from 4A. Here you'll find two teams that were in the Open last year and four schools that posted win totals of at least 9 games. The six teams were 48-24 last season. . . The North has some similarities to the old Northeast Valley Region and carries seven schools again. Cactus Shadows, Desert Mountain, McClintock, and Paradise Valley return from the Northeast Valley and will have two schools that fit geographically with Goldwater and Sunnyslope. South Mountain is the other newcomer. The Jaguars won the 5A Metro last season and went 7-3, but didn't have a strong enough region to make the playoffs. This grouping should take care of that problem. There are parallels to the 6A Region 7 in that you have all seven schools ranked between 10 and 23 in last year's final 5A rankings. This competitive group went 39-33. The Sonoran I is one of two Southern Arizona regions. Four of these schools were in the Sonoran last year. Buena moves over from the Southern Region and Salpointe, an Open Division team last year, was moved up from 4A. The schools combined for a record of 34-29. . . The Sonoran II is similar to last year's Southern Region. The only difference is Buena is substituted out for Rincon. The group's record last year was 28-35. . . .There are two regions for West Valley schools. Starting with the West I, Millennium and Verrado were the top two teams in the Desert West Region. They'll be joined with two schools from the Peoria District in Ironwood and Sunrise Mountain and also two a little further south - Desert Edge and Fairfax. Five of those schools made the playoffs last year and overall, the entire region finished 44-26. . . . Finally, the West II gives us two schools making their varsity debuts in Canyon View (in Waddell) and West Point (in Avondale). The Jaguars and Dragons should both be able to be competitive immediately as the rest of the teams in the region (Agua Fria, Independence, Kofa, Kellis, and Willow Canyon) combined to finish 11-39 last year with none of them making the playoffs and only Agua Fria sporting a winning record (6-4).

By the Numbers:

4 teams moving down to 4A: Carl Hayden, Empire, and Sierra Linda.

3 teams moving up from 4A: Desert Edge, Saguaro, and Salpointe.

2 new varsity programs into 5A: Canyon View and West Point.

Total schools: 44

Just like last year, teams within the regions will play one another mostly in the second half of the season. Region champions will be determined by win-loss record solely within their regions. Tiebreakers will be decided first by head-to-head outcome, then record in games against their conference, then by overall record (assuming that it mirrors last year's).

Schedules are still being worked on, but expect to see more cross-scheduling games involving teams from two separate conferences (example 6A vs. 5A, 5A vs. 4A, etc.).

As has happened since 1977, 16 teams will still qualify for the state football tournament for each conference. The power points will decide all 16 spots as automatic bids for region winners has ended.