Realignment 2023: Region Placements (5A/6A)

REALIGNMENT BLOG: 2/17/23

It's early in the offseason and the annual realignment for the upcoming 2023 season is taking shape. On Jan. 17, the football reclassification committee of the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) heard appeals from those who didn't agree with their conference placements from December. We'll get to those results in a little bit.

But first, a little background on the 2023 realignment. The process of moving teams up and down based on past success, or lack thereof, on the field began prior to the 2020 season. It's similar to a promotion/relegation concept of European soccer.

Unlike other sports, enrollment is not a factor in placing the teams. Anywhere from one to five teams in each conference were moved up or dropped down due to their success on the field over the past three years. The MaxPreps power rankings were used and 50 percent of the formula was from the 2022 season with 35 percent from 2021 and 15 percent from 2020. A school could not move up or down more than one conference from where it played last season.

Because it's annual, the formula will be run again following the '23 season. Schedules that eventually become created will be for just this year instead of the two-year block we had prior to this system.

Still to be determined will be if there will be a change to awarding teams that win regions access to automatic berths into the postseason. This is decided at the conference level (2A and 3A had it, while the larger ones did not). Last year, Carl Hayden, Walden Grove, and Mica Mountain (4A), and Cienega (5A) all won region titles, but didn't finish among the top 16 in their conference's final power points and were denied a postseason spot.

By all indications, the Open Division will continue in 2023 and there is a possibility that it could be expanded as well (possibly to 16 teams). Watch for more on this later in the spring.

One school, ALA-Queen Creek, was moved up from 5A to 6A, while five schools were dropped down from the state's highest conference. In the 5A conference, one school (ALA-Gilbert North) was moved up from the 4A ranks to join the five that came down from 6A. Five schools were dropped down from the 5A to the 4A. The conferences have now been finalized.

ALA-Queen Creek has made the past two Open Division tournaments. ALA-Gilbert North won the 4A Conference championship last season. The Patriots (ALAQC) played in 5A just one season while the Eagles (ALAGN) played in 4A for just one season.

As for the appeals in 6A and 5A? North and Trevor Browne were originally to remain in 6A, but won appeals to move down to 5A. ALA-Queen Creek tried to return to 5A, but was denied. Four schools that played in 5A in 2022 (Agua Fria, Goldwater, Ironwood Ridge, and Maricopa) attempted to move down to 4A, but their appeals were not granted.

After the appeals, the new 6A numbers show the number of teams dropping from 33 to 31 (35 played in 6A last year). The 5A total nudges up by two from 45 to 47 (which matches the number in 5A last year). There were no new (first-year) schools placed in the 5A or 6A Conferences.

After that, the regions were created. There are six in the 6A (five of them with five schools), and eight in the 5A (seven with six schools). Teams had until Feb. 7 to make appeals to move to a different region, but needed to stay within its designated conference. No schools in the 5A or 6A appealed their region placement.

So, here's a look at what the 6A and 5A conference regions will look like:

Breaking Down the Regions: Central loses two teams from last year and returns Corona del Sol, Desert Vista, and Mountain Pointe. Joining them are Brophy and Salpointe. Four schools made the playoffs last season, with Mountain Pointe and Salpointe advancing to the quarterfinals. The five teams combined for a 28-28 record last year. . . Desert Valley replaces two West Valley powerhouses with a pair of teams from Surprise. Boulder Creek, Mountain Ridge, and O'Connor remain from last year while Shadow Ridge and Valley Vista come over from the West Valley Region (which no longer exists). Four of these schools made the playoffs in 2022 (with O'Connor making the Open) and, exactly like the Central, combined for a record of 28-28. . . The East Valley gets even tougher with the additions of ALA-Queen Creek and Highland. They will join holdovers Queen Creek, Red Mountain and Williams Field. ALAQC made the Open and Highland defended its 6A championship. All five schools made the playoffs last season and they all combined for a record of 39-22. . . Three of the five teams from last year's Fiesta have moved down to 5A. Mesa and Westwood remain and are joined by Cesar Chavez, Desert Ridge, Mountain View, and Tolleson to comprise the only six-team region in 6A. Only Mesa and Cesar Chavez made the playoffs last year. The combined record of the six teams was 24-39. . . Northeast Valley retains Chaparral, Pinnacle, and Saguaro and gains a pair of Open Division teams in Centennial and Liberty. That region comprises three of last year's Open teams plus a 6A finalist. Four made the playoffs with Saguaro playing for the Open championship and Pinnacle making the 6A title game. The combined record last year for the region was 40-20. . . Premier is the only region to remain completely intact from last year with the five Chandler District schools. All five schools made the playoffs with Basha, Chandler, and Hamilton in the Open. The combined record of the five schools was 42-18.

By the Numbers:

5 teams moving down to 5A: Cibola, Dobson, North, Trevor Browne, Westview

1 teams moving up from 5A: ALA-Queen Creek.

Total schools: 31

Breaking down the Regions: The Central Valley loses its bottom two teams from last season (to 4A) and brings in a pair that moved down from 6A. Cibola and Westview are the newcomers joining Kellis, North Canyon, Paradise Valley and West Point. Only region champion Paradise Valley made the postseason and the six schools were a combined 25-36 last season. . . . The Desert West, which saw four of its five teams make the playoffs in 2022, gets even stronger with the expansion of Canyon View to its region. The Jaguars tied for the Northwest Region lead at 4-1 and made the playoffs for the second straight season. The six teams had a 38-32 record. . . .The Metro is now a true Phoenix Union Region as Trevor Browne and North move down from 6A to replace Maricopa and McClintock. Central and Camelback faced one another in the last week of the regular season to decide the region last year (Central won 27-19). The Bobcats are the only one of the six that made the playoffs last season. The teams had a combined mark of 33-28. . . . The Northeast Valley keeps its top two teams from last season (Notre Dame & Desert Mountain) along with Cactus Shadows. This is quite a formidable region with ALA-Gilbert North (last year's 4A champ) coming up along with the past two 5A champions (Higley & Horizon) from the San Tan Region. The six teams in this region were a combined 56-20 last season. . . .The Northwest retains five of its teams from last year minus the aforementioned Canyon View. Three of the five had winning records with Willow Canyon being the defending region champ. The teams had a record of 22-28. . . .Campo Verde is the only holdover from the San Tan last year. Joining the Coyotes are Dobson (down from 6A), McClintock (over from the Metro), and three from the Northeast Valley (Gilbert, Skyline, and Sunnyslope). Campo Verde, Gilbert, and Sunnyslope all made the playoffs and the six schools were 27-35. . . . Finally, we still have two Southern Arizona regions. The Sonoran is definitely the lighter of the two. A pair of 3-7 teams from last year remain (Flowing Wells and Nogales). They are joined by Ironwood Ridge, Marana Mountain View, Maricopa, and Tucson. Maricopa will have longer road trips competing with the Tucson area teams, but should be able to be competitive in this region as all teams combined to finish 14-46 last year with none of them sporting winning records. . . . The Southern, on the other hand, loses its bottom three teams to the Sonoran, and replaces them with the top two teams from last year's Sonoran (Marana and Sunnyside). They will be aligned with Casa Grande, which was in a region with Phoenix-area teams last season. Those six teams combined to go 39-22 last year.

By the Numbers:

5 teams moving down to 4A: Cholla, Copper Canyon, La Joya, Mesquite, Rincon/University

1 team moving up from 4A: ALA-Gilbert North

5 teams moving down from 6A: Cibola, Dobson, North, Trevor Browne, Westview

1 team moving up to 6A: ALA-Queen Creek

Total schools: 47

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 by their ranking within the power points.

Schedules will soon be worked on. Expect to see cross-scheduling games involving teams from two separate conferences (example 6A vs. 5A, 5A vs. 4A, etc.) like we had last year. Also, several schools have already lined up out-of-state games (which count in the rankings).

As has happened since 1977, 16 teams will still qualify for the state football tournament for each conference (unless this gets changed later). As of now, eight teams are selected for the Open bracket.

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