[laker20]

Yes, 1st Round games are necessary. It's the only way to get to the 2nd Round.nicker:

But seriously, there's always a question on how big the field should be. Is 5-rounds too many? would 3 or 4 do the job? do we need 6 different champions?
Is the geographical district/regions really a fair way to do it? couldn't we just seed the top 16, 12, or 8 teams per class and then have bracket play? couldn't we take the winners of each class and have a playoff for 1 state champion? private vs. public? where does it start & where does it stop?

Look at 4A Region 3 this year.....with a smaller field you would have top 10 teams facing each other in the first round, while some regions don't have a #1 seed in the top 20.


IMO the current structure has flaws, as would any, but it assures that the most deserving team ends up with the title, even if we don't end up with the top two teams in the championship game.