News
After 10 weeks of hard fought league play, the High School League has produced its best 15 from all of our five regions. A special mention must go to the four teams that went undefeated in the league, Mount Roskill Grammar, Wellington College, Saint John’s College, and Rangitoto College #2.
The aim behind this article, is to bring insight into how teams were seeded, and most importantly, the reasoning behind the HSL committee’s decision to select the wildcard team.
After all the results had been gathered and points tallied, this is what the tables looked like for each of the regions.
[minti_table style=”1″]
| Auckland 1 | Auckland 2 | Waikato | Wellington | Southland | |
| 1st | Mount Roskill Grammar | Rangitoto College #1 | St John’s College | Wellington College | Burnside High School #1 |
| 2nd | Avondale College | Mount Albert Grammar School #1 | Aquinas College | Upper Hutt College #1 | Burnside High School #3 |
| 3rd | Massey High School | Manurewa High School #2 | Wanganui High School | Heretaunga College #1 | Christ’s College |
[/minti_table]
These teams were then sorted in three separate pools, based on where they placed (first, second or third).
[minti_table style=”1″]
| Pool | ||
| A | B | C |
| Mount Roskill Grammar | Avondale College | Massey High School |
| Rangitoto College #1 | MAGS #1 | Manurewa High School #2 |
| St John’s College | Aquinas College | Wanganui High School |
| Wellington College | Upper Hutt College #1 | Heretaunga College #1 |
| Burnside High School #1 | Burnside High School 3 | Christ’s College |
[/minti_table]
The teams were then seeded from seeds 1-15, after each pool was randomly seeded chronologically (Pool A took seeds 1-5, Pool B 6-10 etc.). After this, to complete the bracket we had to find our wildcard team. Five separate teams were chosen to be considered by the lead admin team, who made the decisions based on who they felt were most hard done by to not qualify for the playoffs.
From there, the committee consisting of some our casters, game admins, observers, and analysts made their decision. Judging each team based on how they had improved over the split, their attitude in and out of the game, and looking at why they didn’t/couldn’t qualify for the playoffs.
This was definitely not an easy decision, however one team stood out from the rest of the pack for committee.
Burnside High School #2
This team missed out on playoffs by random draw, in a tiebreaker between themselves and school rivals Burnside #3. Holding the most wins for a team not to make playoffs, only conceding two losses, one of which was to Burnside #3. Also based purely on results, Burnside #2 was the only team that managed to take a win off league leaders Burnside #1. A true dominant force in the league, Burnside High School consistently displayed sportsmanship, and came to every matchweek with a positive attitude.
The team at HSL want to wish the best of luck to all the teams who have now qualified for the finals, and personally thank all of the competitors who entered this split of the HSL; the teachers, students, captains, starters, substitutes, and the schools. This wonderful league and tournament wouldn’t have been possible without all of you, and we are excited to see what Split 2 of the 2017 season brings.
The playoffs will consist of a single elimination bracket, starting Monday as the unstoppable force Mount Roskill Grammar take on wildcard Burnside High School #2. Kicking off at 5PM NZT on letsplay.live , make sure you’re there to catch the action.
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