CIF is pulling through this year and is holding a playoff season for football. Hoover will attempt to get a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 1984.

The playoffs this season are based on how well a team performs during the regular season, which means if Hoover is ranked 216 or higher, the Tornados will get a playoff spot. The rankings are based on a system developed by CalPreps.com. Hoover is currently ranked 260th in Southern California.

CIF bases the playoff system on divisions. Each division has 16 teams in the playoffs, with the exception of Division I, which has eight teams. 

Rob Wigod, the CIF Southern Section Commissioner, told the SGV Tribune that he hopes that the new system will be successful.

“To us, the competitive-equity playoff system is something that is continuing to be refined and improved and made better,” Wigod said. ¨One of the main factors to do so is to reflect the most current and most up-to-date results you can get, and that is what we are doing in football. We are very excited to see this play out.”

Azad Herabidian, the head coach for the Hoover football team, stressed the importance of strength of schedule.

“Strength of schedule is very important,” he said.

Strength of schedule is essentially the ease or difficulty of the opponents that teammates compete against. It means that the tougher an opponent is, the more it helps a team in the rankings.

The combined record of Hoover’s first five opponents is 8-15, which does not help its strength of schedule. The remaining five opponents combined record is 11-11. A key game that might determine Hoover’s playoff chances is an October 15th game against Dymally, which is currently 4-0. 

The publisher for Calpreps.com and the person behind the rankings is Eric Maddy. He site has been up for 20 years and records all of the high school football games in the United States. 

“In our system, the margin of defeat stops at 27 points,” Maddy said. “One of the advantages of our ratings is that it rewards teams that play tough opponents. There is more value to your team’s rating if you are playing a good team.”

Hoover’s strength to get a spot in the playoffs will essentially come from how well they perform this season. The next game on Friday against Castaic will play a big part in determining whether or not Hoover qualifies for playoffs. Castaic is 0-1 this year.