Thanks to ahsfhs.com for much of the data listed here.
There are 52 teams left in the 2021 AHSAA football playoffs in the seven classes. Here is a look at the 7A semifinals and 1A-6A quarterfinals by studying the numbers. At times stats can be misleading, but they may also give us a clue as to the strength of a team's offense, defense or strength of schedule.
1) There are ten teams still undefeated - 7A Central Phenix City, 7A Hoover, 6A Clay Chalkville, 5A Pike Road, 4A Brooks, 3A Montgomery Catholic, 3A Winfield, 2A Spring Garden, 1A Brantley, and 1A Sweet Water.
2) 1A Woodland has the worst record of the quarterfinal teams - (5-7). They are the only four seed left in the playoffs. The Bobcats beat Cedar Bluff and Meek on the road. At one time they had a record of 1-5.
3) 20 of the 52 teams left are averaging more than 40 points per game.
4) The top 5 teams in scoring offense per game left in the playoffs - 1) Hueytown 54.3 2) Clay Chalkville 50.6 3) Montgomery Catholic 49.0 4) Pike Road 47.6 5) Thompson 46.5
5) 10 of the 52 teams have held their opponents to an average of 10 points or less.
6) The top 5 teams in scoring defense per game that are left in the playoffs - 1) Montgomery Catholic 2.3
2) Thompson 5.6 3) Keith 5.8 4) Sweet Water/ Winfield 7.0
7) 12 of the 52 teams have a point differential of 30 points are better. That is, they have averaged beating their opponents by 30 or more points.
8) Top 5 teams in point differential. This means that they were the most dominant teams on a weekly basis throughout the season and the first two rounds of the playoffs - 1) 3A Montgomery Catholic 46.7 2) 7A Thompson 41.3 3) 6A Clay Chalkville 39.3 4) 3A Winfield 38.8 5) 1A Sweet Water 37.5
9) Top point differential by classification - 7A Thompson 41.3 6A Clay Chalkville 39.3 5A Pike Road 36.0 4A American Christian 26.6 3A Montgomery Catholic 46.7 2A Lanett 31.7 1A Sweet Water 37.5
10) 5 of the 52 teams have a point differential of 10.0 or less. The worst point differential is Woodland with a -2.2.
11) The number of shutouts can be misleading as some teams tend to sub more at the end of big wins than other teams. A better stat seems to be teams that hold their opponents to 7 points or less
12) Top 5 teams that have the most games holding their opponents to 7 points or less - 1) Montgomery Catholic 12 2) Thompson/ Keith 10 4) SweetWater/ Mountain Brook 9
13) Most points given up per classification. 7A - Auburn 15.8 6A - Hueytown 23.0 5A - Parker - 21.8 4A - Jackson 21.3 3A - Montgomery Academy 20.5 2A - Southeastern 23.5 1A - Woodland 23.3
14) The undefeated team that has given up the most points per game - Brooks at 15.9
15) 13 regions have multiple teams left in the playoffs - Auburn and Central Phenix City are in 7A Region 2, Hoover and Thompson are in 7A Region 3, Clay Chalkville, Pinson Valley and Gardendale are in 6A Region 6, UMS Wright and Faith Academy are in 5A Region 1, Andalusia and Pike Road are in 5A Region 2, Pleasant Grove and Parker are in 5A Region 5, Jackson and Vigor are in 4A Region 1, Good Hope and Oneonta are in 4A Region 6, T.R. Miller and Hillcrest Evergreen are in 3A Region 1, Saks and Piedmont are in 3A Region 5, Lanett and B.B. Comer are in 2A Region 4, Southeastern, Cleveland and Spring Garden are all in 2A Region 6, and Wadley and Woodland are in 1A Region 5.
16) It might not be perfect, but adding together the wins of your opponents helps to determine strength of schedule. Here are the teams whose opponents have won the most games through the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. 1) 3A Hillcrest Evergreen 88 2) 6A Pinson Valley 82 3) 2A Highland Home/3A Montgomery Academy 81 5) 4A Jackson/2A Cleveland 77
17) In addition to the 88 wins by their opponents, Hillcrest Evergreen still has three of their opponents in the playoffs- Vigor, T.R. Miller and Clarke County. There are seven other teams that have three of their regular season opponents still left in the quarterfinals.
18) The most appearances in the quarterfinals by the 1A-6A teams still playing are Maplesville with 26 appearances and UMS Wright with 24.
19) Five of the eight teams left in the 5A playoffs were not even ranked in the last ASWA Top 10 poll - Andalusia, Faith Academy, Center Point, Parker and Fairview. There are a total of 14 teams of the 52 that are still playing that were not ranked in the last poll - Opelika and Gardendale in 6A, Good Hope and Oneonta in 4A, Montgomery Academy and Hillcrest Evergreen in 3A, Highland Home and Southeastern in 2A and Woodland in 1A.
20) Five teams were ranked in the Top 4 of the ASWA Top 10 final poll but did not make it to the quarterfinals - 2A Elba (#3) 4A Northside (#4), 5A Alexandria (#3), 6A Hartselle (#2) and 6A Spanish Fort (#4).
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