2011 Arkansas High School 7A Boys Soccer Season

Conference Alignment

The 2011 season was the first under the 2010 - 2012 classification cycle. Russellville and Van Buren were moved down to the 6A classification. Hall and West Memphis were moved up to the 7A classification. In an effort to avoid long distance travel during matches, Russellville and Van Buren remained in the Central conference, which was renamed 7A/6A Central. Likewise, the 6A East conference was renamed 7A/6A East to include Hall and West Memphis. However, only 7A teams were taken into account when determining 7A state playoff berths.

^* 7A Schools

Regular Season

Teams in the 7A West conference played a single round-robin of seven games, playing once against each opponent. Teams in the 7A/6A Central played each other home-and-away in a double round-robin of fourteen games. Matches finishing in a draw after 80 minutes went directly to a penalty shootout. The winner of the shootout was awarded a win, whereas the loser was awarded a loss.

Teams were ranked on the following criteria:

1. Greater number of wins in matches between the tied teams.
2. Greater goal difference (up to 3 goals per game) in matches between the tied teams (if more than two teams finish equal on points).
3. Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams (if more than two teams finish equal on points).
4. Greater goal difference (up to 3 goals per game) in all conference matches.
5. Greater number of goals scored in all conference matches.
6. Coin flip.

7A/6A East

Conference play in the 7A/6A East was played in an irregular format. All schools played each other at least once, with some teams playing each other home and away. Thus, teams played a different amount of games. Power ratings were used to determine conference ranking. Games played only once were counted twice in the power ratings to make all teams equal on 14 comparable games.

State Playoffs

Seeding for the west teams were determined by the final standings during conference play. Power rankings determined the six out of the eight central teams that advanced to the state playoffs. Hall and West Memphis were considered central teams for seeding purposes. Power ratings were calculated using the following procedures:

1. 10 points per conference win (x2 for teams playing single round-robin)
2. 1 point for each conference win of opponents you beat (x2 for teams playing single round-robin)
3. 1 point for a game against a 7A school during conference play (x2 for teams playing single round-robin)
4. 10 points for conference championship. In case of a tie for conference championship, the higher seed gets the 10-point bonus.