East/West Question....

why does east play best of 3 and west plays best of 5?

 

Each Area (4 areas total) has a different number of teams, and therefore the playoff format in each area is up to each individual Area Commissioner and they may differ slightly. For example, in Area 3 this year the first round was only best of 3, with the remainder of the rounds best of 5. Its a difficult task getting in all the games (with rain) and some rounds have an extra day for weather and some rounds do not. Ultimately all areas absolutely MUST be finished with their playoffs in time for the state tournament, which (I believe) begins this year July 23 in Asheboro.

Areas doing it differently does not favor one specific team, so its really not an issue. As for your specific question, the east may be doing things differently simply because eastern NC got more rainouts this summer and they had more games to make up, just an opinion there as to why.

 

Makes sense, no issues, just wondering why.

 

Last year, Area I broke from its norm and did best-of-five series each round—except the final (even though we only got one berth because Pitt 39 was hosting). Rocky Mount and Pitt went a combined 0-4 at the state tournament. This year, the traditional 3, 3, 5, 3 is back in place. In years past, the other areas have started the playoffs earlier, allowing for longer series. This year, each of the other areas started July 1, while Area I started July 5.

It isn't really because of rainouts since the schedule is set in February; it's just the way we do things. You could make the argument that a longer regular season gives more opportunities to play for more teams, but I'm not certain logic really applies to the decisions made here.