Heading into high school football playoffs

Fort Rouge

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/10/2024 (669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

High school football in Winnipeg has expanded significantly over the past few years.

Winnipeg High School Football League (WHSFL) varsity teams are currently divided by school size into two divisions, AAAA and AAA. In the past alignment, the makeup of the Curry, Vidruk and Potter divisions was not determined by enrolment numbers.

There are 20 teams in the AAAA division, and these teams are separated into four conferences: North East, North West, South East and South West. Everyone in AAAA will make the playoffs in one of four playoff brackets. The format will be as follows:

The top eight AAAA teams will play in the championship bracket. In this bracket, the four conference winners will be seeded 1 to 4. Oak Park, Dakota, Springfield and Elmwood currently hold these spots after six weeks, although there is one game remaining in the regular season as I write this. The next four highest-ranked teams, regardless of conference, will be placed in the 5 to 8 seeds in the championship bracket. The next teams in the standings as of Oct. 16 were St. Paul’s, Grant Park, Vincent Massey (Winnipeg), Steinbach and Crocus Plains, all of whom stood at 4-2 after six games. The eight teams in the championship bracket will compete for the AAAA championship, signified by the ANAVETS trophy.

The next four highest ranked teams (teams 9-12) in the AAAA standings, regardless of conference, will play for the Vidruk Bowl trophy in a two-week bracket. Teams 13 to 16 will play their own two-week playoff bracket for the Bramwell Bowl. Finally, teams 17-20 will play for the Gustafson Bowl .

In the AAA division, eight out of the 10 teams will make the playoffs and these teams will be placed in a standard playoff bracket, and compete over three weeks for the CanadInns trophy. Tec Voc (6-0) and John Taylor (5-1) were at the top of the league at time of writing, but the next six teams are very close in the standings and the playoffs should be very competitive. All playoff games will be played in Winnipeg.

At the junior varsity level, the top four teams will make the playoffs and battle for a championship.

Check out the website, whsfl.ca, for more information.

All the best to all players and coaches in the playoffs!