To Keep Score, You Have to Know the Score

It wasn’t our idea to begin with.

Crowning high school all-sports champions may be new to Orange County, but other newspapers have organized similar competitions for decades.

The Times based its scoring system partially on criteria used by two of those newspapers--the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald.

As the season unfolds, The Times will need help keeping score. Athletic directors are responsible for seeing that their school’s final records and standings are reported in each sport. Reporting dates and deadlines will be announced in the sports section.

Failure to report a team’s record will result in zero points for the school in that sport. Section and league records will have the last word in settling discrepancies.

The Times will publish all-sports standings after the fall and winter seasons as well as the final standings next spring.

The rules:

1. Championships will be awarded in two enrollment divisions: Division I (1,200 students or more) and Division II (fewer than 1,200).

2. Winners in each division receive a traveling trophy, a trophy to keep and a banner for display in their gymnasium at the end of the school year. Second- and third-place teams in each division will receive trophies.

3. Only sports sanctioned by the Southern Section, and that decide an official section champion, count in scoring.

4. Awards are based on team competition only. Individual championships will not be used.

5. This is a combined boys’ and girls’ competition. Boys and girls will not be scored separately.

6. There are no points or consideration for placement in county, state or national polls or rankings. This is purely on the basis of county and section competition against peers.

7. Scoring is based on winning percentage, league and section finishes:

* Nine sports will be scored on winning percentages from overall season records--football, boys’ and girls’ volleyball, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, baseball and softball. In these sports, records will count for the entire season, including section, regional and State playoff games.

* Eleven sports will be scored on winning percentages in league contests only--boys’ and girls’ cross-country, boys’ and girls’ tennis, wrestling, badminton, golf, boys’ and girls’ swimming/diving and boys’ and girls’ track and field.

* To determine a team’s winning percentage, take the overall record--including playoffs where appropriate--and convert it on a scale of 10. Example: A team is 20-10, .667 winning percentage which is worth 6.7 points. A perfect score is 10 for an undefeated season.

* League performance: The top three league teams and at-large playoff teams earn extra points. A league champion gets 10, runner-up seven, third-place five, and at-large teams three. Ties are broken by each league’s tie-breaking criteria for playoffs (coin flips, head-to-head competition, etc.).

* Section performance: A section champion earns 20 points, 16 for section runner-up, 12 for semifinal losers, and eight for quarterfinal losers. In non-bracket playoffs (swimming, track and cross-country), 20 points for first, 16 for second, 12 for third and fourth, eight for fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth. Wrestling points will be awarded from dual meet playoffs, not the section finals.

8. Scoring stops at the section level. Going to state would weigh seven sports (boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ track, boys’ and girls’ cross-country and girls’ volleyball) more heavily than others, such as football.

9. Teams forfeiting victories under Southern Section rulings will concede points earned from those victories.

10. Servite, an all-boys’ school, and Rosary, an all-girls’ school, will compete jointly.

11. Athletic directors must provide The Times with season-ending standings by calling 714-966-5904, faxing them to 714-966-5663 or mailing them to the Times’ Orange County sports department, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, 92626. Please send them to the attention of prep sports editor Bob Rohwer.