Richmond's opponents went a combined 71-49. Mallard Creek's opponents were 64-54-1. Myers Park's opponents were 50-70. MaxPreps uses those records, plus their opponents' records and goes several deep to break the ties. That's how Richmond was seeded 1.

This will encourage schools to schedule more difficult non-conference games, but unfortunately Mallard Creek and Myers Park each had 5 conference opponents that won 6 or fewer wins. This is something they have no control of, yet it hurts them.

Then you have the opponents that also have unfortunate schedules. For example, Gaffney (a Mallard Creek opponent) only beat two above .500 teams during the regular season and one of them was only 6-4. continued>>>

We know Gaffney is a good program, but Mallard Creek is actually negatively affected in the MaxPreps ranking by having them as an opponent. Well, "negatively" is probably the wrong word. They just aren't rewarded as much as they should be for scheduling a stronger opponent.