The rankings are not based on game-to-game cumulative point totals, so teams are not losing “points” if an opponent forfeits a game.

The rankings on aia365.com are solely based on wins, losses, ties and the resulting rank of each opponent.

It seems like a simple explanation, but it’s been anything but easy to understand why forfeits aren’t factored in. That’s why in February the AIA’s executive board will take a closer look at the forfeit questions from the AIA’s membership.

During the Feb. 19 board meeting, the executive board also will be shown a set of rankings that will include forfeits to compare to rankings without forfeits. If the AIA’s member schools want forfeits included in the rankings, the AIA’s board can make that change, according to the AIA's administrators.

Glendale Ironwood’s boys soccer team supposedly missed the playoffs because one of its games wasn’t counted. In that game, Ironwood was leading, but the officials called the game before halftime because of a fight.

The game wasn’t ruled a forfeit, however. That game was ruled a no contest because it was called before halftime, which is a National Federation of State High School Associations rule.

MaxPreps’ rankings serve as an evaluation tool, and if there isn’t a game to be evaluated, it is not included in the rankings. If a game was cancelled or forfeited prior to that game taking place, then, in accordance with AIA bylaw 11.4.4.1, that game will not be included in the rankings and will not affect either of the teams that were to play or the ranking of teams that played the teams involved in the game that was forfeited.

That’s because a game isn’t included in the rankings until it is actually played and a result is recorded.

If Ironwood’s no contest would have been ruled a victory instead, Ironwood still wouldn’t have reached the playoffs, according to one of the ranking scenarios the AIA’s board will see in February, said Brian Bolitho, the AIA's director of business media

But there’s another forfeit by a different school that is currently grabbing the attention of the AIA for a different reason.

Window Rock’s girls basketball team, the No. 2 ranked team in Division III, just self reported a violation for playing an ineligible player in four games. The team was ranked No. 1 before the violation was reported, but Window Rock didn’t drop much from the rankings after the four games the ineligible player played in were removed from the rankings.

Those four games were ruled as forfeits. Now the difference here is that games were played before they were ruled forfeits.

But a violation of the bylaws, in this case Window Rock’s ineligible player, is not one of the rankings determining factors in evaluating a team on the court. If the original winning team, Window Rock, has to forfeit games, those games are removed from the rankings. 

That’s why the overall rating value for Window Rock decreased after the four wins were removed, but the team’s rank and eventual seed still are high for Window Rock

So is it fair for a team to still remain high in the rankings if it used an ineligible player?

It will be something that the AIA’s board may address. What also should be noted is that if a game had been played, and the losing team has to forfeit that game, then the winning team would not be penalized and that win would still be included in the rankings.

So far, it’s hard to argue that the rankings aren’t doing their job in the postseason. A majority of the higher seeded teams in the first round of state for boys and girls soccer advanced to the second round.