Understanding RPI: How It Works and Why It Matters for the High School Playoffs
Understanding RPI: How It Works and Why It Matters for the High School Playoffs
Rankings as of September 14, 2026
A win moves your team forward. A loss hurts. But when the playoff conversation turns to RPI, the rankings can look different from what the win-loss records suggest.
How can a team with a losing record rank ahead of one with more wins? Why does it matter what an opponent does weeks after you played them? And what does that number beside your school’s name actually mean?
The answer starts with the Ratings Percentage Index, or RPI—a formula that combines a team’s winning percentage with measures of its schedule strength.
Understanding RPI gives fans a clearer picture of the playoff race. It explains why winning matters, why scheduling matters and why your own team’s results are only part of the equation.
Here is a breakdown of the system, its role in the NCHSAA playoff process and where programs across Wayne, Greene, Lenoir and Jones counties stand in football, girls volleyball and boys soccer.
Eight Classifications, Different Playoff Paths
North Carolina’s move from four classifications to eight reshuffled the high school sports landscape. Under the alignment running through 2029, schools compete in classifications ranging from 1A through 8A.
Area schools fall into these classifications:
1A: Jones Senior
2A: Rosewood
3A: Goldsboro, South Lenoir, Kinston, Greene Central and Spring Creek
4A: Eastern Wayne and North Lenoir
5A: C.B. Aycock and Southern Wayne
Those classifications matter when reading an RPI board. A school’s classification rank shows its position among schools in that class, rather than among every team in North Carolina.
For example, No. 12 in 1A and No. 12 in 5A describe positions in two separate groups. They are not interchangeable statewide rankings.
Why RPI Matters
Under the NCHSAA’s eight-classification playoff format, conference championships no longer provide automatic playoff berths. Qualification and seeding are driven by the final RPI standings pulled from MaxPreps at the end of the regular season.
Conference championships still carry meaning for players, schools and communities. But winning a league title does not, by itself, guarantee a postseason spot.
RPI helps determine which teams make the playoff field, where they are seeded and which teams receive first-round byes.
That makes understanding the formula useful throughout the season. A team’s record tells fans how often it has won. RPI adds information about the schedule behind that record.
How the RPI Formula Works
The formula combines three factors:
40 percent: Your team’s winning percentage. This is the portion directly tied to your own results.
40 percent: Your opponents’ winning percentage. This measures how the teams on your schedule have performed.
20 percent: Your opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. This adds another layer by considering the schedules those opponents have played.
Written as a formula:
RPI = (0.40 × winning percentage) + (0.40 × opponents’ winning percentage) + (0.20 × opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage)
The abbreviations commonly used are WP for winning percentage, OWP for opponents’ winning percentage and OOWPfor opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage.
Your own winning percentage accounts for 40 percent of the calculation. The other 60 percent comes from the two schedule-related components.
That does not make winning unimportant. It means two teams with identical records can have different RPI ratings because they have played different opponents.
A Simple Example
Imagine a team with these values:
Winning percentage: .750
Opponents’ winning percentage: .600
Opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage: .500
Its calculation would be:
(.40 × .750) + (.40 × .600) + (.20 × .500)
That produces:
.300 + .240 + .100 = .640 RPI
This is a hypothetical example, not the calculation for a particular school. It shows how all three pieces contribute to the final number.
An RPI of .640 is a rating. It does not mean the team has a 64 percent chance of winning its next game or making the playoffs.
Does Margin of Victory Matter?
Margin of victory does not count in the RPI formula.
A 50–0 football win and a 7–6 win contribute the same result to a team’s winning percentage. Running up the score does not directly improve RPI.
Schedule strength does matter. Playing successful opponents affects the schedule-related portions of the formula, which helps explain why rankings do not always follow a simple list of teams from most wins to fewest.
A difficult schedule does not guarantee a strong rating, either. Your own results remain a substantial part of the calculation.
According to Neuse News Sports’ playoff explainer, in-state opponents outside the NCHSAA count at their reported winning percentage, while their opponents’ winning percentage defaults to .500 for that portion of the calculation.
Why RPI Can Change When Your Team Has Not Played
Your team’s record can stay the same while its RPI changes.
That happens because opponents continue playing games of their own. Their results can change the opponents’ winning percentage component, while results elsewhere can affect the opponents’ opponents’ component.
The playoff picture therefore extends beyond your own scoreboard. Results involving teams you played earlier in the season can continue to influence your rating.
That is also why an early-season ranking should be treated as a snapshot. With fewer results available, each additional game can change the picture substantially.
How the NCHSAA Builds the Playoff Brackets
At the end of the regular season, the process is essentially:
Take the final MaxPreps RPI standings by classification.
Remove teams that opt out or are ineligible.
Rank the remaining teams by RPI to determine qualifiers.
Divide qualifying teams into East and West regions by longitude, with schools near the dividing point potentially assigned by a draw.
Seed teams within each region according to RPI.
Classes 1A through 7A have 48-team fields, with 24 teams in each region. Class 8A has a 24-team field.
In the 48-team brackets, the top eight seeds in each region receive first-round byes.
A statewide classification rank is not the same as a regional playoff seed. A team ranked No. 12 in its classification will not necessarily become the No. 12 seed in the East because regional assignments and the qualifying field must first be determined.
Football Playoff Dates to Know
The NCHSAA football calendar lists October 31, 2026, for bracketing, followed by first-round games on November 6.
The final MaxPreps RPI at the end of the regular season is the number used for bracketing. Midseason boards such as those below show where teams stand at a particular point; they do not guarantee playoff spots or final seeds.
Football RPI: Eastern Wayne Leads the Local Board
Eastern Wayne holds the strongest classification ranking among the local football programs listed, checking in at No. 2 in 4A with a 3–0 record.
Jones Senior sits No. 12 in 1A despite an 0–3 start, demonstrating why a team’s record alone does not explain its place on the RPI board.
Local Football Rankings
As of September 14, 2026. Each entry lists classification, record, RPI and statewide rank within that classification.
Eastern Wayne: 4A | 3–0 | RPI: 0.76759 | No. 2
Jones Senior: 1A | 0–3 | RPI: 0.35741 | No. 12
Rosewood: 2A | 2–2 | RPI: 0.48333 | No. 18
C.B. Aycock: 5A | 2–1 | RPI: 0.61111 | No. 21
South Lenoir: 3A | 3–1 | RPI: 0.50972 | No. 26
Southern Wayne: 5A | 3–1 | RPI: 0.56181 | No. 27
Kinston: 3A | 2–2 | RPI: 0.45694 | No. 31
Greene Central: 3A | 3–1 | RPI: 0.45625 | No. 32
Goldsboro: 3A | 0–4 | RPI: 0.36736 | No. 41
North Lenoir: 4A | 0–4 | RPI: 0.21875 | No. 56
Spring Creek: 3A | No varsity football season in 2026
Nearby, James Kenan ranks No. 4 in 3A with a 2–1 record and a 0.71667 RPI.
Spring Creek canceled its 2026 varsity football season, so its absence should not be interpreted as a competitive ranking.
Wayne Prep, Wayne Christian, Faith Christian and Wayne Country Day are not listed on these NCHSAA classification RPI boards.
Girls Volleyball RPI: Aycock and North Lenoir Set the Pace
C.B. Aycock and North Lenoir lead the local volleyball programs by classification rank. Aycock sits No. 12 in 5A, while North Lenoir is No. 14 in 4A.
Goldsboro is also inside its classification’s top 20 at No. 17 in 3A, followed by South Lenoir at No. 21.
Local Girls Volleyball Rankings
As of September 14, 2026. The published board includes RPI and classification rank but does not include team records.
C.B. Aycock: 5A | RPI: 0.62878 | No. 12
North Lenoir: 4A | RPI: 0.60119 | No. 14
Goldsboro: 3A | RPI: 0.56486 | No. 17
South Lenoir: 3A | RPI: 0.53385 | No. 21
Jones Senior: 1A | RPI: 0.45174 | No. 26
Rosewood: 2A | RPI: 0.46646 | No. 32
Greene Central: 3A | RPI: 0.48026 | No. 33
Southern Wayne: 5A | RPI: 0.33044 | No. 48
Kinston: 3A | RPI: 0.29825 | No. 55
Spring Creek: 3A | RPI: 0.29521 | No. 56
Eastern Wayne: 4A | RPI: 0.28575 | No. 56
No statewide boys volleyball RPI board was included in Neuse News Sports’ fall coverage available for this report.
Boys Soccer RPI: Five Local Programs Inside the Top 14
Five programs across the four counties rank No. 14 or better in their respective classifications.
C.B. Aycock is No. 5 in 5A, Goldsboro is No. 8 in 3A and Eastern Wayne is No. 10 in 4A. Jones Senior holds the No. 12 spot in 1A, while Spring Creek sits No. 14 in 3A.
Local Boys Soccer Rankings
As of September 14, 2026. Records are listed as wins, losses and ties.
C.B. Aycock: 5A | 6–4–0 | RPI: 0.63778 | No. 5
Goldsboro: 3A | 6–3–0 | RPI: 0.60397 | No. 8
Eastern Wayne: 4A | 4–1–0 | RPI: 0.59337 | No. 10
Jones Senior: 1A | 8–2–1 | RPI: 0.51270 | No. 12
Spring Creek: 3A | 7–3–0 | RPI: 0.56893 | No. 14
South Lenoir: 3A | 4–3–1 | RPI: 0.46630 | No. 32
Rosewood: 2A | 4–5–2 | RPI: 0.41066 | No. 33
Greene Central: 3A | 1–7–0 | RPI: 0.41685 | No. 38
Southern Wayne: 5A | 1–6–1 | RPI: 0.39210 | No. 48
North Lenoir: 4A | 0–4–3 | RPI: 0.32341 | No. 52
Nearby, James Kenan leads 3A with a 6–1–0 record and a 0.64918 RPI.
Spring Creek, which is not fielding a varsity football team this fall, has a strong position on the soccer board at No. 14 in 3A.
Kinston’s absence from the published soccer board should not be read as an assigned ranking. No complete girls soccer RPI board was included in Neuse News Sports’ fall coverage available for this report.
What to Watch as Conference Play Continues
Local programs take different routes through conference play.
North Lenoir’s Three Rivers schedule features an all-4A conference. Greene Central and Kinston compete in the Eastern Plains. South Lenoir faces its East Central schedule, while Jones Senior balances 1A opponents with larger 2A programs in the Coastal Plains.
Those different schedules feed into the same formula. As the season moves forward, fans should watch their own team’s results, the performance of its opponents and its position within its classification.
A few distinctions can make the weekly boards easier to understand:
Record and RPI measure different things. Record shows wins and losses; RPI also incorporates schedule strength.
RPI rating and classification rank are different. The decimal is the calculated rating. The rank shows where that rating places a team within its class.
Classification rank and regional seed are different. The final qualifying field and East-West split help determine playoff placement.
A midseason position is temporary. Results and reporting updates can change the numbers before bracketing.
The next time an RPI board raises questions, look beyond the win-loss column. Check who a team has played, how those opponents are performing and where the team stands within its own classification. Those details make the playoff picture much easier to follow.
