Like the Heal Point System, the Crabtree Ranking System is designated to select teams for tournament play on the basis of overall record and strength of schedule through the regular season.

The formula is very simple to use. You determine your winning percentage and add that number with the average winning percentage of every opponent on your schedule, calculated by taking the total number of current wins divided by the total number of games currently played. That sum is then multiplied by 100.

On paper, the formula looks like this (using wins and games played as of the date calculated)

((Wins by your team / Games played)
+
((Wins by opponent #1 + Wins by opponent #2 + Wins by opponent #3 ...) / (Games played by opponent #1 + Games played by opponent #2 + Games played by opponent #3 ...)))
x 100
= Crabtree points

For example, your team has won two games after four weeks. Each of your eight opponents have won two out of four games. Your winning percentage is .5000 (2 divided by 4) and your opponents' combined winning percentage is also .5000 (16 total wins divded by 32 total games played). When the two percentages are added together you get 1, and after multiplying that by 100 you get a Crabtree Ranking of 100.0000.

Unlike the Heal Point System, there is no point differential awarded by victories against teams in a higher or lower class. There is no preliminary or tournament index to be calculated. And the points scored, allowed, or point differential plays no part of the formula.

The official Crabtree rankings are maintained by the MPA (http://www.mpa.cc). During the season, the standings will be determined by using the current regular season week.

For purposes of computing the Crabtree Rankings, the number is carried out and reported to four (4) decimal places (ten-thousandth).

A tie in the final Crabtree standings will be resolved by tiebreakers set by the football committee and published in the football bulletin.

The Crabtree Ranking system is used only in football. Each athletic conference is allowed to decide how many teams qualify for the playoffs, although no more than 8 teams may make the playoffs when there is a three-week regional or state-wide playoff and no more than 4 teams may make the playoffs when there is a two-week regional playoff.

In years past the MPA football bulletin use to have a section that explained Crabtree rankings. Beginning in 2021 this was not included. The MPA website currently does not have a section that explains Crabtree rankings or the rules pertaining to it. For instance, prior to 2020 the MPA website was programmed so that if two teams played each other twice in the regular season, the opponent's record for the purposes of determining a strength of schedule was computed only once. Beginning in 2021 when the MPA went to a new website, if two teams played each other twice in the regular season, the opponent's record for the purposes of determining a strength of schedule was computed twice.

The Heal Point System (which is also explained on the MPA website) is designed to select teams for tournament play on the basis of athletic strength as demonstrated through the regular season schedule. The athletic strength of a team is determined by a two-step process. Unlike other sports, the point value has been modified for football

In the first step, the preliminary index of the school is ascertained. For football only this is computed by assigning seventy (70) points for each Class A victory, sixty (60) points for each Class B victory, fifty (50) points for each Class C victory, forty points (40) points for each Class D victory, thirty (30) points for each 8-man large school victory, and twenty (20) points for each 8-man small school victory. These points are added and the total divided by the number of scheduled games. In all cases a minimum divisor is established by the appropriate sports committee. A team with no victories is assigned a preliminary index of 1.000.

Example: If a school team had two victories over class A schools, two victories over class B schools and two victories over class C schools, their total would be reached by adding 70 + 70 + 60 + 60 + 50 + 50. If the school team played an 8 game schedule, the 360 points would be divided by 8, giving them a preliminary index of 45.0000000000 and would be reported as 45.000.

The tournament index for the team used as an example would be determined by adding the preliminary indices of the schools from which it had defeated. This total would be divided by the number of games on the schedule (8 in this case). If the two A schools had preliminary indices of 50.000 and 35.000; the two B schools 48.000 and 37.500; and the two C schools 30.000 and 22.500; the total of these would be 223.000. This total would be divided by the 8 games on the schedule and would give the team a figure of 27.8750000000, reported as 27.8750. Finally, the tournament index is computed by multiplying that figure by 10, giving the reported figure as 278.7500.

The Heal Point System is used as a tiebreaker for football. Because of that the official Heal Points for football are not publicly viewable on the MPA website. If there is a tie, Heal Points will be utilized by the MPA to determine the tiebreaker scenario.

For the purpose of computing the Heal Points, the preliminary index is carried out to ten (10) places and the tournament index is carried out to twelve (12) places. For reporting purposes, these indices are rounded to three (3) places and four (4) places, respectively.