Each Monday New Hampshire Football Report's Roger Brown answers your questions:

Q: Can you explain to me how Newport beat Epping during the season, the teams wound up with the same record and Epping gets the home playoff game? -- Steve, Newport

A: Epping-Newmarket, Franklin and Newport each finished 7-2 and tied for second place. The teams were 1-1 against each other, so the tie was broken by road victories. Epping-Newmarket was 5-0 on the road and earned the second seed. The two-way tie between Franklin and Newport was broken by the head-to-head result. Franklin earned the No. 3 seed because it beat Newport 33-0 this season.

Q: Any update with realignment? I was told Exeter was moving down and Bedford was supposed to be in Division II but chose to play in Division III. Does any of this change if Exeter and/or Bedford win a state championship? -- Peter, Keene

A: Last I knew each proposal the football committee has forwarded has been rejected, so nothing is official yet. Strange as is sounds, Exeter could win the Division I championship and Bedford could prevail in Division III and both programs could be allowed to play in a division lower than where its enrollment places it.

At the risk of boring some readers, here's a Cliff Notes version of what we've proposed on this site: three divisions with two leagues (East and West) in each division. Teams in each league would be grouped geographically to cut down on travel costs. Four teams from each league (eight from each division) would qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs would feature crossover games in the semifinals (1E vs. 4W, 2E vs. 3W, 3E vs. 2W and 4E vs. 1W), so that the first round of playoffs would feature four games between teams that did not meet during the regular season. An added round of playoffs would increase interest in high school football throughout the state.

Those who have criticized this proposal have said it would be unfair to teams in Divisions II, IV and VI. There's plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise however. BG has beaten Pinkerton and Salem in crossover games, I watched a Division II Exeter team defeat Nashua South when South went on to win the Division I title, and more recently Winnacunnet beat Nashua North last season when North reached the Division I championship game. Top Division IV teams like Trinity and Plymouth would do fine competing against Division III schools, and look at how Division III teams did against Division I opponents this season. The teams at the bottom half of Division VI may struggle against the top teams in Division V, but those teams are struggling with the current setup anyway. Years ago Maine had three divisions plus a Developmental League for newer programs and programs that were struggling with participation numbers. Once those teams were ready they joined one of the three divisions. Maybe something similar would work here.

Q: Roger, do you know if the next "cycle" will eliminate these non-league games that do not count in the standings? If nothing else I hope this change is made. Spaulding has to play a meaningless game against Concord this weekend, one week before a playoff game against Dover. What if players get hurt? What's the incentive to play varsity players in this game? I think the NHIAA has put Spaulding in a bad position. -- Allen K., Rochester

A: Not a fan of non-league games. The proposal outlined above would eliminate one of two bye weeks for teams in the higher divisions in favor of an extra round of playoffs. Each team would still have one open date to play a non-league game (Pinkerton vs Brockton, for example). Can't imagine anyone arguing in favor of a meaningless non-league game instead of an extra layer of playoffs, especially when it doesn't extend the season.

Unfortunately it looks like the non-leage games will remain. What's worse, they may count in the standings next season. Imagine two teams tied for the final playoff spot in Division II. Team A lost its non-league game against Pinkerton, and Team B beat a team that failed to win a game in Division I. In that scenario Team B would make the playoffs. Hardly fair.

Q: Who wins the Trinity-Monadnock game? -- Tim, Goffstown.

A: Trinity.

Questions for Monday Mailbag can be submitted to rbrown@nhfootballreport.com. Questions may be edited for clarity.