Archbishop Carroll coach Kevin Curley had aspirations of winning a Catholic League boys soccer championship. A year removed from a semifinal appearance, Curley had reason to think big.

But when the CL playoffs kick off today, the Patriots will be watching from the sideline. An offseason alteration to the league’s eight-team playoff system – a product of the Catholic League’s membership in the PIAA – means six teams from the Class AAA Red Division and two from the Class AA Blue Division have moved on.

The disparity between big-school and small-school playoff berths leaves Carroll, which finished third at 13-3 in Blue Division play, out of the postseason. Meanwhile, a 4-10-3 Roman Catholic team sneaked in with the Red Division’s sixth seed.

"It’s unfortunate," Curley said last week. "That’s not just because we’re the third-place team or odd-man out, either. It’s just unfortunate. ...(Conwell-)Egan had a reasonably good season, one of their better seasons in recent years, and six or seven games ago they knew they had no chance at the playoffs. How deflating is that?"

Coaches from each of the Catholic League’s teams voted on the implementation of the current playoff system, Curley said. It was met with some hostility, though, and the Patriots’ coach expects even more resentment when the coaches convene following the playoffs.

"Most of the strong teams are in the other division, yes, but that doesn’t mean the smaller schools can be discounted," Curley said.

Catholic League boys soccer chairman George Todt favors the system that’s in place because of the title chances it provides to the smaller-school squads. The opening round pits the fourth and fifth seeds, both Blue Division teams, guaranteeing that one of them earns a berth to the semifinal round.

"I think the goal each year is to ensure that the best eight move on and we have that," said Todt, the boys soccer coach at Archbishop Ryan. "The 6-2 scenario was something we came up with for this year, our first in the PIAA. …We’ll look at it and reanalyze it when we hold a coaches meeting after the season."

Prior to last season, when Father Judge won the league championship, three teams had traded the championship trophy between themselves in the last 25 seasons: Archbishop Ryan, North Catholic and La Salle -- all Class AAA teams.

Todt said that the PIAA forced the Catholic League's hand in the playoff scenario. Rather than play the CL playoffs over three weeks as it had in years passed, the PIAA ruled that it had to complete its tournament over the course of one week: beginning today, with semifinals Oct. 25 and a final Oct. 28.

"And state playoffs begin Nov. 4," Todt said. "We wanted to keep some of the tradition of the CL alive, and part of that is with the three rounds."

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The District One Class AAA playoffs are underway, with all four of Delco's representatives playing under the lights in 7 p.m. starts.