IHSAA Releases New District Football Assignments

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) has released district football pairings for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The most noticeable change in the assignments is a drop to seven districts for Classes A to 3A, while teams from the state's largest and smallest schools are once again grouped in eight districts.

Under a format change announced by the IHSAA in June, the organization's Board of Control voted to adopt a nine-game regular-season schedule and a 16-team qualifier field for each class. The board’s action means a total of 96 teams will qualify for the six-class playoff field in 2016, a reduction from the 192 teams that have participated in post-season play the past several years.

The champion and second-place team from each district will qualify for the playoffs. In the four classes with seven districts, two wild-card qualifiers will be chosen, with the first tie-breaker going to three-way district champions.

The IHSAA schedules all games for each of its 334 football-playing schools. While the district groupings were released this week, schedules won’t be released until early February.