Second Round 3A Playoff Graphic

 

Just a graphic showing the spatial relationships of the second-round playoff matchups in 3A. After this round, the 16 survivors will be bracketed into four groups of four ... so what makes sense?

If all the home teams win, the west side has two options.

First:

*Sergeant Bluff-Luton, Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley, Spencer, Webster City

*Lewis Central, Harlan, Ballard, Dallas Center-Grimes

Or, second:

*SBL, BHRV, Lewis Central, Harlan

*Webster City, Ballard, DCG, Spencer

The east side is a little trickier. Again, with all the home teams winning, it looks like an obvious thing to bracket Decorah/West Delaware/Xavier together, but who's the fourth? Either Grinnell or Pella - but then the other is grouped with North Scott/Assumption/Washington. It's a coin flip; either a Quad Cities or Decorah trip to Pella would be a haul, but Grinnell to Decorah isn't a lot closer. I think it'll probably be:

*Decorah/West Delaware/Xavier/Grinnell

*Assumption/North Scott/Washington/Pella

Obviously, if some home teams end up losing, this all goes out the window. A Winterset win over Pella definitely puts Winterset into the west side, and then either Webster City or Ballard goes into an eastern bracket. A Fort Madison win over Grinnell simplifies the east side (Ft. Madison/Washington/Assumption/North Scott is an easy call).

The Year Where Nothing Made Sense

 A lot has happened since I posted here last. A derecho damaged or destroyed large parts of central and eastern Iowa (my stuff included); the pandemic continued to wreak havoc on activities large and small; and the political landscape is, well, even more chaotic than you'd generally expect at this point in an election year.

So let me explain. No, it is too much. Let me sum up.

Xavier continues to reload and roll, year after year. The Saints got coach Duane Schulte his 200th career win with a 38-21 win over last year's state champion Western Dubuque (scoring 31 unanswered points after falling behind 7-0). The Saints avoided disaster at Linn-Mar, again giving up a score on the opening drive and seeing a potential go-ahead bomb pass play for the Lions late in the fourth quarter called back by a penalty. Xavier won that one by the skin of their teeth, 24-20. In district play, Xavier opened with a 30-7 win over Clear Creek-Amana; fell behind (again) against Newton before rolling 45-20; and crushed Oskaloosa 45-7.

That led to a showdown at Grinnell between Xavier, 5-0 and 3-0 in the district, and the Tigers, 4-1 and 3-0 in the district. Grinnell's offense was frightening, averaging 530 yards and 49 points per game, with tailback Wyatt Hunter well over 200 yards per game rushing and 21 TDs coming in. Xavier would clinch the district title with a win, while Grinnell would all but lock it up if they came out on top.

They would not come out on top. With QB Dallas Sauser banged up and unable to throw (even though he played much of the game anyway), the Saints intercepted a trick play pass on the first possession to set up a score, used a big punt return to set up another, then ran the ball down the Tigers' throats. It was 34-0 at halftime, with only a blocked extra point preventing the continuous clock from starting the second half. The vaunted Grinnell offense had two first downs.

Xavier extended the lead to 41-0 by the end of the third quarter, which is when Coach Schulte pulled his starters. Brian Sauser did not do the same, though - Hunter demonstrated the textbook definition of "padding his stats" by running for 140 yards and two TDs on four consecutive carries in the fourth quarter, all against the Xavier scout team. On his last score he was banged up slightly taken down on the pylon, which the Xavier fans seemed to think was karma.

Lincoln Oakley barely missed a 47-yard field goal in the final period, but later got a chance to hammer through a 34-yarder, which he did for his fifth field goal of the season. Grinnell tacked on a late score with 15 seconds left to make it 44-20, but nobody was fooled by the final score.

Xavier wins their district for the sixth time in seven years, and has a chance for another undefeated regular season when they close out the year against Benton Community - since becoming a 3A program in 2014 the Saints lost 3 regular season games in 2014, but didn't lose outside of the playoffs again until the Western Dubuque game last year. So this could be five undefeated regular seasons out of the last six.

-----------------------------PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS???--------------------------------

In this pandemic season of 2020, the IHSAA has decided every football program still on their feet at the end of the shortened seven-game regular season will qualify for the playoffs. That means six weeks of playoff football, which doesn't work out evenly into 54 Class 3A teams ... so here's what's going to happen.

* There will be 10 teams getting a first-round bye, and a week off on October 16. This appears to be the nine district champions, plus another "mystery" team (the postseason manual actually says that 10th team will be chosen by 'geography').

* All 54 teams will be distributed into "pods," generally geographically based to limit travel. There will be 10 three-team pods, with the bye teams and two other schools, and 6 four-team pods. In the three-team pods the team with a bye plays the winner of the other two teams on October 23; in the four-team pods the two winners in the first round meet in the second.

* The first and second rounds determine who comes out of each pod, resulting in 16 teams remaining. They will be sorted into 4 four-team brackets, which covers the third and fourth rounds.

* The survivors of those four brackets advance to the semifinals in the UNI Dome, with the finals the following week.

Now, with just one game remaining we have a pretty good idea of who's in position to win their district/get that bye, although I honestly have zero idea of how the pods will be determined. Anyway, district-by-district, we have this:

* D-1: Sergeant Bluff-Luton wins the district by defeating Spencer. If Spencer wins and Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley loses to Storm Lake, Spencer takes the crown. If both Spencer and BHRV win, it's a three-way tie (and the state really hasn't said how that tie gets broken).

* D-2: Webster City has won the district.

* D-3: Decorah wins the district by defeating Western Dubuque. If the Vikings lose, West Delaware wins the district by beating Waterloo East. If both Decorah and West Delaware lose, Western Dubuque joins them in a tie.

* D-4: The winner of Davenport Assumption/Dubuque Wahlert takes the title, with the winner holding a 4-0 district record. North Scott can actually get to 3-0 with a win over Clinton (the Lancers had to miss two weeks due to COVID), so I'm not positive how that shakes out since North Scott played neither Assumption or Wahlert.

* D-5: Washington wins the district by defeating Keokuk. If Keokuk wins, and Fort Madison beats Fairfield, you'd have Fort Madison and Washington at 4-1 in the district and Keokuk at 3-1 (they missed a game against Mount Pleasant). Again, how do you figure that? And if Fort Madison loses, a Keokuk win makes them 3-1 with a victory over 4-1 Washington ... does that make them champs?

* D-6: Xavier has won the district.

* D-7: The winner of Pella-Nevada wins the district.

* D-8: The winner of Dallas Center-Grimes vs Winterset wins the district.

* D-9: The winner of Lewis Central-Harlan wins the district.

It's A Wrench

The COVID-19 pandemic that's raging across America has taken a huge toll on everyday life, from jobs to families to everyday activities like sports. Even in the midst of an increased spread of the virus statewide, Iowa's high school sports officials decided to go ahead with a truncated baseball and softball season in June and July. Other sports, however, were still on the hook - not to mention the idea of school itself beginning in late August as planned.

On Friday, July 17, the Iowa High School Athletic Association sent out a notice that fall sports activities would proceed on schedule, with practices able to begin August 10. This applied to cross country, 4A tennis, and importantly for our purposes, football. So, the preparations began, athletic directors were contacted, schedules were referred to, and this simple radio sportscaster began counting down to the beginning of the published nine-game regular season on August 28.

Until ... the following Friday, July 24. The IHSAA threw a big monkey wrench into everything, skewing the upcoming football season and causing ADs to scramble all over the state. For the purposes of dealing with a possible COVID outbreak amongst a school or team, it was probably for the best - but it caught administrators and coaches by surprise and knocked planning for the season askew just five weeks before the first game.

Here's what's changed:

• There will no longer be a nine-game high school football season in 2020. Schools will have a minimum of five and a maximum of seven games scheduled; plus a first-round playoff game, as every team in the state will now qualify for an expanded playoff field this season.
• Weeks 1 and 2 are now optional games. Schools may elect to play either, both, or none of those weeks.
• In Classes 3A-A, the five district games will remain on the schedule, but move from Weeks 5-9 up to Weeks 3-7. The optional games in Weeks 1-2 can be the same as already scheduled, or completely new rescheduled games for each school.
• In Class 4A, schools can build their entire schedule anew, playing whatever opponents they are able to put together. Weeks 1-2 are still optional, with scheduled games Weeks 3-7.
• In eight-player, the original schedule from Weeks 3-9 will now move to Weeks 1-7, in order to cover most of district play in that class. Schools may still opt out of games in Weeks 1-2.
• The RPI system will not be used in 2020. Instead, every school will make the playoff field, with the first round happening on October 16 (originally Week 8). This allows for six rounds of playoffs, leading to the originally scheduled championship games on November 19 and 20.
• Should a team miss games due to COVID, there is no penalty - instead of a forfeit, it would be considered a "no contest" and not count against their season record. Again, with no RPI or other playoff qualification required this season, your overall record will only count towards postseason seeding (the state intends to use "geography, quality, and team availability" as the considerations in setting up playoff games).

So it's weird, but then again, what's not weird in 2020? The IHSAA is trying to put a structure together to allow for football, that allows most teams to play and a playoff system to happen, whether or not some teams have to miss games or end their season early due to health concerns. Baseball and softball went probably better than was expected this summer (several teams did have to miss two weeks during the season, and several others ended their play prior to the tournaments due to COVID concerns), so the state is moving ahead with fall sports.

A lot still to be determined, however, as plenty can change in the next month (look no further than the Miami Marlins in MLB, with about a dozen team members testing positive after their first three games of the season).

To get closer to home, how does this new revised setup affect Xavier? Well, the games scheduled for Week 3 and 4 (North Scott and Linn-Mar) disappear, unless something involving one or both of them gets worked out for the opening two weeks. Several schools have already announced their revised schedules, with many of them simply keeping their opening 2 games and rolling into district play for Week 3. If Xavier goes with that, the new schedule would be:

• Western Dubuque at Xavier, August 28
• Waverly Shell Rock at Xavier, September 4
• Clear Creek Amana at Xavier, September 11
• Newton at Xavier, September 18
• Xavier at Oskaloosa, September 25
• Xavier at Grinnell, October 2
• Benton at Xavier, October 9
• First round playoff, October 16
• Second round playoff, October 23
• Third round playoff, October 30
• Fourth round playoff, November 6
• 3A semifinals, November 12
• 3A championship, November 19

This isn't a sure thing, by any means. Some schools have changed at least one of their opening games (Grinnell, for example, dropped their Week 1 game with Waverly Shell Rock and subbed in Harlan instead), so things might still be in flux. The 4A schools, in particular, might be scrambling a bit for some games (they didn't have district games at all, remember, so their 2020 schedules are now wide-open ... might Linn-Mar want to try to move their game vs Xavier up into one of those first two weeks?). Also, should teams have to drop out of games due to positive COVID tests, the IHSAA is leaving the door open for replacement games on the fly (just for an example, if Oskaloosa, say, has an issue and can't play September 25, should Xavier be able to find another opponent that's available and agreeable for that game, the state would let them work that out).

If this is how it finally shakes out, it would give Xavier five home games out of seven, which is something. Also, the original Week 3 game had been scheduled for Thursday, September 17, because of the Minnesota-Iowa game scheduled in Iowa City on Friday the 18th - unless Newton is agreeable to move to Thursday, that game probably ends up back on the Friday.

Anyway ... deep breath. Schools have until August 17 to let the IHSAA know if they intend to play football this fall, so dominoes may still be dropping until then. More details as they become available. And hopefully, we'll actually have a full season of football for 2020.

Why Not Look Ahead To August?

Things are pretty crazy in the world right now - businesses are shutting down for an indefinite time, there's no basketball, no baseball, no high school spring sports at all, everybody's hunkered down at home, March isn't going to end for about three more months, it's just a mess. But there's a little bright spot in the gloom - the IHSAA has released the high school football schedules for this fall. Surely the health situation will be improving by early summer, don't you think? And by August we'll be able to go back to school and have a normal calendar again, right? Right?

Let's just say we will and move on from there. Good. So - we have known for a little while that Xavier has been placed in Class 3A District 6, along with Benton Community, Clear Creek-Amana, Grinnell, Newton, and Oskaloosa. That's already a pretty tough district, as Xavier, Benton, and Oskaloosa were all playoff teams last year (Grinnell just barely missed out), and Newton was the only team with a losing record in 2019. Now we've gotten the non-district schedule posted, and Xavier's is, well, kind of a doozy. If you look at the opponents' records from last year (not a perfect judge of schedule strength, but about all we've got at the moment), Xavier has the toughest lineup in their district in 2020. The Saints' opponents went 59-31 last year, with five of the nine teams making the playoffs.

The Saints start out at home by facing last year's undefeated 3A state champions Western Dubuque. Week 2 is another home date with traditional powerhouse Waverly-Shell Rock (off a down 3-6 year in 2019), then Xavier goes back on the road for a rematch with North Scott, the team that ended the Saints' year with a playoff loss last season. Xavier plays at an improving 4A Linn-Mar (another playoff team) to end their non-district schedule. So it's gonna be tough. Let's look at some specifics of what everybody has coming back this fall.

First of all, Xavier loses a lot of starters from 2019, including some real talented players on the offensive and defensive lines and the linebacker corps. But Coach Duane Schulte is used to reloading - Xavier has gone 88-11 over the past eight seasons with a 16-year playoff streak: you can't do that with just an occasional good class - and there are some important cogs returning.

Jack Lux ran for 557 yards and 5 TDs sharing time at tailback last fall, and Nick Lemke added 184 yards and 4 scores as the starting fullback. Tyler Wilken caught 23 passes for almost 400 yards and 4 TDs, and Nick Kramer played a lot at tight end, with 5 catches for 90 yards. Jaxon Rexroth is the leading candidate to play quarterback this fall, as he and eventual starter Tyler DuPont were neck-and-neck for the starting spot during practice last August. Kicker Carter Diebold will be back, who was a perfect 39-for-39 on extra points and added four field goals as well. On the defensive side, Nick Mautino and Rexroth were starters all season, and Grant Reasner saw a lot of playing time at linebacker as a sophomore before going down with an injury late in the year. The Saints will need some new starters to step up to replace guys like Josh Volk, Ethan Hurkett (both at the University of Iowa this fall), and Jakob Forslund (joining Northwest Missouri State this season), but if Coach Schulte and the rest of the staff gets their new linemen to do their jobs, there's enough experience there for another playoff run.

NON-DISTRICT

Western Dubuque (at Xavier): The Bobcats had two tremendous back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019, reaching the state title game both years and winning it last season. But a lot of the key players for those teams are gone, like star quarterback Calvin Harris, running back Ben Bryant, speedster Will Burds and all-around stud Jake Hosch. Western Dubuque returns players with only about 22 carries on the ground last year and just eight pass attempts. Sawyer Naumann saw significant playing time last year, mainly on defense, while Tommy DeSollar caught 19 passes for 287 yards and 4 TDs. Much like Xavier, even with the loss of so many talented starters I have no doubt Coach Justin Penner will have the Bobcats back as a strong contender this fall.

Waverly-Shell Rock (at Xavier): Traditionally a tough 3A program (Xavier faced them in the playoffs three consecutive years), the Go-Hawks had a rough 3-6 season last year. They are returning most of the significant contributors from their ground game, including leading rusher Jonathan Wessel (405 yards, 3 TDs) along with McCrae Hagarty (401 yards, 3 TDs) and Donovan Wessel (254 yards). Donovan Wessel and Layne McDonald combined for 16 receptions for 200 yards, and were also among the leaders for Waverly-Shell Rock on the defensive side. If the Go-Hawks find a capable quarterback, they could have a decent year.

North Scott (at Eldridge): Xavier fans remember with disappointment the cold, wet night in Eldridge last November when the Lancers put up a suffocating defense before scoring a late touchdown to escape with a 9-3 win and end the Saints' season. However, looking at the stats, it appears North Scott may have the most challenging rebuilding job of all of Xavier's opponents this year. Returning players account for only about 116 rushing yards, about 180 receiving yards, and zero yards passing. Max Solis did have 11 of those catches. There are some strong returnees on the defensive side (which gave Xavier fits last November), including two-way starters on the line Joey Peterson and Carson McCaughey, as well as Carter Markham. The 2020 Lancers are similar to both Western Dubuque and Xavier in that there's a lot of moving parts that need to be replaced, but they may have the most unknowns of the three.

Linn-Mar (at Linn-Mar): Here's an interesting Metro opponent. When Xavier moved to 3A following the institution of districts in all classes in 2014, none of their former MVC mates wanted to continue to play Xavier ... except Linn-Mar, who faced the Saints in 2016-17 (that 2016 game was one of the most memorable comeback performances I've ever seen by Xavier). In 2020 the Lions are back on the schedule, and this time Coach Paul James has some dangerous returning weapons from a squad that went 6-3 and made the playoffs last year. Leading rusher Bricen White is back (790 yards and 6 TDs, along with 28 catches for 169 yards). Andrew Knipper wasn't the starting QB, but he did pass for 166 yards in 2019. Knipper and Jeron Senters also combined for 19 receptions and 243 yards. Leading tackler Clayton Maszynski (87 tackles and 3 interceptions) will be back, along with Senters' seven interceptions and a combined 76.5 tackles and three sacks from Cam Guenther and Chris Baker. I think Linn-Mar is poised for pretty good season this fall. NOTE: This game is scheduled for Thursday, September 17, to avoid the Iowa-Minnesota game being played the evening of September 18.

DISTRICT 6

Clear Creek-Amana (at Xavier): There are three strong contenders for the 2020 district crown, and the Clippers are one of them. CCA returns their leading passer, rusher, and receiver from last fall. Ryan Navara threw for 1249 yards and 12 TDs last year; Alex Figueroa rushed for 681 yards and 6 scores, and Harrison Rosenberg caught 20 passes for 249 yards and 3 TDs. Add to that Gage Freeman and Cole Pfister combining for 518 rushing yards and 9 scores, and a combined 633 receiving yards from Tom Johnson, TJ Boller, and Brock Reade, and there's a ton of offensive firepower down in Tiffin. Defensively, Boller and Navara both were big contributors along with Nate Beckmann and Jacob Curtin ... so yeah, the opening game of the district schedule could go a long way towards determining the D-6 champion.

Newton (at Xavier): The Cardinals dropped to Class 3A a few years ago after a long run in 4A, and while they haven't had a great deal of success, they've had a few pretty good teams. Last year really wasn't one of them as they finished 3-6; and not only are they not returning much experience from that squad, they'll be entering the year with a new head coach, Andy Swedenhjelm, as Ed Ergenbright stepped down after 17 years in that position. Josh Meyer returns as the kicker, good on 27 of 28 extra points. Otherwise no passing yards return, just 23 receiving yards are back, and Nathan Maki's 87 rushing yards are almost all the offense. Some talented defenders look to return, including Keith Moko, Zayvier Arguello, and Adam Mattes. It looks like a rebuilding year for Newton.

Oskaloosa (at Oskaloosa): The Indians have reached the playoffs four years in a row, but are 0-4 in the first round in those seasons (including a loss to Xavier in 2017). Oskaloosa has starting quarterback William Schultz returning (903 yards passing with 6 TDs, and 542 yards/4 scores rushing). Reed Brown ran for over 100 yards last year, and along with Cale Holmberg and Cooper Spry teamed for 22 receptions and 269 yards. Brown is one of the top defensive returnees, too, with 35.5 tackles and four interceptions.

Grinnell (at Grinnell): Here's the third top contender for the district, along with Xavier and CCA. The Tigers just missed out on the playoffs at 6-3 last year, and almost all their statistical leaders are back this fall. In all their offensive categories last year (passing, rushing, and receiving), seniors accounted for just one pass reception - that's it. Everything else was underclassmen coming back for 2020. Dallas Sauser threw for 1748 yards and 15 TDs as a freshman; Wyatt Hunter ran for 1589 yards and an eye-popping 23 TDs; and Cole McGriff hauled in 40 passes for 541 yards and four scores. Defensively leading tackler Eli Rose will be back (77 tackles, three sacks and an interception), while Hunter, Matayas Durr, and Owen Coffman combined for 124 tackles, five sacks, and four interceptions. It's safe to say as long as the Tigers have decent talent on the offensive/defensive lines this fall, they're going to be a formidable opponent. INTERESTING NOTE: Grinnell's head coach is Brian Sauser, who you may remember as Iowa City West's head coach from 2008-2013. He had assistant coaching jobs out-of-state in 2014-2016, accepted the head job at West Burlington in January 2017, then backed out of that job a few months later for another assistant post out-of-state. Sauser took over at Grinnell in 2018.

Benton Community (at Xavier): The season wraps up with the Benton Bobcats, who have bounced back and forth between 3A and 2A in recent years (they were in Xavier's 3A district in 2016/17). Benton had a strong 8-1 season last year in 2A before dropping their first-round playoff game, and they return leading rusher Lawrence Wallace (722 yards and 8 TDs) as well as leading receiver Jacob Brecht (67 catches for 831 yards and 7 TDs). Cade Timmerman and Landon Schmuecker each had over 100 yards receiving, as well. Defensively Brecht and Timmerman were strong tacklers last fall, along with Ethan Weirather and Austin Roos (those two accounted for four sacks each). If the Bobcats get a quarterback and have strong line play, they could be tough this season.

It's only March, but that's how the numbers line up for Xavier in 2020. It's going to be a tough district with Xavier, Grinnell, and Clear Creek-Amana all fighting it out (and Benton and Oskaloosa are no slouches). When you consider a non-district schedule with Western Dubuque, North Scott, and an improving Linn-Mar, another playoff appearance by the Saints is no certainty - but if they get there, they're definitely going to be battle-tested by November.

Some Things Are New For 2020

There's been a lot of discussion over the past few months about competitive balance in Iowa high school football - a lot - and it appears the Iowa High School Athletic Association is mulling over some ideas to perhaps take a stab at addressing the issue.

A little background: over the past several years, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have remained poor in Iowa high school football, both in win-loss totals and playoff results. In Class 4A Dowling has won seven straight state championships, and eight of the last 11. In Class 3A Xavier and Pella have won five out of the last six; Iowa City Regina has won six titles in 2A and 1A since 2009; and Gilbertville Don Bosco has won four of the past seven titles in 8-player. Many will note that four of the five teams I've mentioned here are private Catholic schools, which some claim gives those programs an unfair advantage. (Private schools have won 24 out of the 66 total state championships since 2009, including half of the 22 title games in 4A and 3A.)

Some of the largest 4A schools in the Des Moines area have struggled mightily to have any success at all - the last time a Des Moines public city school defeated a suburban Polk County school was August of 2008, when Des Moines Lincoln edged Urbandale 13-12. Since 2009 the city schools are 0-115 against their suburban county foes, with an average score of 49-9.

Naturally, outcomes like these have many concerned about the future of high school football in the state. Teams that are continually beat down season after season have difficulty getting students to come out for the squad. Schools with large student populations struggle to get adequate teams together for freshman and sophomore games, let alone varsity contests. The solutions are complicated. Iowa City High coach Dan Sabers came out with a proposal last year to use more factors than just school size to set the classifications, with a call to use things like past success of the program and socioeconomic factors (like free and reduced lunch populations) for each school as part of the determination of what class your team would compete in.

The IHSAA seems to be listening. The release of classifications and districts for the upcoming season were delayed from their original planned dates, as classification committees and the Board of Control took more time to debate potential changes and rethinking of the process. Finally, last week, the classes and districts were released - and only minor changes were made for this year. But there's two things to take away: while the other classes see very little change from past seasons, Class 4A will see some significant changes in scheduling and playoff qualifying this year; and this structure will only be used for one year, 2020, instead of the two-year cycle the state has been using for many years.

CHANGES FOR CLASS 4A

Here's the most significant adjustment for 2020. In Class 4A, there are no more districts and no more automatic playoff qualifiers. The IHSAA reduced the class to the top 40 schools in size, then aligned them into "groups" instead of districts. The state developed a "success model" using each program's performance over the past four seasons to put the schools into tiers, from one through six. Each group has a member from each tier; then, the higher-ranked tiers play opponents from similar tiers, with the lower tiers also playing programs of similar strength. For example, Tier 1 teams will not play teams in their group below Tier 4; Tier 6 games will not play teams in their group above Tier 3. It's somewhat complex, but designed to even the playing field at least a little bit.

It also makes things different from the past in that group members will not play a round-robin like the district format; there will be no "group champions" or automatic playoff qualifiers. The 16-team playoff field will be entirely filled by where they finish in RPI. There's more information at the IHSAA website.

Therefore, a map of the Class 4A groups doesn't really tell you much about travel or opponents. But I made one anyway, mainly because it very interestingly portrays the distribution of Class 4A programs in the state, almost totally between Highway 20 and Interstate 80.

ON TO THE OTHER MAPS!

CLASS 3A

Class 3A remains very much like 2018-19, with 54 total members arranged in nine districts of six teams each. Each team will have five district games and four non-district games. Sixteen teams make the playoffs, with nine district champions and seven at-large teams chosen by RPI.

After two years as a 3A program, as expected Iowa City Liberty moves up into 4A. With 4A reduced to 40 teams, Burlington, Mason City, and Des Moines Hoover move down into 3A. Moving up to 3A are Benton Community, Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley, and Nevada. Schools dropping out of 3A this year are Center Point-Urbana, Independence, Maquoketa, Solon, and South Tama.

Here's the Class 3A districts for 2020:

And here's my "web" version, which I think shows the spatial relationships of the districts better:

Overall I think the IHSAA did a pretty good job with grouping the districts. There's a few decent bus trips there, but nothing obviously ridiculous (in past cycles the assignments of Solon/Clear Creek-Amana always seemed botched to me ... but now Solon isn't even part of the equation).

CLASS 2A

Same thing here as 3A; 54 teams, nine districts of six, 16 qualifiers including seven at-large ... status quo from 2018-19. As mentioned above, teams dropping to 2A this year include Center Point-Urbana, Independence, Maquoketa, Solon, and South Tama; schools moving up from 1A are Cherokee Washington, Clarinda, Unity Christian, and West Lyon.

Moving up and out of 2A this year are Benton Community, Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley, and Nevada. Dropping out of 2A this year are Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, Waterloo Columbus, OABCIG, and Southeast Valley. Interestingly, last year's Class 1A champion West Lyon moves to 2A, while last year's 2A champion OABCIG drops to 1A, so they just change places.

The districts:

And the web:

I think Class 2A District 1 is probably the tightest district geographically of any in the state.

CLASS 1A

Just like 3A and 2A, things haven't changed from the previous cycle - 54 teams, nine districts, 16 playoff qualifiers with seven at-large chosen by RPI.

Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, Waterloo Columbus, OABCIG, and Southeast Valley move down into 1A this fall. Moving up from A are a bunch: Belmond-Klemme, Cardinal, Central Decatur, Central Springs, Durant, Hinton, Hudson, Pekin, and Sioux Central.

Cherokee Washington, Clarinda, Unity Christian, and West Lyon moved up and out of 1A since last year, while the following have dropped into Class A: Bellevue, Columbus Community, Lake Mills, Madrid, North Butler, North Cedar, North Linn, Ogden, Wapello, Woodward Academy, and longtime state championship contender Iowa City Regina.

Here are your 1A districts:

And the webs:

CLASS A

Class A ends up with what's left over of 11-player teams after the 202 programs in classes 4A through 1A. This year that makes 60 total, distributed in ten districts of six teams each, with five district games and four non-district. Here there will be ten automatic district champion qualifiers, with the other six playoff teams chosen by RPI.

New members of this class include Iowa City Regina, who played in eight straight state championship games between 2010 and 2017 (winning six of those, including two in Class 2A). Also moving down from 1A are Bellevue, Columbus Community, Lake Mills, Madrid, North Butler, North Cedar, North Linn, Ogden, Wapello, and Woodward Academy. Sidney, a longtime member of the 8-player class, has been assigned to Class A due to their enrollment numbers, but they are currently appealing that decision to the IHSAA. I have included them in these district maps; if they win their appeal and return to 8-player, I assume District 9 would have only five members.

Programs in Class A last year that have chosen to play 8-player football this year are BGM, GMG, Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire, Grand View Christian, and Martensdale-St. Marys.

The districts:

And the webs:

The real outlier here is Wayne, Corydon. They're the only Class A team for miles and miles around there in south-central Iowa - at least they can use Interstate 35 for a lot of their travel.

8-PLAYER

There are 68 schools playing 8-player football this year, up from 62 last season. The IHSAA does have a BEDS enrollment cutoff of 120 for this class; any school above that number (with some exceptions) must play 11-player, while programs below that number can choose to play either 11-player or 8-player. There are eight districts, four of them with nine members and four with eight, so some teams will have eight district games and one non-district while others will have seven district/two non-district games. That means eight district champion qualifiers for the playoffs, with eight at-large selected by RPI.

The teams from Class A last year that are now in 8-player include BGM, GMG, Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire, Grand View Christian, and Martensdale-St. Marys. It appears Clarksville and Siouxland Christian are starting new 8-player programs this fall. Again, Sidney has been assigned to Class A but are appealing to the IHSAA; if they win their appeal, the class will grow to 69 and they'll be added to District 7.

Here are your districts:

And here are your webs:

Once again, it's quite unusual that the IHSAA is only using these districts/structures for one season instead of two. I think it's certain that more, perhaps much more significant changes will be on the way for 2021 and beyond.