Another Look At This Year's Districts

My previous post (showing the new districts for Iowa high school football for 2021-22) was thrown together in a big hurry. I just whipped together my colored spiderweb district maps, leaving it to the reader to look up the actual members of each district and all.

Given a bit more time - and also taking the opportunity to play around with the paint.net program (which is the real reason I spent the time to do all these) - I wasn't satisfied with those thrown-together maps. So, here you will find maps that include the school names, as well as a general idea of district boundaries. You can use them in conjunction with the spider-web maps I made earlier to get a complete idea of how the districts will shake out for 2021-22.

The big change for 2021-22 is the creation of a new Class 5A, breaking out the 36 largest schools into the top class; by keeping 4A and 3A at 36 members as well, the breakpoints between classes are considerably different than they have been in recent years. This also creates two additional semifinal playoff games in a weekend that really doesn't have room for more games (the previous six-class schedule had 8-Player and 3A semifinals on Thursday, A and 4A semifinals on Friday, and 2A and 3A semifinals on Saturday). Where will two more semifinal games go? Speculation is that the 8-Player semis could be moved to Wednesday (with the 8-Player third round games the previous week adjusted to Thursday night, to allow enough recovery time between games), but that's all guesswork at the moment.

CLASS 5A

Again, these aren't "districts." The Iowa High School Athletic Association is trying something different for 5A, the 36 largest football schools in the state. They are put together in six "groups," with each group being tiered by some kind of formula (mostly past win-loss and playoff success): each group has one team in Tier 1, one in Tier 2, one in Tier 3, and so on. The groups do not necessarily play a full round-robin - the games scheduled by the state include four of their group opponents, not five, with Tier 1 and Tier 6 not playing each other. In addition, the state has scheduled a fifth game for each team against a team from the same tier in a different group. Schools can complete their schedule with four other games against any other opponent they can schedule.

Sixteen teams in 5A will make the playoffs, with all sixteen determined purely by RPI. 

CLASS 4A

From here on we do have traditional districts. There are 36 total teams in Class 4A, with six districts of six. All district members will play each other for five games of their schedule, with the other four coming through mutual wish-lists. Sixteen teams will make the 4A playoffs: the top two finishers in each district, along with four other teams with the highest RPI.

These districts are fairly well put together, I think - Districts 1 and 2 are pretty far-flung in northwest and northeast Iowa, but you can't do much about that. District 4 could be intriguing, with traditional powers Xavier and Pella together in the same district (they've met in the playoffs four times since 2014, with an epic 34-30 last-play victory by Pella in the 2016 semifinals, a win by Xavier in the 2017 3A championship, and a thrilling 14-6 slugfest win by Xavier in the 2018 second round). That district also sees Cedar Rapids Washington, for the first time dropping out of the state's largest football class, as a new metro district opponent for Xavier. 

There was always going to be a question of who got included in the district with Mount Pleasant, Burlington, and Fort Madison - those three southeastern teams just didn't fit in very well with anybody else. The state chose to put them in District 3 with Iowa City Liberty, North Scott, and Clinton. Enrollment changes and the new breakpoints between classes added Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson to District 6, giving Lewis Central and Glenwood a new neighbor and making that district a half west/half central sort of arrangement.

CLASS 3A

The plan for 3A is exactly the same as 4A. Thirty-six total members, six districts of six, nine regular-season games (five district, four non-district), and sixteen playoff qualifiers (top two in each district and four more by RPI).

There are some definite outliers here: Carroll in District 1, Grinnell in District 5 and Knoxville in District 6 will have some long bus rides involved. District 2 is pretty stretched out from Algona and Humboldt to North Polk and Ballard; I imagine Humboldt is excited about some new district opponents that aren't from the northwest part of the state. South Tama also seems a bit out of place in District 3, but who would you trade them for?

CLASS 2A

For Class 2A the numbers grow to 48, so there are eight districts of six. There are also just eight regular season games, instead of nine - the classes from here on down will have 32 playoff qualifiers instead of 16, so their playoffs will start in what would be Week 9 of the regular season (teams that do not qualify for the playoffs have the option to schedule a ninth game with another non-playoff team, if they desire). The top four teams in each district will make the playoffs, so no RPI is necessary.

A couple of nicely put together districts (District 1, District 3, District 5) and a few far-flung ones (District 7, from Iowa Falls to Chariton/Albia, is quite a north-south stretch; it's a long way from Centerville to Williamsburg in District 6; and District 8 covers a lot of ground).

CLASS 1A

Just as Class 3A is exactly the same as 4A, Class 1A copies 2A - 48 total teams, six districts of eight, eight regular season games, 32 playoff qualifiers with the top four from each district.

This may be the most elegant grouping of districts I've ever seen. They're all fairly compact and make sense, mostly. I say the IHSAA did a great job with the 1A districts.

CLASS A

Class A is all the 11-player teams left after the 204 sorted into 5A through 1A. It happens to be a happy coincidence that that leaves 56 teams - not only a round number, but one that's easily sorted into eight districts of seven teams each. There will be a couple of oddities from that: each team has six district games and two non-district, but the non-district games will be distributed over the course of the eight-week season (each week one team per district will have to have a non-district game, since there's an odd number of teams in each district).

Again, 32 playoff qualifiers, with the top four in each district advancing. The 24 teams that do not reach the playoffs are allowed to schedule a ninth game with another non-qualifying team, if they want.

These districts, much like 1A, are pretty well distributed, with one exception - Wayne, Corydon is awfully lonely down there in the south of District 6, a long way from Belle Plaine, Madrid, and Ogden. But the fact is, Wayne is a long way from everybody except Mount Ayr, so whatever district they got placed in would be a stretch.

CLASS 8-PLAYER

This class continues to grow, and continues to be the largest single class in Iowa high school football. There were rumors of the IHSAA perhaps splitting 8-Player into two classes as part of the reorganizing that created Class 5A for 2021, but that didn't happen. For the current cycle, there will be 72 schools participating in the 8-Player game. The state set up 10 districts, eight of them with seven members and two of them with eight. There will be 32 playoff qualifiers after an eight-game regular season - the top two teams in each district are in, then the final two playoff teams will be selected using their point differential in district games (limited to 17 points maximum). So it's a little weird in that 56 teams will have six district games/two non-district while 16 others will have seven district games/one non-district.

Some other things to note:

• In District 1, Siouxland Christian had previously paired with Whiting, with games played at Whiting High School. While I haven't seen anything definitive, there was some evidence on the IHSAA website earlier showing Whiting choosing to pair up with West Harrison instead. If that is indeed the case, I'm not sure where Siouxland Christian would play their games (they do not have a field of their own). Siouxland Christian actually ended up forfeiting their final two games in 2019 and didn't play at all last fall, which may be a factor if Whiting decided to have their football players team up with a program more likely to actually play out the season.
• In District 5, Calamus-Wheatland is starting up an 8-Player program this season (they had previously paired with Central DeWitt's 11-player team). All their games this season will be road games, as they do not have a field of their own.
• In District 7, I'm not sure where Woodward Academy is going to play, either. They've previously played 11-player football, I think sharing Woodward-Granger's field - but since the 8-Player field has different dimensions from the 11-player game, they can't share the playing surface any more.

It's possible all three of those teams - Siouxland Christian, Calamus-Wheatland, and Woodward Academy - will play all of their games on the road, but I just don't know.

Okay, with 72 teams you'd think you could get some compact districts put together, but ... District 2 covers an awful lot of ground, and District 4 is a stretch from Lansing to Calamus. The others aren't too bad, though.

And there you have it, maps with district boundaries and school names and all. It was good practice with paint.net, and maybe the visualizations will be helpful for you, too.

The Districts For 2021-22

 Here we go! The districts have been announced, the playoff qualification system is made, and now the scramble begins for schools finding non-district opponents. With any luck, we should have the schedules out by mid-April ... but until then, enjoy how the districts shook out and check out the travel situation for your favorite team!

While last year's district/classification system was a one-year thing, designed to give the state time to work out a fully revised system for more competitive balance (which didn't really happen, by the way), now we return to the two-year rotation. So these classes and districts will apply to both the 2021 and 2022 football seasons.

CLASS 5A

The IHSAA says they're going back to the plan they had last winter, before the COVID pandemic threw a wrench into everything and sent them back to a less complicated scheduling plan. Here's the deal:

* Class 5A is not broken out into districts; instead, there are six "groups" of six teams each. Each group holds one team from six tiers, which the state basically sorted out from what they're calling a "success module." Now, not every team in a group will necessarily play every other team - the state has assigned four group opponents for each team, and the Tier 1 team is not scheduled to play the Tier 6 team. In addition, there's one more out-of-group game scheduled for each team, this one against a team from the same tier in a different group (the Tier 1 team from Group 1 plays the Tier 1 team from Group 2, for example, while the Tier 6 team from Group 1 plays the Tier 6 team from Group 5). The groupings and the assigned games can be found here.

* In addition to the five games already set by the IHSAA, each Class 5A team will schedule 4 other games. I don't believe there's any tier restrictions as far as that goes (so that Tier 6 team in a group could play the Tier 1 team, if both were willing ... it's just not part of the "success model" scheduling that the state put together).

* Your record within your group means nothing as far as playoff qualifying goes; in other words, being champion of your "group" doesn't get you an automatic playoff spot. All 16 playoff teams in Class 5A will be determined by RPI.

Since there aren't really "districts" it's difficult to have a map mean much of anything, but what I've done here is illustrated the pre-scheduled games put together by the IHSAA. The colors go with the group assignments, with the non-group tier matchups shown in purple.

Yeah, it's not great, but what are you gonna do?

CLASS 4A

Now we get to districts like we're used to. We've got six districts of six here. The top two district finishers automatically make the playoffs, then there will be four additional playoff qualifiers determined by RPI to make the total of 16.

District assignments can be seen here. My map shows the extent of travel for each district member.

CLASS 3A

Same as 4A - six districts of six, top two in each district make the playoffs, four at-larges using RPI. The district assignments are here.

CLASS 2A

The next two classes have 48 members instead of 36. This works out to eight districts of six. There are 32 playoff teams here, which means the top four in each district make it in - no RPI involved. They also only play an 8-game regular season, instead of 9 (to allow for an extra week of playoffs) - teams that do not qualify for the playoffs can match up for a 9th game if they want to.

Class 2A district assignments are here.

CLASS 1A

Things are set up here exactly the same as in 2A. You can find assignments here.

CLASS A 

This class has the remainder of the 11-player teams left after the other classes are determined (36 in 5A, 4A, and 3A; 48 in 2A and 1A). This year that worked out to 56 teams total, which the state sorted into eight districts of seven. Having 8 districts makes it easy for the state, since they'll just send the top four finishers into the playoffs. That also  means there will be a non-district game for at least one member of each district every week of the season, since there's an odd number of district teams. Again, 8 regular season games, to allow for 32 playoff teams, with a 9th game allowed for non-playoff teams if they want to match up.

Class A assignments are here.

EIGHT-PLAYER

Ah, eight-player ... when the IHSAA originally released the classifications, they had just 71 teams in this class. That's not a big problem, but it would mean (since it's an odd number) that somebody in the state would have an off-week every Friday of the season. Now that the districts are out, though, Woodward Academy has appeared as a 72nd 8-player team. So now things are even again!

There are 10 districts here, eight districts with seven members and two with eight. The top three finishers in each district are automatic qualifiers ... then for the two remaining at-larges, the state is going to go with the best point differential in your district games (capped at a 17-point spread, to eliminate the incentive to run up the score). Eight games, 32 playoff teams, a ninth game would be allowed.

Here's the 8-player district list. And here's your map.

Iowa Football Classifications for 2021

Well, it took until March 5, but finally it's happened - the Iowa High School Athletic Association has released the seven classes for the 2021 high school football season (and, I'm assuming with a return to the two-year cycle, 2022 as well ... but there still might be questions about that).

In January the IHSAA announced the addition of a Class 5A, splitting the 36 largest schools off into their own new class; then 4A (previously the largest designation) would contain the next 36, followed by another 36 schools in 3A. Classes 2A and 1A would consist of 48 teams each, with the remaining 11-player teams in Class A. Eight-player remains its own class.

Now, here's some complicating background. In early 2020 the IHSAA said that football season would be a one-year outlier, rather than the two-year cycle they'd used since, well, forever. The idea was that an IHSAA study group would examine ways to improve competitive balance, perhaps by using socioeconomic factors (such as free and reduced lunch percentages) or previous success in football, to create a more balanced assortment of schools in the largest classes, at least. While that work was going on, 2020 was to see a different approach in 4A, the largest class: Instead of assigning districts, teams would be put into tiers (based on prior won-loss records), and there would be some limits on how many tiers up or down a team could choose their opponents from. It was explained as a temporary experiment, with a more permanent change coming for 2021 and beyond.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which threw everything upside down. Schedules were rearranged, the first couple of weeks of the fall season were made optional, and the Class 4A experiment was put on the shelf. Yet, still, there didn't seem to be anything preventing the IHSAA from going forward with their study groups to put together a more comprehensive competitive balance proposal out for this year.

Except ...

They didn't. Or, at least, they haven't yet. The addition of the new 5A simply splits the largest 36 schools into their own class, using the same enrollment numbers they've always used to determine classes; there's no adjustment for socioeconomic factors, no arrangement for past success or struggle, nothing different than what's been done for the past several decades. Now, might some of these things be addressed when districts are released in a week or so? Perhaps ... maybe the state will bring up another system similar to last year's shelved "tier" plan for 5A. We'll have to see.

In any event, here we are. A couple of surprises arise here, I suppose: Cedar Rapids Washington drops out of the largest class into 4A, joining metro mates Xavier and Marion (although I'm not convinced all three will be in the same district); Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson will also be 4A, no doubt joining Lewis Central and Glenwood in a district; previous big-class schools Fort Dodge and Indianola will also be in 4A this fall. Meanwhile, Solon, a perennial power in the second-largest class, now falls into the number-three class (3A), while Harlan, last year's runner-up in what was the second-largest class, also moves into the third-largest class (it's still 3A, but today's 3A is last year's 2A, so ...).

Let's go to the maps. Districts aren't out yet, but you can make your own!

CLASS 5A

Here's the 36 5A schools. I'm assuming there'll be six groupings of six teams each, although it may not be "districts" as we've been used to; perhaps the IHSAA will go to some kind of grouping with "tiers" as they planned to do last season. Teams will play 9 regular-season games, with 16 playoff qualifiers.

CLASS 4A

The next 36 schools by size are in 4A. Again, I'm guessing six districts of six teams, with 9 regular season games and 16 playoff qualifiers. The districts could be a bit tricky; while it's a cinch to make nice, tidy groups of five, adding that sixth one causes all kinds of domino effects around different regions, so I don't know what's actually going to happen there. You also have to find three teams to join Mount Pleasant, Burlington, and Fort Madison in a district, which is going to be lots of travel fun. Decorah's location makes it hard to find five other schools within a reasonable distance, too - is it Webster City or one of the Cedar Rapids/Marion schools that ends up thrown into that northeastern district?

CLASS 3A

Same story again, 36 teams, probably six districts of six, 9 games, 16 playoff qualifiers. A couple of teams are going to have long drives for district games in Keokuk ... (there's four obvious district mates down there, but what two do you add? Assumption? Solon? Knoxville?)

CLASS 2A

Now things change up a bit. There's 48 teams in this class; six districts of eight, or eight districts of six. Only 8 regular-season games, with 32 playoff qualifiers (so if you had eight districts, you could just take the top four finishers in each district and Bob's your uncle, no RPI required). With that extra week of playoffs, non-playoff qualifiers would be permitted to add a ninth regular-season game with another non-qualifier, should they choose.

CLASS 1A

The same setup as Class 2A, 48 teams, 32 qualifiers, 8 regular-season games, yadda yadda.

CLASS A

Class A has the remainder of the 11-player football schools, which (just coincidentally) happens to be a nice even 56 for 2021. So you're looking at seven districts of eight, most likely. Once again, 32 playoff qualifiers and 8 regular-season games, with that optional ninth game for non-qualifiers. You're going to have some at-large qualifiers here (with the top four from seven districts you have 28, leaving you four remaining playoff spots), so I guess RPI will need to be a thing.

Wayne, Corydon continues to be basically all alone there in southern Iowa, so whatever district gets them will see some long road trips.

EIGHT PLAYER

Ah, yes, the eight-player schools. This group continues to grow; while the IHSAA does have an enrollment limit for this class, it continues to be more of a guideline than an actual rule. There was talk prior to January that the state might actually split 8-player into two classes, but that's not happening.

In any event, there are 71 schools planning to play 8-player football in 2021. This is somewhat problematic, because an odd number means each week one of those teams won't have an opponent. I'm not going to try to work out all the math here for non-district games, but eight 8-team districts and one 7-team district might work (it might not, too, considering each team in the 8-team districts only has one non-district available and the seven teams in the small district would need two apiece). It might take creative math, but I'm sure somebody can figure it out.

So this is what we know as of today, March 5. We expect to have districts made available in about a week; hopefully in the same timeframe we might have information on how playoff qualifiers are determined, which would then lead to schools making their wish-lists for non-district games and then actual schedules ... sometime ... maybe ... before summer.