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.

Possible 4A Teams For 2021

 Here's a map showing the schools possibly making the cut for the new Class 4A in Iowa high school football for 2021. This list is based on a Cedar Rapids Gazette story, with the classifications based on unofficial BEDS numbers spotted by a coach on the IHSAA website.

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.