IHSAA GRIDIRON PAIRINGS RELEASED

The IHSAA made its annual announcement of the pairings of the state football tournament, which will again be split into six classes for 2022.

Locally, Adams Central and South Adams will again compete in the same 1A sectional, while Bellmont competes in 3A.

Schools are not only drawn against various opponents, but the football state tournament also requires each matchup to be assigned a host school, rather than one school hosting the entire tournament, as is the case in soccer or in volleyball.

South Adams was the only local team to be drawn into a home game, as they will take on Fremont in their opening sectional game a week from Friday.

The Starfires were drawn into the top half of the bracket along with Adams Central and Southwood. The Jets will travel to Southwood in their opening game.

For Adams County fans, that means that the highly-anticipated rematch and showdown between the Jets and the Starfires would be contested in Monroe at Rick Minnich Field. The IHSAA draw is set up, in simple terms, to allow teams who play on the road one week to host a home game in the following week if they advance. Certain rules are in place in case two road teams win or two home teams win.

The draw was a fantastic one for winless Bellmont, who were drawn against one-win Garrett in the opening round. While the Braves will have to travel to an unfamiliar place, the matchup will provide either Garrett or Bellmont with a much-needed win and the chance to practice for another week as a springboard to 2023.

Schools in 6A and 5A, formerly comprising just one 64-school class called 5A, are now split into two classes of 32 schools. Those schools will not compete in the opening week, while teams in classes 1A through 4A will open their seasons on October 21st. Because there are not 320 teams playing football in the state, there are seven teams who will receive byes in the first weekend. Purdue Polytechnic will compete in the state tournament for the first time this year,