IHSAA announces new districts

The Iowa High School Athletic Association announced the new districts for the 2016 and 2017 football seasons, which will coincide with a new playoff format over the next two seasons.

The IHSAA cut the playoff field in half, with only 16 teams qualifying for the postseason.

In Class 1A (Highland, Columbus, Sigourney-Keota), Class 2A (Mid-Prairie) and 3A (Washington), there will be seven districts of eight teams this season, as opposed to the eight districts of seven teams that has been featured in recent years.

For the playoffs, the top two teams in each district will qualify for the playoffs, with two at-large teams also qualifying, with preference coming to those teams in a three-way tie for a district title.

In the eight-man class (WACO), there will be eight districts of eight teams, with the top two teams in each district qualifying for the postseason.

That switch, along with a number of teams changing their classifications, will create a slightly different grouping of schools for the next two seasons.

The districts for the Washington County schools are listed below.

Check out Friday?s issue of The Journal for a more in-depth look at what these changes will mean.

Class 3A, District 5

Fairfield

Fort Madison

Keokuk

Mt. Pleasant

Oskaloosa

Solon

Washington

West Burlington/Notre Dame

Class 2A, District 5

Anamosa

Camanche

Mediapolis

Mid-Prairie

Mount Vernon

Northeast, Goose Lake

West Liberty

Williamsburg

Class 1A, District 4

Columbus

Highland

Louisa-Muscatine

Regina

Sigourney-Keota

Van Buren

Wapello

Wilton

Class 8, District 4

Cedar Valley Christian

Easton Valley

English Valleys

Iowa Valley

Lone Tree

Midland

Springville

WACO