Playoff Preview: Round 1 Is Set Across Eight Classes

The regular season is done, and the second season starts Friday, Nov. 6. The AHSAA announced the Round 1 pairings on Saturday, Oct. 31, at its playoff coaches' meeting at Alabama State. This year's bracket looks different from any before it.

What's new this year

Eight classes. Titles will be decided in 1A through 6A plus two new private school classes, Single A and Double AA. There is no 7A anymore.
1A through 5A have 32 teams each, split into a North and a South half of 16.
6A grows to 24 teams, up from 16. The top eight have a Round 1 bye: James Clemens, Auburn, Prattville, Daphne, Central-Phenix City, Sparkman, Fairhope and Thompson. Each one hosts a Round 1 winner on Nov. 13.
Single A and Double AA have 16 teams each in their first playoff season.
The road: Rounds 1 through 4 are Nov. 6, 13, 20 and 27. The finals move to Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Dec. 2 through 5, after last year's were played in Birmingham.
Tickets are $12 for the first three rounds, $14 for the semifinals and $15 for the finals, sold through GoFan.

Defending champions in new places

All seven 2025 champions are back in the field, and most of them landed in a new class:

Thompson, the 7A champ, has a bye in 6A.
Clay-Chalkville, the 6A champ, is now in 5A and hosts Austin.
Moody, the 5A champ, is now in 4A and plays at West Morgan.
Jackson, the 4A champ, is now in 3A and hosts White Plains.
Mars Hill Bible, the 3A champ, is now in Single A and hosts Pickens Academy in a meeting of 8-2 teams.
Coosa Christian, the 2A champ, is now in Single A and plays at 8-1 Tuscaloosa Academy.
Maplesville, the 1A champ, hosts Choctaw County.

Games to watch

5A: Pelham (8-2), which tied its best regular season record under second-year coach Ross Newton, goes to Saraland (9-1), last year's 6A runner-up. Muscle Shoals (6-3) at Oxford (7-2) was picked as the AHSAA Game of the Week. Arab (8-2) at Minor (7-3) is another to watch. Minor coach Rico Jackson led Anniston to the 4A title game last year.

4A: Citronelle (8-2) at Marbury (9-1) and Hamilton (8-2) at Alexandria (9-1) feel more like later round games. Sipsey Valley (8-2) at Andalusia (7-3) and Orange Beach (8-2) at Charles Henderson (8-2) are close on paper too.

3A: Four unbeaten teams are in, and all four are at home: Cleburne County (10-0) against Escambia County, Bullock County (9-0) against Corner, Plainview (10-0) against East Lawrence and Hatton (10-0) against New Hope. No team in the 3A field has a losing record.

2A: Eleven of the 32 teams have at least nine wins. Reeltown (10-0) hosts J.U. Blacksher (7-3). Fyffe (9-1), whose only loss was 10-6 to Westbrook Christian last week, hosts Cleveland (7-3). Clarke County at Lanett is a matchup of 7-3 teams, and Lanett played for the 2A title last year. Pleasant Valley (8-2) at Phil Campbell (7-3) is another one to watch.

1A: Addison and Winterboro are the only unbeaten teams at 10-0, and both are in the North half. Addison has given up just 26 points all season, the fewest in the AHSAA in any class. Winterboro hosts Red Bay (7-3) at John Cox Stadium in Childersburg.

Private classes: Briarwood Christian (10-0), Westbrook Christian (10-0) and Montgomery Academy (10-0) all open at home. Double AA has only two regions, so several Round 1 games are rematches. Randolph beat John Carroll Catholic 25-21 on Oct. 23, and St. Michael Catholic beat Glenwood 48-27 on Oct. 16. Both pairs meet again Friday.

Close to home

Piedmont (9-1) hosts J.B. Pennington (4-6) in 2A. Piedmont's only loss came in Week 5 against Alexandria, which hosts Hamilton in one of the best 4A games of the night. Scottsboro (10-0) hosts Center Point, Geraldine (9-1) hosts Curry, and Collinsville (8-2) hosts Lamar County. Ohatchee goes to Lexington, Hokes Bluff goes to Lauderdale County and Gadsden City visits Hewitt-Trussville in 6A.

Follow every Round 1 score live at alscores.app.