Nevada high school football might use playoff selection committee

A drastic change could be coming to Nevada high school football.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Realignment Committee gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a proposal that would reduce the number of high school football state championship games and introduce a rating system and a selection committee to determine and seed teams for the postseason.

The proposed realignment for Class 5A and 4A would cover the next three seasons, starting in 2025. The plan is still pending final approval from the NIAA Board of Control at an emergency meeting Nov. 13 or 14.

The board approved policies and procedures for 3A, 2A and 1A football, and all other fall sports, at a September meeting.

If the board approves the 5A/4A policies and procedures, the NIAA will begin to place teams in leagues for next season.

The first change is reducing the number of state title games from seven to five. There are currently seven state title games, with Class 5A, the top classification, split into three divisions.

The second change is the NIAA will use a rating system combining MaxPreps rankings, NIAA rubric points and Harbin points to determine postseason teams. The NIAA will use an average of where each team is ranked in all three systems, and the top 20 teams will qualify for the 5A/4A postseason.

Under the current system, all 5A and 4A teams make the playoffs.

After the 20 playoff teams are identified, a selection committee will determine which teams will compete for a 5A/Open Division state title, and the remaining teams will play for the 4A state title. The committee will seed all teams for both playoff brackets.

A minimum of four teams will compete for the 5A/Open Division title, with the flexibility to add more. Northern and Southern teams are eligible to compete for both state titles.

It is still unclear how many teams will be in each league or how many leagues there will be for regular-season competition.

Harbin points are a system in which teams earn points for beating an opponent and earn secondary points based on how many wins their beaten opponents have.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.