The long-awaited brackets for Missouri high school football were recently posted on the Missouri State High School Activities Association Web site.
As expected, the new format will bring little change.
The winner of a district will host the runner-up of the neighboring district, while the neighboring district's winner will host the other district's runner-up. Those are the matchups for the new regional round.
The winner of those two games then meet in sectionals.
With this setup, sectionals will either mirror the sectional round from previous years or provide a district rematch in most instances.
The bigger news came with the Class 5 bracket.
Twenty-two teams make the playoffs under the new 11-district setup. This created a very interesting bracket.
The winners of districts 1-4 and 6-11 receive first-round byes. This year, District 5 -- consisting of Ft. Zumwalt South, Holt, Timberland and Washington -- will have to play a first-round game, needing a win to meet the winner of District 6.
A weird setup to be sure.
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