The alphabet may come into play when the pairings are set for next week’s opening round of the high school football playoffs. Bud Legg of the Iowa High School Athletic Association says the first tie breaker is head to head competition. If more than one team is involved in a tie the point system is used, if it’s still tied then you go to the team that’s listed first alphabetically. Legg says if you’re determining both qualifiers then the process starts over again from head-to-head, points then alphabetical. Legg says the alphabet has been used before, including last year when South Hamilton and Iowa City Regina tied for the last spot in 1A. South Hamilton got the spot based on the alphabet. Legg says when the pairings are set geography will be a major factor like in past years. In Class 4A he says the best record usually host, but in the other classes the board in control determines if the champion plays a runner up from another district, but he says geography is used in determining the pairings in all sports.
