Reviewed by: Pat Byington
Road to Protective: Alabama high school football playoff brackets set
Reading time: 4 minutes
In just over a month, there will be nine new state champions crowned in Birmingham to cap off the 2024 high school football season.
Protective Stadium is playing host to the Super 7 this year for the first time since 2021. Birmingham may be the new permanent home for the football state championships for the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA).
But for now, everyone’s focus is on the three or four wins needed before they can get to Protective. The regular season wrapped up last week and the brackets are set.
Keep reading to see the complete field for each classification + a few things you need to know before things kick off this Friday.
Playoff brackets
Many of the playoff brackets were set prior to the final week of the regular season but all tiebreakers were officially settled Saturday morning. Every team officially knows its path in the postseason and I know some of us, myself included, are already looking ahead to potential second and third round matchups.
Take a look for yourself. Here’s a look at each state playoff bracket:
- 7A football
- 6A football
- 5A football
- 4A football
- 3A football
- 2A football
- 1A football
- 6A-7A flag football
- 1A-5A flag football
Seven of the nine state champions from last season are back to defend their titles—last season’s 3A champion Mobile Christian moved to 4A and 5A defending champion Gulf Shores did not make the postseason in 6A.
The other seven include:
- 7A: Central-Phenix City
- 6A: Clay-Chalkville
- 4A: Montgomery Catholic
- 2A: Fyffe
- 1A: Leroy
- 6A-7A Flag: Central-Phenix City
- 1A-5A Flag: Wenonah
The Super 7 will air on Alabama Public Television. All other playoff games can be seen on NFHS Network.
Changes to Class 7A
One of the biggest changes in this year’s postseason can be found in the 7A bracket.
With just 16 teams making the postseason, many coaches lobbied to get rid of the North and South sides of the bracket. That means there will be some long road trips in the first round but it will also mix up some of the matchups we have seen maybe too often in recent years.
Even though Thompson and Central-Phenix City are on opposite sides of the bracket yet again, there are plenty of matchups prior to the Super 7
- Vestavia Hills at Mary Montgomery, first round
- Thompson at Auburn, potential quarterfinal
- Central-Phenix City vs. Hoover, potential semifinal
Playoff procedures
One thing that seems to cause confusion every season is how the home team is determined each round.
In the first week of the playoffs, the teams that finished first or second in their region get a home game. After that, there are steps to determining the home team:
- Home team is based on travel, but if both teams have equal travel, the home team will be the higher seed
- If both teams have equal travel and equal seed, the team on the top of the bracket will be the home team
- If two teams from the same region meet, the highest seeded team in the final region standings will be the home team
Replay is also available for the high school football playoffs, if the home team has the resources. All Super 7 games will have instant replay review.
Playoff tickets
Tickets for the championship playoff games will be sold through GoFan by searching for the home team or at the gate.
- First three rounds: $12+fees
- Semifinals: $14+fees
- Super 7: $15+fees
Who do you think wins a state championship this season? Let us know by tagging The Bama Buzz on Instagram, X, Facebook + LinkedIn.
