District Guidelines for Team Sports:

Classification is only set to determine how teams will advance to the postseason. There is no requirement for schools to play all other schools in their district during the regular season. The schools in each district must determine their number one team to advance to the region tournament by any method the district selects. District tournaments are allowed, but not required. Prior to the start of the season in that sport, district coaches and administrators should have a meeting involving all schools in a district to determine how the district's top team will be determined. If a district tournament is held and the schools in the district cannot agree on a seeding method for the tournament, the
following seeding criteria should be used:
1-winning percentage against schools in the district
2-winning percentage against schools in the same classification
3-overall winning percentage

For larger districts, TSSAA has no objection to the district subdividing for regular season scheduling and having the winners of each side meet in the district final match.

Weather Policy:
In the event school closings from weather prevent the entire district tournament from being
completed by the deadline, districts can choose to have teams play more than one game in a day.
If that is not possible, then only the top 4 teams from the above seeding criteria will continue to
participate in order to determine which teams advance to the region. If the tournament is not
able to be held at all, the above seeding criteria will be used to advance teams.

Region & Sectional Guidelines for Team Sports:

Once the top team in each district is determined, teams will advance through the region and section based on the following brackets for 2025-2026. If there are byes in the bracket, they will rotate each year.

Volleyball -

Class A & AA District champion must be determined before Thursday, October 2

Girls Soccer -

Class A District champion must be determined before Monday, September 29
Class AA District champion must be determined before Thursday, October 2

Dual Wrestling -

Each region champion and runner-up shall advance to the sectional round which must be completed by Saturday, December 13. The region champion shall host the region runner-up from the corresponding region, with the winner advancing to the sectional final. The winner of each sectional final will advance to the Dual Meet State Championships.

Basketball -

Class A District champion must be determined by Monday, February 2
Class AA District champion must be determined by Monday, February 2
Class AAA District champion must be determined by Thursday, February 5

Baseball, Softball, Boys' Soccer -

Class A District champion must be determined by Monday, May 4
Class AA District champion must be determined by Thursday, May 7

Postseason Brackets -

Postseason Brackets

Postseason Guidelines for Individual Sports:

Cross Country -

Class A, AA, and AAA section meets must be completed by Saturday, September 27. Regions may choose to first have region meets to advance runners to the section meet. The number of team and individual qualifiers to state from sectionals for each classification can be found at the link below.

Girls Wrestling -

Schools may only enter one wrestler per weight class into the sectional tournament. The sectional tournament must be completed by Saturday, December 13. Wrestlers that finish 1st and 2nd in their sectional tournament shall advance to the state tournament. The two wrestlers competing in the finals match shall be the 1st and 2nd place finishers. "True 2nd" will not be an option. It is recommended that each section place up to 4 wrestlers. In the event that one section has fewer than 2 medalists, wrestlers who finish third or fourth from the corresponding sectional tournament will be used to fill the state tournament bracket in the place of a section’s vacant position(s)

Track & Field -

Track & Field region meets will be conducted to determine who advances to the sectional meet. The state office will work to assign a meet director and date for each section meet, and then region meets must be planned before that date. Class A, AA, and AAA section meets must be completed by Saturday, May 9. The number of qualifiers to sectionals from regions and to state from sectionals for each classification can be found at the link below.

    Postseason Qualifiers -

    Postseason Qualifiers