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Streeter Lecka
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There’s a chance that playoff fields for all sports will be smaller for the South Carolina High School League postseasons beginning next year.
On Friday, the SCHSL activities committee held discussions and seemed to be in favor of adjusting the size of brackets, how schools qualify for the playoffs in each sport and the size of certain state championship events.
No vote was taken since the group was one person short of a quorum for the meeting.
The committee will meet again Tuesday morning to vote and make their recommendations on the plan. The proposals will go to the league’s executive committee and be voted on later Tuesday. If approved, the changes will go into effect for 2026-27 school year.
The bracket changes were among the 16 proposals discussed Friday during a nearly two-hour meeting.
How many teams will make the playoffs?
layoff brackets in most classifications this school year have featured 32 teams. Class 5A had 24 per bracket but was split into two divisions. Under the proposal, the bracket sizes would be:
Class 3A and 5A: There would be a minimum of 16 teams and a maximum of 24 teams, depending on the sport. There will be 35 total teams in Class 3A and 5A for the next two years.
Class 2A and 4A: There would be a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 28 teams. There are 45 teams in Class 4A and 44 in 2A, although not all schools play every sport.
Class A: This is the state’s largest classification for the next two years. If there are 65 or more schools participating in a sport, 48 teams qualify and two brackets will be considered. If there are 55-64 schools participating, 40 teams qualify and two brackets will be considered. If there are 47-54 schools, 32 schools will qualify and two brackets will be considered. If it’s no more than 46 schools, there will be up to one 24-team bracket. A 16-team bracket will be the minimum bracket size, and 32-team bracket will be the maximum number of teams in Class A.
“Had a lot of good information from a lot of different classifications,” committee member David Byrd said. “This gives us a good opportunity. I am not saying it is perfect or anything, and we might have to make some adjustments. It is a good starting point, and we will see some clear things that will be good for all schools involved going into the playoffs.”
Who will qualify for playoffs?
The brackets will be built first from region champions and then second-place finishers in the region. Byes are for the top-eight in a 24-team bracket. The MaxPreps RPI will determine the seeding of the region champs and runner-ups and then the rest of the playoff qualifiers.
This year, only Class 4A and 5A used the RPI formula, but RPI would be used in all classes going forward. The RPI formula consists of 40% of winning percentage, 30% of your opponents winning percentage and 30% of your opponents’ opponents winning percentage.
In the proposal, there will be a streamlined process for all region tiebreakers using a points system. In the past, each region’s constitution would be responsible for determining the tiebreakers.
In the proposal, baseball and softball playoffs are recommended to have 24-team brackets. For baseball, top-eight seeds get byes with seeds 9-24 playing a single-elimination game on the Monday of the first day of playoffs. The winners move on to best-of-three series, with a best-of-three format being used rest of the bracket and games played on Thursday-Saturday.
Softball brackets have four six-team districts.
Four-quarter rule for football
There wasn’t a consensus in the discussion for a four-quarter rule for high school football.
In the proposal, players can play in the first half of junior varsity games on Thursday and then the second half of the varsity contest Friday.
No more than eight players per week can be used in such a split of playing time, the proposal says, and those players can change from week to week. Teams must turn in participation reports at the beginning of each week.
Head coaches and athletic directors are responsible for oversight, and penalties will be enforced if there are violations, according to the proposal. The first offense is a $500 fine and forfeiting the varsity game.
This is the second-straight year of the proposal, which wasn’t approved last year. The S.C. Football Coaches has been a big proponent of this rule. SCHSL associate commissioner Charlie Wentzky said the toughest part of it is enforcement.
“I understand what they are trying to do, don’t argue the point what they are trying to do,” Wentzky said. “Our concern is enforcement and how consistent we can enforce it versus inconsistency and causing frustration among the coaches.”
Shot clock still not permanent
There was a favorable discussion of putting permanent language in the handbook regarding the 35-second shot clock in basketball.
Under the current wording in the SCHSL handbook, the shot clock was in a trial period for 2024-25 and 2025-26 for non-region games, showcases, tournaments and invitationals. If passed, the language would change to remove the trial aspect and allow for a shot clock (if opposing teams agree) for non-region games, showcases, tournaments and invitationals.
There is still not enough support to make the shot clock mandatory in all games despite a push from the S.C. Basketball Coaches Association.
Sports calendar changes
Discussion was in favor of adjusting the sports calendar beginning in 2026-27. Football’s first game would be Aug. 21, and it was already voted to eliminate the Week 0 designation, so teams will have 11 weeks to play 10 games.
The proposal will make a universal start date of Feb. 1 for all spring sports, with scrimmages starting Feb. 8 and games on Feb. 19. State championships will begin on May 7 for some sports, the final championships (baseball/softball) to be finished by May 22, so things will be done before Memorial Day.
This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 1:26 PM.
Lou Bezjak is the High School Sports Prep Coordinator for The (Columbia) State and (Hilton Head) Island Packet. He previously worked at the Florence Morning News and had covered high school sports in South Carolina since 2002. Lou is a two-time South Carolina Sports Writer of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.
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