By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – Just two weeks removed from one of the biggest changes in the history of Alabama high school athletics, the AHSAA shook up the fall sports landscape even more with playoff changes for football and volleyball.

The AHSAA Central Board of Control approved an expansion of the Class 6A football playoffs and the addition of a volleyball sub-regional round during a regularly-scheduled meeting on Friday, Feb. 6.

Both changes were previously revealed as under consideration in the AHSAA’s official media release for fall sports reclassification on Jan. 23.

The Class 6A football playoffs will now include 24 teams, up from 16 from when it was referred to as Class 7A. The top six teams from each region will advance to the postseason following a recommendation from the Championship Committee that was unanimously supported by 6A coaches.

The top two teams in each region will get a first-round bye. Region champions will face the winner of the No. 4-No. 5 seed matchup in the second round, and the No. 2 seed will host the winner of the No. 3-No. 6 seed matchup.

If this format was used in 2025, Prattville and Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa would’ve advanced out of Class 7A, Region 3 with 6-4 record. They would have been joined by Davidson and Foley in Region 1, Dothan and Enterprise in Region 2 and Huntsville and Bob Jones in Region 4.

The first two rounds will also go back to North and South splits after a two-year trial run of rotating between all three regions. The 2025 playoffs saw Regions 2 and 3 matched up in the first round, creating top-10 matchups out of the gate, and Huntsville and Mobile-area teams spending tens of thousands of dollars to go across the state to play each other.

In addition, the football and flag football state championship week, which is currently referred to as the Super 7, will expand to a five-day frame on a pilot basis in 2026.

This year’s edition, which will be held for the first time in Mobile at South Alabama’s Hancock-Whitney Stadium, was already slated to be a pilot for a four-day format. However, the restructure of public and private-school playoffs expanded the number of championships from seven football and two flag football games to eight football and four flag football games.

The AHSAA also approved a sub-regional round to be created in the volleyball playoffs. This would bring the volleyball postseason more in line with basketball playoffs, which feature one sub-regional game on a campus site before neutral-site regionals and state finals.

This change simply moves the first round of super regionals onto campus sites, which will allow for more time between matches and accommodate eight classifications instead of seven. The state tournament will still consist of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals between the final eight teams, including four from each super regional.

The volleyball committee recommended the change, which serves as a compromise from a plan presented by Pelham’s Perry Robinson in 2025.

According to a presentation obtained by the Shelby County Reporter, the coaches committee proposed switching areas to regions, eliminating area tournaments in favor of the top four teams from the regular season advancing to the playoffs and a sub-regional round at campus sites.

Under the plan, Super Regional timeslots would also expand to two hours, not start early to allow full warm-ups and rotate times to avoid repeated 9 a.m. starts by certain areas.

Following up on a promise from AHSAA executive director Heath Harmon’s reclassification press conference, the Central Board approved the creation of an Independent School Committee with representatives from all eight districts. Harmon had previously stated this would be similar to the current superintendents committee, but no details about its functions were made public at press time.

Any changes to flag football playoffs will come following the Central Board of Control’s meeting on Friday, Mar. 13 after Harmon requested additional time to decide on a postseason format. Flag football playoffs currently mirror football’s postseason with a 32-team format across five rounds culminating in a neutral-site state championship at the Super 7.

In other business, the Central Board did the following:

-heard an appeal from Oakwood Adventist Academy after it went over the maximum 30 boys basketball games allowed by the AHSAA. The ruling was upheld by the District 8 Legislative Council, and Oakwood Adventist will not compete in the Class 1A postseason.

-heard a report and approved the budget presented by Knight Eady’s Daniel Smith for the upcoming 2026 basketball Final Four

-approved 2025 Region and State Volleyball, Cross-Country and Swimming Financial Reports

-reviewed a football playoff comparison financial report for 2022-2025 seasons

-approved several items concerning cheer competition, including creating large and small school divisions, reducing the maximum number of participants from 40 to 30, increasing the maximum Game Day score from 70 to 80 and eliminating automatic bids

-heard a report from Harmon concerning the NFHS Winter Executive Directors meeting he recently attended

-received a report about the 2026 Legislative Proposal process currently underway

-heard an update concerning the AHSAA winter sports

-discussed the state basketball and state cross-country championships

-set the next CBOC Meeting for March 13, 2026