Iowa high school football playoffs: 2018 brackets

The road to the UNI-Dome is set for 96 Iowa high school football teams.

The IHSAA released pairings early Saturday morning for the 2018 playoffs, the first season with the RPI system in place. District champions earned automatic bids, while the rest of the field was determined by RPI standings.

Here's how the brackets were set up.

— District champions got first priority in seeding and hosting in the first round. In the quarterfinals, that is thrown out the window, and higher RPI get home-field advantage regardless of district finish.

— In the case of a three-way tie for a district title (and if all three teams go 1-1 in a round robin amongst each other), all received automatic bids. In the event of a two-way tie, on the other hand, the winner of head-to-head is the district champion, the loser was simply an at-large candidate.

— The IHSAA made all efforts, whenever reasonable, to avoid first-round matchups between teams from the same district. It also tried to come fairly close to true seeding (1-vs.-16, 2-vs.-15, etc.), with common sense used for geography.

— Brackets will be reseeded for the semifinals in the UNI-Dome. So don't think of a class as a 16-team bracket. Think of it as four brackets with four teams each. As a result, the East-vs.-West championship games are gone.

Here's a look at the pairings. Rankings listed are via the RPI standings.

Class 4A

Bracket A

#16 Southeast Polk (4-5) at #1 Ankeny Centennial (9-0)

#9 Cedar Rapids Prairie (7-2) at #8 Johnston (7-2)

Bracket B

#15 Ankeny (5-4) at #2 West Des Moines Valley (9-0)

#10 Fort Dodge (7-2) vs. #7 West Des Moines Dowling (9-0), at Des Moines East

Bracket C

#14 Indianola (6-3) at #3 Cedar Falls (9-0)

#12 Urbandale (6-3) at #6 Waukee (7-2)

Bracket D

#13 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (6-3) at #4 Iowa City West (8-1)

#11 Pleasant Valley (5-4) at #5 Bettendorf (8-1)

Class 3A

Bracket A

#14 Sioux City Heelan (7-2) at #1 Sergeant Bluff-Luton (8-1)

#11 Spencer (7-2) at #15 Norwalk (6-3)

Bracket B

#18 Carroll (6-3) at #2 Lewis Central (9-0)

#10 Harlan (7-2) at #7 Oskaloosa (8-1)

Bracket C

#12 Pella (8-1) at #3 Cedar Rapids Xavier (9-0)

#9 Clear Creek Amana (8-1) at #6 Decorah (7-2)

Bracket D

#13 Western Dubuque (7-2) at #4 Solon (9-0)

#8 Waverly-Shell Rock (8-1) at #5 North Scott (8-1)

Class 2A

Bracket A

#18 Carroll Kuemper (5-4) at #1 Monroe PCM (9-0)

#8 West Marshall (7-2) at #17 Williamsburg (6-3)

Bracket B

#9 Spirit Lake (7-2) at #2 Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley (8-1)

#11 OABCIG (7-2) at #7 Southeast Valley (7-2)

Bracket C

#15 Union Community (6-3) at #3 Waukon (8-1)

#5 Algona (8-1) at #13 Crestwood (6-3)

Bracket D

#10 Greene County (8-1) at #4 Benton Community (8-1)

#6 Chariton (8-1) at #16 West Liberty (6-3)

Class 1A

Bracket A

#12 West Lyon (7-2) at #1 South Central Calhoun (9-0)

#11 Treynor (8-1) at #9 West Sioux (8-1)

Bracket B

#13 Mediapolis (8-1) at #2 Bellevue (9-0)

#8 Pella Christian (6-3) at #7 Wilton (8-1)

Bracket C

#14 Mount Ayr (7-2) at #3 Interstate 35 (9-0)

#15 South Hamilton (7-2) at #6 Dike-New Hartford (9-0)

Bracket D

#16 Sumner-Fredericksburg (7-2) at #4 Van Meter (9-0)

#5 West Branch (8-1) at #10 Osage (7-2)

Class A

Bracket A

#18 Lynnville-Sully (7-2) at #1 Hudson (9-0)

#12 Highland (7-2) at #5 Durant (7-2)

Bracket B

#11 Wapsie Valley (7-2) at #2 Algona Garrigan (9-0)

#7 BGM (8-1) at #9 Edgewood-Colesburg (8-1)

Bracket C

#10 Akron-Westfield (7-2) at #3 Sloan Westwood (8-1)

#13 West Hancock (7-2) at #8 Hinton (8-1)

Bracket D

#15 Alta-Aurelia (7-2) at #4 Avoca AHSTW (9-0)

#6 North Tama (8-1) at #14 Mason City Newman (7-2)

8-Player

Bracket A

#13 Midland (9-1) at #1 Iowa Valley (9-0)

#9 New London (8-1) at #19 Gladbrook-Reinbeck (7-2)

Bracket B

#11 Northwood-Kensett (8-1) at #2 Ar-We-Va (9-0)

#8 Newell-Fonda (8-1) at #6 Southeast Warren (10-0)

Bracket C

#15 Stanton (7-2) at #3 Exira-EHK (8-1)

#14 Lenox (7-2) at #7 Fremont-Mills (8-1)

Bracket D

#10 Rockford (8-1) at #4 Turkey Valley (8-1)

#12 Central City (8-1) at #5 Don Bosco (8-1)