The NIAA’s winter Board of Control meeting Tuesday had to resolve the football alignment questions for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
The decision on how to stagger Nevada’s upper classifications in the sport had been debated at length for months.
By a 6-4 decision the Board of Control passed a new football alignment for Class 4A and 5A in Nevada, which will begin in the fall of 2025 and run through the 2027-28 school year.
The six ‘yes’ votes came from Pam Sloan, Linda Cavazos, Colin McNaught, Christina Brockett, Deanna Riddle and Keith Wipperman.
Rollins Stallworth, Gregg Malkovich, Jay Kenney and Wade Paulsen voted against the motion.
At the end of the meeting Northern Class 4A/5A commission Bob LeVitt stated for the record that two representatives from the North, Rayanne Sorensen and Alex Woodley, were not present for the vote.
REGULAR SEASON ADJUSTMENTS
You can toss out the football formula for the last two years.
What were Northern Class 5A Div. II and Class 5A Div. III are now, in essence, Northern Class 5A and 4A, respectively.
Both classifications will contain six teams each, but schools will be able to appeal up or down Wednesday, during the second day of the BoC meeting.
As of Tuesday night, Class 5A will contain Bishop Manogue, Damonte Ranch, Douglas, Galena, Reed and Spanish Springs.
Carson, Hug, McQueen, North Valleys, Reno and Wooster were the alignment in the North for Class 4A.
Promotion and relegation will remain for the North as one team will move up to Class 5A and one team will drop down to Class 4A at the conclusion of each season.
Class 5A and Class 4A in southern Nevada will have 18 and 19 teams, respectively, and will be locked from realignment for the next three seasons.
In total, there will now be six state titles in Nevada – Class 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and Open – down seven from last season.
The regular season alignment changes passed unanimously.
STATEWIDE PLAYOFFS
The biggest change, both in terms of magnitude and potential strain on school budgets, will be in the new postseason format.
All playoff selections will be determined using the RHM rubric, which is the combination of three metrics: the NIAA's own rubric (R), Harbin points (H) and the MaxPreps ratings (M).
The top four teams in Class 5A across the state, in regard to RHM points, will be pulled into an ‘Open division’ playoff.
The next eight teams in RHM points (No. 5-12) will play for the Class 5A state title while the Class 4A state championship will be between the next eight teams (No. 13-20).
The RHM rubric will grade all teams in Class 4A and 5A across the state on the same scale.
Tuesday’s Board of Control meeting only solidified the regular season and playoff outlines. An actual bracket structure has yet to be created.
The new format eliminates north and south regional championships.
(The new alignment for Class 4A and 5A football in the state of Nevada, which was approved by the NIAA's Board of Control Tuesday in their annual winter meeting. / NIAA Board of Control packet)
