Missing Result Leads to Mistake With Idaho Football Playoffs

Late-reporting score changes pairings for Idaho high school football

Oct 11, 2025; Boulder, Colorado, USA; General view of a penalty flag at the feet of a referee during fourth quarter between the Iowa State Cyclones against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Idaho high school football playoffs for Class 6A feature a bracket that was put together with a final regular season score missing.

The late-arriving score to the Idaho High School Athletic Association forced officials to put the postseason pairings together despite the result of a game between Capital High School and Boise High School being a key factor.

Idaho uses the MaxPreps rankings to determine playoff pairings. When they looked at them, Highland was ahead of Owyhee. However, once the result of the Capital vs. Boise contest was eventually placed, Owyhee jumped ahead of Highland.

None of that matters, though, as Owyhee will travel to Rocky Mountain and Highland will head to Mountain View. Had the pairings been made with the Capital vs. Boise game included, Owyhee would have played 6-3 Mountain View instead of 8-1 Rocky Mountain, and Highland would be going to Rocky Mountain instead of making a trip to Mountain View.

Officials Reminded Schools Multiple Times of Reporting Deadline

Chad Williams, the executive director of the IHSAA, told the Idaho Stateman, “We try to get (the postseason pairings) done sooner rather than later so schools can get their planning done and their busing in.

“At some point we’ve got to have a deadline,” he added. “We could wait until Thursday night, but we can’t because schools have to know where they are going. And if we wait until Thursday, will there still be scores missing? Probably.”

Williams added that the IHSAA placed a deadline of midnight Saturday evening several years ago for having the final scores of games uploaded for use. He also said several reminders to have that accomplished were sent out during the regular season.

Late Result Alters Path for Teams Through Idaho High School State Football Playoffs

The winner between Mountain View and Highland will take on East No. 1 seed Rigby while the Rocky Mountain vs. Owyhee winner will play West No. 2 seed Eagle in the next round.

The Idaho High School Athletic Association uses MaxPreps rankings to determine the final three at-large qualifiers in Class 6A for the high school football playoffs. Owyhee made a plea to have the results changed, appealing to the IHSAA, but they were rejected.

“We just wanted to make sure that the rankings were valid,” Owyhee Athletic Director Dane Roy said. “We saw that Boise and Capital didn’t put their scores in. Once they put them in, it changed things, and we just assumed that was the new ranking. We just wanted to do what was right for the rankings and keep the integrity of it.”

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