In early November, with relatively little fanfare, the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS), the governing body for private-school athletics in Mississippi, revolutionized its playoff system. 

Gone are the days of six separate classifications (1A-6A) with a single state champion from each class. In its place is something akin to participation trophies.

Let me explain.

You see, for the past couple of decades, before each realignment cycle, MAIS would identify the six largest schools in its association and deem them Class 6A. Because five of these schools are located in the Jackson metro area, travel was never really an issue, save for one outlier.

Presbyterian Christian School in Hattiesburg was the sixth member of that group. And because all 6A teams typically played each other during the regular season, that meant a lot of travel for Bobcat teams and fans. It also meant a lot of losses, because perennial powers Jackson Academy, Jackson Prep, Madison-Ridgeland Academy and Hartfield Academy seemed to always stand in the way.

So, in an effort to cut down on travel and improve its chances at winning championships, PCS decided to take its ball and go home. Home, of course, is the Mississippi High School Athletics Association (MHSAA), the governing body for public school athletics in the state. With other members of the Big Five threatening to follow suit, MAIS opted for changes. Drastic changes.

Beginning with the 2025-26 athletic season, the 20 largest MAIS schools will be grouped into a single classification, Class 4A, with the next 16 largest forming 3A, the 16 after them comprising 2A and everyone else reclassified as 1A, which plays 8-man football.

For all intents and purposes, MAIS 4A will become the Jackson Metro Invitational. Under the new system, JA, Jackson Prep, MRA and Hartfield each head their own district with four smaller schools included. Local MAIS schools Heritage Academy and Starkville Academy will compete in 2-4A along with Hartfield, Lamar School and East Rankin Academy. Hartfield, of course, is the two-time defending 6A state champs, and throttled HA and SA last season to the tune of 49-7 and 58-7, respectively.

Come season’s end, MAIS will use its existing “power points” system to split each classification into smaller groups. MAIS calculates each school’s power points average based on wins, losses and strength of opponent. For the new 4A, the top four schools will compete for the 4A Division I crown. Any guesses on who those four might be?

The next six teams in the rankings will compete in a three-week playoff for the Division II championship, while teams ranked 11-16 will participate in a three-week playoff for the Division III championship. If you’re keeping score at home, 16 of the 20 Class 4A teams will earn playoff berths. While 2A and 3A will only hand out Division I and II titles each season, 12 of the 16 teams in each class will qualify for the playoffs. For the more math-inclined, that means almost 13.4% of MAIS teams playing 11-man football in 2025 will win a state championship. In MHSAA, that number is 3%.

And here I’ve been told real men don’t accept participation trophies.

MHSAA, with its seven classifications, makes it work despite the wide enrollment disparity in its member schools, as the number of schools in each classification gets bigger in each subsequent “smaller” classification. Class 7A has 25 schools, Class 1A has 40. Eighty percent of the teams in each classification makes the playoffs, but only one wins it all.

For the big four schools in the new MAIS 4A, it’ll be business as usual, as one of them was going to win the old 6A title anyway. But things get really interesting in the second and third tier. For schools like Heritage and Starkville Academy who’ve had success at the 4A and 5A levels, they’ll take an extra loss or two per year for a better chance at winning a state championship, however watered down it may be.

But does being virtually guaranteed a playoff berth change a season’s outlook? According to Heritage head coach Tobias Smith, the answer is an emphatic “no.”

“One way or another, it (doesn’t) matter to me, we just have to be the best we can be on any given Friday,” Smith told The Dispatch last week. “We have to prepare each week like it’s a championship.”

Other area MAIS schools, Columbus Christian and Hebron Christian, won’t see many changes due to their 1A classification.

The big winner here is Oak Hill Academy in West Point. A perennial golf powerhouse, Oak Hill has struggled to compete in 4A in other sports, but realignment now finds them in 2A for football (and 3A for everything else), playing teams they might actually match up with. 

So here’s hoping for more playoff football in the Golden Triangle, and maybe even in some unlikely places. Just don’t ask Smith how a team actually gets there.

“I don’t want to even get into it,” Smith said. “I don’t understand it. A lot goes into it. … You might have to talk to someone else that knows a little bit more about it.”

Philip Poe is sports editor.