IHSAA announces sectional alignments for next two seasons

The Patriots have the chance to be seeing a lot more of the Spartans on the hardwood in the coming postseasons.

The IHSAA announced the sectional assignments for six sports Tuesday morning, all of which will feature some shakeup for Jay County High School in the postseason for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 athletic seasons.

The most drastic change will be to Jay County football, which moves from Class 4A Sectional 20 to Class 3A Sectional 28. The Patriots will still be able to matchup with Mississinewa, but no other teams made the jump down.

Allen County Athletic Conference rival Heritage is also in Sectional 28, as well as coach Grant Zgunda’s former school Delta. Other potential matchups include Bellmont, Bishop Luers, Norwell and Oak Hill.

Boys and girls basketball will still feature the same teams between the Class 3A Sectional 24s, but it has bumped down from a seven-team bracket to a six-team bracket. Both Frankton and Centerville departed the sectional, while the Connersville Spartans joined.

Hamilton Heights bounced the girls team from the sectional championship in 2024, while New Castle ended the boys’ season.

Connersville will also join the Class 3A Sectional 24 volleyball tournament. Hamilton Heights also joined the sectional to replace Centerville and Frankton. The only difference between the basketball and volleyball sectionals is the absence of the Yorktown Tigers in the volleyball sectional.

Frankton took down the Patriots in 2023 before falling to New Castle in the championship game for their final run in the sectional.

Centerville also left the boys soccer Class 2A Sectional 23 and the girls soccer Class 2A Sectional 24. Hamilton Heights left the girls as well, while New Castle departed from the boys.

As replacements, the girls sectional added Mississinewa, while the boys picked up Oak Hill.

Hamilton Heights downed the girls team in the 2023’s sectional opener, while the boys fell to host Mississinewa in the championship game.