Fairfield will potentially see some new names in the postseason in the next chapter of the IHSAA state tournament series.
Fairfield will remain a Class 3-A school for football, basketball and volleyball, but will have new teams and tournament grids in its next two years of postseason play.
Volleyball, boys basketball and girls basketball will all play in Sectional 20, and rather than the five-team grid from the last series, the sectional will be a six-teamer with the addition of Columbia City and Tippecanoe Valley and the departure of Lakeland. The previous pod had Fairfield, Lakeland, NorthWood, Wawasee and West Noble. The girls basketball tourney grouping is particularly interesting as Columbia City was a top-five outfit in Class 4-A the past two years, and Tippecanoe Valley made the Class 3-A semi-state two seasons ago, to which Fairfield beat en route to its state title.
Football also saw some shuffling of teams as the Falcons will stay in Sectional 26, but will have quite a bit of new teams to scout. Angola moves down from 4-A to 3-A No. 26, and has Fort Wayne area programs Woodlan, Garrett and Fort Wayne Concordia all moving in, as is Tippecanoe Valley, which for two years the Vikings were saddled with the Indianapolis area short straw. Lakeland and West Noble remain in the sectional as the lone holdovers with the Falcons.
For more on the IHSAA realignments for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, visit ihsaa.org.