The bracket is here.
Indiana’s girls flag football postseason is set, and the path to the state finals now runs through 16 sectionals and four regionals.
Penn is still the standard. The defending champion is unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the state. But this field is deeper than it was a year ago. Snider, Terre Haute South, Mater Dei and Beech Grove are all unbeaten. New Prairie has not lost. Crown Point has not lost. And several of the state’s better teams are sitting in brackets where somebody good is going home early.
That is where this draw gets interesting.
Sectional 4 at Penn is the obvious place to start.
Penn gets South Bend Saint Joseph in its opener. New Prairie gets South Bend Washington. South Bend Riley, South Bend Adams and Mishawaka Marian fill out the rest of the bracket.
The Kingsmen are 9-0 and still carrying the weight of last year’s championship run. New Prairie is 6-0 entering Wednesday and has quietly built one of the cleanest defensive profiles in the state, allowing just 24 points through six games.
The draw keeps Penn and New Prairie away from each other early.
If both hold up, that sectional final would carry real weight.
Sectional 2 has a similar feel.
Crown Point hosts a field that also includes Lake Central, Merrillville, Hanover Central and Illiana Christian. Crown Point sits unbeaten. Lake Central has one loss and one of the more productive two-way players in the state in Parker Reddick. The Indians were averaging 210.6 yards per game with nearly four interceptions per game in the latest MaxPreps data. Crown Point has been even more balanced, averaging 282.6 total yards per game while also creating nearly four interceptions per game.
That is the kind of bracket where the semifinal draw matters almost as much as the final.
In Fort Wayne, Sectional 7 has the makings of another early collision.
Snider opens with New Haven. Wayne sits on the same side of the bracket and could be waiting next. North Side, South Side and Huntington North are on the other half.
Snider is 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in the state. Wayne is 5-1 and ranked No. 8.
That means one of the better teams in Indiana could be gone before the championship game.
It also gives Snider no room to drift through the bracket. The Panthers have been one of the most consistent teams in the state, but Wayne has enough athleticism and quarterback play to make that side of the draw uncomfortable.
The south gets no easier.
Sectional 16 at Evansville Mater Dei is the deepest bracket on paper.
Castle and Boonville meet in Game 1. Evansville Harrison is in the field. So are Evansville North, F.J. Reitz, Reitz Memorial, Central, Bosse and Mater Dei.
Mater Dei is 6-0 and ranked No. 4 statewide. That makes the Wildcats the clear team to beat, but this is also the one sectional where depth alone creates pressure. Three wins are required. Familiar opponents are everywhere. One bad half can erase a résumé.
Sectional 14 at Terre Haute South is more straightforward.
The Braves open with Northview. Terre Haute North gets North Central on the other side. Terre Haute South is 8-0 and ranked No. 3 in the state, and Za’Nariae White has been one of the most productive offensive players in Indiana with 954 rushing yards and 18 total touchdowns in the latest MaxPreps data.
That is a profile built for tournament football.
Beech Grove has a similar advantage in Sectional 13.
The Hornets draw Irvington Prep. KIPP and Roncalli meet in the other semifinal.
Beech Grove is 8-0 and ranked No. 5 statewide. The offense has been one of the most explosive in Indiana, with Olivia Stowers leading the state in receiving yards and freshman quarterback Natily Pruitt establishing herself as one of the better young passers in the state.
That bracket gives Beech Grove a clean path if it handles business.
Floyd Central is another team with a favorable sectional draw.
The Highlanders host Sectional 15 and open with Charlestown. Providence, Clarksville and Silver Creek fill out the rest.
Floyd Central is 7-1 and ranked No. 6. Senior quarterback Maya Brogan leads the state with 2,351 passing yards.
That kind of quarterback play changes tournament games fast. It gives Floyd Central a margin for error that most teams do not have.
The most interesting part of the bracket may come after sectionals.
Regional 4 puts the winners from Terre Haute South, Beech Grove, Floyd Central and Mater Dei into the same four-team field.
If the favorites hold, that regional could include the Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 teams in the current MaxPreps rankings.
That is the loaded side.
Regional 1 could give us Penn and Crown Point. Regional 2 could put Snider into a field with Harrison. Regional 3 runs through Lawrence North, Warren Central, North Central and Ben Davis.
But Regional 4 is where the bracket compresses.
One of those teams is going home before the state finals.
That is the shift now.
The regular season gave us the rankings.
The bracket gives us the consequences.
Penn still has the trophy. Snider, Terre Haute South, Mater Dei, Beech Grove, Crown Point and New Prairie are all still unbeaten. Floyd Central has the state’s leading passer. Harrison and Wayne are sitting in brackets where they can wreck somebody else’s path.
The field is no longer theoretical.
Now we find out who can survive it.