When the IHSAA held the draw for the 3A Sectional 27 bracket, the ping pong balls ended up placing all the schools in Z-Land in different directions.
In the top half of the bracket, it will be a rematch of week 2, but this time Norwell (2-6) will play host to Delta (5-3). The Knights lost that matchup 34-16, which is the only time the two schools have faced off since 1994. The other first round game in the top half is 4-4 Yorktown traveling up to the Summit City to take on Concordia (0-8). The Cadets won the only other previous meeting over the Tigers 54-14 in 2016, en route to winning their last state title.
In the bottom half of the bracket, both of the area teams will be boarding buses for their first round matchups. Bellmont (0-8) will have the longer drive, as they will take on Garrett (3-5). They have faced each other three times in the postseason, with the home squad winning on each occasion. Most recently, Garrett won last year 38-14. Bellmont won in 2018 at home 16-6, while the Railroaders took the first matchup 34-12 in 2014.
The other half of the bracket will see familiar conference foes face off, as 7-1 Heritage will make the short trek up to Woodburn to take on 2-6 Woodlan. The Patriots won the Week 3 regular season matchup 26-0 on their home field. The last time they faced each other in the postseason, Heritage won 26-7 in 2004, and also won 28-27 back in 1994.
All the first round matchups will take place on Oct. 20.
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