By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – The AHSAA officially announced the pairings for the 2023 football playoffs bracket at the playoff coaches meeting on Saturday, Nov. 4, but not before a tiebreaker was decided and the AHSAA allowed for games to be moved to Thursday due to Veterans’ Day weekend.

The Shelby County Wildcats are officially in the Class 5A playoffs after a three-way tiebreaker for third place in Class 5A, Region 3 was decided by a coin flip.

The Wildcats finished tied for third place with Marbury and Selma after each team went 2-3 in the six-team region, split the three-way head-to-head tiebreaker and finished with no non-region wins.

That left the final tiebreaker of a coin flip to decide the final two spots, and Marbury won the tiebreaker for third place and Shelby County won the four seed, eliminating Selma.

The 2-8 Wildcats will now hit the road on Thursday, Nov. 9 to face the Eufaula Tigers, the region champions out of Class 5A, Region 2.

Shelby County’s matchup was one of 26 overall and four within the county that was moved to Thursday night. This is because many schools will observe Friday, Nov. 10 as Veterans Day and close for the day, and this change allows for students and families to take advantage of the long weekend. 76 games will still be played on Friday night.

Thompson, Helena, Shelby County and Vincent will all play their first-round matchups on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., as will Cornerstone’s AISA 8-man semifinal game against Evangel Montgomery. Briarwood’s opening round game will remain on Friday, Nov. 10 as previously announced.

For the updated playoff schedule for Shelby County teams, read below:

Class 7A:

Thompson (8-1) vs. Florence (6-4), Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Warrior Stadium

Class 6A:

Helena (8-2) vs. Wetumpka (5-5), Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Husky Stadium

Briarwood Christian (5-5) at Carver-Montgomery (7-3), Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Cramton Bowl (Montgomery)

Class 5A:

Shelby County (2-8) at Eufaula (7-3), Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Eufaula High School

Class 2A:

Vincent (6-4) at Clarke County (5-5), Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Clarke County High School

AISA 8-Man Semifinals:

Cornerstone Christian (9-1) vs. Evangel Montgomery (3-7), Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Cornerstone Christian School