Football · Preview · Class D6
Class D6 football playoff outlook: 10 teams are in, and four are tied for the last spot
Who has clinched in Class D6 D6, the four-way tie at No. 16, the teams that clinch with a Week 9 win and a projected first round.
Ten Class D6 teams have clinched spots in the D6 playoffs, and three more clinch with a Week 9 win: Arthur County, Southwest and Crawford. The last projected spot is a four-way tie. Grand Island Lutheran, High Plains Community, Mead and Sterling are all 4-3 at 39.7143, and that tie is unresolved.
D6 has no district berths. The 16 highest averages qualify (NSAA football manual, p. 61), so NSAA's points rank is the whole story here.
Data as of 9:04 a.m. CT Monday, Oct. 19, from NSAA wildcard points and schedule exports. Every Week 1-8 final is posted, and Week 9 games are Oct. 22-23. Everything here is a NEB Preps projection until NSAA seeds the field. Clinched and eliminated calls are NEB Preps' math, which runs every Week 9 result through NSAA's full point formula (football manual, p. 40).
If the season ended today
NEB Preps projection, using NSAA's bracket (manual, p. 61). Teams with identical averages are listed in NSAA's page order, which is not a tiebreak result. The No. 16 spot is a four-way tie, so Stuart's opponent is unresolved. Lewiston and Red Cloud are tied (43.2857), so the 11-6 and 7-10 games could swap opponents.
- No. 1 Stuart vs. No. 16 Grand Island Lutheran (four-way tie, unresolved)
- No. 9 Leyton vs. No. 8 Garden County, a rematch of Friday's game
- No. 5 McCool Junction vs. No. 12 Southwest
- No. 13 Meridian vs. No. 4 Wallace
- No. 3 Diller-Odell vs. No. 14 Crawford
- No. 11 Arthur County vs. No. 6 Lewiston
- No. 7 Red Cloud vs. No. 10 Riverside
- No. 15 Hay Springs vs. No. 2 Medicine Valley
Who's in
Clinched: Stuart, Medicine Valley, Diller-Odell, Wallace, McCool Junction, Lewiston, Red Cloud, Garden County, Leyton and Riverside. In every Week 9 outcome, at most 14 other teams can reach each one's lowest possible average. Riverside (7-1) has finished its schedule. Seventeen teams are out in every outcome.
Most D6 teams play eight games, so a first-division opponent is one that wins more than 76 percent of its games, not 77 as in the nine-game classes (p. 40).
The bubble
Ranks and points are NSAA's. Status is NEB Preps' projection math.
| Team | Pts (rank) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Arthur County | 42.5714 (11) | In with a win |
| Southwest | 41.8571 (12) | In with a win |
| Meridian | 40.5714 (13) | Not yet determined |
| Crawford | 40.4286 (14) | In with a win |
| Hay Springs | 40.1429 (15) | Not yet determined |
| Grand Island Lutheran | 39.7143 (T-16) | Not yet determined |
| High Plains Community | 39.7143 (T-16) | Not yet determined |
| Mead | 39.7143 (T-16) | Not yet determined |
| Sterling | 39.7143 (T-16) | Not yet determined |
| Silver Lake | 39.0000 (T-20) | Out with a loss |
| Sumner-Eddyville-Miller | 39.0000 (T-20) | Not yet determined |
Potter-Dix, Parkview Christian and Cody-Kilgore are also out with a loss.
Games that matter
Hay Springs at Crawford, Thursday. Crawford clinches with a win. Hay Springs, 15th, cannot clinch on its own result. Crawford won the 2025 meeting 64-58.
Red Cloud at Grand Island Lutheran, Thursday. GI Lutheran is in the four-way tie, and Red Cloud is already in.
The rest of the tie, Friday. High Plains Community hosts Harvard, Mead hosts Dorchester, and Sterling plays at Lewiston. High Plains beat GI Lutheran 44-8 on Sept. 25, but head-to-head does not settle a four-team tie (p. 42). Each team's final average also depends on its opponents' results, so a win alone does not settle the order.
Sumner-Eddyville-Miller at Southwest, Thursday. Southwest clinches with a win. Southwest beat S-E-M 27-23 in the 2025 quarterfinals.
Leyton at Garden County, Friday. Both are in. Both are 4-0 in D6-6, and Leyton is 7-0. D6 districts do not decide berths, so this is about seeding. Garden County is the 2025 state champion.
Medicine Valley at Wallace, Thursday. Two clinched teams, projected No. 2 and No. 4, play for seeding.
Possible quarterfinals
If every higher seed wins in the first round (a NEB Preps projection):
- No. 1 Stuart vs. No. 8 Garden County
- No. 4 Wallace vs. No. 5 McCool Junction
- No. 3 Diller-Odell vs. No. 6 Lewiston
- No. 2 Medicine Valley vs. No. 7 Red Cloud
Still unknown
The four-way tie at No. 16, the last open spots and every seed are not yet determined.
Every class: Wildcard Watch: Week 9.
Sources
Nebraska football scores and schedules → · Football playoff tracker →