Sixteen high school football teams from Lincoln, Gaston and Cleveland counties are now in the first round of the NCHSAA playoffs.  They face the situation of win or go home.

The NCHSAA unveiled the 2024 football playoff brackets for its four classifications Sunday leading to a state championship. There are 256 teams — 64 in each class, 32 per region.

First Round is this Friday, November 15. Each of the first five rounds are played at the higher seed.

Here is the schedule for the 16 teams from Lincoln, Gaston and Cleveland counties:

1A West Brackett

·         Bessemer City was seeded at No. 6. They will play at home against No. 27 South Stokes at 7 p.m.

·         Cherryville received at No. 26 seed and will play at North Rowan (No. 7) at 7 p.m.

·         Mountain Island Charter (No. 16) will play at home against (No. 17) Bishop McGuinness at 7 p.m.

2A West Brackett

·         Bunker Hill (8) hosts (25) Hendersonville at 7 p.m.

·         East Gaston (29) will travel to Randleman (4) at 7:30 p.m.

·         Burns (14) will host North Stanly (19) at 7:30 p.m.

·         West Lincoln (26) will travel to Mount Pleasant (7) at 7:30 p.m.

·         Bandys (23) will travel to Community School of Davidson (10) at 7:30 p.m.

·         Lincolnton (15) will host Maiden (18) at 7:30 p.m.

·         Shelby (2) will host Morehead (31) at 7:30 p.m.

3A West Bracket

·         Huss (25) at West Charlotte (8), game time 7 p.m.

·         East Lincoln (20) at Kings Mountain (13), game time 7:30 p.m.

·         Crest (11) hosts Eastern Guilford (22) at 7 p.m.

·         North Lincoln (10) hosts North Davidson (23) at 7 p.m.

·         Ashbrook (15) hosts Northwest Cabarrus (18) at 7:30 p.m.

·         South Point (2) hosts Montgomery Central (31) at 7 p.m.

The football state championship games will be played on Dec. 20-21 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh and Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill. The schedule and location assignments for the state championships will be released by the NCHSAA at a later date.

2024 NCHSAA Football Playoff Schedule

·         Sunday, Nov. 10 — Official brackets released by NCHSAA

·         Friday, Nov. 15 — First Round at higher seed

·         Friday, Nov. 22 — Second Round at higher seed

·         Friday, Nov. 29 — Third Round at higher seed

·         Friday, Dec. 6 — Fourth Round at higher seed

·         Friday, Dec. 13 — Regional Finals at higher seed

·         Dec. 20-21 — State championships at UNC or NC State

High School Football Final Conference Standings

Catawba Valley 2A

Western Foothills 3A