The Mississippi High School Activities Association has released its 2027-29 MHSAA regions, and Tippah County’s two largest high schools are headed to different districts. Ripley and North Tippah will both play in Class 3A starting in the 2027-28 school year, but the new alignment puts them in separate regions for football and basketball.
The MHSAA posted the football and basketball regions on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and added golf, tennis, archery, powerlifting and other sports on Nov. 5. The new regions answer the biggest question left after last week’s enrollment-based reclassification: who will local teams play for playoff seeding?
Ripley Joins a Northeast Mississippi 3A Region
Ripley, which is dropping from 4A to 3A after coming in three students below the 4A cutoff, lands in 3A Region 1 in both football and basketball. The other schools are:
Alcorn Central
Belmont
Kossuth
Nettleton
That sets up region games against Alcorn County’s Alcorn Central and Kossuth, Tishomingo County’s Belmont, and Nettleton, in place of the current 4A slate that includes Senatobia, Rosa Fort and Byhalia.
North Tippah Heads West in 3A Region 2
North Tippah High School, which serves the Walnut and Falkner communities, is placed in 3A Region 2 for football and basketball with:
Holly Springs
Independence
North Panola
Rosa Fort
Those trips run west toward Marshall, Tate, Panola and Tunica counties. That means longer bus rides than Ripley’s new region, and North Tippah fans have already been talking about that on social media.
Benton County and Tippah 1A Schools
In football, Ashland is in 1A Region 1 with Biggersville, Potts Camp and Tupelo Christian.
In basketball, the area’s small schools are split between two 1A regions:
1A Region 1: Pine Grove, Biggersville, Jumpertown, Thrasher, Tupelo Christian and Wheeler
1A Region 2: Ashland, Blue Mountain, Hickory Flat, Ingomar, Potts Camp and West Union
That keeps Ashland, Blue Mountain and Hickory Flat together as region rivals, while Pine Grove plays in a separate group with schools from Prentiss, Alcorn and Lee counties.
When the New Regions Take Effect
The 2027-29 classifications and regions start with the 2027-28 athletic year and run through 2028-29. This season’s teams, including the basketball teams that just opened play this week, still compete under the current setup. Fans can find the full region lists for every sport on the MHSAA website.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
