The biggest high school football news to emerge late last week wasn't Mount Airy's convincing 50-6 win over Elkin, which firmly separated the Granite Bears from everyone else in the Northwest 1A Conference.

It was the fact that Mount Airy most likely will play in the "small 1A" bracket when the state playoffs start Friday, Nov. 14.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association released this year's ADM (average daily membership) numbers last week, and those figures seem to suggest that the Bears will play in the bracket with the smaller enrollment schools. The Bears had been a "big 1A" or 1AA team in recent years, having Albemarle and Thomasville interrupt its playoff run the past two seasons.

The state playoffs for football work like this in North Carolina:

* A total of 64 teams in each of the state's four classifications (1A, 2A, 3A and 4A) make the state playoffs, leaving very few schools out.

* In each classification, the 32 schools with the highest enrollment figures get placed and seeded in the "big" bracket (referred to as 1AA, 2AA, 3AA and 4AA). There will be 16 schools placed in the East bracket and 16 in the West.

* The remaining 32 schools in each classification will then be placed and seeded in the "small" bracket (or 1A, 2A, 3A or 4A). Like the "big" bracket, there will be 16 schools in the East and 16 in the West.

Because there are a disproportionate number of small schools in the eastern part of the state as compared to the western part, there are often schools close to the coast that get put in the West bracket.

* The result is eight 32-team tournaments, producing eight state champions by mid-December.

Mount Airy is right on the 1A and 1AA bubble, but most projections by football gurus on message boards at places like ncpreps.com suggest that the Bears will play in the small 1A bracket.

Pity the rest of the 1A field because if Elkin and East Surry can't come close to beating the Bears, there probably isn't another small 1A team that can stay within three or four touchdowns. Unbeaten Murphy looks like the only contender at this point.

Elkin, will of course, stay in the small 1A football playoff bracket, where it has won four state titles since 2002. East Wilkes, though, may move up to the 1AA tournament, where it could be one of the lower-seeded teams.

One projection has the Cardinals as the No. 16 seed from the West playing Albemarle in round one. Yikes.

Starmount will play in the small 2A bracket, most likely earning a home game for the first round. Some projections have the Rams hosting Wilkes Central again for its opener.

Friday night looms large for Elkin. The Buckin' Elks (8-2, 6-1 conference) lost their chance at taking over first place in the Northwest 1A and now will have the chance to lock up second. East Surry (9-1, 6-1) visits Grissom Stadium for what promises to be a dynamite regular season finale.

Elkin upset East Surry in Pilot Mountain to end last season, earning a home playoff opener as a reward. The Elks also beat the Cardinals on their way to a state title in 2006.

Other area high school games on tap Friday include East Wilkes hosting Mount Airy (gulp), Starmount visiting North Wilkes, Surry Central traveling to Ashe County and Forbush hosting Wilkes Central.