GATLINBURG — Despite a hectic Saturday morning and afternoon for TSSAA officials, which saw playoff brackets released, recalled and released again over the span of about eight hours, the state football playoff picture has now come clear.

Three Sevier County football teams have made this year’s postseason.

Unfortunately for the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders, a chaotic morning saw the team given two official playoff scenarios.

“Mistakes” in the state’s governing body’s initial playoff brackets, released early Saturday morning, had G-P a 1-seed in the 3A state playoffs.

Hours later the TSSAA removed the brackets to “correct” the problem.

When the new brackets were posted, G-P had dropped from a top seed to a 3-seed.

The change will result in G-P now hosting former rival Happy Valley (5-4, 3-2 in District 1-AA) instead of an Johnson County (5-5, 2-3 in District 2-AA) — the team the Highlanders were originally slated to host.

Coach Benny Hammonds wasn’t pleased.

“We just went from a No. 1 seed to a No. 3 seed,” Hammonds said. “Now how do you do that, besides just saying ‘I don’t want it that way?”

“I’m not crying about who we play, as much as you don’t do things that way,” he continued. “If (the TSSAA) had to go over it 100 times to get it right before it’s posted, that’s fine. But don’t post it and then listen to the right people complaining and then change it to meet their needs.”

Hammonds had already met the Johnson County coach and swapped films when he found out the bracket had changed.

“It kind of goes on with (the TSSAA) format — kind of messed up. I think that’s just unorganized, political and catering to a few members of the TSSAA, and that’s just about as bad as gets.

“That’s one reason this system needs changed. Have a format and quit picking it the way they want to pick it. I don’t care what they say, after you get by automatic qualifiers it’s just a personal touch on which bracket they put you in and where you’ll be seeded. And then, after it’s posted, if (they) don’t like it, whoever’s got the most complaints or most power can get it changed. It just aggravates me. Where are we living at, is this Russia?”

Still, Highlanders’ general said his team would be focused by the time the matchup with Happy Valley comes around.

“We’re just going to do the best we can, and play whoever,” Hammonds said. “It doesn’t make any difference to me who we play.”

One big difference created by the Highlanders’ shifted spot is their potential matchup in the second round.

Not only will they face a tougher opening matchup, they’re likely headed into a game with Austin-East in the playoffs’ second week. In the earlier bracket, they would have faced the winner of Sullivan North and West Greene, either of which the Highlanders would have likely been favored against.

The TSSAA, in a statement issued on their website offered apologies to teams, coaches, players and fans for all the confusion created by the mistakes in the earlier bracket.

“Our staff was determined to get every bracket correct even if it took a week to complete,” the release, which appears to be from Executive Director Bernard Childress, said. “The errors made are totally unacceptable.

“Our staff spent a minimum of three years studying this plan and felt comfortable going into the selection night that proper preparations had been made. After many hours working on and releasing brackets we felt comfortable were correct, we found several changes that had to be made in order to get each bracket set right.”

In another part of the release, the TSSAA says the new playoff format “has some flaws” but they aren’t willing to blame the bracket errors on the system itself.

“We are not willing to blame those errors on a new system which definitely has some flaws that must be worked out. The system did not fail — we did.

As Director, I felt the right thing to do was the pull the brackets, make the correct changes, apologize to each of you, accept the well-deserved criticism, and move forward for the betterment of our student-athletes. This can also be used as a teachable moment for them.”

G-P will host Happy Valley on Friday night at Hammonds Field.

mpsports@themountainpress.com