I have seen 1A teams make it with 3-7 records. Appalachia made it at 3-7 in 1998.
That was when district champs got priority seeding. Rye Cove, as the only Region D Division 1 football team to win their District Regular Season Title, was first seed. They were 9-1, so likely would have been 1st seed even if they didn’t win the Cumberland District as the rest were Burton (5-5), Twin Springs (4-6), and Appalachia (3-7).
Rye Cove was one and done, losing to Appalachia 35-18. Rye Cove had a very weak schedule. Appalachia, while VERY WEAK, did have a bit of a tough schedule. They had Powell Valley (98 PV team, enough said), a pretty tough and stout Lee team who played PV closest that season out of anybody and still lost, a young but very good Clintwood team who lost only to PV (49-20 reg season, 27-14 playoffs), a Sullivan North team who went 8-2 and lost first round, Lebanon who won the Highlands.