Nearly 40 years ago when I was a teenager every football team in Minnesota didn't make the playoffs and winning your conference championship was a very big deal.  I understand times change and generally I haven't had a problem with embracing some changes.  After all I don't think football players should still wear leather helmets with no facemask.  The Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors has voted to go to district scheduling beginning in 2015.  They say they want to group at least 16 teams in each pod, as they call them,  whenever possible and base it on geography and enrollment. There are presently seven classes of football in the gopher state.  9 man, Class A...AA...AAA...AAAA...AAAAA...AAAAAA.

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MSHSL Revamps Football
In 2015

Using 2013 information there were 32 teams in 6A, 64 nine man teams, 62 in Class A, 61 in 2A, 51 in 3A and 48 teams in 4A and 48 in 5A. Here's an example.  If you combine Sections one and two in Class 2A you have 16 teams. The Board says they don't want teams to have to make long bus trips.  In these two sections the farthest west team is Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop and the farthest east is Winona Cotter.  From Winthrop to Winona is approximately 174 miles according to Google maps or about a 3 hour bus ride. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown was among the six schools endorsing the proposal to go to district scheduling.  In 2013 WEM played Tri City United, which is in Montgomery and Blooming Prairie for their non-conference games and had a full eight game regular season schedule.  The longest regular season bus ride for the Bucs was 1 hour and 10 minutes to Winthrop and it was the only one over an hour.  If you combine the present sections one and two the Bucs could play in Winona and have a little over a two hour bus ride to the game.  It remains to be seen how the MSHSL sets up these pods and I'll reserve my opinion until then.  Two pods of 16 teams would eliminate the Class 6A or large school problem, I just don't see why the entire state has to be revamped. No more Big Nine title, Hiawatha Valley League Blue or Gold title, Gopher Conference A or double A champion. How about revamping the conferences to achieve the same results?  I've said the last few years it would be great for the Faribault Falcons to be in a league with Northfield, New Prague, the Mankato schools and maybe Albert Lea and Red Wing.  Then schedule one non conference game or bring in somebody else, like Waseca.

 

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