Missouri prep football teams find out district pairings Friday

On Friday the football frenzy of filling schedules begins at high schools across Missouri.

Friday morning the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) is scheduled to release its football classifications and district groupings for the two-year cycle of the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Many conferences around the state will meet Friday morning and, after finding out their respective district pairings, will quickly try to fill out the remainer of their 2010 and 2011 football schedules. Usually most schedules are completed by Friday evening. Those that are not may not fill a full 10-game schedule, making Friday’s legwork extremely important.

Athletic director Kelly Hinshaw and football head coach Josh Smith from Rolla High, as well as Waynesville football head coach Rick Vernon, will be in Springfield with an Ozark Conference contingent at 7 a.m. Friday morning.

St. James Athletic Director Phil West and Tiger football head coach Greg Harlan will be in St. Clair at 6 a.m. Friday with other Four Rivers Conference officials.

Most area schools have a pretty good idea which classification they will be placed in. Football classifications in Missouri are from Class 1-6, based on each school’s official student-enrollment count by the last Wednesday of September, 2009. Those numbers were posted on MSHSAA’s website a week and a half ago.

The Class 1-6 groups go from smallest to largest, with Class 6 grouping the 32 largest schools in the state -- based on the student enrollment numbers.

In the last cycle (2008-09) Classes 1-4 each had 64 schools while Class 5 was the “catch-all” classification, with 45 schools. Class 5 is again expected to be used as the odd-number “catch-all” classification, making it even more difficult to guess on district placements.
What most coaches and other school administrators are unsure of are the four-school district groupings.

Based on location, conferences and historic rivalries, some groupings are more easy to estimate than others. As an example long-time conference rivals Rolla and Waynesville have almost always been paired together in the same district. “Probably us and Rolla have been together every year since the district (groupings) have come out,” Vernon said.

Other teams aren’t as sure.

“I haven’t got the slightest idea where we’ll be,” said Salem High School football head coach and athletic director Bill Schuchardt. “We know we’ll be in Class 3. But what happens to teams like (St. Francis) Borgia, Duchesne and Sullivan -- who are all going to be close (to Class 4)? And you don’t know about the low end (of Class 3) either.”

St. James has consistently been a Class 3 school. However, West says there is a chance that the school could move down to Class 2 this year.

“We don’t really know,” West said. “It’s really hard to look at last year’s numbers and decide where the cut-off will be. There is a chance we could go down (a classification) in some sports and activities and may stay the same in others.”

Rolla and Waynesville officials feel there is a good chance they’ll be paired together again as district rivals. The last two years Rolla and Waynesville were part of Class 5 District 6, along with Camdenton and Lebanon. Camdenton and Rolla were the 2009 playoff representatives from District 6.

Two of three schools -- Camdenton, Lebanon or Washington -- have been grouped with Rolla and Waynesville the past several cycles.

However, this year a few southwest Missouri schools, including Willard, Neosho and Branson, may be moving up from Class 4 to muddle the Class 5 picture.

“From everything we’ve heard we’re 99 percent sure we’ll be in Class 5 again,” said RHS head coach Josh Smith. “There is no way to really tell (about the district pairings). There are a couple of southwest Missouri teams who are probably coming up to Class 5 from Class 4. That could force us more down towards southwest Missouri. But you never know.

“Whatever it is it will most definitely be competitive no matter what, especially if we’re with Waynesville and Camdenton again.”

Vernon agrees. “I figure Rolla, Camdenton, Lebanon and us will again be together,” he said. “We’re all kind of in the middle (of the state). But (new southwest Missouri additions to Class 5) could do something to Lebanon.”

The last two years Salem has been paired with Four Rivers Conference schools St. James, Owensville and Sullivan in Class 3 District 7, making the playoffs each year. Earlier two-year cycles have had St. James paired with South-Central Association (SCA) teams Salem, Mountain Grove and Ava. Salem has also been in a district with Ava, Logan-Rogersville and Buffalo in recent years.

“If we’re still Class 3 I could see us staying in the same district,” Harlan said. “Two cycles ago we had Salem, Mountain Grove and Ava. But I’d be surprised if they sent us on two and a half-hour bus trips when they could send us on 30-minute trips. Either way it’ll be tough for us.”

If St. James does indeed move down to Class 2 that would open potential district pairings with other area schools such as Cuba, South Callaway, Hermann and Houston.