North Dakota Preps

I attended the summer coaches clinic this year and we had a "straw vote" to see how many teams would like to see two 9-man divisions.  The vote was very much in favor of having 2 divisions. 

The subject was brought up at the regional meetings this year but 1/3 of the teams were and will be 11-man so why would they care??

I see now were going to have over 50 teams competing in 9-man in 2007.  (Imagine the crowds for 2 championship 9-man games!!!)

Why do you think it wouldn't work???   What are the positives and negatives???

I don't like the idea of that because it will just divide the competition.  If that is the case, we just as well have conference championships and leave it at that.  To me, it is the great idea that some small towns will win state with a smaller enrollment and such.  To me that is Class B and especially 9-man.  2 divisions seem to water it down to much, but that is my opinion.  It is an idea that I never really heard of before. 

Good point!!! 

It still seems like 50+ teams could easily make 2 divisions.

depending on how it is set up, would determine how for or against people would be for it i think.

if there are towns that are geographically near to each other, but won't play each other because they are in a different division, i'm against it.

but if they would do a east-west split or a north-south split...i suppose it could work. like every other sport, there needs to be plenty of consideration for what rivalries are being hurt by a split. the geographic rivalries are what keep sports booming.

that is part of my problem with the four classes currently. some schools that are essentially the same population are in different classes and every year they don't play each other. from talking with coaches, that is the most frustrating part of the season. school populations are always jumping around a bit, though sadly they generally seem to always be declining. in five years, with co-ops, i'll be curious to see how many 9-man teams there are. hopefully there are still 50, but i'd guess there won't be.

also, from a media standpoint, more classes means more to keep track of and that turns friday nights into all the more hastle. personally, i miss three classes. the championships meant more and i'm not really a big fan of the 16 team-system (not sure of the number) that is class aa. when i was in high school, we played a couple of those teams and beat them. that is part of the fun of 'class b sports' and why i like it more than 'class a sports' where essentially each team can sort of just be chalked into brackets each year. with 'class b' there isn't the same four friggin teams playing and there is a larger pool for a team to come out of.

but, if i could see a plan of how the divisions would be set up, i think i (as well as everyone else) get a better sense of if there should be a yea or nay vote

SCC I respect a lot of your posts, but I dont see having a weak region as an excuse because that team really cant help it. They are playing in a region just like everyone else, be it weak or strongest in state it still comes down to being the top teams.  I see what your saying but some years teams have weak rosters and the next year they could be great. All part of nine-man football!!

I hear ya there. Not a lot of differences in last years "new" 11-man teams and most 9-man schools either. Heck, North Border even made a playoff run. Jeff is a great coach, he coached me for 2 years and left my junior season to go to NB. He had a great season last year for their first year.

I agree with you on the small difference in schools.

We were one of those "new" 11-man teams.  The main thing people don't understand is it's not so much a talent issue swithing to class A.  It's an issue of having 22 kids to put on the field or 35 kids to put on the field.  When you don't have quite as many kids, or someone gets dinged up, you end up with a freshman or sophomore on the field when they aren't physically ready for varsity football.

I would be happy to stay 11-man if we consistantly had 32+ kids.  Heck, you get to put two more boys on the field.

The main differences we've found is it's easier to play defense in 11-man, it's tougher to score. (Not as many big plays.)   You have more time to make the correct read on defense.  Field position and time of possession are more important.