9-Man Two Classification System

[bison football73]

With all the talk of reclassifications in Basketball and Volleyball I thought 9-man football could use some reclassifying as well. I came up with a plan to divide the 9-man division into a 9A and 9B division based off of next year's preliminary enrollment numbers. I believe this would fix the disparity between the top 9-man teams and the bottom 11B teams, and also help the smaller 9-man teams and larger 6-man teams do the same. The average adjusted enrollment for all 9-man teams is 54, so if we use that number as the cutoff line for a 9A and 9B division this is what it would look like. Obviously with some opt-ups and opt-downs it would make for a much more competitive landscape.

9A - 23 teams
Sargent County
Tri-State
W/L
Mayport-CG
Griggs County-Midkota
Larimore
Hatton/Northwood
Four Winds
New Rockford/Sheyenne-M
Lakota
North Star
Midway/Minto
Kenmare
WNG
Dunseith
South Prairie-Max
Central Mclean
Tioga
Richardton/Taylor-hebron
Hettinger County
Grant County-Flasher
Linton-HMB-S/Z
New Salem

9B - 18 Teams
Lamoure
Hankinson
Maple Valley
Enderlin
Richland
North Prairie
St. John
North Border
MLS
Divide County
TGU
Alexander
Berthold
Hettinger/Scranton
Beach
Kidder County
Napoleon-G/S
South Border

[WalkingStick]

now break it into regions...knowing our state association leaders - every thing has to be done for them to make a decision on things.

[reg1ND]

This would be the most reasonable approach in my opinion. The opt-down system creates a clear disparity in the current 9-man division, and dividing it into 9A and 9B would lessen those effects. A clear issue does arise by basing it off of pure enrollment- for example having teams like Tri-state, who didn't even field a team this year, in 9A, where they'd have to compete against the likes of Sargent County & Mayport. Allowing for teams like Griggs & Tri-state to compete in 9B would even out the divisions in terms of number of teams and also competition. Would regions most likely just be split into East and West?

[WalkingStick]

9A - 20 teams
Sargent County
Wyndmere-Lidgerwood
May-Port-CG
Griggs County-Midkota
Lamoure-LM

Hatton/Northwood
Four Winds
New Rockford/Sheyenne-Maddock
Nelson County
North Star

Kenmare
WNG
South Prairie-Max
Central McLean
Tioga

Richardton/Taylor-Hebron
Hettinger County
Grant County-Flasher
Linton-HMB-S/Z
New Salem

9B - 22 Teams
Hankinson
Tri-State
Enderlin
Maple River
Richland

North Prairie
St. John
North Border
Larimore
Midway/Minto

MLS
Divide County
TGU
Dunseith
Alexander
Berthold

Hettinger/Scranton
Beach
Kidder County
Napoleon-G/S
South Border

I've also heard a few more 11-man schools are petitioning down...could balance things more; I moved a few unsuccessful teams down to 9B from the original list.