With the Prep Bowl champs crowned this past weekend, it’s never too early to look ahead to next year. And next year, the addition of Class 6A, aka the “Big School Class”, is going to bring some big changes to the football landscape across Minnesota. The classes were realigned by school enrollment, but teams can also opt up into a bigger class if they wish. So 9-Man, Class A, and Class AA will remain relatively the same with a handful of teams moving up. St. Croix Lutheran is the only local team to stay put so we’ll start with them and work our way up.
CLASS AAA
The big changes start in Class AAA. The number of teams goes from 65 to 52. So that’s 13 less teams to compete with for a state title. The Crusaders section drops to seven so whoever gets the #1 seed gets a bye and an extra four days to rest up before their first playoff game. St. Croix Lutheran will lose a lot of talent next year, but they should be the early favorite to get back to state. Below is Section 4AAA for 2012 with this year’s records.
4AAA
Cannon Falls (4-5)
Columbia Heights (0-9)
Concordia Academy (6-4)
Minneapolis Edison (2-7 in AA)
Minneapolis Roosevelt (NA)
Minnehaha Academy (6-4)
Saint Croix Lutheran (14-0)
Notable teams leaving AAA: Holy Family, DeLaSalle, Zimmerman
CLASS AAAA
The number of teams stays basically the same, dropping from 51 to 49, but this class also sees major changes as teams shift up. South St. Paul remains as the only local school in AAAA as they slide over to section 4. With half of the section coming up from AAA, the road to state gets a lot easier for the Packers. And with no Cadets constantly standing in their way, a new rivalry with Hill-Murray looks to be in the works.
4AAAA
Hill-Murray (9-3)
New Life Academy (3-6 in AAA)
St. Paul Como Park (2-7 in AAA)
St. Paul Johnson (4-5 in AAA)
St. Paul Harding (5-4)
South St. Paul (10-2)
Notable teams leaving AAAA: Saint Thomas Academy, Mankato West, Rogers, Spring Lake Park, Bemidji
CLASS AAAAA
Saint Thomas Academy, Henry Sibley, and Simley all make the jump together and land in the same section. And although the Raider program is down, the rivalry with Hastings will be renewed. East Ridge finally gets away from Cretin-Derham Hall and looks to make their first section final appearance ever. Overall, the number of teams in this class drops from 57 to 48 so one out of every six teams will make the state tournament.
5AAAAA
East Ridge (3-7)
Hastings (2-7)
Henry Sibley (1-8 in AAAA)
Saint Thomas Academy (9-1 in AAAA)
Simley (4-6 in AAAA)
Tartan (4-5)
Notable teams leaving AAAAA: Anoka, Blaine, Cretin-Derham Hall, Eden Prairie, Edina, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, Minnetonka, Mounds View, Osseo, Stillwater, Wayzata
CLASS AAAAAA
32 teams will make up the top class next year. Four sections of eight (Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6). First round will be as normal (#1 vs #8, #2 vs #7, etc). Second round will take the four winners and match them up cross-section. For example, highest seed from Section 3 will play the lowest seed from Section 4. Sections 5 and 6 will be paired up and the pairing will rotate every two years. The winners of the second round advance to the state tournament where they will be seeded #1-#4 and their opponents will be determined by random draw. The state tournament will play out as normal from there.
I’m not exactly sure what was the motivation for these changes. This makes seven total classes and means that, on average, one out of every 6.8 teams across Minnesota will make the state tournament. In the top class, one out of four will go. I think this is just too many teams getting to state. While making it will be great, there will be many schools who will get there by merely beating a mediocre team and then a good team. The real accomplishment now will be making it to the Metrodome.
I love the new section/state playoff formula for Class 6A since it means getting a better state tournament field and the state seedings should make the final four at the Dome a lot stronger. If it goes well, it would be great if they started doing this in more classes. But this also means that there will be no “big school” games on the first Tuesday of playoffs, more section finals will be watered down, and in the case of the top class, no section finals at all.
I know we just wrapped up the 2011 season, but it’s never too early to start discussing the controversy for 2012, right?
