By Dave Belcher
Moapa Valley Progress
When the 2012-2013 high school sports season starts there will most likely be changes that will take place to the southern 3A and 4A classifications which will affect the entire state.
The NIAA is trying to convince the southern 4A to send its weaker schools in sports to the 3A which could be dissolved and called the 4A division II. This way the dropping 4A schools can have their egos somewhat in tact and still make it look like they haven’t dropped down a league.
This change would result in a 13 team, two league southern region instead of the 3 team southern single league region which exists now.
The north has already done a pod system combining the 2A and 3A then splitting out to their own region championships then state championships. But this will change too.
Does the system need to be changed? Well, due to the economy and the fact that the current 3A must travel out of state or travel to northern Nevada to play regular season games, the cost of travel is a reason by itself.
Also of interest is a desire for competitive balance especially in Las Vegas.
“This gives kids a chance to participate and to be competitive,” said Clark County School District associate superintendent Andre Denson to the Las Vegas Review Journal. “Once students start to feel like they can compete and win, students want to participate more. It has a great possibility to make schools more competitive in more programs.”
The general feeling in Vegas over the years was that the 4A is much better than the 3A therefore it was a lose- lose situation for the 4A to play the 3A. That’s true for the upper programs in the 4A. But the weaker programs can’t compete or are close to the 3A level. The problem is which programs do you drop to the 3A which would actually be an upgrade for most of those 4A schools.
Here is another question: Will it be just a sport or the entire school? Incline High School played in both the 2A and 3A for a couple of years. They wrestled and played basketball in the 3A but played in the 2A for everything else.
Yerington got moved up to the 3A for a year after having a football team that made the championship game. Then they forfeited half the 3A football season because of injuries sidelining a few of their players.
Gorman who has the enrollment numbers of a 3A classification school has nationally ranked football, basketball and baseball programs. But their wrestling, track teams and several of their girls teams get beaten by the 3A regularly.
Will it be fair to send a program to the 3A when their baseball program is one of the top three in the 4A but not successful in much else?
Then again Moapa Valley has dominated the southern 3A football in the state championship game the last five years winning two of them. Ask Boulder City how they feel about it.
The bottom line is everyone wants to be a champion, to be the best. Not everyone can be that, but everyone needs a fair shot unlike the BCS. Will it ever be fair? Yes! It comes every second weekend in April. Other than that NO. Some programs are just better than others. How hard are you willing to work?
Here’s the proposal. Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley and Boulder City will be joined by former 3A residents Faith Lutheran and Pahrump Valley and be joined by eight schools from Las Vegas who have accumulated the fewest points over a two year cycle.
A rubric to accumulate points has been established. The plan calls for teams to be awarded points on where they finish in the regular season with more points if the teams qualifies for and advances in the league championship and then the State tournament and championship.
So here is an example. In the sports of girls’ volleyball, boys’ and girls’ basketball, baseball and softball, teams will receive 1 point for fourth place; 2 points for finishing third place; 3 points for finishing in second place; 4 points for a first place finish. A region first round win moves the total to 5 points. If the team wins a regional semi-final the total moves to 10. When a team qualifies for the state semi-final with the regional championship the total moves to 20 points. A semi-final win moves the total to 30 then to 40 for winning the state championship.
In football only, point totals are doubled so the Championship is worth 80 points.
For the remaining sports; cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, wrestling, swimming, boys and girls track, and boys volleyball, teams are given one point for placing second in their region and three points for winning their region championship. The total increases to five points for finishing second in the state and 10 points for winning a state title. The points will be accumulated over the two years providing the top twelve in each of the two 4A regions. Then those regions will be divided into two leagues in each region to make up the southern 4A classification.
The remaining eight schools will be placed in the southern 3A (or to make the 4A feel better about themselves the 4A Division II) with Faith Lutheran and Pahrump Valley who don’t figure in the rubric process and current southern 3A member schools Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley and Boulder City who will also not figure into this process. At least not this time.
This process will be repeated every two years allowing movement between the two classifications for the Vegas schools depending on the point totals. The points are the same for both the 4A and 3A meaning new 4A schools could be dropped to the 3A every two years.
Does this mean the current 3A members could also be moved up and down? Or is this just a 4A thing? The first cycle started with the 2009-2010 and the 2010-2011 seasons.
The regional tournament formats are still being discussed. This process is not written in stone yet. However the hammer and chisel is in hand.The NIAA will meet June 22-23 to reveal the schools who would be moving. Then in their October meeting the board of control will vote on it.
Here’s the northern league proposal for the northern 4A Division II (3A). Dayton, Elko, Fallon, Fernley, Hug, Lowry, South Tahoe, Sparks, Spring Creek, Truckee, and Wooster.
Wooster, by the way, fired their football coach after last season competing in the 3A as an independent. He was let go because he felt the school would excel in the 3A. The administration felt otherwise and did not want to go in that direction.
