By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
The passing of the fall sports season has meant the passing of the latest version of the NIAA realignment period. With that comes a change in the 3A, the 4A and the creation of a new 5A to begin next fall. This has been a heated battle as the different schools have jockeyed for spots in one of the three larger leagues.
In the north, the decision was simple. Most of the current 4A members have chosen to stay in the 4A. This was an understandable effort to stay away from Bishop Gorman and the domination the Gaels have enjoyed in football, basketball and baseball. Only two schools in the north have elected to leave the 4A. Both Reed and Bishop Manogue wanted to move to the new 5A.
The other league, the current 3A north, will remain pretty much the same. But it will have an addition with North Valleys High School joining the 3A as a full member. That will give the north a tenth member in all sports. Wooster, who played football in the 3A league only, will return to the 4A in football next year where they will play in all sports.
In the South the 5A will become a southern-only league. It will be comprised of twelve schools only.
The realignment will have a football league in the fall then a non-football league comprising all the other sports throughout the rest of the year. There will be most of the same schools in both the football and non-football league. There will be a few different schools in each also.
On December 7 the NIAA met to discuss the new realignment. The proposal was to create the new 5A and rearrange both the 4A and 3A.
In the original meeting, a six-hour marathon, representatives for schools as well as the NIAA realignment committee pounded out the proposal. The original idea would include Boulder City, Moapa Valley, Pahrump Valley, Virgin Valley, Sunrise Mountain, Mojave, Chaparral, Western, Democracy Prep (formerly Agassi Prep), Rancho, Cheyenne and Del Sol. This was the football only league. Gone was Desert Pines who has won the last two 3A state football championships.
In the non-football 3A league were Boulder City, Chaparral, Del Sol, Democracy Prep, Mojave, Moapa Valley, Pahrump Valley, Sunrise Mountain, Virgin Valley and Western.
The problem here was Chaparral and Mojave were proposed to remain in the 3A. Meanwhile Eldorado and Valley, both beaten by those two 3A schools in football, felt they should be brought down to the 3A in football. That way they could take advantage of the small school league to help build their programs just like Chaparral and Mojave have done. Eldorado had won a 4A soccer state championship which gave them enough rubric points to remain in the 4A.
Then there is Rancho who has one of the best baseball programs in the state of Nevada and made last year’s state semi-finals. They were brought down into the 3A for football but will play in the 5A in everything else.
The other problem is the liaison for the southern 3A just happens to be from Chaparral. He really wanted the Cowboys to remain in the 3A and he really drove the bus for that purpose.
He also voted to change the playoff format which would have the northern champion play the southern champion without any semi-final cross-over games.
This idea is where the first and second seeded team from the north and south would play against each other in the state semi-finals. It was what the north wanted so they can guarantee a team in the state finals. But the south doesn’t want this because they have the top two teams in the state and it would eliminate one of those top two teams with a northern school who does not belong. As an example, there would not have ever been a Moapa Valley vs. Desert Pines thriller in 2014 under that ruling.
After six hours a vote was finally taken for the above proposal. Moapa Valley, Pahrump Valley and Virgin Valley were represented but Boulder City had no one. A school who dropped to an independent status for football because they couldn’t compete just didn’t seem to care.
While most of the debate was by those who wanted to play in the 3A or 4A there were three schools who were not part of the whole 5A plan: Faith Lutheran, Coronado and Centennial. Faith Lutheran, who is hoping to someday compete with Gorman, petitioned to move up. The other two schools, Coronado and Centennial, two of the largest schools in Las Vegas, also chose to move up near the end of the meeting.
After the meeting adjourned, there were many emails and correspondence exchanged in hopes that the NIAA Board of Control at its January meeting might not vote in favor of the changes. Many of the emails were addressed to the liaison from Chaparral.
All of this uproar led to last Friday’s meeting. The reason was held was that a final public comment period had been skipped at the end of the previous meeting. Also, one last vote cementing the committee’s recommendations that was not taken had to happen therefore opening a door.
Friday’s meeting was held at Chaparral where both southern and northern schools could participate; the north by telephone. Four hours of discussion and debate occurred before the votes were cast.
It was finally decided that the 5A would consist of two leagues: a northern and southern. These leagues have not yet been named . But they will not be known as the north and south to avoid any confusion between the northern and southern Nevada regions already being used.
The first 5A football league would be Arbor View, Canyon Springs, Centennial, Faith Lutheran, Las Vegas and Legacy. The second would consist of Basic, Bishop Gorman, Coronado, Foothill, Green Valley and Liberty.
Arbor View head football coach Dan Barnson proposed that Gorman switch between the two divisions on a yearly basis. Gorman’s Athletic director and head basketball coach Grant Rice agreed to this.
Barnson also wanted each league to have their own tournament where the winner of one would play the winner of the other presenting region champions.
Liberty head coach Rich Muraco wanted a crossover tournament, once again setting up the two best teams situation. Liberty and Gorman have played twice for the state championship in recent years and a regional tournament setup would always place Liberty and Gorman in their regional final/state semi-final if that proposal was adopted. Arbor View on the other hand would most likely play either Gorman or Liberty in the semi-final if they wanted to qualify for the state championship game if a crossover bracket was adopted.
That decision will be made in January after the NIAA staff recommends a format.
After all the debate had cleared, the leagues that will be proposed for NIAA approval in Januaryare the following:
The non-football 5A leagues will be Arbor View, Centennial, Las Vegas, Palo Verde, Shadow Ridge and Rancho. The other will be Basic, Bishop Gorman, Coronado, Desert Oasis, Foothill, Green Valley, Liberty and Silverado.
The 4A recommendation for football is Palo Verde, Bonanza, Cimarron Memorial, Shadow Ridge, Mojave, Desert Pines and Eldorado. The other league will be Desert Oasis, Sierra Vista, Durango, Spring Valley, Clark, Valley, Chaparral and Silverado.
The non-football league will be Bonanza, Canyon Springs, Cheyenne, Cimarron Memorial, Desert Pines, Eldorado and Legacy in one league. The other will be Clark, Durango, Sierra Vista, SECTA, Spring Valley and Valley.
The 3A football league will be proposed as Boulder City, Cheyenne, Del Sol, Democracy Prep, Moapa Valley, Pahrump Valley, Rancho, Sunrise Mountain, Virgin Valley and Western.
The Committee did not change the recommendation for non-football meaning Chaparral and Mojave will remain in the 3A in the rest of the sports. As far as the tournament is concerned the 1A and 2A remained the same except for Democracy Prep.
The final meeting and vote will happen on January 17 in the NIAA meeting.
