Jul 21, 2015 2 min read

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The days of high school football players competing well into the month of December may be coming to an end.

At a joint meeting in Mechanicsburg, the PIAA Strategic Planning Committee and the football steering committee met today to discuss a possible expansion to six classifications.

Well, as expected, they could not reach a consensus.

In fact, the two items that were passed and will be discussed by the Board of Directors Wednesday are the 10 percent rule for enrollment figures and a recommendation to shorten the football season by one week.

If passed, only 10 percent of a school district’s students enrolled in charter, cyber, home or alternative schools will affect enrollment numbers for a district. Right now, all of those students are counted against a district’s enrollment.

Under the proposal to shorten the season, it will be up to each district to either cut a preseason scrimmage or eliminate the Week 10 games. Some reports say that each individual school can make that decision, but I’m pretty sure the WPIAL will make the call because playoff format will be affected.

Those in favor of shortening the season make an outstanding case. The 2015 PIAA football championships are scheduled for Dec. 18 and 19, which is among the latest in the country.

With six classifications, the committees did not reach an agreement. They voted to eliminate a Super 800 format, which featured a higher minimum for the largest classifications. Three proposals still alive are maintaing four evenly divided classifications, expand to six evenly divided classifcations or a Super 700 format, which I detailed on the blog Sunday.

To expand for the 2016-17 cycle, the Board of Directors will have to pass a proposal before enrollment figures are due in October, but the committees are unlikely to meet again until September.

Though many people were hoping for change, it is looking more unlikely by the day.