High school football leagues in northern Nevada, and across the state, could have a different look this fall if a prep realignment proposal gets approval this spring.

A realignment plan, aimed at saving travel expenses and keeping students in class longer, will be presented to Nevada’s school district superintendents next month. If it meets their approval, it will likely be rubber stamped by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s Board of Control in March.

“From what I’ve heard so far, yes, I think it will go through,” said Sparks High athletic director Rob Kittrell, who doubles as the Railroaders’ football coach. “We were pretty close a couple years ago, but it didn’t work out. Everything I’ve heard has been positive and it looks like it will happen.”

The proposal forms new leagues comprised of high schools within close proximity to each other rather than based on enrollment, as has long been the standard in the Silver State. Still, NIAA realignment committee members recognized enrollment as a driving force in competitive balance regarding football. Due to that, prep football leagues under the new realignment will differ from other sports.

The Northern 4A will be comprised of largely the same schools. Last fall, it had 15 schools: seven in the High Desert League and eight in the Sierra League. If the realignment proposal passes, the Northern 4A will be left with 11 schools. Current 4A members South Tahoe, Elko and Fallon will join a new league with the current 3A North schools, Sparks, Lowry, Spring Creek, Fernley, Dayton and Truckee. Additionally, 4A Wooster will play in the new 3A North League, but only as an independent and will not be eligible for postseason play.

“It’s a straight 3A league,” Elko High athletic director Lynette Davis said, alluding to all nine schools having similar enrollments. “Of all the sports, football is the easiest to schedule. It’s a good football league. By no means will we step in and dominate. We had a string of some very good athletes, but over the last six or seven years, we haven’t had those athletes and we can’t compete against McQueen, Reed and other larger schools with proven football programs.

“If we get into this league, week in and week out, we may lose a game, but it won’t be 58-0. We should be more competitive. Those games where teams were scoring every time they got the ball were a little hard to take.”

Elko dropping from the 4A ranks is not a new idea. It has been discussed in recent years but met with mixed reviews, including some opposition from Davis.

“I’ve been the one that has dragged my feet the most, but my opinions were from the athletic director’s standpoint, fears that we’d lose lower-level games because some of the smaller schools don’t field lower-level programs,” Davis said. “But if I’m in our (varsity) coach’s shoes, I also understand that if we don’t start winning more games, we’re going to lose kids.”

At South Tahoe, the Vikings were a perennial Northern 4A football power in the mid- to late-1990s, but the Lake school has qualified for the playoffs just once over the past eight seasons. South Tahoe athletic director Don Borges believes a lack of continuity — seven coaches in nine years — and shrinking STHS enrollment are the two biggest factors in the Vikings’ recent struggles.

Given those woes, Borges and the coaching staff at South Tahoe are not crushed to potentially leave the Northern 4A.

“The realignment is good for South Tahoe,” Borges said. “We won’t be the biggest dog in the league but we won’t be at the bottom looking up like we have been for awhile.

“For football, we’ll go to eastern Nevada (either to play Elko or Spring Creek) but you just deal with it, for once a year. ... For football it is an expense but when you look at other sports and playing closer around the lake, it will work itself out.”

South Tahoe had to fundraise its entire prep athletic budget a few years ago and with tough economic times hitting school districts everywhere, Borges admitted school leaders did look at returning to play in a California league. However, he said the discussion didn’t go very far, pointing out it’s much easier and safer for Vikings teams to travel east into Nevada over Spooner summit than west into California over Echo summit, especially in winter months.

Sparks High athletic officials have been lobbying in recent years for ways to make the 3A North a more viable football league. The realignment proposal should do that. Depending on the 3A North’s make-up in past years, Sparks has had as few as five league games. That made it tough to fill a 10-week schedule.

“This now means we’d all get nine games that are all competitive,” Kittrell said of the new plan. “Three years ago we only had eight games and we actually played the Hall of Fame weekend, which meant we had three byes. One bye week is OK, but more than that can kill your momentum.”

Under the new realignment plan, Sparks and its league foes would have eight league games. Plus, each school would schedule Wooster, which is a 4A school playing an independent football schedule. That leaves schools in the new 3A North League to only fill the season-opening Hall of Fame game, which is optional.

“From a coach’s standpoint and trying to find games, I love it,” said Bob Shaffer, coach of traditional 3A state power Truckee. “If all of those schools actually drop down, that gives us nine games right off the bat without a problem. It solves some problems in trying to find (extra non-league) games. I was finding it very difficult to try and schedule games.”

Coaches and AD’s alike seem to believe the proposed league would be a yearly dogfight as teams battle for playoff spots.

“I love it. Year in and year out, I think it will be a very competitive league,” Kittrell said. “If you look at this new football schedule, it’s hard to imagine a league champion going 8-0, nor do I see someone finishing 0-8.

“This is great for the 3A and Sparks football. With eight league games, you have to be ready to go early. You’ve got the Hall of Fame game to open and then you start league play the next week. You’re going to have to make sure you’ve got a good offseason program to be ready for that first game. You can’t just show up in mid-August.”