Tribune file photo - The Sparks and Wooster football teams, pictured above, will meet in each of the next two seasons after an NIAA realignment plan was recently approved, allowing Wooster to play an independent schedule against 3A North opponents.
The NIAA, which governs prep sports in the Silver State, rubber stamped the realignment plan March 11, leaving athletic administrators across the state to brainstorm and implement new scheduling plans for individual sports.
“I think for the schools and leagues in general this is a step in the right direction,” NIAA Assistant Director Donnie Nelson said. “I think schools are thankful it passed. Certainly, school district budgets are not looking rosy for the coming year.
“I think the realignment plan is positive. I think it’s definitely worth trying. Maybe we’ll find out after two or three years it will stick ... It’s something new for the state and I think that’s exciting. It could breathe in some new life and satisfy what the state superintendents want, to save money.”
Under the new realignment plan, the Northern 4A loses Elko, Fallon and South Tahoe and it is left with 12 schools, which will be housed in the two existing leagues. Reed and Spanish Springs remain in the High Desert League along with Reno, McQueen, Hug and North Valleys. The Sierra League will consist of Bishop Manogue, Carson, Damonte Ranch, Douglas, Galena and Wooster.
The Northern 3A and 2A will combine to form three leagues — the Ruby Mountain (east), Lahontan (central) and Mount Rose (west). Sparks High will be a Mount Rose League member along with Incline, North Tahoe, South Tahoe, Truckee and Whittell.
“We’ll spend a lot of time at the Lake,” Sparks High Athletic Administrator Charlie Walsh said. “It’s absolutely perfect for us. We already play a lot of these schools.”
The Lahontan League would be made up of Fallon, Dayton, Fernley, Lovelock, Rite of Passage, Silver Stage and Yerington. The Ruby Mountain League would be home to Elko, Spring Creek, Lowry, Battle Mountain, White Pine and West Wendover.
Football is the exception. The Northern 4A will play under one league with 11 schools, playing eight league games. Wooster will not play football in the 4A ranks, instead competing in the 3A with Sparks, Dayton, Elko, Fallon, Fernley, Lowry, South Tahoe, Spring Creek and Truckee. The remaining schools from the trio of 3A-2A schools will play football in the Northern 2A.
The plan, which also calls for changes in southern Nevada, will be in place for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years. The passage of realignment did not surprise many, if any. Many athletic administrators from Nevada’s varying classifications had already been meeting to discuss scheduling plans.
The Northern 4A athletic administrators wasted no time adopting scheduling plans. They met in February and adopted schedules for all sports and then four days after realignment was passed, they approved their schedules for all sports for the 2010-2011 school year.
“It was a good process,” Spanish Springs Athletic Director Art Anderson said. “It wasn’t something done for, lack of a better word, half-hearted. Everyone involved took it seriously. We wanted to do what was best. Everybody had good ideas. When we had a finished product, I think we all felt comfortable that we created positive scenarios out of what we had to work with.”
The biggest change to come out of the Northern 4A ADs second meeting was playoff format. After their February meeting, the league leaders chose to trim playoff qualifiers to three from each league rather than four, which is currently the case. In its March meeting, the group reversed its decision, after listening to wishes of local coaches, and chose to keep the playoff qualifiers as the top four from each league.
“Anytime you have the opportunity to get more kids the chance to move on to the postseason, I think that’s a benefit,” Reed High Athletic Director Ron Coombs said. “Anything that’s better for the kids, we’re for. That’s a win for Reed and a win for all the schools. To have the opportunity to play when everything’s on the line, that’s nice.”
Athletic officials for the new 3A-2A have not been sitting on their thumbs either. After meeting at Sparks High last month, they met at SHS again Monday to finalize 2010-11 schedules and a playoff format.
Sparks High Athletic Director Rob Kittrell said Monday’s meeting was productive. He confirmed 2010-11 school year fall schedules for the new 2A-3A are in place and that the basketball master schedule should be approved by next week. He added that spring schedules are expected to be confirmed by mid April. The 2A-3A league leaders must still approve one of two playoff format proposals still under scrutiny.
“I think with the NIAA allowing us to do this (realign), I think we’re headed in the right direction,” Kittrell said. “It is just a two-year thing, so we’ll see how it works.”
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