Sports

Eagle River, Palmer drop to medium-school division for football

Alaska's governing body for high school activities has decided to call an audible in an attempt to level the state's high school football playing field.

The Alaska School Activities Association board of directors voted Tuesday to change the student enrollment limit for football's small schools division from 350 to 450 students and from 800 to 900 for medium schools. As a result of the change, Palmer and Eagle River will move from the large-school division to the division for medium-sized schools, and Houston and Homer will drop from medium to small .

Eagle River coach Matt Turner and Palmer coach Rod Christiansen said they thought something needed to be done.

"I'm glad they've decided to do something and stop talking about it," Christiansen said.

Palmer and Eagle River will play in a five-team Northern Lights Conference along with Kenai, Kodiak and Soldotna. Houston -- an independent last season -- will play in the four-team Aurora Conference, and Homer will move to the four-team Peninsula Conference.

The Cook Inlet Conference, home to the Anchorage schools, will remain largely unchanged. With the loss of Eagle River, the seven remaining CIC teams will fill their schedules with an additional nonconference game.

The large-school division will shrink from 13 teams to 11, but will still hold an eight-team playoff. The Cook Inlet Conference will receive five playoff berths and the four-team Railbelt Conference will advance three teams.

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The medium-school division will have nine teams and the small-school division will have 10, including Sitka, which will play as an independent. Both division will advance four teams to the playoffs.

ASAA executive director Billy Strickland said the board will continue to examine potential changes to football classifications as needed.

Football parity has been a hot topic in the 14 years since Alaska went away from a single classification system. Although the change has brought in more teams, it has also resulted in competitive imbalances. Four schools have combined to win the 19 small and medium championships that have been awarded during that time -- Soldotna (7), Kenai (6), Nikiski (4) and Eielson (2).

Finding a way to get Eagle River into a more competitive conference also drove the changes. Anchorage's smallest public high school, Eagle River hasn't made the playoffs since the school opened in 2006. This season the Wolves went 0-8, losing by a combined score of 479-25.

"I think something needed to be done," Turner said.

Christiansen said Palmer will continue to play traditional rivals Colony and Wasilla as part of its nonconference schedule.

"Those are big games for us," he said.

Christiansen, whose teams have advanced to the large-school playoffs 15 years in a row, said it's unfortunate the Moose will no longer be able to play for a large-school state title, but he thinks Palmer's enrollment -- about 750 students -- means the Moose will be playing in an appropriate division.

"I think that's where we belong," he said.

Christiansen said he'd like to see something done to allow the top medium schools and large schools teams to play each other after the playoffs to crown an overall state champ. He suggested holding the game at The Dome in South Anchorage with a live television feed for fans.

"Everyone could gather across the street to watch," he said.

2015 Alaska Football classifications and conferences

Large Schools (901+)

COOK INLET CONFERNCE (5 berths)

East

West

Service

Dimond

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South

Bartlett

Chugiak

RAILBELT CONFERENCE (3 berths)

Wasilla

Colony

Lathrop

West Valley

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Medium Schools (451-900)

NORTHERN LIGHTS CONFERENCE (2 berths)

Eagle River

Palmer

Kodiak

Soldotna

Kenai

SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE (2 berths)

North Pole

Thunder Mountain

Juneau

Ketchikan

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Small Schools (1-450)

AURORA CONFERENCE (2 berths)

Houston

Eielson

Monroe

Valdez

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Barrow

PENINSULA CONFERENCE (2 berths)

Homer

Nikiski

Seward

Voznesenka-Razdolna-Kachemak Selo

Independent

Sitka

Matt Tunseth

Matt Tunseth is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and former editor of the Alaska Star.

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