HS Football Update - sort of

short ornery norwegian

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
19,491
Reaction score
13,142
Points
113
FWIW - the MN State High School League at its April 6th meeting approved new Classifications and Section assignments for the next two school years. The info is supposed to be posted on the MSHSL website on Friday.

But - this does not include the Football District classifications and assignments. According to the MSHSL calendar, football districts will not be given final approval until June 6th.

So, if you're wondering why your local team hasn't announced or posted its 2023 schedule yet, it's because they can't do the schedule until they know what district they're in. going to be a lot of fun for AD's and football coaches. Once the districts are set, then most districts have to organize into sub-districts before schedules can be set and contracts finalized with officials.

bottom line, schedules will be finalized roughly 2 months before practice starts.
 

I believe teams will have a rough idea of who is going to be on their schedule before the end of April. But it won’t be finalized until June 6 or later. (Not will they have home/road or order…they’ll just know the teams they’ll play)


Biggest moves that will surprise people I think.
Mayo and Buffalo up to 6a
Brainerd down to 5a
Totino grace all the way down to 4a
 
Last edited:


TG in 4A is a joke, unless they’ve really fallen off.
They think they’ve fallen off.

I think they would like to be 5a but they think in 5a they’d be given a schedule playing 5-6 top 10 teams…and they don’t think they can handle that.


I think Totino would’ve been a top 25 program in 5a last year but not top 10.


They’re 2-16 their last 18 games in 6a.
 

I believe teams will have a rough idea of who is going to be on their schedule before the end of April. But it won’t be finalized until June 6 or later. (Not will they have home/road or order…they’ll just know the teams they’ll play)


Biggest moves that will surprise people I think.
Mayo and Buffalo up to 6a
Brainerd down to 5a
Totino grace all the way down to 4a
Teams won't get that rough idea until about mid-May according to the directives handed down by the MSHSL so far. It would be nice to get that information sooner as finding officials has been getting worse and worse. Many games are going to have to be played on Thursday and Saturday nights next fall. Even talk of some games having to be played on Monday evenings. It's only going to get worse too...
 


Teams won't get that rough idea until about mid-May according to the directives handed down by the MSHSL so far. It would be nice to get that information sooner as finding officials has been getting worse and worse. Many games are going to have to be played on Thursday and Saturday nights next fall. Even talk of some games having to be played on Monday evenings. It's only going to get worse too...
I think it kind of depends on class.
Nothing will be official until June.
6a schedule model will be semi settled by mid to late April.
Once they pick the model you could name probably 7 or 8 of your 8 opponents.

No idea on when 9-man through 5a people are meeting

All signals at 6a have pointed towards section scheduling + relief. For the good teams…they could probably name 5 of their opponents today. But won’t know who takes relief until late April. And won’t have dates and times of games until June.
 

I believe teams will have a rough idea of who is going to be on their schedule before the end of April. But it won’t be finalized until June 6 or later. (Not will they have home/road or order…they’ll just know the teams they’ll play)


Biggest moves that will surprise people I think.
Mayo and Buffalo up to 6a
Brainerd down to 5a
Totino grace all the way down to 4a

Mayo is a "wow" for me. That opens up Sec 1/5A for Owatonna & Northfield, unless Mankato West gets pushed over.

I wonder what will happen in terms of scheduling. Really on an island for 6A teams. I do think they can hold their own though, unless there is a flood of open enrollees back to JM or Century.
 

Isn’t Century the newest and nicest school in Roch? Guess point being, if you had a choice between Mayo and Century, why wouldn’t you pick the latter? No idea though.

Could be like Apple Valley vs Eastview at this point.
 

Mayo is a "wow" for me. That opens up Sec 1/5A for Owatonna & Northfield, unless Mankato West gets pushed over.

I wonder what will happen in terms of scheduling. Really on an island for 6A teams. I do think they can hold their own though, unless there is a flood of open enrollees back to JM or Century.
They’re in the south metro section of 6a

I think they’ll play in it. I think they could’ve beaten Burnsville and Eastview last year.
I think they could’ve beaten or had good games against Lakeville North, Farmington, and Eagan.

Would’ve struggled with South and rosemount. But who didn’t.

But I agree it really changes things.
I kind of thought Brainerd and Moorhead would both be in it. But they were too small.

Moorhead, Andover, rogers, Brainerd are all growing and are 4 of the top 6 teams in terms of enrollment in 5a. 6a football could look really different in 3 years. Next classification I wouldn’t be surprised if any of Elk river, Andover, rogers, Brainerd, and Moorhead were all up…Burnsville, Hopkins already really close to the cut line. Osseo not really growing. Roseville shrinking.

That could really shift 6a center of geographic gravity north.
 



Isn’t Century the newest and nicest school in Roch? Guess point being, if you had a choice between Mayo and Century, why wouldn’t you pick the latter? No idea though.

Could be like Apple Valley vs Eastview at this point.
It really matters who lives in the neighborhood and what kind of housing is being built.

In rosemount, apple valley, Eagan district. 4 high schools. The one that’s growing is the one that is best at sports (Rosemount). They also happen to have the oldest and least nice building.
 


Not holding my breath but it would really be nice to see them find a way to make scheduling less rigid at 6A. Keeping the teams at the lower end of 6A exclusively within that level dooms them to getting pounded nonstop. If there was a way Hopkins and Burnsville could play teams like St. Louis Park, Jefferson, or Two Rivers, thus letting teams like Mahtomedi and St. Thomas play a few 6A teams during the regular season, that would seem to bring only benefits and no negatives.
 

Also, there is no open enrollment/transferring within the Rochester district. You go where the map says you go. This is a big reason why there is so much open enrollment outward to Stewartville, Byron, Pine Island, and Dover-Eyota.
A district is allowed to supersede state law like that?

Surprised no one has tried to sue them.
 




A district is allowed to supersede state law like that?

Surprised no one has tried to sue them.
A school can close open enrollment whenever they want. They just have to set the rule and follow it for everyone. The law states that if you want you can allow only up to 1% of your resident student body as open enrolled students. So if you have 100 kids in a grade, you could allow 1 student and then open enrollment would be closed. I don't know the exact rule that Rochester uses for their high schools, but for their elementary they have "district-wide" schools that you can apply for, but it's just random if you get in I've heard since they can't pick and choose.
 

It's not considered open enrollment if it's within the same district.
That doesn’t strike you as silly?

If that’s what the law actually says, district only, then the law is incredibly short-sighted. But fine, if so.
 

A school can close open enrollment whenever they want. They just have to set the rule and follow it for everyone. The law states that if you want you can allow only up to 1% of your resident student body as open enrolled students. So if you have 100 kids in a grade, you could allow 1 student and then open enrollment would be closed. I don't know the exact rule that Rochester uses for their high schools, but for their elementary they have "district-wide" schools that you can apply for, but it's just random if you get in I've heard since they can't pick and choose.
Thanks for the info.

I wasn’t referring to each individual school’s ability to turn off OE applications, but that a district can whimsically decide to deny it completely for infra-district transfers.
 

That doesn’t strike you as silly?

If that’s what the law actually says, district only, then the law is incredibly short-sighted. But fine, if so.
Districts need to be allowed to assign students to certain schools or you'd have some schools over capacity. I think what Rochester is doing is somewhat rare but sometimes has to be done for enrollment balance.
 

A school can close open enrollment whenever they want. They just have to set the rule and follow it for everyone. The law states that if you want you can allow only up to 1% of your resident student body as open enrolled students. So if you have 100 kids in a grade, you could allow 1 student and then open enrollment would be closed. I don't know the exact rule that Rochester uses for their high schools, but for their elementary they have "district-wide" schools that you can apply for, but it's just random if you get in I've heard since they can't pick and choose.

While this may be the "law" there are many schools that don't follow this rule. I know of one S. Metro School that has closed open enrollment, unless your student is gifted and/or has certain other skills that are attractive to them. Then suddenly they have space. They also actively encourage students who struggle to consider open enrolling to other schools in the area. The school want to be looked at more like a college than high school on the academic side of things.
 


Thanks for the info.

I wasn’t referring to each individual school’s ability to turn off OE applications, but that a district can whimsically decide to deny it completely for infra-district transfers.
You have to limit within district or everyone would want the newest school or school with best sports. People don't want to go to Coon Rapids for example, but they can't all be allowed to go to Andover, Anoka, or Blaine. Blaine has no room.
 


TG has to compete with the following to get to State.

Columbia Heights
Fridley
Edison
Patrick Henry
St. Anthony Village

Class 5 and 4 have a ton of 5 team sections.

I hope 6A just goes straight section play with a cross over game with another section.
 

I'm pretty far in the dark on MSHSL football scheduling nuances, but I'm assuming Mayo going to 6A would mean losing the regular season games against Century and JM. That would be a damn shame.
 

I'm pretty far in the dark on MSHSL football scheduling nuances, but I'm assuming Mayo going to 6A would mean losing the regular season games against Century and JM. That would be a damn shame.
In a straight class schedule, but they may allow them some relief in scheduling to have some 5A rivals on their schedule. Coon Rapids and Brainerd have done this in the past.
 

Interesting seeing towns like Red Wing, Albert Lea, and Stewartville down in 3A.
 

Not holding my breath but it would really be nice to see them find a way to make scheduling less rigid at 6A. Keeping the teams at the lower end of 6A exclusively within that level dooms them to getting pounded nonstop. If there was a way Hopkins and Burnsville could play teams like St. Louis Park, Jefferson, or Two Rivers, thus letting teams like Mahtomedi and St. Thomas play a few 6A teams during the regular season, that would seem to bring only benefits and no negatives.
We need more people with your brain at the MSHSL
 

In a straight class schedule, but they may allow them some relief in scheduling to have some 5A rivals on their schedule. Coon Rapids and Brainerd have done this in the past.
Rumor is 6a has been pushing for and will get section scheduling plus relief within 6a
 


Open Enrollment by definition is enrolling in another district. It is NOT enrolling in another school within your district. I talked about this last year, but you will see some very upset parents in a few years if and likely when the Osseo district re-draws enrollment lines between high schools and parents who thought their kids were going to Maple Grove are reassigned to Osseo, and parents who thought their kids were going to Osseo are reassigned to Park Center. All three high schools in the same district and very different demographically.

I see that Minnetonka is now listed as the largest school in the state, but something like 25-35% of their students are open enrolled, whereas Wayzata has closed open enrollment because their schools are always full.
 




Top Bottom