Apparently there is some discussion around the state about starting a new 5A classification in all sports. Committees were formed in each part of the state to come up with a realignment plan.
Dan Cabrera, who broadcasts high school games in Las Vegas and does Southern Nevada College baseball games, has come up with his own plan which I got a peek at recently.
The northern portion of this 5A would include McQueen, North Valleys, Reed, Reno, Spanish Springs, Bishop Manogue, Carson, Damonte Ranch, Douglas and Galena.
The southern portion includes Coronado, Foothill, Green Valley, Las Vegas, Silverado, Bishop Gorman, Centennial, Cheyenne, Cimmaron-Memorial and Palo Verde.
This plan leaves out Hug, Fallon, South Tahoe and Wooster, and rightfully so. These are the smallest schools in the current 4A. This alignment can't and shouldn't be football driven. You have to do what's best for schools in all sports.
Hug has bitterly fought any realignment that drops it down a class. Hug could compete in 5A in football, men's basketball and track. That's it. It's not enough. Ditto for South Tahoe which is great in boys soccer and competes well in cross country, but that's about it.
I think this would be a great move for all four of these schools. High school sports shouldn't just be about football. Schools need to make sure their student-athletes are given a fair chance to compete in ALL sports. Fallon, South Tahoe and Wooster regularly get hammered in all the main sports. They should have been moved down a class many years ago. In this format Wooster, Fallon and South Tahoe might contend for a title in some of the sports.
Under Cabrera's proposal, Fallon, Hug, Dayton, Elko. Lowry, Spring Creek, South Tahoe, Sparks, Truckee and Wooster would comprise the 34-team 4A. The Southern 4A would have four six-team leagues, which leaves the NIAA in the same situation it has for the current 4A.
Battle Mountain, Fernley, Incline, Hawthorne, North Tahoe, Lovelock, ROP and Yerington would be in 3A.
I would probably put Fernley in 4A and move Sparks to 3A because the Fernley area is growing a little bit more than the older part of Sparks where the school is located. That's a landlocked area if I ever saw one. It's full of older people who don't have school-age kids.
Certainly something needs to be done, and it needs to be done in the higher classifications. Nevada is so spread out, it's going to be near impossible to find both a fair geographical alignment and a fair competitive alignment in the lower divisions.
I urge administrators throughout the state to not be selfish and do what's best for the entire state, not just their district, when realignment is discussed.
If selfishness continues then this problem will never get worked out, and we'll continue to be stuck in the same mess we are in now.