In the second year of the current NIAA football alignment, Carson and Douglas played each other but competed in separate divisions. The Senators were a 5A-Division III team; the Tigers were in 5A-II.
Photo by Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage.
The NIAA Board of Control rejected a realignment committee proposal for a new Class 4A/5A postseason format in football during an emergency NIAA Board of Control meeting Wednesday.
The decision by the Board of Control means the realignment committee will have to meet again to find an optimal postseason format for football for 2025 through 2028. Any decision made by the realignment committee will have to go back in front of the Board of Control for approval.
Along with rejecting the proposal, several members of the Board of Control expressed their desire to continue with the current format, which was instituted two years ago.
In public comment, roughly a dozen schools — including Carson High School — spoke out against the proposed changes.
“The current system, now in its second year, appears to be functioning effectively,” said Carson High athletic director Thomas Reymer in a submitted public comment.
SETBACK
In a realignment committee meeting Oct. 29, the committee said it had been tasked with changing the postseason format in football because there are “currently too many state championships” for the sport.
In 2024, there will seven state titles available for football, while the proposed change would have shrunk the total amount to five moving forward.
The proposed change would have adjusted the Class 4A and 5A football postseason format to two statewide tournaments, eliminating regional playoffs and championships.
The proposal was quickly met with opposition by almost a dozen southern Nevada schools as well as a few from the North.
“(We) Adamantly oppose this realignment plan,” said Western High school principal Antonio Rael.
“I don’t hear many, if any, complaining about our current setup. … Only adults have a problem with seven championships,” said Board of Control region IV representative Colin McNaught.
McNaught was the first to motion to reject the new proposal. Four members of the Board of Control voted against rejecting the new format.
Frustrations from the three-hour meeting boiled over when Arbor View principal Duane Bickmore voiced his displeasure with the proposal in the live stream chat.
“If NIAA continues to disregard CCSD (Clark County School District) principal input, how long do you think until we leave the NIAA? You’re creating a bad situation,” Bickmore posted.
The issue of transportation and budget constraints on schools potentially traveling from Northern to southern Nevada (and vice versa) multiple times over a single postseason was not mentioned prior to the proposal getting turned down.