Arizona high school football would love to have the competitve balance the NFL trots out Sunday after Sunday. On just about any given Sunday half the games are decided by a touchdown or less.

So we take a peek at Arizone high school football - Division I and Division II games from just the past two weeks (Oct. 10 and Oct. 17) as a example. In Division I each of those weeks only three of 15 games were decided by a touchdown or less. In D-II one week it was 3 out of 22 the other a whopping 5 out of 23.

These kind of resuls have been going on for years and makes Friday nights a bit unappealing -- even if your school is winning eight or nine games and seven of them are blowouts.

That's why the change offered up by the Arizona Interscholastic Association on Monday -- to use participation numbers in football rather than total enrollment as the determining factor in divsion placement-- is a good alternative. It may not be the best in the long run, but better than what is in place now. Something has to be done to restore a semblance of competitive balance.

The AIA's executive board was wise to table a decision on the new proposal for a month to get feedback from conferences, administrators and coaches. Many fans chimed in on twitter they thought the idea was dumb or dismissed it quickly. I guess they enjoy a steady diet of 56-0 games with a running clock.

Even if the AIA's executive board decides to go with participation figures rather than enrollment figures Nov. 17, it would do so only one year as a pilot program. There would be time to evaluate and if it has flaws or seems to be no better than the current system look for another answer or do some tweaking.

Some of the initial results participation numbers showed on a model I glanced at Monday made plenty of sense. Metro schools have been doormats -- those in D-I and D-II. It's borderline criminal for Maryvale, North, Cesar Chavez to be in D-I. It's a good bet Phoenix Union schools based on participation would land in Division III where Alhambra presently resides. If not they could petition down or up if they'd like -- as any school would still be able to do. Appealing up or down would still be an option.

Schools like Centennial and Chaparral would likely be placed in D-I based on participation numbers. Centennial beat three pretty good D-I schools this year and has been competivie with many the last six or seven years. Chaparral has won big and lost a tight game against Brophy Prep in the last two years. Again, even if Chaparral and Centennial were to be placed in D-I based on participation they could appeal and petition down. Those schools would be hard pressed to have sufficient evidence for such appeals as would many others dominating various divisions.

The bottom line I suggest is this: The AIA executive board, with at least a decent amount of supporting feedback from schools, administrators and coaches with participation numbers as a guide to football placement,  should opt for it. To not make a change may be a gradual death sentence to high school football at many schools, many of which are already lopping off freshman or junior varsity programs or both to field a varsity. San Luis High School, a (Yuma district school) may have believed it was futile to continue playing football and discontinued the sport after last season.  San Luis competed in football for 10 seasons and posted a 5-93 record. It won three games its first year playing an independent schedule and bowed out after losing 56 games in row from 2008 through 2013.

To continue to use enrollment figures as a barometer to place schools in divisions for football is out of date and out of touch. Especially given the environment of open enrollment and transferring that goes on nowadays. We're in the 21st centrury now. Time for new ideas from time to time. New ideas have to be given a chance. This one is worth taking a look at.

 

This commentary does not speak for the Arizona Interscholastic Association staff or its executive board. It is purely the author's opinion.