Skippers' Football Team Welcomes New Class, Hopes for More Changes

Beginning in the fall of 2012, the Minnetonka High School football team will be competing in a new class.

On April 7, the Minnesota State High School League board of directors voted to add Class 6A in football for the 2012 season, a move that will affect the Skippers. The measure passed by a voice vote, meaning no roll-call vote was needed. The state already awards football championships in nine-man and Class 1A-5A.

The plan is for the new class to include the 32 schools with the state’s largest enrollments. Some schools may opt up or down in class, so it is uncertain exactly which schools will comprise the class.

However, what is certain is that the Skippers will be one of the 32. According to 2011-12 enrollment numbers on the MSHSL website, Minnetonka has the state’s third-largest enrollment with 2,750.

The decision came after the change was recommended by the MSHSL Football Task Force, of which Skippers’ coach Dave Nelson was a member. Class 5A, the Skippers’ current class, has a largest school to smallest school enrollment ratio of about 2.5:1. Class 6A would reduce that ratio to about 1.8:1.

“We added a class, which really helps all classes,” said Nelson, noting that the shift will even out enrollment numbers in the other six classes as well. “In that regard, I’d say it’s a good thing.”

However, on the field, Nelson doesn’t think much will change for his team. The Skippers are one of the state’s biggest schools, and they already compete against the state’s other largest schools.

“The push for [a new class] came from mid to lower level [enrollment] 5A schools that have 1,400 kids and don’t want to have to play against schools with 3,000 kids,” said Minnetonka activities director Ted Schultz said.

Schultz said that Minnetonka and the other four members of the Lake Conference – Edina, Hopkins, Wayzata and Eden Prairie – are more concerned about the measure that wasn’t approved at the April 7 MSHSL board meeting.

The board voted 12-5 to not implement section football scheduling. This would mean that a team’s eight-game regular season schedule is filled largely with teams from its playoff section.

That matters to the schools of the Lake Conference, which, unlike most other conferences statewide, only has five members. In the past, Lake Conference teams have had to scramble to fill their schedule with teams from other states - or in the case of Eden Prairie, other countries. The Eagles played two games against Canadian teams in the 2010 season, while Wayzata couldn’t fill its schedule, playing only six regular season games.

This year, that won’t be a problem for Minnetonka. In addition to its four conference games, the Skippers will play Totino Grace, Duluth East, Robbinsdale Armstrong and Bloomington Jefferson.

The schedule is set for 2011, and Schultz and Nelson are fine with the formation of a new class in 2012. Still, they would like to see section football scheduling put in place.

“[Section football scheduling] could have worked with the addition of a new class; it could have worked with the status quo,” Nelson said.

“From a Lake Conference perspective, we feel there’s more to be done,” Schultz added.