New road to Super Bowl
By Sean Sweeney Journal Correspondent

There will be some slight changes to the high school football Super Bowls this fall, as the MIAA gridiron gods voted 12-3 earlier this week to drop the current Central/Western Mass. format for the next two years and replace it with a Central Mass. vs. Central Mass. Super Bowl.

The vote also created a realignment in all three divisions. With the realignment, both Oakmont and North Middlesex regional high schools will fall in Division 1.

Monty Tech, on the other hand, has been realigned into Division 3 East.

The approved plan for Division 1 is as follows: the newly realigned conferences will play in a Tuesday-after-Thanksgiving playoff, with two teams from Division 1 North, consisting of Fitchburg, Leominster, Wachusett Regional and St. John's of Shrewsbury, receiving automatic postseason bids to its top two teams.

Those teams will play the winners of the Division 1 Eastern and Division 1 Western conferences on Tuesday, with the winners of those games moving on to the Division 1 Super Bowl the following Saturday. This fall, the D1North winner will play the D1East winner on Tuesday, while the D1North runner-up plays the D1West winner.

The plan calls for the D1North winner to play the D1West winner in 2008, while the runner-up in D1North playing the winner of D1East.

The new Division 1 West will feature reigning Division 3 Champion Oakmont, as well as North Middlesex Regional, St. Bernard's of Fitchburg, Gardner, Holy Name, Nashoba Regional, and St. Peter- Marian.

Division 1 East will be comprised of Algonquin Regional, Burncoat, Doherty, Marlboro, Milford, Shrewsbury and Westboro.

The new system could conceivably have teams that play against each other on Thanksgiving go at it again a week later.

The system that was scrapped had champions from Central Mass. playing the champions from Western Mass. on the first Saturday in December. The old system had been in place since 1997 after playing a Central-Central and Western-Western format since 1978.

Western Mass. officials are expected to come up with a playoff format of its own by the time school closes this June.

The new Division 1 format has several detractors. The MIAA Football Committee's problem with the new system that Division 1 North received two playoff bids while the other two Division 1 conferences received only one apiece.

Leominster athletic director Chris Young said Tuesday morning that the plan was approved contingent on the Central Mass. Football Committee presenting a new realignment plan for Division 1 in 2008-09. That means the MIAA is saying to Central Mass. football fans and teams, "Don't get used to this, because it won't be around for long."

"I think the realignment needs to be tweaked," Young said. "I don't like the idea of the 'Big Four.'"

Fitchburg Athletic Director Ray Cosenza called the plan "a good start."

"Having a playoff system was our ultimate goal," he said. "Division 1 has some issues, but (the new plan) is a place to start."

Wachusett Regional Athletic Director Jennifer Lynch said she was pleased with both the new Super Bowl format and the realignment.

"I think it's great for Central Mass. football and our student-athletes," she said. "It gives more kids a taste of the postseason. District E has worked hard on the realignment aspect over the past two years, gong back to the drawing board several times - the 4-7-7 is not perfect, but it's the path of least resistance."

Young said he was surprised the MIAA gave its blessing to the Division 1 plan since it had decreed several years ago that high school conferences can have no fewer than six schools. The "Big Three Conference" in Eastern Mass. of Brockton, Durfee (Fall River) and New Bedford are exempt from that ruling via the grandfather clause.

"We were practically asking for a waiver to that ruling," he said.

Oakmont Athletic Director Dave Laroche said playing teams from schools with much larger male populations from would be a disadvantage for those schools with a much smaller pool. He cited St. Bernard's, which has only 238 boys to draw from, while the Division 1 North schools have an average of 900 boys.

Laroche suggested that the 18 Division 1 schools be split evenly by enrollment, forming two, nine-team divisions.

While not in favor of the realignment portion of the plan, Young was happy that the Super Bowl will be played between Central Mass. teams.

"It was a great day for us. For a long time, we've wanted to go back to a central vs. central game," he said.