7 teams to win football titles beginning with 2012 season

How interested were football coaches in Thursday's Minnesota State High School League board of directors meeting, which they hoped would produce a plan for getting all teams a full slate of regular season games?

As Minnetonka coach Dave Nelson emerged from a successful surgery for prostate cancer Thursday at the Mayo Clinic, he asked his wife through a medicated daze if there was any news from the meeting.

There was big news, though it remains to be seen how it will positively impact scheduling woes. The MSHSL unanimously voted to add a seventh class in football, one comprised of the state's 32 largest schools based on enrollment.

While details such as which schools will end up in which class and the playoff format are uncertain, beginning in 2012 the state will crown a Class 6A champion.

The state's two largest schools, Eden Prairie and Wayzata, are locks for 6A. Two other football powers, Cretin-Derham Hall and Totino-Grace, are not so sure. Each program has been a force in 5A and 4A, respectively. But both have smaller enrollments and could end up one or two classes below 6A.

C-DH coach Mike Scanlon said his school has not discussed the situation. T-G coach Jeff Ferguson, whose Eagles opted up to 5A for next season, is cautious about potentially opting up two classes.

Meanwhile, the concept of section scheduling -- where the MSHSL would assign seven of a team's eight regular season games each season -- got voted down by both a state-wide task force of football coaches and activities directors and the MSHSL board.

"I don't see it in any way solving the issue," Wayzata coach Brad Anderson said.

The Trojans won the 2010 Class 5A state title but played only six regular season games. In recent years, the team has been forced to find games in Michigan and Wisconsin. This year, pending MSHSL approval, the Trojans will play a team from Illinois at a neutral site in Iowa.

MSHSL board member Kevin Merkle, who headed up the football task force, said adding a seventh class is one more component that should help ease scheduling.

The board already approved Zero Week, which allows some schools the ability to start the season a week earlier and create another option for playing a game. And Merkle said a new universal point system for section seeding is being created that will recognize strength of schedule.

"With those things ... we can get better cooperation and perhaps we can solve the problem without forcing section football," Merkle said.