As the seasons change, so will future competition — at least, that is the hope of many coaches at Camp Verde, Mingus and Sedona Red Rock high schools.
On Nov. 15, the executive board of those schools’ athletic governing body, the Arizona Interscholastic Association, voted to look at more criteria besides student enrollment in determining what competitive divisions those three schools will be placed in, beginning in January.
The number of free and reduced lunch students attending a school, a team’s prior success and number of players are just some of the factors the AIA will now consider using for placement as part of a formula which will assign divisions for all teams. Each high school will remain in their respective division for the next three school years, with next year’s schedules due to be released by early April.
This is welcome news after a fall in which teams in not just football, but most other sports at CVHS, Mingus and SRRHS struggled at one time or another to field a junior varsity — and, in the case of football, finish the varsity season without having to play everyone the whole game.
For the full column, please see the Wednesday, Dec. 3, issue of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
