In its monthly meeting, Wednesday, January 22, the Board of Control acted on football recommendations coming from the Iowa Football Coaches Association and the IHSAA Football Playoff Committee. The recommendations had been tabled by the Board of Control from their December meeting.

At the center of discussions and action was a proposed 8-game regular season which would allow the playoffs to fold into a weekly format.  Since December, Board members had contacted constituent groups and in a unanimous vote agreed to stay with the 9-game regular season format.

Other football items that were approved included: (1) discontinuing “sister districts” for the regular season and post season classes in 8-player through 3A and to have a 125-mile limitation for first round games; and (2) no preset pairings will be made for the playoffs and pairings will be determined after each round of the playoffs. Reasonable attempts will be made to find non-district playoff opponents for the first and second round games, but district match-ups could reoccur if an opponent cannot be found within a reasonable distance.

The Board of Control also approved allowing one practice session of no more than four hours during the heat acclimatization period with nor more than three hours of physical activity allowed. The Board also granted an allowance of up to four teams to be at a scrimmage site, with each team only being allowed to scrimmage one other team. All current scrimmage rules would remain in effect.

A change in the forfeiture of season policy was also approved to read “The continuation of the season for a team forfeiting a regular season game shall be determined by the IHSASA administrative staff and the school administration.”

(Bud Legg, IHSAA)