POULSBO — The boys of fall are going to see a lot more summer for the start of the 2003 football season.
The Executive Board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association voted last month to allow teams to shift the start of their fall practices for a one-year trial to Wednesday, Aug. 20, five days earlier than practices for fall sports.
The additional practice days means not only a chance for better weather but an opportunity for teams to play their first game on Sept. 5 — a full week before they were scheduled to before the board’s decision. Teams will also get in a 10th game, and Narrows League teams will abandon the season-ending crossover game and replacing it with a playoff game for the top three teams in each division.
“At that time of year I am ready to get going anyway,” said Bremerton coach Shawn Perkins, who lauded the change. “The weather is going to be better, the field will last better and it’s another chance for the kids to compete.”
The ability to play 10 games has always been a possibility, though with the season only nine weeks long, teams opted to take part in controlled jamborees that count as a practice instead of squeezing in the additional game.
“It’s been in the book for years that schools can play 10 games,” in a season, said WIAA assistant executive director Kevin Griffin who added the feedback he’s received about the changes has been nothing but positive. “Moving the start of the the first day of practice now gives them an opportunity to play to 10 games.”
The move to start the season earlier was fueled by the WIAA’s decision to put together the Emerald City Kickoff Classic at Seahawks Stadium on Sept. 6 that will feature O’Dea vs. Capital, Elma vs. Tumwater, Snohomish vs. Kamiakin and Skyline vs. Woodinville.
“This will be the marquee high school football event in the Northwest,” Griffin said.
The money raised from the event will go toward filling the WIAA coffers, which have dwindled after sub-par tournament revenues this year. It will also benefit the schools taking part in their own home games.
“The benefits of having a tenth game rather than a jamboree are twofold. There’s much more opportunity for the team to grow and gain valuable early-game experience. And obviously from the athletic department, it’s another opportunity for revenue,” said North Kitsap Athletic Director Scott McKay.
Olympic athletic director Robert Polk agreed, saying the crossover games between two schools obviously not going on to the postseason weren’t very good moneymakers since they were usually played in less-than-optimal conditions that weren’t conducive to fans.
“We didn’t get very good gate from those games when a No. 7 team was playing another No. 7 team,” Polk said.
Non-playoff teams in the Narrows League will still play nine games, but the teams that place in the top three of their respective conferences will be guaranteed a tenth game.
Raising funds shouldn’t be much of a problem in early September, especially with a number of fan-friendly games coming together including South Kitsap at home against 2002 state-quarterfinalist Bothell and North Kitsap taking on Bainbridge in the “Heritage Game” which hasn’t been played in over a decade. The site of the game hasn’t been determined yet, said McKay.
Just having the opportunity for the neighboring schools to play should get both schools’ seasons off to a good start.
“It gives us a chance to compete with our neighbor and gives us another game to evaluate the kids before league play,” North Kitsap coach Jerry Parish said. “And it’ll be a very interesting rivalry. I really think it’ll be good for both schools.”
Not knowing where the Heritage Game will happen isn’t a big problem. Olympic officials are still in talks with Mt. Tahoma officials to figure out where their game will be played while Bremerton’s Perkins and Klahowya coach Brad Hamblet both said they’re going to start practices early but don’t know who they’ll play in an early game.
“We haven’t filled it yet,” Hamblet said, acknowledging he was making calls to see if there was some interest. “If we can, we’ll fill it with an out-of-league team.”
That might be difficult for the Eagles to find another Class 2A opponent since they are already in the Nisqually League with every other nearby Class 2A team.
But don’t look for a Klahowya-Bremerton game to resurface like in the days of the defunct Olympic League.
“I’d have to think hard about playing a Class 4A school (like Bremerton),” Hamblet said. “We’d certainly play a Class 3A school (that’s not already part of the Nisqually League).”
All of the coaches interviewed said the jamboree system is, in all practicality, done for since the games would have to be held on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
“In a jamboree you don’t get a game-like feel for your team because it’s only 40 plays and it’s all controlled by coaches,” Central Kitsap coach Mark Keel said. “I’d rather play a game and the kids I talked to would rather be in a game than a jamboree.”
Finding an opponent to play came easy for the Cougars who will take on Garfield, a team they were going to be in the same jamboree with, at home Sept. 5.
“I called them and we set it up,” Keel said.
The coaches also stated that the schedules they already have in place (football seasons are often planned nearly a year in advance) will remain the same except for the crossover game. Instead, said South Kitsap coach D.J. Sigurdson, the top three teams in the Bridge Division will play the top three teams from either the Greater St. Helens League, the South Puget Sound League or the Class 4A Kingco. And except in the case of ties, teams will no longer have to play three games in a week to determine playoff berths.
Sigurdson said the state tournament will expand from a 16-team format to a 32-team format. It is unclear if the playoff changes will affect the Class 3A or Class 2A playoff schedule.
Sports reporters Trevor Pyle, Christopher Mulally and Josh Morton contributed to this report.