Conference Expansion Won’t Change Conference Name
SCHEDULING PLAN CREATES CONFERENCE RIVALS, ROTATING GAMES
What does the new Big 8 Conference for some of the area’s high schools have in common with the collegiate Big 10 and Big 12 conferences?
The answer is the conference names are a little misleading.
The new 14-team Big 8 that includes McDonald County High School will remain the Big 8 Conference, just as the Big 12 has 10 schools and the Big 10 has 14 members after their latest realignment.
Nick Martin, athletic director at McDonald County High School, said there was some discussion among the conference athletic directors and administrators about changing the name.
“We talked about the reputation of the Big 8 and the fact that we had two state titles in football (Lamar and Monett) this year and another in cross country (Lamar), so we decided to keep it the Big 8,” Martin said. “The Big 8 has a pretty good name recognition across the state.”
The new conference will pick up six new teams — five from the former Small Division of the Central Ozark Conference plus Nevada, a former conference rival of the Mustangs in the old Southwest Conference. The schools coming from the central Ozark Conference are Marshfield, Logan-Rogersville, Hollister, Springfield Catholic and Reeds Spring.
The conference will be split into two divisions, but instead of going big and small like the Central Ozark once did, the Big 8 will split based on geography.
The West Division of the conference includes McDonald County, Seneca, East Newton, Monett, Cassville, Lamar and Nevada. The East Division consists of Aurora, Mount Vernon, Marshfield, Logan-Rogersville, Hollister, Springfield Catholic and Reeds Spring.
Obviously, the No. 1 issue involving the new alignment will be scheduling.
Martin said football will use a combination of playing all the teams in its division plus three from the other division to complete a nine-game regular season. The 10th game of the season will remain the first week of the state playoffs.
He said what games against teams from the other division is still to be decided, but some ideas have been discussed.
“I am pretty sure there will be one game a year against a team from the other division on a yearly rotational basis,” Martin said. “That way you will play against everybody in the other division over the course of a few years. Also, each school will have a rival from the other division that they will play every year. It looks like our yearly rival will be Marshfield. For the final game, I think we need to have an overall conference champion, so that week the teams would play the team from the other division based on standings – 1 versus 1, 2 versus 2 and so on, but this is still up in the air.”
Martin said there could be some tweaks to the schedule each year in order to keep from playing the same team three times. Playing a team twice is a possibility, but playing the same team twice now is a possibility due to the state playoff format.
“One thing about the football schedule is that it is set somehow,” Martin said. “All nine of your games are going to come from the conference in some way. We are not having to go to Salem (the Mustangs first football game in 2017 is at Salem) after next year.”
For the other sports, there are some variations. Martin said that in baseball, basketball, volleyball and softball there will be conference championship games between the winners of the two divisions. In sports like boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ golf and wrestling, because several of the member schools don’t have some or all of those sports, they will not be split into divisions.
The new conference includes junior-high athletics. Martin said football scheduling is set since the Missouri State High School Activities Association allows only six games for junior high school football, so all a school’s games will come from within its division.
Junior high basketball and volleyball will resemble their high school counterpart. Sites for the cross-bracketed championship
“I am pretty sure there will be one game a year against a team from the other division on a yearly rotational basis. That way you will play against everybody in the other division over the course of a few years.”
Nick Martin
Lady Mustangs coach
game series will alternate between east and west divisions.
Martin said he and other administrators see several advantages for McDonald County in adding the six teams.
“This helps us in travel,” Martin said. “It cuts it down some because basically we traded Aurora and Mount Vernon for Nevada. Also, there will now be conference championships for wrestling and soccer because over half of the conference schools now field a team. Our kids will now have a chance to get all-conference honors.”
Martin said the addition of the Springfield-area school will also help get our kids more recognition from that area.
“The Springfield area papers will have to cover the conference because of Marshfield, Hollister, Reeds Spring, Springfield Catholic and Logan-Rogersville,” Martin said. “That will be good for our kids and our school district.”