Looking to spice up voc Super Bowls

The state vocational football Super Bowls have been a hit since their inception in 2004.

Northeast athletic director and head football coach Don Heres would like to enhance the experience.

At Tuesday’s MIAA Football Committee meeting, Heres put forth a proposal to expand the vocational playoff to three weeks and increase the amount of qualifying schools from four to eight. Under the plan, the vocational schools would start their playoffs in Week 10 and continue on to the championship games, which would be contested on the Thursday or Friday following Thanksgiving.

Heres was quick to point out that any vocational school that was still alive in the MIAA football playoffs would not be eligible to compete in both. After a short discussion, the motion was put to a vote and it was passed, 14-0-1.

The other vote came when Milton football coach Steve Dembowski requested that in order to qualify for the playoffs starting in 2021, teams would have to win a minimum of three games.

“If you haven’t won at least three games out of seven or eight, you don’t belong in the playoffs,” Dembowski said. “No one wants to see teams going 1-6 or 0-7 in the playoffs like the way it was (under the last playoff system).”

Shrewsbury athletic director Jay Costa felt the odds of that happening would be diminished with the new statewide postseason system going into effect in September. Dembowski’s motion passed by a 7-6-2 vote, meaning it would be put into the format for further discussion by the TMC at a later date.