VIFL considers changes
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By Tom Haley Rutland Herald - Published: November 25, 2008
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Vermont Interscholastic Football League Executive Director Bob Hingston told the membership at Monday's meeting that evaluating the playoff criteria will be an item of discussion at the meeting in March of 2009 and urged anyone who had suggestions to put them in writing so they could be considered.
He did not have to ask Poultney head coach/athletic director twice. Dave Capman's ideas will be among the pile of suggestions for certain.
Capman's Blue Devils finished with a 4-3 record in Division III and were 5-4 overall. He and the players thought they were in the four-team playoff until they woke up one morning and discovered they were staying home, with Montpelier (4-3, 4-5) earning the No. 4 seed.
It wasn't easy to accept for a Poultney team that had played No. 1 seed and eventual unbeaten champion Springfield closer than anyone else, losing 19-12 to the Cosmos on the road.
"The system isn't perfect," Hingston said of the formula known as the Quality Points Rating that put Montpelier into the playoffs.
"I think that every game should count, not just the league games," Capman said. "I am going to suggest we do it like we do in basketball where you get index points for all the games. It's got to be looked at."
It was announced that BFA-Fairfax coach Mike Williams will pilot the North team for the Vermont Senior Bowl in November of 2009 and that Mount Anthony's John Callahan will coach the South squad.
The regular-season championship trophies were distributed to Hartford in Division I, Mount Mansfield in Division II and Springfield in Division III.
The VIFL membership also voted to give $500 to the Vermont Chapter of the National Football Foundation toward scholarships that organization awards each year.
The state's football officials annually give sportsmanship awards and Hartford was the recipient for the southern part of the state and U-32 for the northern half.
Scheduler Mike O'Day said the schedules will be distributed in early December and finalized before the holiday break. The varsity schedules will have quite a different look this season as there is proposed movement among schools within the divisions.
The proposed changes are as follows:
The proposed divisions look like this:
Division I: Rutland, BFA-St. Albans, Essex, Brattleboro, South Burlington, Spaulding, Mount Anthony, St. Johnsbury, Hartford, Burlington and Mount St. Joseph Academy.
Division II: Mount Mansfield, Colchester, U-32, North Country, Otter Valley, Burr and Burton Academy, Middlebury, Rice, Lyndon, Milton, CVU and Fair Haven.
Division III: Windsor, Mount Abraham, Mill River, Springfield, Woodstock, Montpelier, Poultney, BFA-Fairfax, Oxbow, Winooski and Bellows Falls.
"Mike does a great job, but he is not going to be able to accommodate everyone's wishes," Hingston said of the scheduling.
The schedule for 2009 will have teams playing a minimum of seven league games. CVU played only six league games in 2008.
Hingston said that sportsmanship was a positive development this season.
"Ejections were way down this year," he said. "I didn't hear of any horror shows."
The Castleton State College football staff was represented at the meeting by head coach Rich Alercio and assistant Marc Klatt and Brian Grady.
Alercio, whose Spartans make their football debut in 2009, thanked the coaches for "the hospitality you have shown us and opening up your schools."
Alercio said he would like to have at least one player from each of the 34 varsity high school football teams in Vermont.
"That is a priority for us," he said.
He also offered to set up clinics for any of the high school coaching staffs and said he has already committed one to Windsor High head coach Jim Taft.
"It is great for football to get another Vermont college involved," Hingston said.
Contact Tom Haley at tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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