Woodie: 7A Dodges Controversy

For the first time in recent memory, the first two weeks of the high school football season was hampered by heavy storms.

Thanks to a “no” vote by 7A principals, the storms were not the only issues with the games on the field.

This year is the first year that all four 7A/6A conferences have 7A and 6A schools. So, all conferences will be using the power rankings that will be used for seeding teams in 7A and 6A.

Several 7A-West schools in Northwest Arkansas attempted to propose a new point system to be used for 7A football only. The key to the proposal would be that all 10 regular-season games would be used in the ratings instead of just conference games. The 7A principals rejected the proposal at the Arkansas Activities Association meetings in August.

It’s a good thing it didn’t pass.

Friday’s storms put a severe crimp on Conway playing all 10 games. Five minutes into the game, a line of severe storms hit Conway which forced a stoppage of play with Jonesboro leading 6-0.

Because of safety concerns, lightning around stadiums triggers an automatic delay of 20-30 minutes. The storm stayed in the area for hours and the game was canceled.

Saturday was an ACT test day. That, along with the fact that Arkansas was playing in Little Rock, getting Jonesboro (and an officiating crew) back to Conway to complete the game was impossible.

Since the game was nonconference, there was no way to compel Jonesboro to play the game. Had the 7A-West football point system been implemented, those were potential points Conway would not have been able to receive. Conference games, by AAA rules, are required to be played.

To many critics of this system, this yet is another example of why the hybrid conferences of 7A and 6A schools make little sense.

Walter Woodie is a freelance sports writer and high school football historian.