Football schedule is set

I'm a big fan of high school football. And how the schedules are set in Iowa certainly is fun. Football doesn't have conferences, so every two years the Iowa High School Athletic Association resets the districts that schools are assigned to. It changes each two years to reflect changes in student population as well as mergers and closings.

So schedules are set on two year schedules, to give a school a home and away for each opponent they are assigned.

So each fall, each high school conducts a census of their student population in grades 9-11. The top 48 (I think) are assigned to Class 4A, the next 56 to 3A, the next 56 to 2A, and so on. The smallest 11 man classification is A, so they get the remainder of schools, and will be some odd number. 8 man football is one class, and all 8 man schools are in it.

So to set the 8 team districts (for 7 games), the IHSAA looks at the schools in the class, and I presume start in the corners to get 8 teams, and work their way in. After those are set, schools can put in a request for opponents for the two non-district games, assuming a rival didn't get assigned in district play.

So in the past month of so, for the Fall 2016 and 2017 seasons, the district assignments were made. Roland-Story got a pretty favorable district assignment I think. Travel wise, nobody is over an hour away. There are a couple right at it-namely Parkersburg (Aplington-Parkersburg), Dike (Dike-New Hartford), and LeGrand (East Marshall). But the other opponents are closer, CMB (depends whether we play at Maxwell or Baxter), Saydel, West Marshall, and South Hardin.

Then, the opponents are no killers row. Now I expect D-NH and A-P to fight for the top, and maybe CMB. They are always solid. But East Marshall, West Marshall, Saydel, and South Hardin have struggled as of late, but so have the Norse as far as that goes.

Ok, so this past week, the non-district opponents were announced. I figured South Hamilton would be one of them, as I would expect both Roland-Story and South Hamilton both requested each other. Big rivals, close trips, and R-S and SH have played every year but two in the history of Roland-Story. And indeed they were assigned to each other, and will play in week 2 of the season.

I was thinking of various schools who the 2nd team would be. Maybe some newer "rivals" such as Iowa Falls or Hampton. Or maybe something out of the box, like a Class 2A school that we occasionally run into in other sports, like Eagle Grove, Clarion, or Prairie Valley. The other choice was a long time rival, but one that has passed us by in size and success. And oddly enough, that is who we got, namely the Gilbert Tigers. Not a big fan of the matchup. Much like college football, I'd prefer to open with a slappy, somebody with an easy win, that we can try out various people and schemes. Gilbert will be a handful. The bean counters at both schools will like it. It will be sure to have a huge crowd with lots of concession spending. And it will get the kids motivated much more than a game versus Belmond-Klemme.

But I have no say, so here is the Norsemen schedule for 2016.

Roland-Story 2016 Schedule: 08/26 Gilbert 09/02 @South Hamilton, Jewell 09/09 CMB, Baxter 09/16 @East Marshall, LeGrand 09/23 Saydel 09/30 Aplington-Parkersburg 10/07 @Dike-New Hartford 10/14 South Hardin 10/21 @West Marshall, State Center

And here is the map of the layouts of Class 2A districts