Let’s change this, too

Thursday, November 19, 2009

With all this talk of changing the divisions of New Hampshire high school football, it’s time for the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association to go all the way and make one more major move.

It’s time to move all the championship football games – yes, all six of them – to neutral sites.

Last weekend is a perfect example as to why. Two days before the games were to take place, the NHIAA made the call to postpone everything that was supposed to be played on Saturday to Sunday because of the risk of poor weather. Sure enough, Saturday was a rainy mess. Fortunately, by Sunday, the rain had moved along and all the games were played on an unusually nice November afternoon.

But what if it hadn’t? What if the rain continued into Sunday, turning all the grass fields into mud pits? Postpone the games to Monday? That would have meant playing the Division I, II and VI championship games just four days after the semifinals.

Even with the dry weather, the word going around is that Salem’s field – which will host Saturday’s title game against Nashua North – was still a muddy mess on Sunday for the Blue Devils’ Division I semifinal game against Pinkerton.

So how does playing at neutral sites make a difference when the weather is poor? When the NHIAA first attempted to move its football championships to a neutral site for the 2007 season, it chose fields that had artificial surfaces. The thinking was not only would it be a nice reward for the players to play on a facility with a turf field, but it would make it easier for teams to play in the unpredictable weather that usually comes with November in New Hampshire.

Yes, the rain last weekend would have certainly damped the passing games of teams like Souhegan, Portsmouth, Nashua North and anyone else who runs a spread offense. And maybe attendance would have suffered, but the fields would have been playable.

Back then, for some reason that was never really made clear, the NHIAA did an about-face mid-season, despite everyone involved saying they supported the decision to play at neutral sites. The guess here is that there was an uproar behind the scenes from the old guard that was used to hosting its own championship games.

Another thing that everyone seemed to agree with back then was that if there was ever one super site that could host a few championship football games – like Merchantsauto.com Stadium for baseball or the Verizon Wireless Arena for ice hockey – than the games could be played there.

Since then, the University of New Hampshire has upgraded its facilities to add turf and improve the stands. It might be tough to play multiple games there on one day since the field still doesn’t have lights, but there are plenty of other turf fields in New Hampshire that do. Bedford, Exeter and Hanover are a few new stadiums that come to mind. In fact, Bedford and Exeter have been used to host championship games in other sports. Why not football?

Think of a potential November afternoon like this – three championship football games, all in one place, all being played in the best possible facilities. And for two weeks in a row. For a high school football fan, I can think of nothing better.

Joe Marchilena can be reached at 594-6448 or jmarchilena@nashuatelegraph.com.