The next few days will set the course for what Nevada high school football looks like after an unprecedented move made by many Southern Nevada programs.<\/p>\n
Clark County School District principals notified the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association that 30 schools under the 5A and 4A classifications will move their football programs to independent status for the next two school years beginning this fall.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s left a lot of scrambling on formation of what schedules, leagues and playoff formats will look like for both the CCSD independents schools and remaining programs statewide in 5A and 4A.<\/p>\n
CCSD principals are scheduled to meet Monday to determine the final structure of leagues and what a postseason format could look like, with independents schools only allowed to play 10 games and not allowed to play for a sanctioned state championship.<\/p>\n
Football coaches will then meet on Tuesday to put together their 2026 schedules. There are no changes to Class 3A, 2A and 1A.<\/p>\n
NIAA officials met with the seven remaining 5A and 4A Southern private and charter schools last Thursday to go over their schedules.<\/p>\n
Now, meetings are planned to happen this week with the remaining postseason-eligible Southern schools and Northern 5A and 4A teams to discuss a playoff format.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to delay this,\u201d NIAA executive director Tim Jackson said Thursday. \u201cWe know everybody wants to get everything in place for the season and get their schedule solidified, which was what our meeting with the Southern schools was (last week) about to make sure they had good schedules ready to go, and they do. And, with the North, to bring the North and the South together and discuss what the postseason will look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Keep things on track\u2019<\/p>\n
The CCSD principals\u2019 look to move to independent status started after a decision came at the Jan. 27 NIAA Board of Control meeting to rescind a format by CCSD principals for a 10-team Open Division, which was approved at an emergency November meeting.<\/p>\n
While CCSD principals initiated discussions on deciding whether to go to independent status, the remaining seven 5A and 4A private and charter schools \u2014 Bishop Gorman, Faith Lutheran, Losee, Sloan Canyon, SLAM! Nevada, Mater East and Cadence \u2014 worked together to fill out the in-state portion of their schedules after a planned January meeting for football coaches to make their schedules was cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe private and charter school administration and coaches did a really good job of just being solution-based, and just trying to make sure that we had a season ready to go for the players that we all represent,\u201d Faith Lutheran football coach Jay Staggs said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea was to keep things on track and on par to what it\u2019s been during this realignment cycle,\u201d Staggs added. \u201cAnd then just moving forward and for all seven of the private and charters that play at the 5A and 4A level. We weren\u2019t leaving, so we needed to get together, and we needed to iron out some details and figure out the way to move forward if things were going to go the way that they ended up going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Moving in a good direction\u2019<\/p>\n
The current format will keep the controversial HRM points rating system, which last season determined which 5A and 4A Southern teams made the region playoffs, with the top four 5A Southern teams qualifying for the Open Division playoffs.<\/p>\n
Northern teams opted out of the Open Division. Northern schools have opted out of the top classification for football the past three seasons to avoid playing Bishop Gorman and other top Southern programs like Liberty and Arbor View.<\/p>\n
Bishop Gorman\u2019s lawyers threatened legal action after the change to the 10-team Open Division, saying the NIAA violated its own bylaws of change a realignment format mid-cycle. So it\u2019s unlikely there would be a drastic change to a whole new playoff format after discussions this week with Northern and postseason-eligible Southern teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the conversations are going to be positive,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cI think coming together is always a positive much like we do when we have realignment and we have those discussions there. But I\u2019m optimistic that we are going to be moving in a good direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glimpse into the future?<\/p>\n
5A and 4A CCSD programs will be playing in their fourth different realignment structure dating back to 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always look forward to discussions if we can make our if we can make our sports better. I\u2019m all for that,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, when we go into the next realignment, we\u2019re going to look forward to hearing some suggestions, as we always are, and presenting to the board for their approval the best possible for format or methodology, for alignment of football and all of our sports,\u201d Jackson added.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s likely that the new format for CCSD schools will split up the 30 schools into three tiers based on competitive balance.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of logistical issues that need to be worked out, such as the NIAA not allowing the schools to use words like \u201cleagues\u201d and \u201cplayoffs.\u201d Also, with how a possible champion could decided with independent schools not allowed to compete for a championship.<\/p>\n
Another eventful realignment process this offseason could leave for another long realignment process after the next two seasons. This year could provide a look at what future formats could look like after the 2027 season.<\/p>\n
A possible solution could be to have separate state championships for public schools, and private and charter schools compete for their own state titles, Liberty football coach and co-athletic director Rich Muraco said.<\/p>\n
But what happens on and off the field during the next two football seasons could set the stage of the future for football, and Nevada high school athletics overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that when this realignment comes back up, they\u2019re going to take a look at and listen to what CCSD wants,\u201d Muraco said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the largest school district in the state. We give the most money to the NIAA with our dues. It\u2019s long overdue that the NIAA really starts listening to what we want. Northern schools just flat out said, \u2018We can\u2019t compete with Gorman. We can\u2019t compete with Liberty or Arbor View. We shouldn\u2019t have to be in the Open.\u2019 And they get their way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com<\/a>. Follow @AlexWright1028<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The next few days will set the course for what Nevada high school football looks like after an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7],"class_list":{"0":"post-825763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116269249033100740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}