It may be time for the high school playoffs but it's next year's football season that will be the topic of discussion come Wednesday.
The Eastern Connecticut Conference Principals are scheduled to sit down at NFA Wednesday morning to, once again, discuss the football alignment. It's too early to tell how the Principals are feeling now but two schools feel they were hoodwinked back in early November.
Griswold and Plainfield voted in favor of a new alignment based on October 2006 enrollment numbers for boys only grades 10-12. That formula changed the whole dynamic of the two-division format and sent the Panthers and Wolverines into the Large Division next season with New London and Killingly dropping down to the Small.
Needless to say, once those enrollment numbers were figured out there were those crying foul.
The Principals have instructed the Athletic Directors to draw up several other scenarios in addition to the two division format for this meeting. It's a good bet that a three-division format will be looked at very closely as some Medium Division teams, in addition to Plainfield and Griswold, may side with those looking for relief from the two-division deal.
If they do decide on a three division package, there will likely also be debate on whether the divisions will be split 6-6-5 or 5-6-6 or some other break down.
The ironic thing, this year's two division format worked just fine as far as competition. New London was in the heat of the battle in the Large Division, ahead of such enrollment giants as NFA and Fitch, and the Small was very competitive.
Here's a novel idea - don't tinker for a year. Leave the teams in the same divisions as they are currently with the same scheduling matrix.
Then again, the ECC has never been one to leave good enough alone.