Schools' vote overrides MSHSAA rules, creates extra class for soccer

The classification shuffle -- some schools wonder when it will end, and others wonder when it will begin.

A petition by several smaller schools in west-central Missouri to add a fourth class for boys and girls soccer without the required mandate of 257 participating schools was voted on by the Missouri State High School Athletics Association during the spring meetings in April.

The petition was approved by a slim 277-235 margin, causing a shuffle in districts across the state.

Central, Farmington and Sikeston moved from Class 2 to Class 3, while Perryville and Notre Dame remained in Class 2 and were joined by Fredericktown and perennial-state power St. Pius X.

"Us, St. Pius and Notre Dame all in the same district is kind of a travesty," said Perryville boys soccer coach Jerry Fulton, whose team will face St. Pius on Thursday in the Class 2 District 1 championship. "All three of these teams could have been upper-state contenders. To have to knock off two of the three now in districts seems to be a little bit absurd."

The decision to add an additional class was mostly initiated by smaller schools in rural areas, according to MSHSAA assistant executive director Kevin Garner.

"The biggest reason was to close the gap in the smaller classes in the enrollment classification, the disparity between the top and the bottom, especially in the smaller classes," said Garner, who serves as the MSHSAA's main contact for soccer. "Some of them don't have football, don't play fall baseball and they wanted something for their kids to be able to do. It was mostly those schools that were pushing hard for it, and any time you have a classification break, there's always those schools that think they're going to drop a class or be right on that bubble depending on where it's broken up. But a lot of the push came from smaller schools in rural areas, where 100 kids in a school won't be able to compete against 700 kids in a school."

Garner said the biggest argument against adding an additional class was made by the larger schools, fearing the possibility of infringing on traditional rivalries.

"Soccer is a very traditional sport," Garner said. "There's a lot of tradition involved, and with some of those larger schools with enrollment not like the top of the class, there was a lot of fear that they might drop down in class. They really didn't want to drop down to smaller schools."

There are 225 schools in the state participating in soccer, but a total of 512 votes were recorded in the decision to add a fourth class as schools without soccer programs also had a vote.

Classification was formerly determined by the standard enrollment break, a system that divides schools into separate classes based on enrollment, however, the equal break was put into effect this season.

The equal break places the largest 64 schools in Class 4, the next largest 64 in Class 3, the next largest 64 in Class 2 and the remaining schools in Class 1.

"When the four classes came in, the soccer advisory committee had to come up with a determination on what would be best for these small schools that are having a really hard time competing," Garner said. "Soccer is one of the fastest growing sports in the states. How do we encourage more people to start playing if they're going to be lumped in with huge schools? The committee I think did a really good job, and what they decided was to start from the top and work their way down."

Stuck in the middle of the shuffle are schools like Perryville. Fulton believes the addition of a fourth class has weakened the competition in Class 1, which has only 33 schools competing for a state title.

"I feel like it just diminished Class 1. It's so watered down that there's nothing left," Fulton said. "I would've just had it stay in the district that we were in and kept going, but I don't make the rules. I just follow them."

Fulton has other issues with the new re-alignment but doesn't believe it's weakened the Pirates' district.

"Our level of competition in Class 2 did not diminish because of what they did, especially in our district. Our district now is just as strong as it ever was. There were always three or four powerhouses in our district, and now there's three out of four teams that are ranked in the top 6 in the state," Fulton said. "I've studied this thing and studied this thing, and I don't agree with every district only having four teams in the district. I know they did that so that later they could come back and add because we had five in our district before."

Missouri and Tennessee both operate under a four-class system, while Arkansas has seven classes, Illinois has three and Kentucky has one.

"I just don't think what they did was fair to everyone. I think a lot of the stuff that came up had a lot to do with a lot of the private schools that wanted to bump up [a class]. Let's face it. Most of the time, private schools win the state championships. There are very few public schools that win state. We're fighting our butt off just trying to win this district," Fulton said. "Two private schools will have to go by the wayside, Notre Dame and St. Pius, before we can advance. I wish they would have done something differently with the private schools."

Garner said he has no personal opinion regarding the change.

"The petition was put together by soccer-playing schools, and my job is to try and make it work and make it as equitable as I can for all those participating in it," he said.