WILSONVILLE – The OSAA classification and districting committee released its final recommendation on Thursday, detailing how it believes leagues and classifications should be structured for the upcoming 4-year block from 2018-2022.
The committee has released about 20 proposals prior to the final draft on Thursday. The recommendation keeps a 6 classification structure, but changes to the enrollment cutoffs for those classifications could bring about a few changes for local schools.
According to the latest proposal, the Roseburg Indians would still reside in the 6A Southwest Conference, but the league will lose one team as Willamette drops to 5A. The Wolverines, who have seen enrollment drop below the 1,260 mark for the 6A cutoff, would move to the 5A Midwestern League.
Having only a six-team structure would leave Roseburg searching for more nonleague opponents. That can prove to be a difficult task at the 6A level, since any nearby school is already in the Southwest Conference. This change could lead to more trips to Salem and Portland for nonleague match-ups in all sports.
Other major changes in the final recommendation include Douglas, South Umpqua, and Sutherlin dropping from the 4A classification to 3A and joining a newly created Umpqua River Conference. Other changes would see Oakland move to the 2A Tri-River Conference and Glide drop from 3A to the 2A Mt. View Conference.
At the 1A level, Yoncalla and North Douglas would join other small schools in the region in the Skyline League.
The final recommendation will be presented to the OSAA Executive Board for approval at the October 16th meeting.
