NIAA board approves new football playoffs

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 | 9:38 a.m.

A change in the football playoff format and a new statewide drug abuse policy were both approved at last week's Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association's Board of Control meeting in Reno.

The new format would eliminate the current system, in which one region on a three-year rotation gets both its champion and runner-up in the state semifinals.

Instead, each year one of the three 4A regions would run its schedule a week later than the other two. Those two regions would meet in a state semifinal in late November, the same week that the late-start region would play its regional championship.

The winner of the state semifinal would then advance to the state championship game against the winner of the prior week's regional championship.

The new format will be first used in 2006-07, with the Sunrise Region tentatively scheduled to start late and get the automatic bid to the state championship.

In 2006 and 2007, the state championship would be in Southern Nevada and the one semifinal game would take place in the northern part of the state. In 2008, the state championship would be in Reno and the semifinal would be in the South.

The policy will take effect immediately.

Under the policy, a first-time offender would receive a six-week suspension from athletics, which could be reduced to two weeks pending an appeal and treatment. A second offense would result in a 90-day suspension and a third offense would result in permanent disqualification from athletics.

Other moves included: