To even the COVID-19 playing field, the SIC overhauls its league. Here’s how it works.
Idaho’s latest classification cycle forced an overhaul of the 5A Southern Idaho Conference this summer. Then the coronavirus imposed another one this week.
The league for the Treasure Valley’s largest high schools will split into two divisions for all fall sports, administrators in the SIC announced Wednesday.
The West Division includes Kuna and all five West Ada schools — Centennial, Eagle, Meridian, Mountain View and Rocky Mountain. The East Division is Skyview and all four Boise schools — Boise, Borah, Capital and Timberline.
Those are different from the previously established divisions planned for football only this fall.
The new format helps even the playing field between the league’s four school districts, which all took different approaches in restarting sports during the coronavirus pandemic.
West Ada and Kuna schools started their seasons before getting the go-ahead from their health district, giving them a competitive advantage over Boise and Nampa teams.
Boise cleared its teams to start full practices Tuesday when Central District Health dropped Ada County into the yellow category of community spread in Idaho’s back-to-school guidelines. Boise teams will start playing games next week.
Nampa cleared its teams last week and will play its first game Friday between the Nampa and Columbia football teams.
Teams from the West and East divisions will not play each other until the district tournament in soccer and volleyball or the Week 9 crossover games in football.
“Teams have been practicing in West Ada and Kuna since June,” Timberline Athletic Director Tol Gropp said. “This gave us a safe chance to wean us into the season and get ready for the district and state tournaments for all sports.”
The division format adds another curveball to a fall filled with them thanks to the coronavirus. We answered some of the key questions below for athletes, parents and fans.
Can fans attend games yet?
Yes. Details vary by school district. But Boise, West Ada, Nampa and Kuna schools will all require fans to wear masks and to socially distance.
Boise will allow 50 fans into a volleyball gym, and 50 fans for each team at football and soccer fields. Boise School District Athletic Director Jon Ruzicka said the parents of seniors will receive first priority.
West Ada will allow two parents for each student, which could include cheerleaders and band members. It will not have an attendance cap beyond that limit, Mountain View Athletic Director Luke Wolf said.
Nampa will give two tickets for each athlete and cheerleader with no additional limit, Nampa spokesperson Katheen Tuck said.
Kuna will cap attendance at 50 fans regardless of sport. It will not allow fans from visiting teams to stay under that limit. It will also distribute two tickets to each athlete, cheerleader or band member for their parents.
Where will Boise football teams play?
Boise faces a stadium issue as its four varsity football teams normally play at Boise State’s Dona Larsen Park. But the Broncos closed the downtown stadium during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boise, Borah, Capital and Timberline plan to play Friday afternoons at their on-campus fields. For Boise, that means the field on its downtown campus, not the one at Fort Boise.
Ruzicka said the district might play a couple Saturday games, if needed.
All four high schools will bar fans from the sidelines. They will instead place fans behind the end zones where they will need to bring their own chairs, Ruzicka said.
“We’re going to go old school, Optimist style,” Gropp said.
How will this affect the games already played?
Last week’s 5A football games didn’t count toward the division standings when they kicked off. But they do now.
Rocky Mountain vs. Mountain View, Eagle vs. Kuna and Meridian vs. Centennial were cross-division games under the previous two-division format for football. But the new format means they now count in the West Division standings.
That creates higher stakes and some revisionist history. But it also avoids repeat games. And it avoids another safety issue — a team playing its first game against an opponent with two or three games already under its belt.
“If I’m Borah or Timberline and have to play Eagle, Rocky Mountain or Mountain View in a football game after they’ve played two games, that can be kind of scary,” Wolf said.
How does this affect the schedule?
Athletic directors rewrote their teams’ existing schedules to accommodate the new division format.
All teams in the East Division will have five weeks to play their four games.
After Friday, all teams in the West Division will have five weeks to play their remaining three division games. Wolf said it was unlikely they could fill those two bye weeks.
“We could try to figure out how to get another game from some other area, but I doubt their schedule is open,” Wolf said. “And would you want to take a risk of doing that when it won’t do you any good and a kid could get hurt?”
How will the playoffs work?
The 5A SIC will keep the same playoff structure. The winner of each division will meet in a conference championship game Oct. 23. The champion gets the top seed into the playoffs. Both teams get a first-round bye.
The rest of the teams will play opponents from the opposite division for playoff seeding the same week. For example, the East No. 2 team will face the West No. 5 team, and the East No. 3 will play West No. 4, and vice versa.
Gropp said the conference will decide the league’s No. 3 through No. 6 teams in the state playoffs based on the winners of those cross-division games.
What about soccer and volleyball?
They will also follow the new division format and only play teams from their own divisions. They will play their division opponents twice. Any additional games will not count toward the division standings.
Soccer and volleyball host district tournaments, which allows any imbalance of power between the divisions to sort itself out.
The top two teams from the East Division and the top three from the West receive automatic byes into the district tournament. Everyone else must qualify for district through a play-in game.
Who qualifies and how many qualify for the state tournament remains unaffected.
Are there any changes to the 4A SIC?
Not really. The 4A football schedule kicks off Friday with three games.
The only wrinkle is Caldwell’s absence, which cost Middleton a conference game. But Caldwell’s school board allowed the Cougars to start games next week after Canyon County dropped out of the red category of community spread on Wednesday.
That one missing game could create a complication for playoff seeding as everyone else plans to play a full conference schedule. But Middleton Athletic Director Andy Ankeny said the 4A SIC has a plan in case any more games get canceled.
It will use total conference wins, not winning percentage, to determine the league standings. Head-to-head results will be the first tiebreaker, and all teams must play at least four conference games to become playoff eligible.
The 4A SIC’s volleyball and soccer teams, including Caldwell, start their seasons Tuesday. They will play each conference opponent once instead of twice, a decision made weeks ago.
CASCADE CANCELS SEASON AGAIN
A lack of players cost the Ramblers another football season. It also had to forfeit its season last year after playing just one game.
Cascade is the largest school in the 8-man 1A Division II Long Pin Conference, averaging 77.5 students during two enrollment counts last year. But it has struggled in the win column, going 8-43 since 2011.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5:48 p.m. Sept. 11 to reflect new information about the home site Timberline will use.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
