Big changes: Palmer, Houston football programs in new conferences

PALMER —A major change in the Alaska prep football landscape led to a new home for a pair of Valley squads.

The Palmer and Houston high school programs both switched conferences after the Alaska Schools Activities Association opted to alter student enrollment requirements for the state’s football classes during a series of meetings earlier this month. With the changes, Palmer moves to the medium schools Northern Lights Conference and Houston drops to the small schools Aurora Conference.

Palmer and Eagle River both dropped from the large schools to medium schools class. Houston and Homer moved from the medium to small schools class. The small schools class, formerly known as the Greatland Conference, was split into a pair of conferences. Houston is in the Aurora Conference, along with Eielson, Monroe, Valdez and Barrow. Homer is in the Peninsula Conference with Nikiski, Seward and Voznesenka.

The changes were made after ASAA altered the student enrollment requirements for the three divisions. The large schools class now includes schools with more than 900 total students. The medium schools class includes schools with 451-900 total students. The small schools class includes schools with less than 450 students.

Arguably the biggest changes come with the move of Palmer and Eagle River to the Northern Lights Conference, which also includes Soldotna, Kenai and Kodiak.

Longtime Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen, who is set to begin his 25th season as head coach of the Moose in the fall, said he has sensed a potential change, but admitted this happened quicker than he anticipated.

“It was kind of inevitable,” Christiansen said. “We’ve been sitting around 750 (students) for quite a while.”

As a member of the large schools Railbelt Conference, Palmer High had about 200 fewer total students than any other school in the conference. According to numbers collected by ASAA, Railbelt schools Colony (1,104 students), Wasilla (1,232) and Lathrop (1,079) each had more than 1,000 students. West Valley (971) was just short of 1,000.

Eagle River faced an even bigger discrepancy. Eagle River sat at 827, leaving the school with about half the student body of the majority of schools in the Cook Inlet Conference.

Five CIC schools have more than 1,400 total students, and four have more than 1,600.

“Eagle River was the real driving force,” Christiansen said of the Wolves, who have never made a playoff appearance in the 8-year history of the program.

Christiansen said, with the addition of his team and Eagle River, he expects the Northern Lights to be a very strong conference.

Palmer is a former member of the NLC. The Moose (along with Colony and Wasilla) moved to the Railbelt when ASAA first created separate large and medium schools classes prior to the 2000 season. Christiansen said he is excited about reuniting with old conference rivals Soldotna and Kenai.

The biggest change for Palmer, and Valley football, comes with Palmer not being in the same conference as Mat-Su rivals Wasilla and Colony. Christiansen said regardless of which conference his team is in, it’s important Palmer maintains its annual scheduled games with Colony and Wasilla.

Houston head coach Glenn Nelson said everyone within his program is thrilled about Houston’s move to the small schools.

“We very excited. The kids are jacked,” Nelson said.

Nelson said the news created an instant increase in interest and participation.

“We had a bump in the number of kids in the weight room overnight,” Nelson said. “As soon as the word came out, a bunch of (new) kids were saying their coming out (for football).”

Houston faced struggles similar to Eagle River, playing in a conference made up predominately by much larger schools. In 2013, Houston did advance to the playoffs for the fifth time in school history. But the Hawks also found themselves on the losing end of lopsided margins a number of times in 2013. In four combined games against former NLC rivals Soldotna, Kenai and Kodiak, the Hawks were outscored 236-47.

After the 2013 season, Houston High school officials decided to not play a varsity schedule in the NLC. Instead, the Hawks played junior varsity games against NLC teams and varsity games against small schools teams.

Nelson said the move to the Aurora will create a level playing field for his athletes.

“This is huge for Houston, the school, the community,” Nelson said. “All those kids ever wanted was the chance to compete.”

The Aurora now includes Houston, Eielson, Barrow, Monroe Catholic and Valdez.

Colony High School activities director Mike Boyd, the Region III representative on ASAA’s board of directors, said Houston played a big role in the board taking a serious look at football reclassification.

“It’s probably been about a year, this has been really talked about,” Boyd said.

Boyd said when Houston opted out of the NLC prior to last season in favor of a junior varsity schedule, that prompted the board to look at potential changes.

“The obvious solution was to change the numbers, get Homer and Houston down lower,” Boyd said. “It snowballed from there.”

Boyd said moving Eagle River was also a priority.

Overall, Boyd said the changes are a step in the right direction.

“It’s a great thing for football in the state,” Boyd said.

With the changes, there are now 11 large schools programs split into a pair of conferences. East, West, Service, Dimond, South, Bartlett and Chugiak make up the CIC. Wasilla, Colony, Lathrop and West Valley are in the Railblet. The large schools will continue to have a three-round playoffs. The CIC will have five playoff bids, and the Railbelt will have three.

There are now nine teams at the medium schools level. The NLC includes Eagle River, Palmer, Kodiak, Soldotna and Kenai. The Southeast Conference includes North Pole, Thunder Mountain, Juneau-Douglas and Ketchikan. The medium schools playoffs is two rounds. Each conference receives two playoff berths.

There are also nine small schools programs. The Aurora includes Houston, Eielson, Monroe, Valdez and Barrow. The Peninsula Conference includes Homer, Nikiski, Seward and Voznesenka. Each conference receives two berths for a two-round playoffs.