Brunch at the Boone for 5A title game

University of Colorado and Nebraska have left their mark on Oklahoma high school football. For at least one season anyway.

The Buffs and Huskers left the Big XII and the conference had to realign their schedules to fill the void. One of the schedule changes has Oklahoma University visiting Oklahoma State on December 3rd. The same weekend and location high school football is to play their state championship games.

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association announced the 6A-4A state championships will still be played at Boone Pickens Stadium and in the same week. Just moved up to Thursday and Friday.

The 6A finals will be played on December 1st, a Thursday, the both the 5A and 4A finals will be played the next day with the 5A game at 11 a.m. and the 4A finals at 7:30. The reason for the time gap is OSU requested a 90-minute practice between the two games.

This decision tells us the OSSAA and OSU really want to have the state finals in Stillwater and I am on board with that as well, but an 11 a.m. finals, on a Friday, is not on the top of my list.

The two 6A schools will have one less day of practice and preparation. The 4A teams will have it perfect with the normal Friday night and time.

Obviously, if you ask the players and coaches they don’t care because they are playing for a state title and would play at midnight on a Monday if they had to. Heck, if you are a student that is basically a free day off from school. Would it be an excused absence? If not, feel sorry for who makes that decision.

The 11 a.m. start will be awkward for both 5A schools because more than likely it will be the first game they play before noon, or before 7:30 for that matter. The only game in the last ten years Guthrie has played during the day was back in 2008 with Booker T. Washington, on a Saturday, at 1:30. The only game I can recall played during the day in Oklahoma is the Soul Bowl (Millwood and Douglass), but that is played on Saturdays.

The Friday brunch of a game will also eliminate the casual fan that would attend the game. Parents will have to be sure to save that vacation day from work  to attend. What about school personnel that what to attend? Substitute teachers will be a stretch because the coaches will need their teaching duties covered as well. Do the principal’s draw straws on who goes and who stays?

OSSAA representative David Jackson told The Oklahoman, “Oklahoma football fans have a lot of passion, and we hope they’ll still come out,”

Let’s hope the two schools that make the morning finals has a bank full of substitute’s that are willing to stay at school and see half empty classrooms.