VHSL Changes for 2016-17
The Virginia High School League Executive Committee in Charlottesville, VA voted on Thursday to make some prominent changes affecting three sports - football, basketball and wrestling. Here's a look at those below...
FOOTBALL:
The VHSL voted 27-0 to approve a move of the State Football Championship Games for the 6A, 5A, 4A and 3A classifications.
Title games for 6A & 5A will now be held at Hampton University's Armstrong Stadium. From 2009-15, those games were played at the University of Virginia's Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. Prior to that in 2008, the title games for then AAA Division 6 and Division 5 were at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium in Blacksburg.
As for the 4A and 3A title games that have spent the past three years in Lynchburg at Liberty University's Arthur L. Williams Stadium, they will head to William & Mary's Zable Stadium in Williamsburg.
The 2A & 1A title games will remain at Salem Stadium in Salem.
The VHSL Power Ratings Scale also was tweaked. Teams in higher classifications now receive two bonus points per division down they play no matter if it's a district or non-district contest. In the past, teams received two rider points for each division down that they played against a district foe compared to one point for each division down when it was a non-district opponent.
BOYS + GIRLS BASKETBALL:
A 30-point mercy rule has been approved 27-0 by the VHSL Executive Committee.
Similar to the running clock in football, which goes into effect when a deficit is at 35 points or larger, Boys & Girls Basketball will institute a running clock for the upcoming 2016-17 campaign when one team has a lead of 30 points or greater in the second half.
The game clock will run, except during a time-out, an injury or technical foul. However, both coaches must agree upon the running clock going into effect in the second half when a lead gets to 30 points or more.
The VHSL Executive Committee also voted to have the State Tournament semifinals moved away from VCU's Siegel Center exclusively and to supersites. In recent years, the supersites have served as hosts for quarterfinals, but they were used in 2014 for the semifinals.
Those seven supersites are James Madison, Old Dominion, Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Salem's Civic Center, UVA-Wise, VCU and Virginia High in Bristol. Teams will head to different locations on the cycle plan, beginning with the following for 2017 below:
6A - Robinson
5A - ODU
4A - Salem Civic Center
3A - VCU
2A - JMU
1A - Virginia High
Championship games will then follow on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday with start times slated for 2:00, 4:00, 6:00 and 8:00 PM. This will eliminate morning games and provide better turn-around time for teams going to the Finals.
WRESTLING:
The VHSL Executive Committee has approved a move of the State Wrestling Championships to the Norfolk Scope for Group 4A, 5A and 6A in 2017 and 2018.
In previous years, Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake served as the host site for the 6A and 5A State Wrestling Championships.
Salem's Civic Center will remain the host for the Group 1A, 2A and 3A State Wrestling Championships over the next two years.
ALSO OF NOTE:
The Group 4A and 3A Spring Jubilee will be moving from Lynchburg's Liberty University to Salem, beginning in 2017. The Group 2A and 1A events that will have their final stay in Salem this June now head back to Radford University and other nearby sites. Pulaski County's Calfee Park will be used for baseball games.
Matthew Hatfield has covered football and basketball since 2004 for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network. Check out Hatfield's Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don't forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.