Wloo, CF Schools To Play District FB

All 362 high school football teams across Iowa will be playing district football for the first time this fall. Athletic directors and principals from schools that make up the Mississippi Valley Conference voted today to make the move to district football. The decision directly affects Cedar Falls, Waterloo East and Waterloo West -- three schools that are part of the 14-team league. The Tigers, Trojans, and Wahawks all joined the MVC together in 1992.

Todd Tharp, the Iowa High School Athletic Association administrator in charge of football, confirmed the vote by MVC administrators. He expressed relief that the concerns of the conference were answered and that the IHSAA didn't have to force the move.

The switch to district football by the MVC was virtually inevitable, since Class-3A members schools Cedar Rapids Xavier and Dubuque Wahlert elected last month to compete at the lower level. The only other Class-4A league still playing football -- the 10-member Mississippi Athletic Conference in Eastern Iowa, endorsed the move to district football last month.

Schools in Iowa's five lower classes have been playing district football for several years. Class-4A schools in Western Iowa began playing Division football in 2011.