The MIAA high school football tournament could have a new look in 2027 and beyond.
At Thursday’s MIAA Football Committee meeting, the group approved a proposal to add a Div. 1A tournament, also commonly known as the Super 8, to the postseason slate for the 2027-28 season. This would line up with an adjustment in division alignment that will run from 2027 to 2029. The vote was 13-4 in favor of the change, and came a day after the MIAA’s Board of Directors approved a Super 8 tournament for baseball as well as boys and girls hockey,
The proposed Div. 1A tournament would only include Div. 1 and Div. 2 in consideration, so theoretically, a qualified Div. 3 or lower program would be ineligible for the top tournament. This distinction was made to account for program size and to ensure player safety.
The proposal would also extend the regular season by one week and reduce the playoff teams per division from 16 to eight.
“From the majority of what we’ve gotten from feedback, I think people are in favor of the changes,” Milton head coach Steve Dembowski, who is on the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association board, said during the meeting. “They are kind of a little bit split on the Super 8. The majority of our association, about 90 percent, would like to see a large private school tournament that would be carved out.”
Billy Sittig, who is an assistant athletic director with Boston Public Schools and was representing District 6, noted that the Catholic school programs within his district were concerned about finding another regular-season game as it can be difficult to fill eight games as is.
“Several are having to go out of state so a ninth game has some minor concerns for them,” Sittig said. “There was also a little concern about how we would structure the Super 8. … For the most part, people were supportive. For the most part, this is incremental change but, given the parameters, it’s better than where we were at.”
While the extra regular season week could be a hurdle for some programs, it was an idea that was exciting for teams in Western Massachusetts. Franklin County Tech athletic director Joe Gamache noted that the extra week could allow that portion of the state to have a regional championship.
“We can structure a TBA game and do sort of a regional championship game in that week for those teams that do not qualify for the state playoffs,” Gamache said. “That in Western Mass was overwhelmingly appealing to them and was why they think the proposal is a good idea.”
Stoneham athletic director David Pignone said that while many in District 4 were fine with the proposal, it was mainly due to a hope to “get some relief” at the Div. 1 level when it comes to the playoffs. His concerns were about passing a proposal that doesn’t fix root issues.
“We could really propose almost anything in a playoff situation and they would vote yes if we were going to help at Division 1,” Pignone said. “I’m concerned about passing this and them really not liking the proposal. They’re going to eventually start to say, ‘Oh great, we solved that problem, but this isn’t a great proposal.’”
The proposal will have to pass through the Tournament Management Committee and eventually the Board of Directors meeting to become official. The next TMC meeting will be on May 20, and the next Board of Directors meeting will be on June 10.
