Rosemount Football Welcomes Class 6A Change

The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) announced that 32 teams will be in the new Class 6A for football in beginning in 2012.

Those teams will be based on enrollment, with the 32 largest schools in terms of enrollment.

That number would have been only 24, but according to Rosemount football coach Jeff Erdmann, athletics director, Michael Manning had a hand in extending to 32.

“Mr. Manning played a significant role in helping shape this into 32 teams instead of 24,” Erdmann said. “Which is a good thing.”

If the MSHSL decided to go with 24, notably state football representatives such as Mounds View would not be able to contend for the big school state championship on the gridiron.

Rosemount is 18th on the list with 2,013 students according to the MSHSL website and Erdmann said he does not expect much of a change in the way the Class 6A football season will play out.

“We really aren’t impacted significantly other than possibly playing one less playoff game for Class 6A,” he said. “We are excited about continuing with the best and biggest programs in the state.”

Erdmann should feel that way because his Irish team went 12-1 last season, their only loss to Wayzata in the Class 5A state championship game.

Rosemount was undefeated in the South Suburban Conference, which only has three teams that would not qualify for the 32 school field in Apple Valley, Bloomington Jefferson and Bloomington Kennedy. Those three schools finished at the bottom of the conference standings in football last season.

On the MSHSL website, it stated that the 32 teams listed may not be the schools to play in Class 6A.

This could open the door to private schools electing to opt up to play in football such as Cretin-Derham Hall, which has been a state power in the big school football postseason tournaments.

Another could be Totino-Grace, which just elected to play in Class 5A this fall after winning six of the past eight state titles at Class 4A.