MSHSL board changes tennis seeding, rejects football seeding proposal

The Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors on Thursday approved a change to the way tennis tournaments in the state are ranked.

The Board of Directors approved the seeding of the Class 1A boys and girls team tennis tournaments 1-5, with the three unseeded teams playing first-round matches against the top three seeds by coin toss. Seeds 4 and 5 will face each other in the first round.

This change brings the Class 1A Tournament in line with how the Class 2A Tournament and individual tournaments for both classes are run.

The league has rejected a proposal to seed State Football Tournaments 1-8, meaning every class of football except Class 6A will go on for at least one more year without being seeded. Class 6A places all 32 teams into pre-determined brackets after ranking them 1-8 in four separate sections. Matches in the other six classes of football are pre-determined when the MSHSL plays Section against Section before the start of the season.

Currently, the standings in the state tournament are 1-5, with three unseeded teams. The ranking is determined from the information provided by the tournament coaches before the start of the tournament.

In other council actions:

Postseason volleyball rosters will be allowed to include 18 college players, up from 15. A proposal to add a third tennis class was rejected. Overtime in regular season football games was abolished, allowing games to end in draws. Post-season games were unaffected. Football rule changes

The National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) has announced a football rule change aimed at eliminating the over-enforcement of penalties for offensive fouls that occur behind the line of scrimmage. The changes are based on recommendations made by the Football Rules Committee at its annual meeting in Indianapolis in January.

Previously, fouls that occurred behind the line of scrimmage were enforced from the point of foul. The change clarifies that most fouls will now be enforced from the bullet point, eliminating penalties that often set attacking teams back 20 yards or more.

In addition, the NFHS has approved additional criteria to help identify undefended receivers, making exceptions for incidental contact resulting from play on the ball, plays initiated with open hands, and tackle attempts by rolling up the ball. arms around the receiver.