Like most every sport, High School Football has become year-round with off-season practices and camps. But there's still something special about the opening day of practice. Unlike the off-season workouts, there's something on the horizon, an actual game. VHSL schools can begin practices on July 27th with opening games scheduled just 27 days later on August 24th. As the season nears, here's a look at what's new, what's not, and what remains a mystery. What's new? Notable classification changes - the VHSL has realigned districts and regions across the state. There are a couple of notable changes. The biggest one is Riverheads which moves up from Class 1 to Class 2 based on the latest enrollment figures. The Gladiators have won the last 7 Class 1 championships and so the remaining Class 1 teams certainly aren't going to shed any tears over Riverheads' move. Riverheads will always be good, but they've been a Class 2 school before and failed to advance to a state championship game. Despite the two-time Class-1 player of the year in Caden Cook-Cash returning, it's a long shot that the Gladiators can make it to Salem for a chance at an 8th consecutive title. Another notable change is Phoebus' move from Class 3 to Class 4. The Phantoms are loaded with talent as usual and take back-to-back Class 3 championships with them. Other classification changes - Franklin County moves down from Class 6, Region A to Class 5 Region D. The Eagles have a large student body, but have always struggled to navigate big school football having never advanced out of the regionals. Instead of a region loaded with Tidewater schools, the Eagles join a region with local foes William Fleming and Patrick Henry, and teams spanning a corridor from Charlottesville to Richmond. Louisa County jumps up in classification from Class 4 to Class 5. Patrick County shifts from the Piedmont District to the Three Rivers where the competition won't get any easier. And Liberty drops from Class 3 to Class 2 which is a positive move. What isn't positive, they remain in the Seminole District. So long Covington - Covington High School is now a middle school and the students have consolidated with Alleghany to form the newly named Alleghany Cougars. The colors are darker blue and the nickname comes from Covington, but it seems odd that on Friday nights in the fall the lights at Casey Field will be off. The bump in student population has also moved Alleghany up from Class 2 to Class 3. Alleghany coach Will Fields was hired to lead the newly combined forces while Covington Coach Chris Jones settles into an administrative career as a principal at a Covington Elementary School. New coaches - Nick Leftwich moves from Cave Spring to William Fleming. Hunter Shepherd gets his first head coaching job moving from an assistant coaching job at Staunton River to Cave Spring. Jamar Lovelace bolts William Fleming to return to Lynchburg to take over E.C. Glass after Jeff Woody went to Charlottesville. Zane Quesenberry takes over at Fort Chiswell, Scott Mikowicz is the new coach at Auburn after the Eagles pulled the plug on the season after just 5 games, Jeremiah Brockenbrough becomes Parry McCluer's 3rd coach in 3 years, Joe Fielder leaves Chatham after one year to take over Martinsville after Bobby Martin took a job at Eden, NC Morehead High school. In his place at Chatham is Bruce Devlin, a former volunteer assistant at Averett College who was last a head coach in New Jersey, and Altavista resets again Matthew Deloach trying to return the Colonels to respectability. What's Not? Salem - Until someone shows otherwise this remains the premier program in Southwest Virginia. Although the Spartans haven't won a state championship since 2020 (Spring 2021), and haven't advanced out of the Regionals in two seasons, with two of the top 5 recruits in the State in Chris Cole and Peyton Lewis, that may change this season. With Phoebus moving up from Class 3 to Class 4, are we on a collision course for a Salem-Phoebus state title game in December? Seminole District - Remains the SEC of High School Football. Just winning district games is tough enough and fully prepares its members for the post-season. Seven of the 8 Seminole teams made the playoffs in 2022 with two advancing to the Semi-Finals (E.C. Glass and Heritage) with Heritage appearing in the State Championship game. And we haven't mentioned Liberty Christian (2021 state runner-up), Brookville on a run of 17 straight playoff appearances, and a two-time State Championship coach in Burt Torrence trying to rebuild Rustburg. Since the expansion of the playoffs in 1986, all of the original Seminole teams have won at least 1 state championship. Graham - Remains the Class of Class 2. Tucked into a little corner of Southwest Virginia right on the West Virginia State line, this small school powerhouse isn't going anywhere soon. Last year the G-Men played their closest game of the season with a 4-point opening night win over rival Bluefield, WV, and then ran the table and weren't really challenged in winning the Class 2 championship. With returning Class 2 offensive player of the year Ty'Drez Clements back for his senior season, once again if the G-Men beat Bluefield on opening night (and Bluefield is State Championship good in WV's Class AA), Graham could just run the table to back-to-back championships. Small School Struggles - High Schools in rural counties continue to struggle to find enough healthy bodies to field a team much less compete. Craig County cancelled games in 2022 when they had only 13 healthy players; Bland County pulled the plug after just two games; and Auburn had to halt after just five games. There's not going to be a population influx into New Castle, Bastian and Riner anytime soon so the struggles will continue and more games figure to get cancelled. VHSL officials swear that there's no clamor for 6 or 8-man football, but perhaps there should be. Playoff Invites - you can pencil in certain teams into the post-season before a single practice. Salem, Lord Botetourt, Heritage, E.C. Glass, Patrick Henry, Brookville, Appomattox, and Christiansburg can essentially just show up and get into the post-season. Radford, Glenvar, Galax, George Wythe, Grayson County, Martinsville, Magna Vista, and Bassett all figure to be post-season bound as well. What remains a mystery? VHSL Playoff system - better known as the "no team gets left behind tournament." Any system where losing teams make the post-season is flawed, but when teams that don't win a game qualify, the system is really flawed. There is no perfect system in any state, but the VHSL's version needs a major overhaul, but the people in charge in Charlottesville are either too clueless or too stubborn to try and figure it out. Point Rating Madness - The path to a better playoff system could begin with an overhaul of the VHSL's convoluted points rating system. It's a very simple concept that has all the attributes of a Rube Goldberg design. Half the PHD's who helped put a man on the moon couldn't figure this thing out. It's a system that assigns arbitrary numbers to games won in each of the 6 classifications. That is simple enough, but it then has an element of bonus points that simply doesn't make any sense. For example, a Class 3 team that defeats another Class 3 team gets 8 base points. If that same Class 3 team beats a Class 1 team, it gets 4 points for beating a Class 1 team, but because they played a team two classes lower, they get 2 additional points for each level below Class 3 which comes to a grand total of 8 points. Confused? You should be. The simple solution is that each game won by a Class 3 team in its class or lower is 8 points. To top it off, the system awards bonus points to teams for each game won by a team that it lost to. I'm not sure the liberals who design these things understand two basic tenants of life. One, you don't get a trophy for just showing up and two, life has a scoreboard and more times than not you are going to be on the losing side. Then again this is the VHSL, a weak organization that delegates too much power to the various districts and regions. Their philosophy seems to be that they are hosting a state playoff on this date, you figure out how to get a team there. Despite all those issues, the best teams in the State usually wind up in the State Semi-Finals in December and that figures to be the case again. Over the next few days and weeks we'll be publishing team capsules that run Districts from the Black Diamond to the Shenandoah.