LHSAA principals to decide fate of grid playoffs on Friday

    Principals of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association will vote on 40 pages of proposals at their annual convention in Baton Rouge on Jan. 29-31, the most significant of which may determine the future of the LHSAA.
    The points of interest pertain to four main issues:
  ➤ Do principals want to reunite into five football classes, or continue to hold separate football playoffs for public and non-public schools?
    ➤ Are they so satisfied with nine championship football playoffs in 2013 that they will vote to do so in all sports?
    ➤ Do they want to have a tournament success factor implemented for football, or perhaps for all boys’ and girls’ sports that would force the most competitive teams to move up in class for the subsequent reclassification period?
    ➤ Do they want to allow a team to participate in any class above that mandated by  its enrollment?
    Passions are expected to run high on both sides of the aisle, but LHSAA executive director Kenny Henderson said  following an area meeting of New Orleans area principals that he felt principals of schools in classes 5A and 4A will vote to get back together and hold just one playoff per class. Those in classes 3A, 2A and 1A may be leaning to continuing to have separate playoffs.
    In that case, there will be eight instead of nine football championships played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in December 2014.
    Principals also will decide if they will add eight-man football as a sport.