No news is good news for Madras High School following the Nov. 17 OSAA Classification and Districting Committee meeting in Wilsonville. While a Draft 8 was made for the state’s high school classifications and leagues, it featured few major changes from Draft 7, which kept Madras in the Tri-Valley Conference. A final decision on the classification and districting is expected to be made by the OSAA Executive Committee Dec. 15. Earlier drafts had Madras playing in the Eastern Oregon-based Greater Oregon League, or in a Central Oregon League with Ridgeview, Crook County and The Dalles in a five-classification program. MHS officials opposed both of those plans and instead testified to stay in the Tri-Valley Conference. In late October, the committee determined to stick with the six-classification league structure, discard consideration of a five-classification system and kept Madras in the Tri-Valley Conference. That remained unchanged following the Nov. 17 meeting. The primary movement from the Nov. 17 meeting was in slightly adjusting enrollment cutoffs for the classifications, which impacted a handful of schools and leagues. The proposed Tri-Valley Conference is unchanged from draft 7, and would include Madras, Estacada, Gladstone, Molalla, The Dalles and newcomer North Marion. Another major development was Pendleton rescinding their request to play up to the 5A level. They have decided to continue to compete at the 4A level. That decision allowed for the continuation of the four-team Greater Oregon League (Pendleton, La Grande, Baker and Ontario), and the six-team 3A Eastern Oregon League. Had Pendleton joined the Central Oregon 5A Intermountain Conference, OSAA was considering a hybrid league of 4A and 3A schools in Eastern Oregon. Ashland, which had been put in the 4A Skyline League in draft 7, was bounced up to be in the 6A-5A Southwest Hybrid League in draft 8 following the committee’s enrollment level adjustments. The private school in Medford, Cascade Christian, currently a dominating force in 3A football, has been slated to join the 4A Skyline Conference in the drafts. Culver’s 2A East Cascades Conference was unchanged during the meeting. It would include Bonanza, Lakeview, Lost River and Rogue River along with the Bulldogs beginning next fall. The biggest change proposed for the 2A level was combining the Wapiti League and Blue Mountain Conference into one nine-school Wapiti League. The OSAA Classification and Districting Committee meets again on Monday, Dec. 1. The committee will then forward its final recommendations to the OSAA Executive Board and Delegate Assembly, which is expected to make a final decision at its Dec. 15 meeting. The OSAA Football Ad Hoc Committee, which makes recommendations for special districts and “play down” requests, will holds its first meeting Dec. 4. The committee is scheduled to meet several times over the next couple of months before making a recommendation to the executive board’s February meeting. Madras expects to continue to play down to the 3A level in football.
https://madraspioneer.com/2025/11/21/latest-osaa-draft-keeps-madras-in-the-tri-valley/
Latest OSAA draft keeps Madras in the Tri-Valley
