By Josh Weinreb

The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s football committee has approved a divisional realignment plan that would increase the state’s high school football divisions to four from three beginning next fall, a change that could potentially mean the end of one of the Upper Valley’s longtime football rivalries, Hanover High versus Lebanon.

The proposed realignment plan still needs to be approved by a vote of the NHIAA classification committee on Wednesday and by a vote at the NHIAA Executive Council on Nov. 7 before it becomes official.

The realignment, if approved, would be New Hampshire’s fourth in the last 21 years, and the first since moving to three divisions from six in 2013. NHIAA football has not had four divisions since 2003.

The proposed alignments are based on enrollment numbers for each school, studied on a two-year cycle by the NHIAA’s various committees. If passed, football’s four divisions would be set through the 2019-20 school year.

Hanover, the Upper Valley’s largest New Hampshire high school, and its 725 students would align in Division II under the new plan. Lebanon (575) and Stevens (548) would set up in D-III, while Newport (356) and Mascoma (343) would fall into D-IV.

The realignment plan, which was confirmed by NHIAA football committee chairwoman and Winnacunnet High athletic director Carol Dozibrin as well as several other athletic directors around the state, is structured with the intent of helping schools with smaller enrollments to be more competitive, fixing a system that for the last four years has given larger teams in lower divisions an unintended advantage.

“I think we just felt that we needed a competitive balance,” said Newfound athletic director Peter Cofran, who also is a member of the NHIAA football committee.

“I will say, there is a lot of sentiment around the state for more divisions in a variety of sports, football being one of them,” Hanover athletic director Mike Jackson said. “In football, fewer divisions makes it more and more difficult for smaller schools, with fewer kids in football, to compete.”

The Marauders and Raiders have played football annually for at least the last 30 years and are part of a rivalry dating back generations.

“It would be depressing to lose the Lebanon game,” Hanover head coach Sam Cavallaro said. “It’s been a great thing for as long as I’ve been here. It’d be disappointing, but it’s tough to schedule a nonleague game.”

Next fall’s schedules will be created in the next few months.

Football could be the latest in a string of sports in which the two neighboring schools no longer play, as Hanover’s student population increases (it had 702 students in 2015) and Lebanon’s enrollment decreases (the school is down from 2015’s 609 students).

The schools no longer play each other in boys soccer, boys lacrosse or boys hockey, all Division I programs at Hanover.

Lebanon athletic director Mike Stone said he’s committed to seeing the schools continue to play football in the future and plans to petition the NHIAA to see if that’s possible. Hanover’s Jackson, who is set to retire at the end of the school year, said his school also wants to continue to play Lebanon.

Cavallaro added that the annual game with Lebanon High easily generates excitement. His squad, he said, needs almost no motivation to get fired up to play its neighbor.

Raiders head coach Chris Childs echoed that sentiment, but he said playing against schools their own size may be healthy for the program as a whole. Lebanon (1-5) dressed just 24 athletes for its game at Windham last week and is looking to reclaim its competitive footing.

“Hopefully we’ll pick up another rivalry,” the 11-year coach said.

“It’ll be sad not to play Hanover, but maybe we’ll pick up a rivalry with someone else. Kearsarge, Stevens, Newport, another local school. … We’ll play where the numbers put us.”

Under the proposed football realignment, Division I would consist of schools with 900 students or more, a group of 20 schools including Exeter (1,705 students), Londonderry (1,496) and Pinkerton Academy (3,449), which has the state’s largest enrollment. D-II would consist of 18 schools with enrollments of 641 to 899 students, D-III would have 12 schools with enrollments between 451 and 640 students, and D-IV would comprise eight schools with fewer than 450 students.

Petitions to move up or down already have been submitted to the NHIAA for approval. Newport, Somersworth (438) and Trinity (314) all have requested to move up to D-III. Fall Mountain (506), meanwhile, has petitioned down to D-IV. St. Thomas Aquinas (432) and Alvirne (1,200) have petitioned to play in D-II, and Bishop Guertin (789) has asked to move up to D-I.

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.

The NHIAA football alignments, classified based upon enrollment ,effective with the 2018 season (schools that petitioned to play in a division have an asterisk):

Division I: Pinkerton, Nashua South, Nashua North, Exeter, Concord, Manchester Central, Bedford, Londonderry, Manchester Memorial, Keene, Spaulding, Dover, Merrimack, Timberlane, Salem, Goffstown, Portsmouth, Winnacunnet, Windham, Bishop Guertin*.

Division II: Alvirne*, Gilford-Belmont, Milford, Merrimack Valley, Manchester West, Hollis-Brookline, Pembroke, Souhegan, Kingswood, Kennett, Con-Val, Hanover, Plymouth, John Stark, Bow, Pelham, Sanborn, St. Thomas Aquinas*.

Division III: HillsboroDeering-Hopkinton, Lebanon, Stevens, Epping-Newmarket, Laconia, KearsargeInterLakes-Moultonborough, Monadnock, Campbell, Somersworth*, Newport*, Trinity*.

Division IV: Fall Mountain*, Winnisquam, Farmington-Nute, Raymond, Newfound, Mascoma, Bishop Brady, Franklin.