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May 7, 2000
Football merger is being discussedNEW ULM -- Another attempt at a proposed merger between the Southwest and South Central Conferences in football is being kicked around. The proposal, according to New Ulm High School Activities Director Mark Woodbury, is "real tentative." "A thought is that both conferences would use the first three weeks of the season as bye weeks," he said. "What that would mean is that in those first three weeks, the South Central and Southwest Conferences would schedule games between each other. For instance, we are already playing Luverne, so we would add a game with Marshall and Worthington to fill those first three weeks of the season. Then, each conference would go back to their regular conference schedules." Woodbury said that the bye weeks being in the first three weeks of the season gives schools a better chance of scheduling games early. "Instead of saying that your sixth week (of the season) is your bye week. "If that merger would go, we would probably keep Luverne and Redwood Falls; we are already playing them in nonconference games. It would just be a matter of where in the first three weeks we would schedule them." He said that with the proposed set-up, "it is easier to get the three games as opposed to trying to find a bye week for everybody. "But whether the Southwest Conference wants to do this is still a big if," he commented. "Some schools (in the Southwest Conference) were concerned about the travel for games like a Marshall or Pipestone to a Waseca or Blue Earth. But then you could play those games on a Saturday afternoon and you would only have to travel once every two years." Apparently, that was part of the hang-up in the original merger proposal made last year. And, the situation with USC is an on-going thing that the SCC has to address each year. "This year, they have taken a leave of absence which forced us to find a non-onference game," said Woodbury. "That (USC) status is something that the SCC Executive Committee will have to address each year. We have talked that if USC does not come back into the conference that we may have to play a team in the conference twice. "Say we would play Fairmont week two, we could conceivably play them the last game of the year. That is another option. It is going to be difficult for schools like New Ulm, St. Peter, Waseca and Fairmont to try and find (nonconference) games. Since we lose that conference game with USC. "We have Detroit Lakes coming down here next year for one game. Fairmont is going up to Roseville for a game; it creates some issues. When I found Detroit Lakes, it just so happened that they had that second week of the season open (as did we). If our bye (USC) week would have been week six, I could only schedule a school with an opening and who knows where we may have had to travel." USC will be playing in the Gopher-Valley Conference this year. St. James had also inquired about that same conference, as did Blue Earth. "The AD's there told us that moving conferences is a dead issue." WYCZAWSKI ENDS SEASON: New Ulm High School graduate Paul Wyczawski, now head baseball coach at Hillcrest Academy in Jackson, Miss., saw his team's season end with a 17-11 mark. In his seven years as head baseball coach there, he has compiled a 183-52 mark and has won three state titles plus one runner-up. As a head coach his overall record is 373-203. As an assistant and head coach, his teams have gone 558-327. BREWERS OPEN TODAY: The New Ulm Brewers open their 2000 season this afternoon at Johnson Park in a 2 p.m. game against Leavenworth. Managers of Tomahawk teams are reminded that if your afternoon games are not covered by The Journal, you should call (1-800-967-1760) with results between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Most games are over well before then so please call. UMPIRES MEETING: Anyone interested in working as an umpire for the New Ulm Junior Baseball Association should attend a meeting tonight, 6 p.m., at North Park Shelter. If you cannot attend but are interested, you should call Jeff Yager at 354-1974.
Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer
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