Citing need to eliminate off-week, Class 6 title game goes to Columbia, week before Thanksgiving

Missouri’s high school football championships, for 2016, will be played over the course of three days, on two separate weekends, and in two separate cities, with the final decision made this week by the Missouri State High School Activities Association concerning the date and location of the Class 6 title game.

With both Class 6 and eight-man having fewer schools in their classifications than Classes 1 through 5, an “off week” has been experienced by the teams reaching the championship game in St. Louis.  This was cited by several coaches as a disruption to the flow of the season that they would like eliminated.  MSHSAA, according to Communications Director Jason West, has done just that.

Earlier this spring, it appeared that Missouri State University in Springfield would host Classes 1 through 6, with Chillicothe and Cameron vying for the honor of hosting the eight-man title game.  However, the MSHSAA Board of Directors, citing the wishes of many eight-man coaches to have a championship experience “equal” to those of the bigger schools, rejected Chillicothe and Cameron, choosing Springfield to host all seven title games.

Now, in a final shift in the plans, the eight-man title game at the Class 6 title game will be played at the University of Missouri’s Memorial Stadium on Friday, November 18th.  The eight-man game will kickoff at 3 PM, followed by the Class 6 title title at 7 o’clock.  Mizzou is playing at Tennessee on November 19th, leaving the Tigers home field available for high school use.

Plaster Stadium in Springfield will remain the site for the Class 1 through Class 5 title games for 2016.  Those contests will be played over two days (November 25th and 26th) at MSU.  The Class 1 through 5 title games for 2017 have already been announced for the University of Missouri.