Heart O' Lakes football isn't quite done yet.
Earlier this year, the Heart O' Lakes was done as a football conference. When the season opens on Aug. 31, the conference will be back - with 12 teams in two divisions.
"We want it to be around for at least four more years," said Chuck Evert, secretary treasurer of the HOL. "But there are always teams looking to get in and looking to get out."
The league was all but finished earlier this year when four teams jumped to other conferences, leaving the HOL with just four teams - Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, Pelican Rapids, Breckenridge and West Central Area.
Then Wadena-Deer Creek came in, giving the conference five teams.
ADVERTISEMENT
"With Wadena coming in, five teams made us still considered a conference," Evert said.
Add Pequot Lakes to those five schools, and the Heart O' Lakes Classic Conference was formed.
Perham and Roseau were supposed to move to the Northern Lakes Conference. That became the HOL North - comprised of Perham, Roseau, Warroad, Park Rapids, East Grand Forks and Crookston.
"It's still here, but it's a little bit of a different format," Pelican Rapids coach David Haugen said. "It was a long and dragged out process, but there are two divisions to it now."
Evert said the HOL Classic and the HOL North will crown separate conference champions, but the league statistics will likely all be run together.
While he said he would like this league to be around for at least four more years, shuffling between conferences has become common in Minnesota football.
"Under the current format, there are no guarantees, because teams can always leave to find a better fit," Evert said. "The process takes quite a bit because you have to apply and there needs to be a one-year notice."
The root of the conference problem is the realignment of classes every two years. It causes schools to bounce around to conferences where they can be successful, instead of playing a number of schools one or two classes above them.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's been a little bit frustrating because we had a conference, and then we didn't, and now we do again," Haugen said. "It can get difficult for fans who are trying to figure out what is a conference game and what isn't.
"We've got it this year, and next year it will probably look a little different again."
Readers can reach Forum sports writer Kerry Collins at (701) 241-5548.
Collins' prep sports blog can be found at www.areavoices.com
