Nearly half of the Class 4A football schools in Iowa do not want the state to implement district football for their teams.

As it turns out, some 3A schools are not thrilled with the prospect of 4A district football either.

Imagine Xavier, Dubuque Wahlert, Davenport Assumption and North Scott all leaving Class 4A football and descending upon the Class 3A districts next year.

It could happen, and probably will. The vote among 4A schools in favor of district football was 25-22, and the IHSAA could vote in favor of 4A district football this December.

Xavier, Wahlert, Assumption and North Scott are playing 4A football because they belong to 4A conferences, but they'll drop from 4A to 3A next year if districts replace leagues, based on student enrollments.

"Those are 4A programs that are flourishing right now. And three of them are parochial," said Kal Goodchild, the athletic director at Benton Community High School.

Xavier, Wahlert and Assumption are private schools that do no have strict geographic borders, Goodchild noted. He thinks that gives private schools an advantage with their student body, because they have more control over student enrollment.

"We have to accept all our students in our district. We have no choice. They do," Goodchild said. "They can hand-pick their students.

"You're not dealing with the same clientele," he said. "It's just that simple. There's no border."

The Xavier Saints, who won the Class 4A state title in 2006 and are headed to the playoffs again this year, could be placed in a Class 3A district with Marion or Benton Community next year. Xavier voted in favor of 4A district football and is unlikely to petition the IHSAA to let it stay in 4A.

There are eight Class 3A districts around the state with eight teams apiece. Four teams in each district make the playoffs, and Xavier undoubtedly would bump somebody out of the playoffs on a regular basis with its strong program.

The same probably holds true with Wahlert, Davenport Assumption and North Scott. If they make the 3A playoffs, four other teams will not.

Goodchild said some neighboring states, like Minnesota, use a 1.5 multiplier when dealing with student enrollments of private schools to level the playing field. If a private school in Minnesota has 600 students, the state association multiples that number by 1.5 and charges that school with 900 students in terms of classification for sports, he said.

Goodchild would like to see a similar formula in Iowa. He points to Sioux City Heelan as an example of a private 4A school that dropped to 3A a few years ago and has fared well in football.

"Since they've been in 3A they've never missed the playoffs," he said.

Corby Laube, the athletic director at Marion High School, also is keeping an eye on the Class 4A debate.

"We've been following it pretty closely," he said. "We know it could definitely impact us, especially with some of those 4A schools being in our area."

Marion is currently in Class 3A District 5 with Maquoketa, Union, Western Dubuque, DeWitt Central, Center Point-Urbana, Vinton-Shellsburg and Anamosa.

Benton Community competes in Class 3A District 6 with Grinnell, Solon, Williamsburg, Washington (Iowa), South Tama, Mount Vernon and Clear Creek Amana.

The other Class 3A district in the vicinity is District 4 with West Delaware, Decorah, Waverly-Shell Rock, Oelwein, Waukon, Charles City, Crestwood and Independence.

There aren't any 3A districts in the Quad Cities, so the IHSAA would have to juggle the districts to accommodate Davenport Assumption and North Scott. The districts are realigned on a two-year basis, with the next realignment coming this winter for 2012 and 2013.

Laube thinks Xavier, Wahlert, Assumption and North Scott would significantly alter the 3A landscape.

"The competition level would step up quite a bit for some of those districts that include some of those teams," he said. "Especially a team like Xavier, which has had such good success and tradition.

"A team like that in 3A is definitely going to up the competition level for anybody who's in their area."

Goodchild also notes that Xavier, Wahlert and Assumption are located in three of the biggest cities in Iowa, compared to the rural composition of many 3A schools. "There's a lot of advantages to being in a city," he said, citing resources like local colleges, better facilities and training centers.

The IHSAA has scheduled a meeting for Thursday, Nov. 3 to give all the 4A schools a chance to debate the pros and cons of district football, but Goodchild thinks it's a done deal. He thinks 4A district football will be adopted.

"I think they've already come up with what they're going to do," he said.

"We're not whining, because there are a lot of years where we could have played with anybody. We've had some good teams," he said. "But can we do it consistently, when you're dealing with schools twice your size that have advantages that we don't? That's what concerns me."

There are several models for Class 4A district football, including a model that would give 4A schools an opportunity to play non-district games that would not count toward the playoffs. In that case, a 4A school like Kennedy could play a 3A school like Xavier to maintain their rivalry and draw a good crowd.

Similarly, a 4A school like Linn-Mar could play a 3A school like Marion in an intra-city battle. Laube and Scott Mahmens, the athletic director at Linn-Mar, have already exchanged thoughts on the idea.

"Anytime we play something like that, you're probably going to see a substantial turnout and gate," Laube said. "A lot of times, you make a lot of your money off the visiting crowd.

"Ultimately, you want what's best for the kids and the program and the competitive balance of it," he said. "Some of that is going to be out of our hands and we're going to have to go with the cards that we're dealt."

Marion and Benton Community are members of the Wamac Conference for all sports except football (there are no football leagues in Iowa below the 4A level). Laube expressed a preference for playing football games against other Wamac schools that are not in the same district, as opposed to possibly playing a 4A power like Linn-Mar.

"Obviously in football it's a numbers thing," he said.

Laube plans to keep following the 4A district debate.

"It will be interesting," he said. "We'll see what happens. It's definitely been a hot topic."