CEDAR FALLS - Changes are coming to Class 4A football - at least on one side of the state.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association will introduce a hybrid model of district football to the state's largest classification next fall when the 23 teams in the western side of the state divide into four divisions.

Thus, the CIML, as a football conference, is history.

"Western Iowa football as we've known it is done," Johnston athletic director Gary Ross said Saturday morning after the IHSAA's monthly board of control meeting.

Ross, the board's vice chairperson, co-chaired a sub-committee last month that organized a Nov. 3 summit in Boone. The meeting was spurred by an IHSAA survey that revealed 25 of the 47 schools playing 4A football favored a switch to district play.

The strongest push came from CIML schools facing scheduling headaches with the arrival of Ankeny Centennial High School in the fall of 2013 and the league set to split into three divisions of four and another of seven. The greatest resistance came from conference-rooted programs on the east side of the state.

"There's a lot more interest in (district football) than there was before, but it wasn't necessary to go there when the CIML said, 'If you'll schedule us, we're happy, we don't need the help from the east,' " IHSAA executive director Rick Wulkow said.

The 24 schools comprising the Mississippi Valley and Mississippi Athletic conferences will continue under their current postseason-qualification format with playoff points determining the 16 qualifiers. Meanwhile, the IHSAA will split the other side of the state into four divisions. The top four teams in each will qualify for the playoffs. The divisional assignments are expected to be finalized by mid-January.

Wulkow said competitive balance based on records and playoff points during either a five-year window or since the state expanded the playoffs to 32 teams in 2008 - will be factored into the realignment.

"I think all of us are feeling we've accomplished a lot, we've had input, we think what we're doing is a great start," Ross said. "I think once you get through it, things can be tweaked here and there.

"But I think it accomplishes a lot. It allows schools to continue to have rivalries if you want. If you're not in the same division, you can select those teams to play. It allows western Iowa to play some teams that are closer in location in a different class without impacting the playoffs, it allows a balance a little better of divisions, of competition you have for qualifying for the playoffs."