Meteor football bumped up to Class AAA

BY KEVIN WOODRUFF

The passage of a joint football agreement for Elk Lake students to compete for the Montrose Area football team has caused the Meteor program to be bumped up to a higher enrollment classification in District II.

According to Montrose superintendent Mike Ognosky, who is also secretary for the District II committee, the Meteors were just above the Class AA cutoff point, causing the program to be bumped up to Class AAA.

The maximum enrollment figures for boys in grades nine, 10 and 11 to compete in Class AA was 298 while Montrose came in at 300.

Ognosky explained that the way the figure for next season was calculated was by taking the total male enrollment from grades nine, 10 and 11 from the larger school, being Montrose, and half the boys enrollment number from the smaller school (Elk Lake) and adding them together.

However, a possibility does still exist for Montrose to be bumped back to Class AA.

Ognosky said that by Dec. 12, any school in Class AA wishing to compete in Class AAA must put in an application to District II.

If enough schools want to move up in classification, then District II would bump the smallest schools down to Class AA.

And with Montrose being the smallest school in Class AAA, the possibility exists.

Although Montrose is now in a new classification, the Meteors won’t see any change in their schedule for the next two years.

“The league has made us a guarantee that we will still play in the same league for the next two years,” Ognosky said.

However, when enrollment figures are calculated again in 2013, if Montrose still qualifies for the AAA classification, depending on District II’s decision, the landscape of their schedule could change completely.

But for now, the Meteors will continue to compete in Lackawanna Football Conference Division III.

“Right now the change in classification isn’t a big concern to us,” Ognosky said. “If the program improves, we would certainly accept the challenge of playing bigger schools.”

However, Ognosky doesn’t expect the Meteors to retain a Class AAA status in 2013, as the enrollment figures this year see an unusual amount of boys in grades nine, 10 and 11.

“We have a unique situation here at Montrose with 60 percent of our enrollment in those grades being boys,” Ognosky said. “And that’s just not common. It’s an unusual statistic.”

Wherever the Meteors end up competing, Ognosky, along with the Montrose football staff, are encouraged by the amount of interest being shown byElkLakestudents.

“We’re encouraged. The earlyElkLakeresponse has been great,” Ognosky said. “We think its going to take off.”