AISA announces 2016 football schedule

MONTGOMERY — Alabama Independent School Association teams will make history on the gridiron this fall by including home school teams on their schedules.

Baseball teams were the first to include the members of the Alabama Christian Sports Conference in their scheduling when the rule was passed last winter by the AISA athletic committee. ACSC teams drafted portions of AISA bylaws into their own bylaws, which made it easy for AISA officials to include the new 10-school conference in their scheduling.

This fall, two ACSC schools, Evangel Christian Academy of Alabaster and Hope Christian School of Pelham, will face six AISA schools in football. AISA members Cornerstone and Kingwood will play both ACSC schools this season.

“After a thorough review of their bylaws and eligibly procedures, the AISA athletic committee approved competitive play with their organization,” AISA athletic director Roddie Beck said. “We are going to monitor play with the organization over time, maintain communication with their organizational leaders and see how it goes.  So far, we have been very pleased.”

The Alabama Independent School Association football schedule, which can be found online at www.aisaonline.org, has 36 teams in 2016, dropping one member from 2015 and adding a new member in the process. Russell Christian Academy of Meridian, Miss., has elected not to field a varsity football team this fall, while North River Christian Academy of Tuscaloosa, a former eight-man squad, will compete in Class A Region 2 with a nine-game schedule.

For the first time, AISA officials have elected to let the schools complete the non-region portion of their schedules. In the past, the state office filled out the entire schedule, taking suggestions from teams for the non-region part of the schedule. Now, the state office will hand the schools their region schedule and allow them to fill up the remainder of the schedule on their own.

“I did receive a few calls from schools to see if I could help them secure games,” Beck said, “but for the most part it went well.  The new process allows for more flexibility in scheduling and also creates more opportunities for members to schedule out-of-state schools.  As far as the (state) office goes, I think it was an easier process because now you allow the schools to fill in the non-region games along with the home-and-away (status) for both non-region and region games.”

Schools again have the choice of playing an 11th game on the first week of the season or to use that date for a jamboree or intrasquad contest as they continue preparation for the upcoming season. Ten teams have elected to play a regular-season game on that date, the same number as in 2015.

In January, the AISA joined similar organizations in Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina to form the Southeastern Commission of Independent Schools and officials hope that alliance could enhance non-region scheduling in the future. Bessemer and Escambia will play in the inaugural SECIS Kickoff Classic in Cramton Bowl on Aug. 12-13, two of nine teams that will face out-of-state competition in non-region games.

“I’m hoping this new association will allow us to develop relationships between the schools in the different associations, which will create more scheduling opportunities for non-region games in the future,” Beck said. “And creating more opportunities for our student-athletes to compete is always a positive.”