Football Ad Hoc Committee forwards final recommendations to OSAA Executive Board
![West Linn won't get the chance to defend its 6A Open championship next season if the OSAA Executive Board accepts the Football Ad Hoc Committee's recommendation to return the name to the 6A state championship. West Linn won't get the chance to defend its 6A Open championship next season if the OSAA Executive Board accepts the Football Ad Hoc Committee's recommendation to return the name to the 6A state championship.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_1024,h_576,x_0,y_108/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/high_school/01jerz1c7ae1jg9bhqz0.jpg)
The OSAA Football Ad Hoc Committee released its final recommendations for next month's Executive Board meeting this week with very few changes to what it proposed after its Jan. 8 meeting.
The league formats for each of the state's five largest classifications remained the same, as did the playoff formats for the three largest classifications. That means it will recommend the reintroduction of the Columbia Cup to the 6A playoff structure after a one-year hiatus.
The Executive Board will consider the committee's recommendations at its next meeting Monday, Feb. 3.
West Linn won the 6A Open championship last year, which will return to being the 6A state championship next fall. The championship bracket will go back to 16 teams after shrinking to 12 this season, while the Columbia Cup field drops from 16 to eight teams.
The 3A playoff allocations were tweaked in the final recommendation to have the two largest leagues receive three automatic berths, with the other four leagues getting two berths. Two at-large teams will round out the field.
The other changes from the previous recommendation came in the 1A eight-man division, where the committee decided to split the teams into four leagues instead of three. This change allowed Country Christian and Perrydale to remain in a westside league instead of remaining in a six-team league with schools east of the Cascades.
As a result, each league gets two automatic berths in the 12-team playoff bracket along with four at-large qualifiers.
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