The Division I football state championship game might feature a lot of people with one eye on the field and the other on a smart phone beginning this year.

Ohio's big-school state final is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3, about an hour before the Big Ten championship game kicks off in Indianapolis. If Ohio State advances to the conference title game, that will leave plenty of fans at Fawcett Stadium wanting updates during the second half of the prep game.

In 2006, the start of the Ohio State-Michigan game was pushed back to 3:30 p.m. from its traditional noon start. All of the high school regional finals scheduled for 7 p.m. that night were moved up to noon or played the previous evening. It wasn't for the convenience of fans. It was because volunteers who work the games wouldn't have arrived at the game on time.

The D-I state championship game would be much more difficult to move. It is broadcast live on television, and there are two other title games that day.

Beginning in 2014, the OHSAA has a two-year contract to play all six state finals in Ohio Stadium. It should make for an exciting weekend if the Buckeyes are playing in the Big Ten title game with a BCS bowl game or national championship game berth on the line.

It could affect attendance at the high school final, though. For example, it's highly unlikely you'll ever see the NHL play its New Year's Day outdoors game at a Big Ten stadium as long as there's a chance the home football team gets picked for the Outback or Capital One Bowl, which are played in the afternoon that day.

So you could have a scenario in which casual fans have to decide between sitting in the stands in December weather while checking Ohio State on the radio or on their phones, or relaxing on the couch in front of a TV in a warm living room. The Buckeyes would provide a convenient excuse not to go.

- Howard Primer

With the announcement of enrollment figures for next year, several area football teams changed playoff regions. Here are those schools and their new regions:

Cardinal: Division IV, Region 13
Chagrin Falls: Division III, Region 9
Hawken: Division IV, Region 13
Lake Catholic: Division III, Region 9
Richmond Heights: Division VI, Region 21
VASJ: Division VI, Region 21

For those looking toward future playoff matchups, perennial state champion Youngstown Ursuline remained in Division V, Region 17. The Fighting Irish have won the last three Division V state titles and played in the last four. Also, perennial state powers Steubenville and Cardinal Mooney remained in Division III. They're both in Region 11.

- Howard Primer

Mentor lost its crown as the biggest high school in Northeast Ohio, based on enrollment figures released this week by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. With the consolidation of Southview and Admiral King, Lorain High is the most-populated school in Greater Cleveland.

Here’s a look at the biggest schools in the region. The OHSAA’s figures are based on students in grades 9, 10 and 11 in October 2010. These are not part of the proposed “athletic count.”

Lorain: 2,018
Mentor: 2,009
Brunswick: 1,857
Strongsville: 1,833
Elyria: 1,731
Medina: 1,731
Euclid: 1,571
John Marshall: 1,519
Cleveland Heights: 1,461
Shaker Heights: 1,357
Solon: 1,334

Of note, St. Ignatius’ number is 1,121. Lorain is the only other NE Ohio school with more than 1,000 boys (1,002). Also, Glenville has 506 boys. The cutoff for Division I in football is 494, meaning the Tarblooders were 13 boys away from being in Division II.

Statewide, Lorain and Mentor rank sixth and seventh. Here’s a look at the most-populated schools in Ohio:

Mason: 2,396
Fairfield: 2,366
Lakota West: 2,132
Centerville: 2,112
Lakota East: 2,069
Lorain: 2,018
Mentor: 2,009
Cincinnati Oak Hills: 1,969
Hamilton: 1,963

Among boys enrollments, Cincinnati St. Xavier (1,164) is third and St. Ignatius (1,121) is fourth.

- Howard Primer

Near the end of the Frontline documentary "Football High," which aired on WVIZ-TV 25 this week, several high school players commented on the risk of injuries while playing.

"Usually it's not life-threatening or anything like that. It can shorten your life, but not by that much," a blue-chip quarterback recruit said.

"You're only 17 once. I have the rest of my life to worry about pain," another player added.

We all thought we were invincible when we were 17, athletes or not. Most of us probably would have said something similar.

But these opinions were shown after 50 minutes of throat-tightening examples of the effects of repeated hits to the head, a player who died from heatstroke, and how some schools are treating their teams like small-college programs, with the increased pressure to win attached.

Most of the documentary's content on injuries wasn't new, but it's still sobering. So is the nationalization of the game at the prep level, with networks such as ESPN broadcasting inter-state matchups and recruiting analysts blogging about every scouting combine. The season culminates with some top prospects announcing their college choices on live national TV.

It's a delicate issue because football is the all-powerful king of the American sports landscape. Who wants to be the person to say "Hey, we're starting to cross the line between physical and dangerous"? Or, "This is too much hype for teenagers."

A player for a Texas powerhouse said, "They teach us to play hard, even when you're hurt. It's instilled into us in junior high school, 'Get back up. It's all right. You can go to the next play.' "

The documentary noted how much bigger players are than a generation ago. That the players are bigger isn't all bad. It means they're more in tune with taking care of their bodies and know how to eat and hydrate properly.

What is bad is that most schools cannot afford to have athletic trainers on site at all times. With bigger and faster players, medical staff are needed. Frontline used the sad example of two players in Arkansas who collapsed while practicing on a day with a 112-degree heat index.

Both were put into medical-induced comas. The player whose school had a trainer survived and returned to the field six weeks after because the trainer knew what to do.

The other player died, and one of the reasons is because his school didn't have a trainer on site. The coaches did their best they could for him, but they could only wait until the ambulance showed up.

With concussions, studies are going on now. Evidence is showing that players can get degenerative brain disease without ever being diagnosed with a concussion, like death by 1,000 paper cuts.

One of the players interviewed tried to explain how his helmet works and said, "If I hit someone really hard, it doesn't hurt." He might not feel it when the hit takes place on the field. But doctors are starting to prove that those collisions add up.

The results are scary as some of the hits look, but it's football. It's such a big part of sporting culture. What kid would want to give up some of the best years of his life playing a sport he loves with his friends?

You can't adjust the rule book to reduce hitting without changing how the game is played. And how the game is played is what makes it so popular. Starting up a sport that, according to the documentary, accounts for two-thirds to three-quarters of high school sports injuries, is exorbitantly expensive and is only for one gender doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. But who doesn't want football?

Despite all the above, I couldn't imagine football any differently than it is now. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the fall are made for it. That's why it's so difficult to look at this issue. I think most of us just wish it wasn't happening.

With NFL players, it's easier because you can say, "Well, they're adults and they chose to do this." One guy gets carted off and the next player in line takes his place. The injured and retired players are quickly forgotten.

We need to be more careful with high school players, though. But it sure seems easier to put it out of mind outside of the few minutes it takes to get an injured player off the field.

- Howard Primer

Mark Podolski
MPodolski@News-Herald.com

The Ohio High School Athletic Association's heart is in the right place.

It's newest bylaw, on recommendation from the OHSAA Competitive Balance Committee, could drastically shake up the future of Ohio high school state playoffs in a lot of sports. If passed, schools will no longer be assigned to state tournaments based on enrollment.

Unfortunately, it could be serving the interests of the lower divisions (IV, V and VI) and doing no favors to the big schools (I, II and III). It's not a perfect solution, but it's a start and the schools in the lower divisions are the ones who need a break the most when it comes to "competitive balance."

Three factors will comprise the "athletic count" of OHSAA member schools. The bylaw needs to be passed in May, so all of this could be moot without the support of schools statewide.

A quick review of the three-part formula: 1. School boundary factor. In other words, private schools that can recruit from unlimited boundaries and public schools with open enrollment could be forced to move divisions; 2. Socioeconomic factors. In other words, schools, for example, which have no problems with levies passing and ones from, shall we say, financially secure parts could be penalized; 3. Tradition factor. In other words, the more state tournaments a school participates in or wins, the chances it could be bumped from, say, Division III to Division II improve greatly.

The OHSAA needs to clarify this formula if it expects the bylaw to pass. What exactly would a school need to accomplish in the tradition factor to be bumped a division or possibly two?

Schools will be judged on the tradition factor during a four-year period. How many state titles won justifies a move? Four? Two? One? Do four state title games appearances, but no wins, outweigh a team that make one appearance, but wins it during that four-year period? What about a team that wins a state title, but the next year, the coach is no longer at the school? Or what about a team that makes four straight regional finals, but can't get over the hump to a state tournament?

Specific guidelines need to be constructed and followed without wiggle room, or this formula will be flawed from the start.

As for who's a winner and who's a loser if this bylaw passes? As stated previously, the little guys. Without naming schools (high school fans know them), this bylaw will help restore competitive balance, most notably in the Divisions V and VI, so kudos to the OHSAA.

The losers are the Division I schools, who will likely find the going even tougher come the postseason. Considering the resources the large schools already enjoy, it's difficult feeling sorry for them, but it ups the challenge. It could get interesting in the middle divisions, namely the Division III and IV schools. The difference in dropping from III to II and IV to III is big (ask any coach or athletic director), so the guess is the biggest resistance will be among those schools.

Another factor is the fine line between Division II and I. Ever wonder how the Lake Catholic football team would fare in the Division I state playoffs? Under this formula, it will likely happen. Don't expect a ton of Division I schools to be leading the bandwagon on the passing of the bylaw, either.

If it were me, I would propose separate state playoffs for private and public schools, but the open enrollment factor for some public schools would need to be fixed before going down that road. This three-factor formula is the next best thing for those who advocate change.

I say give it a chance, but the specifics need to be iron-clad to avoid controversy, complaints and confusion. Let's see if it happens.