The Kickoff: It's not always the school size that matters in football

It's now the midway point of the third season of three-division football in New Hampshire, and here's hoping that things continue this way beyond this season.

This is the second of a two-year cycle for the NHIAA, and that's almost always when changes are made, although the current football division change was made in the middle of a cycle in 2013. If there is anything that is going to happen to the structure of the divisions, it would most likely happen after the current season.

Does there need to be a change? There are some people out there who say yes, that four divisions is the way to go, and I'm sure there are others who even feel a return to six is what has to happen.

From here, it doesn't feel like anything needs to be done, well, except for getting rid of the bye weeks in Division II and III. An eight-game season just doesn't feel long enough.

There are some coaches and fans who will surely disagree, but this feels like a good fit for New Hampshire football.

Let's start at the top. In the first two years, six champions have been crowned, with six different teams taking home titles, and 11 different teams playing for a championship. The only repeat appearance in a title game belongs to, surprise, Pinkerton.

In the last two years of the six-division format, the same two teams met for the title in Division I and IV, there was a repeat champion in Division III, and in Division II, Bishop Guertin had just come to the end of four-straight titles, and seven titles in eight years. Only in the two smallest divisions - Division V and VI - was there different teams playing and winning titles in those two years.

For many years, you could write down in pen who would be in the championship game and not have to worry that you got it wrong.

The three-division format has changed a lot of that, with the exception of maybe Pinkerton, which is by far the largest school in the state.

But aside from the Astros, how much of a difference are we really talking about when it comes to school size? In some cases, it could be considered significant - Manchester Central is the second largest school in D1 and has a tick over nine more students than Portsmouth, the smallest public school - but in most cases, we're talking about a few hundred students.

It's not like all of those students are joining the football teams at Concord and Manchester Memorial, or Milford and Hollis Brookline, which are two of the biggest schools in D2.

In fact, in D2, its the smaller schools that are having some of the most success. Kearsarge and Monadnock are the two smallest public schools in the division, yet both have made playoff appearances in the last two years, and both are 3-1 and very well could again this year. The two champions from D2 are ninth (Windham) and 13th (Plymouth) in school size.

With the exception of Milford, four of the five biggest schools in the division are a combined 2-13 this season. Of the 16 teams that have made the postseason the last two years, only Milford, HB, Merrimack Valley and Portsmouth (in 2013) were in the old D3.

One thing that does feel like a downside in the last two-plus seasons is that the number of blowouts feels greater than it did before. But if you feel that is the case, it probably hasn't been what you've thought, at least not this year.

There have been 112 games played in the first four weeks of the season, and 33 of those games have been decided by 35 or more points (which is the threshold for New Hampshire's mercy rule).

That's just 29 percent of games, but the really surprising number is that 24 of those 33 games were won by the smaller school, with six of them won by private schools.

So what does it mean? That maybe school size isn't really all it's cracked up to be when it comes to football. I'm certainly not advocating for the D3 champion to start scheduling a game against Pinkerton or Central, but the way the divisions are currently set up is fine.

If you've got the athletes, the coaches, and the support of the school and community, chances are, you're going to have a successful football program, regardless of how many students roam your hallways.