VALLEY CITY, ND (NewsDakota.com) Changes to high school football have put the existing co-op between Valley City and Barnes County North in question.
The 2025-26 football plan sets the cutoff separating the upper levels and lower levels at 150 male students in grades 7-10, an element to classification that attempts to gauge the future of a program based on incoming enrollment.
All teams with 150 students or more must play either AA or AAA football. They are then separated into those two classes based on enrollment among that group. Teams below 150 play at the A or 9-man level.
Valley City’s 7-10 projected enrollment, adjusted for various issues, such as those participating in free and reduced meals, stands at 135.10 for the 2025-27 timeline. This number places the Hi-Liners below the AA level.
However, according to Valley City Public Schools superintendent Josh Johnson, the number with Barnes County North included is extremely close to the 150-student threshold.
“It’s like 150.5 or 151,” says Johnson. “We have discussed options with BCN to request that the football committee allow the ability to move down and stay in the co-op.”
Teams that make these appeals are usually not optimistic of their approval. Fargo North, after two state championships at the AA level and facing reclassification to AAA, appealed to stay down on the basis of graduating 31 seniors. They were denied. Other teams were denied their attempts to reclassify in football and basketball.
“The co-op has been great and we are hopeful that the football committee will see the value of this co-op with our numbers so close to 150.”
The original plan for football set the cutoff higher than 150, but has been adjusted.
Based on the future projections, but Central Cass and Kindred would have higher enrollments than Valley City, moving those two teams to AA status in football. Valley City’s new regional opponents would likely include Ellendale/Edgeley-Kulm, Hillsboro-Central Valley, Lisbon, Oakes, Northern Cass, and Thompson.
Valley City’s transition to Class B in other athletics may also affect co-ops in baseball and softball between the Hi-Liners and Barnes County North.
In the meantime, AA football has been adjusted to two six-team regions for the 2024 season. Valley City will play in the west region, with Jamestown, Bismarck St. Marys, Watford City, Dickinson, and Minot North.