Changes on the horizon for Indiana's prep football landscape

On Monday, IHSAA commissioner Blake Ress announced the latest football classification enrollments for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. Based on the enrollment figures submitted by the member schools to the Indiana Department of Education and approved by the IHSAA executive committee last Friday, 27 schools will compete in a different football classification than they had in the previous two-year cycle. Among the 27, nine Central Indiana schools will experience a shift, including the defending Class A champions Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter. Though, according to Ritter athletic director Jim Martin, the news was hardly came as a shock. "We knew we would be up into 2A, so there's no surprise there," he said. "We're just like everyone else right now. We're just curious of how they are going to align the sectionals. "It's a new challenge. The kids have been talking about it, and they're working right now, trying to get ready for it. It's going to be a bigger challenge, but they're excited about it." Last November, the Raiders captured their third Class A state title all-time by dethroning coach Bud Wright's Sheridan Blackhawks 34-27 at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis. "We got to win the title before we left (Class A). We got to win the first one down at Lucas Oil Stadium, but we're just taking the approach of that was the past, and it's time to build a reputation in 2A now." Beginning next season, Westfield, Whiteland and Zionsville will face a different postseason landscape, moving up to Class 5A. Anderson, Anderson Highland and Indianapolis Arlington drop down to Class 4A. Increasing enrollment pushes Indian Creek to Class 3A while Park Tudor joins Ritter at 2A. Other schools across the state moving from Class 4A to 5A include Columbus East and East Chicago Central ... Fort Wayne South Side and South Bend Riley jump down to Class 4A ... Angola and Gary Roosevelt move up to Class 4A while Frankfort falls to 3A ... Harding, Jimtown and Rochester pushes up to Class 3A with Crawford County and Greencastle falling to 2A ... Eastern (Greentown) and River Forest jump to Class 2A ... Eastern Greene, Knightstown, North Knox and Winamac drop to Class A. Football is reclassified every two years by the IHSAA. Baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball are currently in the second of a four-year cycle.