Sunday, June 19, 2016

MSHSAA Rejects Cameron, Chillicothe for 8-Man Championship

The June 17th edition of the St. Joseph News-Press reported that MSHSAA has rejected Cameron and Chillicothe as sites for the 8-man title game after hearing presentations from both schools. Tentatively, the game will be played in Springfield the Friday before Thanksgiving. MSHSAA officials cited input from coaches concerning the location of the title game. As quoted by the News-Press back in April, both Stanberry Coach Shane Hilton and North Andrew Coach Jonathan Schoonover lobbied for the 8-man athletes to have an experience equal to the larger schools.

Last decade, then-Worth County football coach Chuck Borey had repeatedly lobbied the MSHSAA board to hold the title game in St. Louis along with the other 11-man schools, attending their meetings in person to do so. The MSHSAA board finally agreed to do so, with the first title game being held in St. Louis in 2008. However, with the St. Louis Rams moving out of town back to Los Angeles and with expenses going up, the MSHSAA was forced to seek another home for both the 8-man and 11-man title games.

Worth County had played conference games with Cameron until 1972, when the Dragons outgrew the conference and moved to the Midland Empire Conference. Last year, the Tigers played Greenfield in Cameron so that Greenfield would not have to travel as far.

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