Low numbers? Realignment? Repeats? Plenty of questions heading into high school football season

The 2023 high school football season got underway across the state with the start of preseason practice in mid-August leading up to a three-day opening week that gets underway Thursday.

Here are seven things to ponder or watch for in Central Mass. in what promises to be another fabulous fall for helmeted heroes from Murdock to Bartlett and Quabbin to Nipmuc.

Can anything be done to improve participation?

Nationwide, participation in football has been steadily declining, and Massachusetts hasn’t been immune. According to the most recent MIAA participation polls, the sport saw a decrease of 9.2 percent in participation from 2016 to ’19.

Trust me when I tell you that trend has not been reversed. Central and Western Mass. have been particularly hard hit, especially — not surprisingly — among the smallest schools. Same goes for Boston Public Schools

You have to wonder if, down the road, we might see longtime rivals like Bartlett and Southbridge, or Murdock and Narragansett teaming up to keep football alive in their communities.

But it appears suburban Eastern Mass. is now showing cracks as Georgetown and Pentucket will co-op this season, while Dracut, with a CEM enrollment of 846 students and membership in the mighty Merrimack Valley Conference, barely scraped together enough kids to avoid canceling the season.

That should be enough to get the attention of those inside Route 128 who have shown no concern for the growing participation problem in the rest of the state, as best evidenced by their repeated lack of interest in adding eight-man football as a MIAA-sanctioned spot. That, at least, would help slow the decline in participation.

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Why is my alma mater in a different division this year?

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association introduced the Competitive Equity Modifier this year to determine where schools should be aligned divisionally for a recurring two-year cycle that begins this fall.

The CEM considers each school’s percentages with regard to stability rate (number of students that remain in a school during the year) and high needs (economically disadvantaged, special education, current or former English language learner students) to produce a modified — rather than simply numerical — enrollment figure.

That led to three schools moving up and 12 down in CMass.

Leominster (Division 2 to 1), Blackstone Valley Tech (6 to 5) and Burncoat (7 to 4) went up. Doherty (2 to 3), Shepherd Hill (3 to 4), Fitchburg (4 to 5), Hudson (5 to 6), Maynard (5 to 6), Blackstone-Millville (6 to 8), St. Paul (6 to 7), Ayer-Shirley (7 to 8), Southbridge (7 to 8), Sutton (7 to 8), and West Boylston (7 to 8) went down.

Can West Boylston repeat?

The Lions defeated St. Bernard’s, 29-6, in the Division 7 state final in December to become the first CMass team to hoist a championship trophy at Gillette Stadium since the statewide tournament format was introduced in 2021.

They return a loaded roster led by T&G Super Team selections Jamie McNamara (RB/DE) and Jake O’Brien (OL/DL). Good fortune, good health, determination, and dedication also will invariably play a role in how the season unfolds.

“I know it’s going to be harder this year than last year,” said coach Mike Ross, whose co-op club with Tahanto was dropped to D8. “We have a target on our back now. We’re going to have to play hard to try to get back there for sure.”

Who else could make a deep playoff run?

Well, Grafton (D4), Marlborough (D4), Valley Tech (D5), Hudson (D6), Oxford (D7), and St. Bernard’s (D7) have all been on a roll for various lengths of time.

Over the past two seasons, the Gators are 22-3, the Panthers 15-7, the Hawks 17-5, and the Pirates 19-5. The Beavers (2018 state champs) and Bernardians (2018-19 state champs) are perennial powerful programs. Then there’s Uxbridge, which has high expectations thanks to a talented senior class.

The Spartans (D7) have gone 6-5 and 8-3 in coach Matt Blood’s first two full seasons, have an elite quarterback in Kellen LaChapelle and gave St. Bernard’s all it could handle in a 20-14 loss in the D7 state quarterfinals last season.

Is a turnaround in the works for Northbridge and St. John’s?

Northbridge went 3-8 a year ago with a roster that was in transition after graduating 22 seniors. It was the fourth time the Rams finished under .500 in coach Ken LaChapelle’s 47 seasons, the others coming in 1976 (4-5-1), 1999 (5-6) and 2005 (3-8). We’re hearing good things with regard to the Rams, whose first two games are against — no easing in here — West Boylston and St. Bernard’s.

As for the Pioneers, enthusiasm is high and heads down and grinding under first-year coach John Vassar. The Pioneers have gone 5-6 and 4-7 the past two seasons after finishing with a winning record in 23 straight seasons. It should be noted the schedule is unforgiving.

Who’s the top quarterback?

That’ll be determined on the field as there is a deep and talented field of candidates despite the graduation of Wachusett’s Tucker McDonald, Shrewsbury’s T.J. Welch, Oxford’s Lucas Lambert, Millbury’s Ryan Gleason, and Monty Tech’s Logan Quinn to name a few.

The list includes David Prouty senior Logan Josti, Hudson junior Jake Attaway, Maynard junior Dylan Gallo, South junior Ransford Adri, Leominster sophomore Osiris Lopez, and LaChapelle. Oh, and keep an eye on Kellen Clarkson, a first-year starter at Oxford.

Who’ll reign supreme in the Inter-High?

With all due respect to Burncoat and North, the Inter-High is a two-team race between Doherty and South. The Colonels defeated the Highlanders — by a 43-6 count — last season for the first time since 1994 and then went on to win the Inter-High for the first time since 1988.

That snapped a string of 18 straight league titles by Doherty dating to 1996. (Quiz answer: Burncoat took top honors in ’95 before Doherty’s run of dominance.) The Colonels have gone 17-5 and the Highlanders 11-11 the past two seasons.

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Plenty of questions heading into high school football season