The head of the W-I-A-A says players would be safer under a plan to eliminate football conferences, in favor of geographical districts. Playoff teams would continue to have one game a week, instead of the current system in which three games are jammed into 10 days. Dave Anderson, the W-I-A-A’s new executive director, said the plan would reduce the risk of player concussions – which he called a hidden epidemic in high school football. Anderson made his comments in Watertown at the first of seven area meetings where the agency is getting input on the proposed football-only districts. Thirty-of-the-42 schools at the Watertown meeting favored the plan in a straw vote. All schools would open with a non-district game, followed by seven contests within their districts. In Week 9, schools would either play their opening post-season contest – and those which don’t qualify would still play against another opponent outside its district.
