The Oakville Senior High School football program will kick off the 2014 season as a Class 5 school instead of Class 6 as a result of a recent decision by the Missouri State High School Activities Association that also changed class assignments for several other schools.

The new assignment, which will be re-evaluated in two years, puts Oakville in Class 5, which is assigned to schools with an enrollment ranging from 1,233 to 1,790 students. Class 6 schools have an enrollment ranging from 1,790 to 2,960 students.

Oakville head football coach Arlee Conners told the Call that he wasn’t surprised by the move and, and in fact views it as a positive change for the school.

“Well, I kind of saw it coming. I heard there were some teams moving up and somebody had to take their place,” he said. “I don’t really see that big of a deal, truthfully. I mean you’ve still got to play like you always do.

“The biggest change will be the scheduling because 5A, they play their playoff games sometimes during the week … That’s probably the biggest thing as far as playoff games anyway.”

For Tiger fans and coaches, their new assignment will offer a view of several different football teams that they have not seen before.

“It will be different. I think there will be definitely some unfamiliarity,” Conners said. “We’ve been used to playing the same teams, Well, since I’ve been here, and now it’s definitely a different group.

“It will take some adjustment, but like any game, you have to scout your opponent and find out what they do good and find out what you can do against them and come up with a game plan for it.”

With 53 teams to compete against in Class 5, as opposed to the 32 in Class 6, Conners said the move could make for some tougher competition both in the regular season and the playoffs.

“Truthfully, it used to be I thought 5A had tougher competition than there was in 6A,” he said. “There are a lot more schools involved and I thought overall the level of competition was higher it was in 6A …”

Oakville is in Class 5, District 1. Other District 1 teams are Fox, Jackson, Parkway South, Poplar Bluff, Rockwood Summit and Vianney.