Divisions are in every level of sport: college football, Major League Baseball, National Football League, and even boxing splits into weight classes.
But one level of athletics where divisions play a huge role is high school.
So, how has playing different levels impacted sports at Lakeland?
Changes
All high school sports in Idaho are split up into divisions ranging from 1A to the newly formed 6A ranks. High schools get ranked by their state based on the population/number of students enrolled.
Lakeland High School was a 4A high school, but with a recent division change, they have moved to 5A.
Moscow and Timberlake have stayed in the 4A division. With that change being in effect this year Lakeland will have a different-looking schedule for all athletics.
Making Moscow a non-conference game and adding the Lewiston Bengals to their conference.
“It’s definitely harder but it’s nothing we can’t handle,” Haydon Benson, starting quarterback with the Lakeland Hawks, said. Divisions don’t make or break a game by any means but the competition is stiffer with the bigger schools you play. Coeur ‘d’Alene High School moved up to a 6A, same with Post Falls, and Lake City.
“Not having to play the Vikings this year is definitely some relief,” Benson said.
The Lewiston Bengals are considered a 5A but they were only a couple of kids off of being a 6A which is huge for them and other teams.
Levels of competition
Depending on how teams do in your conference can sometimes decide whether teams make the playoffs.
The Lakelands conference went from Moscow and Sandpoint to now Lewiston and Sandpoint.
“Lewiston will definitely be a challenge and making the 5A division is a huge switch up,” Cyler Bauer, cornerback for the Hawks, said.
Big schools are always a challenge to face no matter what. Larger schools have more options for athletes and a bigger selection of talent you could say. Plus depth is huge no matter what sport you play, the more players the better and that’s something that smaller schools have some trouble with sometimes when competing with a bigger school. Football is always mainly focused on when it comes to these kinds of topics. Divisions affect all sports.
“I definitely changed our schedule and we will have to work hard this year,” Levi Abbot, varsity basketball player, said.
Sometimes a division change can make a season a little easier or even a little harder. Again with Lewiston now in the way of playoffs instead of Moscow, that’s a huge change and it’s gonna take some getting used to in all sports for sure. Lakeland baseball is another sport that it affects.
“I love having Lewiston in our division, it gives another team from our league an opportunity to make a run at state,” Lakeland assistant varsity baseball coach Mike Dunn said. Also, Dunn said that there have been many years where 2 teams from the 4A IEL have been very talented but only 1 team has gotten a shot at state.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of playing in larger and smaller schools?
It’s no secret that playing smaller schools can take some stress off a team for sure but is that really an advantage?
Lakeland last year was a 4A High School and had Moscow Timberlake and smaller schools on their schedule. Then when they played bigger schools like Post Falls or CHS, it didn’t go so well.
In the last 5 years, the Hawks’s record against bigger schools is very different from their record with smaller schools. With smaller schools, their record to the present day is 8-5. With bigger schools it is 7-13.
Playing a ton of smaller schools can build a false perception of how good your team is. Even Moscow this year stayed at a 4A level and had a breeze of a schedule and ended up being 5-0 at one point. Then they went against 5A Lakeland and picked up their first loss. It has its ups and downs.
Playing against a big bad school can be intimidating and seen as not helpful but what isn’t seen is the fact that it could be super helpful. Smaller schools need that challenge. It honestly could tell a team a lot about themselves. Upsets are a real thing and if a smaller school doesn’t strive for that and is just ready to bow down due to some numbers and some rankings of another school then that smaller school will not and never will be a great team.
The Hawks football team in the 2022-2023 season had a huge upset against the Post Falls Trojans and the Hawks at the time were a 4A school. They shocked the state with that win and that’s a perfect example of not giving into the media, numbers, and rankings. The Hawks are ready to show that they can hang with this 5A division and even higher one.
