By Kyle Robbins-BNLStar.com

   In the past, the Bedford North Lawrence football Stars have nearly always had to travel two hours or more just to participate in sectional play. The Stars were in 5A Sectional 8 with Castle, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Evansville North, Evansville Reitz, and Evansville Harrison. But this will no longer be the case. Harrison and Reitz High Schools both fell well below the cutoff line for 5A classification, while HHC foes Floyd Central and Jennings County moved into the 5A section.

    "The IHSAA has kept a five-class system for football and there are 63 teams in our class," said BNL athletic director Jeff Callahan. "Some teams dropped and some moved in new. Evansville Reitz and Harrison dropped, and Floyd Central and Jennings County moved into 5A."

   "The question is whether (the IHSAA) will move new teams into Sectional 8 or move us into Sectional 7. There has been talk of moving Bloomington South into our sectional to make it an eight team sectional, (Floyd Central, Jennings County, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Castle, Evansville North.) and us moving to Sectional 7 with teams like Columbus North and Center Grove, but I think (the IHSAA) will keep us in Sectional 8."

    Bloomington South Athletic Director J.R. Holmes told the Bloomington Herald-Times that IHSAA board member Randy Barrett is petitioning the IHSAA to put Bloomington North and South and the Terre Haute schools in a four-team bracket, and Evansville North, Castle, and BNL together in a three-team bracket with the winner of those brackets meeting up in a sectional final. Since the southern bracket would get the bye, the championship would be in Bloomington or Terre Haute. While this opportunity helps the Bloomington schools milage-wise, this puts the Stars at more of distance disadvantage. Either way, the Stars will not have to deal with perenial power Evansville Reitz.

   The Reitz Panthers have been a thorn in the side of the Stars for many years. The Panthers romped BNL at home 76-7 in 2001. This past year, Evansville Reitz eliminated the 9-3 Stars 40-20. Current BNL coach Bret Szabo is the former offensive coordinator at Evansville North. He felt that having Reitz out of the Stars' sectional would be a great advantage.

   "It's a huge benefit to us. (Reitz) has dominated Sectional play year in and year out," said Szabo.

   The players also feel not having to play Evansville Reitz will be an advantage.

   "It will be different without Reitz," said sophomore-to-be cornerback Josh Reef "It will be easier, but it would be worth the trip just to face some good teams. It will be just another game without them."    

      But while the chance is smaller, the possibility of a long trip to Evansville still exists.

    "With (Evansvile) North and Castle being in the sectional this will not eliminate the chance of a long trip," said Callahan.

    Szabo believes that the Stars have had plenty of experience in long road trips.

    "We made trips to Jeffersonville, trips to New Albany, trips to Madison, and Evansville's only about 30 minutes farther than those places. This year, we got there in plenty of time. We had a nice ride, we had time to walk around. I think more of a factor is not being able to play at home," said the Stars head coach.

   Szabo is optimistic about the upcoming season, and he believes that they will have the tools to repeat as conference champions.

   "We'll have the tools, its not so much the individual kids' talent, but how hard the kids want to work," said Szabo.

   Even though official sectional pairings will not be released until later this year, it appears that Floyd Central and Jennings County will replace Reitz and Harrison in Sectional 8. What does this mean for the Stars? It means generally shorter traveling distances and a traditionally weaker sectional for the Stars.