GHSA to consider moving up end of prep football season

ATLANTA - The Georgia High School Association will vote this fall on a proposal to move up the start of the 2004 football season, which would end in early December instead of days before Christmas. <br> <br> This season, the championship games will be held the weekend of Dec. 19-20. <br> <br> The GHSA executive committee will consider the scheduling proposal at its meeting Oct. 12-13 in Forsyth, said Steve Figueroa, the group&#39;s spokesman. <br> <br> It would move up the start of the season by a week, to Aug. 20, by cutting back the amount of practice time from four weeks to three. Also, the amount of time allowed to get in a 10-game schedule would be reduced from 12 weeks to 11, effectively cutting off two weeks from the end of the season. <br> <br> The 2004 championship games would be held Dec. 3-4. <br> <br> There is one potential drawback to the plan. The semifinals, which are held at the Georgia Dome, would conflict with the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. <br> <br> While the scheduling proposal is likely to be supported, the executive committee will take up a more contentious issue: region realignment. <br> <br> Schools already know which class they will be in for 2004, based on enrollment, but the GHSA still must agree to the regions. The panel will consider each class individually; any plan that fails to draw a majority vote would have to go back to the realignment subcommittee for a new proposal.