St. Joseph High School football fans had nightmares about the old points system used to determine the Missouri state football participants in the 1970s and 80s for leaving out undefeated city teams from the playoffs.

The point system nightmares might return in 2012.

Under a new proposal that MSHSAA member schools are anticipated to vote on this spring in the annual ballot, the points system would make its return.

All northwest Missouri athletic directors met with MSHSAA executive director Dr. Kerwin Urhahn last Friday to discus several things but the marquee discussion was about three football proposals. The first proposal is to return to only one team advancing from each district. The second proposal is to keep the current system and the third proposal is to enact a points system to determine seeding for an 8-team district tournament bracket that would start in Week 10.

When Urhahn took a straw poll at the northwest meeting, most athletic directors were in favor of the change from the current system. An athletic director at the meeting said only three people voted to stay with the current system or go back to the system where only one team advances out of a district.

According to the MSHSAA documents about the football playoff system, the new points proposal will create a nine-game regular season with schools scheduling all nine of these games. The 10th week will be the beginning of the District Championships. Teams will be placed into districts comprised of eight teams and seeded by a point system over the regular nine-game season. How the points system is calculated resembles something like the BCS formula including awarding points for wins, losses, and ties, penalizing and rewarding teams for playing up and down classes and strength of schedule.

At least one thing is clear: Every team would make the district tournament and no one would be left out.

The current feeling from several local athletic directors is that the current system is only broken because the same two teams could meet up in a five-week span with one game meaning a lot more than the previous game.

For example, East Buchanan lost to West Platte in the final game of districts this year before the Bulldogs beat the Blue Jays on a successful two-point conversion in sectionals to advance to the quarterfinals.

Those same local athletic directors would like to see a cross-over after the first round of districts to avoid state playoff rematches between two teams from the same district.

"I'm not sure where I stand," Benton activities director Mike Ziesel said. "The only problem with the current system is that you could turn around and play the same team again instead of crossing sectional games. If you win the district, you go this direction. If you finish second, you go this direction."

But that's not an option so the athletic directors think the new proposal to bring back the point system will get pushed through and will come back for the 2012 football season.

The current system, which allows two teams to advance to the playoffs out of district play, was introduced with the stipulation that it would be reviewed again after three seasons. MSHSAA's sub-committee for football came up with the three proposals that schools can consider starting with the 2012 football season.

One thing about the points proposal that stood out to Bishop LeBlond athletic director Greg Kastner is that the points system that would be used is still up for discussion.

"I think teams don't want to be punished for playing smaller-class teams," Kastner said.

Andrew DeWitt can be reached at andrew.dewitt@newspressnow.com