Officials from the Colonial and Schuylkill leagues held a press conference Thursday announcing their new cooperative football scheduling model, which will take affect in the 2020 season.

The 12 Colonial League football teams and 16 from the Schuylkill League will form four divisions based on enrollments and PIAA Classifications. While Colonial League president Bryan Geist insisted the move was not a merger, the cooperative in effect creates a new 28-team league.

“It’s not a perfect system, but we’re getting closer,” said Northwestern Lehigh athletic director Jason Zimmerman.

The cooperative allows more schools to match up with opponents of similar size, which should result in more competitive games and could produce district brackets that better reflect teams performance throughout the season.

GOLD DIVISION

Bangor (4A), Blue Mountain (4A), Lehighton (4A), Northwestern Lehigh (4A), Pottsville (4A), Saucon Valley (4A), Southern Lehigh (5A), Wilson (4A).

RED DIVISION

Jim Thorpe (3A), North Schuylkill (3A), Northern Lehigh (3A), Notre Dame Green Pond (3A), Palisades (3A), Pen Argyl (3A), Salisbury (3A), Tamaqua (3A).

WHITE DIVISION

Pine Grove (3A), Schuylkill Haven (2A), Mahanoy Area (2A), Catasauqua (2A), Palmerton (2A), Minersville (2A).

BLUE DIVISION

Panther Valley (2A), Shenandoah (A), Marian Catholic (A), Tri-Valley (A), Nativity (A), Williams Valley (A).

A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK AT THE NEW SETUP, INCLUDING COMMENTS FROM A NUMBER OF AREA ATHLETIC DIRECTORS, WILL BE FEATURED IN FRIDAY’S TIMES NEWS AND ON THE OUR WEBSITE FRIDAY AFTERNOON.