Overland High School senior Alijah Halliburton blocks a Smoky Hill extra point on Aug. 28, 2015, at Stutler Bowl. The Trailblazers and Buffaloes used to play each other in the Centennial League until the past two seasons. Overland and Smoky Hill would be in the same conference again if a new alignment proposal released Tuesday by the Colorado High School Activities Association is approved. (Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel)
Overland High School senior Alijah Halliburton blocks a Smoky Hill extra point on Aug. 28, 2015, at Stutler Bowl. The Trailblazers and Buffaloes used to play each other in the Centennial League until the past two seasons when Valor Christian was added. Overland and Smoky Hill will be in the same conference again as a new realignment proposal was approved by the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Legislative Council. (Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel)
Overland High School senior Alijah Halliburton blocks a Smoky Hill extra point on Aug. 28, 2015, at Stutler Bowl. The Trailblazers and Buffaloes used to play each other in the Centennial League until the past two seasons when Valor Christian was added. Overland and Smoky Hill will be in the same conference again as a new realignment proposal was approved by the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Legislative Council. (Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel)

AURORA | The prep football landscape in Aurora and around Colorado will look a lot different in the 2016-2017 two-year cycle as a new proposal from the Colorado High School Activities Association has come to fruition.

Last November, CHSAA released a proposal for realignment in Class 5A all the way down to 6-man football that was the product of lengthy collaboration of coaches, administrators, conference leaders and football council members. It moved through the CHSAA’s football committee in December and gained final approval at Thursday’s Legislative Council meeting in Aurora with 99 percent in favor.

In 5A, the proposal is the reflection of a waterfall system based on Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) for each team over the past two seasons, a system that many coaches around Aurora and elsewhere have clamored for to break up some of the current power conferences. The playoff field also was reduced from 32 teams to 16 teams as in other classifications.

Aurora now will have nine teams playing football in 5A in 2016 — with Aurora Central moving up from 4A and Gateway dropping down to 4A — which will be spread out among four of the seven new six-team conferences.

Grandview has the overall No. 2 RPI to top the group in Conference B, which includes two other Aurora teams in No. 13 Overland and No. 41 Smoky Hill. All three teams were in the Centennial League together until the Buffaloes were removed and Valor Christian added before the 2014 and 2015 cycle.

Regis Jesuit registered the overall No. 6 RPI, which ranks highest among the teams in Conference F, which also includes Aurora Central. The Trojans, who made the 4A playoffs this season, come in with the No. 34 RPI ranking.

Cherokee Trail (No. 1o) has the second-highest RPI in Conference E, which also includes No. 38 Hinkley. Besides a new conference, the Cougars have a new head coach in Dain Mangnall.

Eaglecrest (No. 18) and Rangeview (No. 25) comprise the middle of Conference D.

Dropping a classification, Gateway is in the Central 1 division of 4A, which puts the Olys in with three other teams dropping down — Adams City, Chatfield and Heritage — along with 4A regulars Dakota Ridge and Golden.

Vista PEAK remains in 3A and is in the Metro 2 division, which is rounded out by Denver North, Kennedy, Lincoln, Palmer Ridge and Thomas Jefferson.

The group of postseason qualifiers will be based on league champions and RPI and then will be seeded by a committee that includes a member of every conference.

The RPI system for state qualification — which eliminates the unpopular wild card points system — was also approved across several other CHSAA sports for next season and will begin this year for baseball in the spring.

Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel

2016-17 FOOTBALL ALIGNMENTS (BASED ON RPI OF LAST 2 YEARS)

Aurora teams bold and uppercased

CLASS 5A

CONFERENCE A: No. 1 Cherry Creek (0.643 RPI); No. 14 Fossil Ridge (0.545); 15. Horizon (0.536); No. 28 Denver East (0.493); No. 29 Prairie View (0.477); No. 42 Far Northeast Warriors (0.376)

CONFERENCE B: NO. 2 GRANDVIEW (0.625 RPI); NO. 13 OVERLAND (0.547); No. 16 Arapahoe (0.536); No. 27 Doherty (0.497); No. 30 Boulder (0.473); NO. 41 SMOKY HILL (0.393)

CONFERENCE C: No. 3 Valor Christian (0.621 RPI); No. 12 Fountain-Fort Carson (0.557); No. 17 Lakewood (0.534); No. 26 Poudre (0.503); No. 31 Legend (0.461); No. 40 Highlands Ranch (0.408)

CONFERENCE D: No. 4 Ralston Valley (0.599 RPI); No. 11 Rocky Mountain (0.560); NO. 18 EAGLECREST (0.523); NO. 25 RANGEVIEW (0.512); No. 32 Castle View (0.449); No. 39 Arvada West (0.411)

CONFERENCE E: No. 5 Pomona (0.593 RPI); NO. 10 CHEROKEE TRAIL (0.572); No. 19 Chaparral (0.521); No. 24 Mountain Vista (0.517); No. 33 Rock Canyon (0.441); NO. 38 HINKLEY (0.417)

CONFERENCE F: NO. 6 REGIS JESUIT (0.592 RPI); 9. Legacy (0.581); 20. Bear Creek (0.521); 23. Westminster (0.518); 34. AURORA CENTRAL (0.439); 37. Douglas County (0.423)

CONFERENCE G: No. 7 Columbine (0.584 RPI); No. 8 Fairview (0.584); No. 21 Mullen (0.520); No. 22 ThunderRidge (0.520); No. 35 Mountain Range (0.439); No. 36 Northglenn (0.428)

CLASS 4A (AURORA TEAM)

CENTRAL 1: Adams City, Chatfield, Dakota Ridge, GATEWAY, Golden, Heritage

CLASS 3A (AURORA TEAM)

METRO 2: Denver North, Kennedy, Lincoln, Palmer Ridge, Thomas Jefferson, VISTA PEAK

Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor and photographer with Sentinel Colorado. A Denver East High School and University of Colorado alum. He came to the Sentinel in 2001 and since then has received a number...