New Hampshire Football Report

Green light given for co-op team

The Oyster River school board has approved the formation of a cooperative football team between Oyster River High School and Portsmouth High School. The board approved the proposal by a 6-0 vote Wednesday night.

The board also had to choose between two high schools — Dover and Portsmouth — as its co-op partner, and selected Portsmouth. Oyster River, the largest high school in the state by enrollment that currently does not have football, could send players to Portsmouth as soon as the 2018 season, although the move still requires NHIAA approval.

A similar proposal to form a cooperative team from students who attend Oyster River and Portsmouth was not approved by the Oyster River school board last year. Those schools have a cooperative girls’ hockey team as well.

The cooperative agreement runs through the end of the 2019 football season. At that point the situation could be revisited and the cooperative agreement could be extended.

Portsmouth competes in Division I East, a conference that includes Dover, Exeter, Spaulding and Winnacunnet. The Clippers have one of the smallest enrollments among Division I schools. Portsmouth and Oyster River would become the only cooperative team in Division I.

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