Voke-tech schools get a bigger Super Bowl share

Get the trophies ready.

High school football fans have two more championship games to look forward to this season following the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association's approval of a pair of title games for the state's vocational schools.

The games -- which will be played Dec. 2 at Chelsea High School -- will crown a large-school and small-school champion from a pool of 31 vocational schools that includes local teams from Blackstone Valley Tech (Upton), Keefe Tech (Framingham), Assabet Valley (Marlborough), Nashoba Valley Tech (Nashoba), and Tri-County (Franklin).

''I see it as a great opportunity for the vocational schools," MIAA deputy director Bill Gaine said. ''It will help get them get involved in the postseason experience."

The games were created for two reasons: Vocational schools rarely qualify for MIAA Super Bowls, and, when they do, they usually lose. Since the MIAA created its Super Bowl system in 1972, vocational schools have qualified for 36 of the 360 games played and won just nine state titles.

While vocational schools have enjoyed some recent success -- South Shore (2003), Worcester North (2002), Bay Path (2001, 2000), and Greater Lowell (2000) have all won MIAA Super Bowls since 2000 -- there have been plenty more blowout losses, such as Marian's 37-0 win over Blue Hills Regional Tech in the 2002 Division 6 playoffs.

''These games will give schools a chance that wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to play in a championship game," Keefe Tech football coach Chris Kane said. ''If our kids got a chance to play, it would really fire them up. It would make their day."

Here's how the games will work. The state's 31 vocational teams will be slotted into four special divisions apart from their regular MIAA league affiliations.

Large School North/West: Greater Lowell, Whittier, Greater Lawrence, Northeast Metropolitan, Shawsheen, Montachusett, Lynn Tech.

Large School South/West: Cape Cod Tech, Greater New Bedford, Putnam, South Eastern, Bay Path, Worcester North, Bristol-Plymouth, Blue Hills.

Small School North/West: Blackstone Valley, Assabet Valley, Minuteman, Keefe Tech, Nashoba Tech, Pathfinder, Franklin County, North Shore.

Small School South/West: Dean Tech, Westfield, Old Colony, South Shore, Smith Vocational, Tri-County, Upper Cape Cod, McCann Tech.

The winners of each large- and small-school division will then meet in a corresponding championship game. However, if a school earns a berth in the MIAA playoffs, which are scheduled for Nov. 30, it will play in that game and not have the option of playing in the vocational championship.

''The coaches have been calling for these games for a while," said Whittier athletic director Kevin Bradley, who has been pushing for the vocational championships for more than a year. ''It's like an early Christmas present for a lot of us.

''You go around to all of the gymnasiums and there are these [state vocational tournament] banners hanging," Bradley said. ''It's a great thing to see. The kids are so proud of those banners and trophies."

MIAA refuses to order wood bats

The MIAA Baseball Committee last week voted down a pair of proposals that would have made wood bats mandatory equipment in all MIAA-sanctioned games by the start of the 2006 season.

The committee first voted 9-6 against a proposal that would have required wood bats in all MIAA games by next spring. It then turned down another proposal by an 8-7 vote that would have required wood bats in MIAA games by the start of the 2006 season.

Under MIAA rules, individual teams and leagues are free to use either wood or aluminum.

Quick hits
Cheryl Boyd broke the Holliston girls' soccer team's single-season scoring record last week with a pair of goals in a 6-0 win over Westwood. Boyd, a junior striker, now has 20 goals for Holliston, which was 13-2 entering play this week. . . . The Keefe Tech boys' soccer team continued its dominance in the Colonial Athletic League by capturing its eighth consecutive league championship last week with a 3-1 win over Assabet Valley. Keefe Tech (8-4-3, 7-0-3 CAL) got a goal and an assist in the victory from the team's leading scorer, senior Raony Quedevez. . . . The defending Division 2 state champion Marlborough girls' volleyball team locked up the Mid-Wach A championship last week with a 2-0 (30-20, 30-18) win over Westborough. Junior middle hitter Danielle Jenkins collected 17 points for Marlborough, which improved to 16-0 overall and 9-0 in the Mid-Wach with the win. . . . Looking to brush up on your rusty basketball skills? The Bellingham Youth Basketball Association is sponsoring the Walter Lewis Memorial 3-on-3 tournament Nov. 6 at Bellingham High School. The tournament is open to players in the BYBA program, 11th- and 12th-graders, and men and women 19 and older. The entry fee is $20 per player. For more information, call Marcel Lussier at 508-876-2082.

James Whitters can be reached at whitters@globe.com.