Mountain Pointe vs. Hamilton. It’s a great rematch that could only hatch in a boardroom, considering the contentious state of scheduling football games.

All of Arizona’s Division I high school teams were able schedule their games for the next two school years without the 5A Conference getting involved. But there was one exception: football.

Football is king, but it also tends to expose more the ugly politics of high school athletics. Take for example Tuesday’s 5A Conference meeting for region reps, who meet regularly to tackle topics that affect the schools in Division I. 

The meeting was held at the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s boardroom in Phoenix. On Tuesday, the 5A region reps addressed the open freedom game dilemma a couple of teams were facing, including Mountain Pointe, which had four freedom games it couldn’t fill.

Mountain Pointe tried its best to fill those spots, making more than 30 requests to play opponents, but nobody accepted an invitation. Mountain Pointe will be one of the favorites to win the D-I crown next season, so it’s understandable why opponents aren’t willing to play it.

But that left the 5A region reps with the chore of finding games for Mountain Pointe. Last week, the AIA’s executive board passed a measure that prohibits teams from scheduling games against opponents in different divisions until teams fill their schedules with opponents representing the same division.

That led the 5A reps to eliminate some freedom games that were already scheduled to help Mountain Pointe and other schools.

For geographic reasons, the 5A reps looked first at Division I schools near Mountain Pointe that scheduled freedom teams in different divisions. Phoenix Unified School District schools North, Maryvale and Cesar Chavez were then the first three schools chosen for Mountain Pointe as freedom games.

A Phoenix Unified School District representative wasn’t present during Tuesday’s meeting. But the Mesa Public Schools were represented, and that was important because Mesa and Mesa Red Mountain were looked at as options for Mountain Pointe’s final freedom game.

But the Mesa Public Schools’ rep opposed that motion. Red Mountain also will return a good team next season and seemed like an obvious choice to play Mountain Pointe.

But the school that was the nearest to Mountain Pointe that had already scheduled a game against a team in a different division was Hamilton, the team Mountain Pointe lost to in the 2012 D-I final. An administrator representing each of those schools attended Tuesday’s meeting, and they each said that their programs were opposed to seeing a Hamilton-Mountain Pointe regular season matchup.

Hamilton and Mountain Pointe likely don't want to see each other until the playoffs. There was then more discussion about what to do, but the 5A reps couldn’t come to an agreement.

That led Dr. Harold Slemmer, who attended the meeting and is the AIA’s executive director, to criticize the 5A Conference region reps for the “poker game” they were playing.

“This is all about self interests,” said Slemmer during the standstill.

The region reps ultimately voted to have Mountain Pointe and Hamilton meet.

But expect some of the D-I schools that didn’t get what they wanted during this scheduling cycle to voice their displeasure, even if some schools don't have legitimate reasons for doing so. 

The disagreeing might continue Wednesday when the 1-4A conference reps meet to sort out their scheduling issues.

Division I scheduling changes

Below is a list of the freedom games that were scheduled during Tuesday’s meeting and the games that were eliminated.

Aug. 30 Mountain Pointe vs. North. North will not play Sierra Linda.

Sept. 6 Desert Vista vs. North. North will not play South Mountain.

Sept. 6 Mountain Pointe at Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez will not play Saguaro.

Sept. 13 Mountain Pointe at Maryvale. Maryvale will not play South Mountain.

Sept. 20 Westview vs. Sandra Day O’Connor. Sandra Day O’Connor will not play Campo Verde.

Sept. 20 Ironwood Ridge vs. Buena. Buena will not play Westview.

Sept. 27 Mountain Pointe vs. Hamilton. Hamilton will not play Ironwood Ridge.