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BULLETIN FILE PHOTO

The Massachusetts State Football Coaches Association’s proposed format change would allow Amherst Regional to keep its Thanksgiving Day rivalry with Northampton, but also have chance to play in the state tournament.

The path to a state football tournament took another step forward Thursday.

The Massachusetts State Football Coaches Association presented its plan for a state tournament to the MIAA football committee, which officially received the report. The four regions - West, Central, North and South - will now bring the proposal back to their areas, gather more feedback and then formally discuss and vote on the proposal at the next meeting on March 12, according to David King, athletic director at Athol, the chair school for football in Western Mass.

"If supported by the football committee, the proposal would be presented to the MIAA Tournament Management Committee later," in the spring, King wrote in an email last week. "The request is for the adoption of this proposal starting in the fall of 2013."

The proposal separates the state into six divisions, with WMass and CMass taking part in four of them - D-2, D-4, D-5, D-6. The divisions will be made up of approximately 10 teams.

In the West, teams will play eight regular season games and power rankings will determine the four teams per division who qualify for the postseason, which begins Week 9 (Nov. 1, 2013). The WMass championships are played Week 10 (Nov. 8/9), followed by state semifinals during Week 11 Nov. (15/16). Regular Thanksgiving Day schedules follow on Week 12 (Nov. 21) and then state championships are played Week 13 (Nov. 30) at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Teams that do not reach the postseason will play Week 9 and Week 10 with matchups created by a scheduling committee. They will also take part in their normal turkey day rivalry game.

Each section of the state will determine which teams are placed in which division, based mostly on enrollment, as well as its own power rankings system for determining postseason qualifiers.

Supporters of the proposal like that it creates a true state championship, eliminates tournament teams playing three games in nine days and keeps the Thanksgiving rivalries alive.

Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.