A proposal floated by District One would have eliminated conference play for high school football teams. However, a lack of approval by the member conferences forced district officials to abandon a plan to schedule all games for its member schools.

            Earlier this month, the committee voted unanimously to discontinue any discussion or action on the topic following a straw vote of conferences in the district, according to Sean Kelly, the assistant executive director for District One.

            "I'm sure anything is possible, but I don't see this topic returning to the district committee," Kelly wrote in an email.

            The vote means Upper Perkiomen will continue to compete in the Pioneer Athletic Conference for the foreseeable future.

            Robert Kurzweg III, Upper Perkiomen's athletic director, expressed his support for the committee's decision. He said he favored the idea of maintaining the Pioneer Athletic Conference.

            According to the athletic director, head coach Tom Hontz also opposed the proposal. 

Athletic directors will continue to be responsible for scheduling non-league games. 

"We like the idea of a league schedule and being able to get non-league games that would be a good fit," Kurzweg said.

            District officials reintroduced the plan in September, to begin in the 2018 season that would have required the district to create a schedule for every team. According to Kelly, each team would have faced opponents with a similar enrollment.

            "From what we are hearing, some schools are having trouble finding non-league games in the same classification," said Nick Palladino, Boyertown's athletic director, earlier this month.

According to Kelly, 2015-16 football steering committee asked district officials to make an initial after hearing concerns from leagues whose members were unable to find non-league games that would help them quality for the playoffs.

            He said they decided to put it aside until the PIAA completed its plan to expand from four to six classifications.

            After the second introduction, representatives from the local conference took a test vote to gauge each school's interest. Palladino declined to disclose Boyertown's positon on the issue.

"We're happy with our schedule," Palladino said.  "However, I would like to see some changes."