The trophy for the OSAA Class 6A golf state championship in 2023 is ready to be handed over to the winning high school team.

WILSONVILLE — Oregon high schools could soon be looking at stiffer penalties following ejections from athletic events, as well as some new varsity sports.

The Oregon School Activities Association’s delegate assembly — a group of school administrators featuring one representative from every athletic district in the state, as well as representatives from committees and other statewide athletic associations — is meeting on Monday, April 8, and the group will be tasked with discussing an increase in ejections since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the OSAA’s agenda for the meeting, the number of ejections hit all-time highs in boys soccer and football this season.

In boys soccer, the number of ejections went from 137 in the 2022-23 school year to 198 this year. The OSAA states that 182 of the 198 ejections were for “bench misconduct, entering the field during a fight, language, serious foul play, taunting, violent conduct or second caution.”

There were two notable fights within a short span during the fall state tournaments. A football game featuring Jefferson and South Medford ended in the second quarter as the Panthers led 34-0. Players from both teams left the sidelines as a fight broke out in the game, and the officials called the game off completely.

Days later, a boys soccer game between The Dalles and Cottage Grove saw a lengthy pause as both teams’ benches cleared in a brawl in the final 10 minutes of the game.

As a result, the OSAA has multiple questions for the delegate assembly to discuss:

• Do you support additional penalties for ejections to address the increase (additional missed games, higher fine for ejections, students required to take sportsmanship class)?

• Do you support varying penalties for ejections that are more severe (a second yellow in soccer sits one game vs. fighting or using discriminatory language sits multiple games)?

• Should a coach have to sit contests based on accumulated ejections for their team?

• Should a suspension period be a percentage of a season vs. a single contest (in football, one game is 11% of the season while in basketball, one game is 4% of the season)?

• Should teams who meet a certain number of varsity ejections in a season be unable to host and/or participate in the state playoffs that season?

The delegate assembly is also looking at the sportsmanship ejection course that is available in August, which schools are required to send a representative to if the number of ejections reaches a certain threshold. The assembly’s discussion items includes decreasing that threshold from five to three and also requiring a school principal or superintendent to attend instead of the coach or athletic director.

In October 2023, the Oregon School Activities Association’s delegate assembly added boys volleyball as the state’s first “emerging activity,” giving boys volleyball organizers some time to set up an unofficial spring season, which is currently running around the state.

Early numbers indicate there are enough schools participating to reach the threshold that the OSAA needs to consider adding boys volleyball as a future varsity sport.

While boys volleyball is currently seeing success as an emerging activity, the delegate assembly will be getting a first reading on potentially adding girls flag football as an emerging activity, as well as an update on both boys and girls water polo (which could start as early as the 2024-25 school year).

The last time the OSAA added a sport was girls wrestling in April 2023, splitting wrestling from the co-ed distinction into both boys and girls wrestling. Prior to that, the last time the OSAA added a full sport was softball in 1979.

The OSAA has also discussed the potential of adding esports in the past, but that hasn’t been brought up in some time.