The Siuslaw Vikings may be back to the future if they rejoin the Sky-Em League for the four-year block beginning next school year.

The Oregon School Activities Association's classification and districting committee released its latest model, Draft 19, on Thursday (Aug. 31), and it contains a major twist for the Vikings.

Look no further than the new enrollment numbers for Siuslaw, which shot from 347 to 376, for the sudden change in the Vikings' fortunes.

"I can't say that I'm surprised," Siuslaw athletic director Chris Johnson said. "When the new (enrollment) numbers came out, things were going to change. We have always been right on the line."

The new line has Siuslaw in a league with Elmira, Cottage Grove, Junction City, Marist (Eugene) and Marshfield.

"We've been in a league with all those schools at some point," Johnson said. "We will surfive and fight regardless of where we wind up."

North Bend, oddly enough, moves up a classification and into a different league despite there being a small difference in enrollments, 702 for the Bulldogs and 650 for the Pirates.

Siuslaw was in the eight-school Mountain Valley Conference in previous model, Draft 18, moving down a classification to 3A. The other seven schools were all smaller than Siuslaw, based on the old numbers.

The Vikings now will be among the smallest of the 33 Class 4A schools, and the next-to-smallest in the Sky-Em League.

Based on adjusted enrollment figures, the Sky-Em League includes:

• Cottage Grove Lions (635)
• Elmira Falcons (370)
• Junction City Tigers (476)
• Marist Catholic Spartans (521)
• Marshfield Pirates (650)
• Siuslaw Vikings (376)

The silver lining for players (and fans) is that the travel times improve.

According to Google numbers, Cottage Grove is 88 miles from Florence, Marist 64, Junction City 63, Marshfield 49 and Elmira 48, with the longest drive 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Siuslaw had several longer trips in Draft 18, including a more-than 3-hour one-way drive to La Pine, which is 175 miles east of Florence.

The committee's final public meeting is 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 25, at the Al Kader Shriners Center in Wilsonville.

The public will have another chance to testify, Monday, Oct. 16, when the committee presents its final proposal to the OSAA Executive Board and Delegate Assembly.

The latest committee update from its Monday, Aug. 28, meeting is at http://www.osaa.org/docs/committees/classification/20170828update.pdf

Draft 19 http://www.osaa.org/docs/committees/classification/Draft19Class.pdf