A referee shortage is something that has plagued the Mississippi High School Activities association for some time, but this year’s football season has been heavily impacted by it.

Due to that, the MHSAA executive committee voted last week to amend the schedule, changing when the regular season will end for all six classifications.

“This is a change that we feel like we have to make,” said MHSAA executive director Rickey Neaves in a video statement. “It’s a good plan and it may be even a plan we should consider next year or for every year to ensure we can get the best officials possible for our year-ending games and for all our playoff games.”

The Class 2A, 3A and 4A regular season will now end on Oct. 28. The penultimate games for Class 1A, 5A and 6A teams will still be played as scheduled on Oct. 29.

The following week, all 1A, 5A and 6A regular season finales will be played on Nov. 4. The first round playoff games for 2A, 3A and 4A teams will still be played as schedule on Nov. 5.

With the change to the schedules, Water Valley will play its regular season finale at Alcorn Central on Oct. 28. Oxford (at Madison Central) and Lafayette (vs. Lake Cormorant) will play their regular season finales on Nov. 4 while the Blue Devils potential first round playoff game remains on Nov. 5.