Friday afternoon football in Darlington got a "one-year reprieve" and will continue this fall despite much discussion among Southwest Wisconsin Activities League officials this week over the loss of class time in all sports.

Kickoff times for games in Darlington highlighted discussion during a meeting Monday in Mineral Point, Redbirds athletic director Brian Bennett said Wedneday. His school, which has never had lights at Martens Field, plays its home games at 2 p.m. on Fridays.

Pressure from other SWAL schools had been mounting this spring for Darlington to push its kickoffs to 4 p.m. Fridays or early Saturday afternoons to avoid lost class time. On Monday, representatives from the eight SWAL schools voted 6-2 to require -- beginning in 2010 -- that kickoffs for conference games be at 7 p.m. Friday or 1 p.m. Saturday. (Darlington and Hazel Green cast the two "no" votes.)

Bennett said the proposal allows for an alternate time "if mutually agreed upon" by the two competing schools. That means some kickoffs could remain at 2 p.m., but Bennett said it is more likely to be 3 or 4 p.m. depending on how far the visiting school has to travel and how much daylight is available at the time of the season when the game is scheduled.

He said it was unlikely the school would add lights to the field during these tight budget times unless such a project was privately financed. The lack of lights has forced Darlington to open the WIAA football playoffs on the road all 20 times it has qualified for postseason because those opening-round games are played on Tuesday nights.

"Things will will stay as is for the coming year," Bennett said. "At least we have another year to look at things and give us a chance to see if want to adjust to later start time or 1 p.m. Saturday."

Darlington officials had responded to earlier concerns about lost class time by asking their conference peers how it differs from the greater volume of lost class time throughout the conference during the spring for various sports. Bennett said there was "considerable discussion" about that issue, but there were no immediate solutions offered.

"There was at least some verbal commitment to look at that whole issue over the next school year to see what could be done to reduce that loss of class time ... in the spring," Bennett said.