With the addition of Ypsilanti and Monroe high schools to the Southeastern Conference this fall, league athletic directors were called upon to do some creative scheduling.

With one temporary exception in football, crossover games between the league's six Red Division and six White Division teams will count in the division standings in all fall sports.

The Red Division, the league’s larger schools, includes Huron, Pioneer, Skyline, Saline, Temperance Bedford and Monroe. The White Division is made up of Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Ypsilanti, Tecumseh and Adrian.

With explanations courtesy of Chelsea High School athletic director Wayne Welton, here’s a breakdown of how each fall sport will work in regards to scheduling and standings:

FOOTBALL Using the Big Ten Conference football schedule as a model, teams will play each of their division rivals every year and will play two teams from the other division on a rotating basis. Those crossover matchups will change every two years after a home-and-home series.

Because Skyline will not field a varsity football team until next season but is already part of the schedule rotation, two White Division teams (Ypsilanti and Adrian) play one less league game than the rest of their division. For that reason, crossover games will not count in the White Division standings this year only. They will count in the Red Division standings. So, for example, when Dexter hosts Pioneer on Sept. 4, it’s a league game for Pioneer but not for Dexter. Starting in 2010, all crossovers count in both divisions’ standings.

One other exception: All SEC teams had Week 1 and Week 9 open for non-league games, so some teams not scheduled to play each other during league play filled out schedules against one another. These games will not count in the standings. In Week 1, this includes Huron vs. Chelsea and Adrian vs. Monroe. In Week 9, it’s Chelsea vs. Saline and Huron vs. Ypsilanti.

GIRLS TENNIS Also using the Big Ten model of rotating two crossover opponents, primarily because large schools in the Red Division would be penalized at tournament-seeding time for competing against smaller programs. Skyline will compete in girls tennis, however, so all crossover matches count in both divisions’ standings.

GIRLS GOLF & VOLLEYBALL In both of these sports, division rivals will play one head-to-head match against each other and will complete a crossover schedule with quad matches. Each division is split into three groups of “traveling partners,” and one group from each division will face the three groups from the other division. At those quad meets, however, the teams from the same division will not play each other.

Traveling partners in the Red Division include Pioneer-Saline, Huron-Skyline and Bedford-Monroe. In the White Division, it’s Chelsea-Dexter, Lincoln-Ypsilanti and Adrian-Tecumseh.

So, for instance, when the Pioneer-Saline group meets the Chelsea-Dexter group for a quad match, Pioneer will play Chelsea and Dexter and Saline will play Chelsea and Dexter. Pioneer and Saline will not play each other; nor will Chelsea and Dexter.

BOYS SOCCER & GIRLS SWIMMING All 12 teams will compete against each other one time and all results count in respective division standings. The swimming schedule includes some three-team meets, but they will be scored as three individual head-to-head meets.

CROSS COUNTRY There will be two division-specific jamborees and a league-wide, end-of-season championship meet. Division champions will be determined based on performances at all three events.

Rich Rezler covers high school sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2553 or richrezler@annarbor.com.