The state football committee on Sunday drafted a proposal that would raise from 32 to 64 the number of teams eligible for the postseason, feature a regional playoff and add a week to the end of a 14-game season if passed by the state association's Board of Control in April.

This proposal, first reported in The Washington Post, differs from one introduced last month that called for raising from four to six the number of classifications - each of which would produce an eight-team playoff field.

"The one that was proposed in the fall has probably had lukewarm support. The committee is sort of saying, 'If you don't like this, try this,' " said Ned Sparks, executive director of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association. "No matter what plan is presented, if you pick hard enough, you can find fault with some aspects of it. The overriding question is whether expansion of the tournament precludes some of those issues."

Both proposals will go before the Board of Control in its Dec. 7 meeting for feedback before being voted on in the April 25 meeting of the board, which determines changes in fall and winter tournaments. If either passes, it will go into effect in 2003.

"We wanted to maximize our chances for playoff expansion, and this is an additional option for the Board of Control to consider," said state football committee chairman John Cox.

The latest proposal qualifies 16 teams from each of four classifications, including the top four from each of the four regions per class based on the point system and a playoff - encompassing the tournament's first two rounds - to determine four region champions. "No. 1 in the region plays No. 4, and No. 2 plays No. 3. In that way, you have a true regional champion," Cox said.

The four region winners would then be seeded in pairs for the state semifinals - eight in all - that would yield the eight state finalists who will have played 14 games.