TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — For the state’s superintendents, the equation is simple: fewer games equals big savings.

Area coaches aren’t buying the math.

The Mississippi High School Activities Association signed off on a request by the state’s superintendents to reduce by 10 percent the number of varsity events schools play each season. The lone exception is football.

That means instead of 28 games, basketball teams can play a maximum of 26 games. Non-football schools had the number reduced from 31 to 30.

For Thrasher boys basketball coach Mitch Howell, those two lost games can make a huge difference. Basketball is what funds the school’s minor sports, like softball and track.

“Basketball’s what makes us survive,” Howell said. “You’re going to cut games off us, that’s your biggest gate, especially at a 1A school.”

With diesel fuel costing more than $4 per gallon, the superintendents felt something had to be done.

MHSAA Executive Director Ennis Proctor said one school district spent $70,000 in one month on diesel alone.

“They’ve got a lot of pressure on them education-wise,” Proctor said of the administrators. “They just feel like their budgets are in trouble, and I can see that.”

For Howell and other coaches, the critical part of the equation is the fuel saved versus the gate lost.

Booneville Superintendent Rickey Neaves, who was among the 14 superintendents to vote in favor of the move, said the cuts will save his district more than $2,000 in gasoline next school year. He thought that for now at least, the lost gate would eat into that total, “but it’s a start.”

Union County Superintendent Ken Basil said, “I feel like it’ll probably save a little money. Is it enough to justify it right this second? Probably not. But if (gasoline prices) keep going like this, it will.”

With the cuts taking effect next school year, coaches have been scrambling to change schedules.

Tupelo’s volleyball team had 11 teams drop it, but coach Clint Jordan has been able to fill those dates.

For Tupelo girls basketball coach Stephanie Murphy, things might not be so easy. No teams have dropped the Lady Wave yet. She expects Clinton and Meridian to cancel their games at Tupelo.

“I think everybody’s kind of at a standstill, kind of pausing and waiting,” Murphy said. “I think it’s going to be a major headache, because we had an extremely hard time just scheduling regular season games.”

Said Tupelo Athletics Director Danny Porter, “When you’re going to drop (a game) for mileage, you’re going to drop your longest trip. That’s usually us.”

It’s not just football-playing schools being affected.

Basil’s schools East Union, Ingomar, Myrtle and West Union don’t have football, but they’re still seeing opponents back out of games.

Basil’s first cousin, East Union baseball coach Chris Basil, said two teams have already dropped the Urchins. That’s not his biggest concern.

Chris Basil spoke with Proctor and came away with the impression that this isn’t just about rising gasoline prices.

With baseball teams allowed to play only 18 games, instead of 20, aside from tournaments, the cuts will mean more tournaments. Those are moneymakers for the MHSAA, while regular season games are not.

“They are forcing us to play tournaments so they can get revenue out of baseball,” Basil said.

He thinks there are other reasons for the cuts. One suspicion was confirmed by his cousin: administrators, which must monitor athletic events, will now have more nights at home.

“It’s very hard in our situation for an administrator to be at everything,” Ken Basil said.

Chris Basil has no real problem with that, just with the fact that this is all being pinned on fuel prices. He also wonders why this is coming on the heels of game officials getting a pay increase.

While Basil was able to speak with Proctor, neither he nor any other coaches had a say in this matter.

Proctor said coaches were left out of the loop on this decision because “they’re not the ones running the schools.”

Howell doesn’t like being marginalized when it comes to budget concerns. And like other coaches, the timing of the decision bothers him.

Porter thinks the cuts could have waited a year. Murphy said the decision should either have been made sooner, before schedules were set.

Proctor doesn’t think the cuts will have any negative impact.

“I don’t think it hurts anything, to be honest with you,” he said.

Proctor also pointed out that Mississippi will still play more games than most states. He cited Alabama, which last year implemented a 10 percent cut and is considering slashing the schedule even more.

Simple math to Proctor.

“You look at the different states and where we stand and where they stand,” he said, “and we’re actually hanging in there and doing better than most.”

But is it more complicated than that? Will the cuts actually help in the long run?

Tupelo’s Porter assessed the issue diplomatically, and perhaps a bit cryptically.

“I think in theory,” he said, “it’s a real good move.”