Few surprises as GHSA unveils new regions
Head coaches at the four Middle Georgia schools in GHSA Region 2-AAAAA pretty much knew that one good thing would come from the latest round of reclassification: Regular involuntary trips to Augusta were gone.
But they were replaced by some long rides in different directions when the GHSA released the regions for the next two years Tuesday.
The reclassification committee began its meeting at 10 a.m. at the GHSA office in Thomaston, and the regions were released around the time most schools let out.
A little more than two dozen schools requested to play in a higher classification, none from Middle Georgia. Notable was Pace Academy's desire to jump two classes, from Class A to from AAA. None of those schools were in a region the past two years with a Middle Georgia school.
A key new aspect was schools having to play up on classification if more than three percent of their students came from outside of that school zone. Appeals were heard for 17 schools -- including Bleckley County, East Laurens, Jeff Davis, Vidalia and Crisp County -- to be granted a waiver and not play up. All but two (Bremen and Riverside Military Academy) were approved, most by a unanimous 14-0 vote.
The major impact comes from the addition of a seventh overall classification to hold the largest schools, which the top classification has always done. This one was called "Big 44" initially, but in reality, is simply another classification. It had 48 schools in the list released in mid-November, and it stayed at that number.
The reclassification committee will meet again next week to hear appeals for lateral transfers within a classification. A Jan. 13 meeting is set for the executive committee to ratify reclassification.
Middle Georgia schools wre included in 14 regions, excluding sub-regions, for 2014-16. This time, they'll represent 17 regions.
As expected, Northside and Houston County remained region rivals, in Class 6A ,and they'll be in Region with three teams to the south, including Valdosta. Warner Robins and Veterans are together in 5A, with two teams to the south and one to the west. Jones County joins a nine-team region that is centered south of Atlanta.
Northside and Warner Robins have had only a handful of seasons when they haven't been region mates: 2006-07 and 1966-67. In 1989-90, they were in Region 2-AAAA but in different sub-regions.
Some Class AAAA schools were able to stay geographically close, with Region 2-4A including Howard, Mary Persons, Perry, Upson-Lee and West Laurens, along with Spalding.
The same goes for Region 4-3A with Central, Peach, Rutland and Westside staying together, along with Jackson and Kendrick, while adding Pike County.
An intriguing region is Region 3-2A with Dodge County, Dublin and Washington County, with the improving Indians joining regular state contenders Irish and Golden Hawks. Bleckley County, East Laurens, Northeast and Southwest as well make for a geographically pleasing region.
The new regions no doubt inspired immediate phone calls for scheduling, since few regions are very large.
The current Region 2-5A, for example, allowed for only one non-region football game. For football, it didn't break into sub-regions. Now, three of those teams have big non-region gaps to fill.
Under the new plan, the largest region -- excluding Class 1A -- involving a Middle Georgia team is 4-5A (Jones County), with nine teams. The Greyhounds had established good region rivalries -- and huge gates -- the past two seasons with Northside and Houston County.
Region 2-2A (Jeff Davis, Toombs County and Vidalia) has nine schools, but St. Vincent's doesn't play football.
Region 4-2A has 11 teams overall, but three don't play football. Region 6-3A is the largest, with 10 football-playing schools.
Most of the Class 1A regions have a dozen teams or more and are sub-divided. Class 1A also has the most schools that don't play football.
On the other hand, the non-region scheduling gaps are huge for Northside, Houston County, Veterans, Warner Robins and Crisp County (six openings in five-team regions), and the local teams in 2-4A and 3-4A (five openings), among others.
Classes 6A and 5A have 58 football-playing schools, with 57 in Classes 4A, 3A and 2A. Class 1A has 87 schools that play football.
Of the new opponents, Bainbridge (for Warner Robins and Veterans) is still alive in the Class 4A semifinals.
This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Few surprises as GHSA unveils new regions ."