GHSA sets 2010-11 region alignments, considers returning to two-year reclassification schedule

Chat with Michael Carvell

The Georgia High School Association announced its new regions Wednesday, but the bigger news was a proposal to adjust the process again. The GHSA had announced new classifications in November.

Under the new plan, the state’s 445 member schools will remain in the same classification and region for the next four years, beginning in September.

The four-year cycle for this reclassification was approved last year. However, the reclassification committee has requested a return to the former long-time method of a two-year cycle. “Change is happening too quickly in education these days, and it is probably not in our best interests to go to a four-year cycle,” said Dr. Ralph Swearngin, the GHSA’s executive director.

“When we came up with the four-year idea a few years ago, we never could foresee all these changes in terms of growth, adding new schools, and people re-districting.”

That proposal, along with the final region assignments, will be voted upon by the GHSA’s executive committee Jan. 12. The reclassification committee will meet again Dec. 16 to hear any appeals about new region placements.

‘Catch-all’ Region 2-AAAAA should be strong

Here are the observations of the GHSF Daily’s Chip Saye and Todd Holcomb on the Dec. 2, 2009, regional realignment announcements for the 2010-11 academic year. They, and we at the AJC, also welcome your opinions.

Chip Saye’s observations:

*The increasing number of large schools in the metro Atlanta area continues to be a problem in Class AAAAA. The new Region 1-AAAAA in south Georgia will have only five schools, while every other region will have at least seven. In the alignment in place for this school year, every region in AAAAA has from eight to 10 schools.

*Region 2 appears to be the catch-all region in Class AAAAA. It includes two schools from DeKalb County (M.L. King, Stephenson), two Coweta County teams (Newnan, East Coweta), two from south Fulton (Langston Hughes, Westlake), one from Henry County (Luella) and one from Newton County (Newton). No other region besides Region 1 includes teams from more than two counties.

*It’s probably safe to pencil Buford in as a playoff team from Region 6-AA Div. A next season. The other five teams in its subregion (Avondale, Clarkston, Cross Keys, Decatur and GAC) had a combined record this season of 14-37. Six of the victories belonged to Avondale, and another was a forfeit to Cross Keys.

*Although about half of its schools do not play football, Region 7-A stands out as unusually large with its 25 members. The region is made up of private schools from north Fulton County to Macon. It should make for one heck of a basketball region tournament, though.

*Region 5-A will be loaded for football. Five of the eight schools that played a region schedule this season – Lincoln County, Warren County, Washington-Wilkes, Twiggs County and Wilkinson County – made the playoffs. There’s also Johnson County, which went 8-1 before losing in the Region 3-A playoff.

Todd Holcomb’s observations:

*Coffee and Tift County were 3-7 this season. One of them would’ve made the playoffs in the new Region 1-AAAAA, which has only five teams. But each of the five schools has made the quarterfinals this decade, and four have made the semifinals.

*Newnan, Stephenson and M.L. King have won weak regions this decade. That won’t be the case in the new and improved Region 2-AAAAA. This should be one of the top three or four football regions in Class AAAAA.

*None of the Regions 4-AAAAA teams won a playoff game this year, and only one qualified. In 6-AAAAA, Roswell is the only team that won a round in the playoffs or has any real name recognition around the state.

*The Houston County schools (Warner Robins, Houston County, Northside) were hoping to land in a region with Upson-Lee and Jones County. Instead, they’ll be traveling to Bainbridge and Thomas County Central on the Florida border. Warner Robins has never played Thomas County Central. Northside and Thomas Central have played once. This should be fun.

*Region 4-AA has three reigning region champions (Eastside, Jackson, Sandy Creek) that are a combined 8-1 in the playoffs. Eastside and Sandy Creek are in the semifinals, and Jackson lost to Eastside in the quarters.

Here are the new regional alignments set Wednesday by the Georgia High School Association.

YOU TELL US: Are you happy with where your school ended up in region placement? Why or why not? And what’s your opinion on going back to a two-year reclassification cycle?

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Class AAAAA

Region 1

Coffee
Colquitt County
Lowndes
Tift County
Valdosta

Region 2

East Coweta
Langston Hughes
Luella
ML King
Newnan
Newton
Stephenson
Westlake

Region 3

Div. A
Beach
Benedictine
Camden County
Groves
Savannah Arts Academy

Div B
Bradwell Institute
Jenkins
Johnson
Savannah
Windsor Forest

Region 4

Campbell
Harrison
Hillgrove
Kennesaw Mountain
McEachern
North Cobb
Pebblebrook
South Cobb

Region 5

Cherokee
Etowah
Lassiter
Marietta
Walton
Wheeler
Woodstock

Region 6

Alpharetta
Centennial
Milton
Roswell
North Forsyth
Northview
South Forsyth

Region 7

Berkmar
Collins Hill
Duluth
Mill Creek
Norcross
Meadowcreek
Mountain View
North Gwinnett
Peachtree Ridge

Region 8

Archer
Brookwood
Central Gwinnett
Dacula
Grayson
Parkview
Shiloh
South Gwinnett

CLASS AAAA

Region 1

Bainbridge
Hardaway
Harris County
Houston County
Lee County
Northside, Col.
Northside, W.R.
Thomas Co. Central
Warner Robins

Region 2

Div. A
Brunswick
Glynn Academy
Liberty County
Richmond Hill
Ware County
Wayne County

Div. B
Effingham County
Evans
Greenbrier
Lakeside, Evans
South Effingham
Statesboro

Region 3

Div. A
Alcovy
Dutchtown
Jones County
Union Grove
Ola
Woodland, Stockbridge

Div. B
Fayette County
Griffin
McIntosh
Northgate
Starr’s Mill
Upson-Lee
Whitewater

Region 4

Div. A
Jonesboro
Lovejoy
Morrow
Mount Zion
Mundy’s Mill

Div. B
Banneker
Creekside
Forest Park
North Clayton
Riverdale
Tri-Cities

Region 5

Div. A
Alexander
Chapel Hill
Douglas County
Lithia Springs
S. Paulding
Paulding County
Villa Rica

Div. B
East Paulding
Hiram
Kell
N. Paulding
Osborne
Pope
Sprayberry

Region 6

Div. A
Carver, Atl.
Chamblee
Dunwoody
Lakeside, Atlanta
Marist
Tucker

Div. B
Douglass
Lithonia
Mays
Miller Grove
Redan
Southwest Dekalb

Region 7

Div. A
Cass
NW Whitfield
Rome
Sequoyah
Woodland, Cartersville

Div. B
Chattahoochee
Creekview
Forsyth Central
Johns Creek
Lambert
S. Forsyth

Region 8

Div. A
Apalachee
Clarke Cen.
Flowery Branch
Habersham Cen
Madison Co.
Winder-Barrow

Div. B
Cedar Shoals
Heritage (Con.)
Loganville
Rockdale Co.
Salem

CLASS AAA

Region 1

Americus-Sumter
Cairo
Crisp County
Dougherty
Monroe, Albany
Westover
Worth County

Region 2

Div. A
Baldwin
Howard
Mary Persons
Peach County
Rutland

Div. B
Central, Macon
Perry
Veterans
West Laurens
Westside, Macon

Region 3

Subregion A
Burke County
Butler
Cross Creek
Glenn Hills
Hephzibah
Johnson, Augusta
Washington County

Subregion B
Davidson Fine Arts
Grovetown
Harlem
Josey
Richmond Academy
Thomson
Westside, Augusta

Region 4

Drew
Eagles Landing
Eastside
Henry County
Jackson
Locust Grove
Sandy Creek
Spalding
Stockbridge

Region 5

Div. A
Druid Hills
Grady
North Atlanta
North Springs
Riverwood
St. Pius X
Washington

Div. B
Arabia Mountain
Cedar Grove
Columbia
McNair
Stone Mountain
Towers
Woodward Academy

Region 6

Carrollton
Cedartown
Central Carrollton
Columbus
Haralson County
LaGrange
New Manchester
Shaw
Troup

Region 7

Div. A
Dalton
Heritage, Ringgold
LaFayette
Ridgeland
Ringgold
SE Whitfield

Div. B
Allatoona
Cartersville
Gilmer
Murray County
Pickens

Region 8

Subregion A
Chestatee
Franklin Co.
Lumpkin Co.
N. Hall
Stephens Co.
White Co.

Subregion B
Gainesville
Johnson, Gain.
Lanier
Monroe Area
Oconee Co.
Walnut Grove
West Hall

CLASS AA

Region 1

Albany
Berrien
Brooks County
Cook
Early County
Fitzgerald
Thomasville

Region 2

Appling County
Brantley County
Coastal
Jeff Davis
Long County
McIntosh Co. Ac.
Pierce County
St. Vincent’s Ac.
Tattnall County

Region 3

Subregion A
Bleckley County
Dodge County
Dublin
East Laurens
Vidalia

Subregion B
Jefferson County
Laney
Screven County
SE Bulloch
Swainsboro
Toombs County

Region 4

Crawford Co.
Greene Co.
Lamar Co.
Morgan Co.
Monticello
NE Macon
Pike County
Putnam Co.
SW Macon

Region 5

Callaway
Carver, Col.
Heard County
Jordan
Kendrick
Manchester
Spencer
Temple

Region 6

Subregion A
Avondale
Buford
Clarkston
Cross Keys
Decatur
G.A.C.

Subregion B
Blessed Trinity
Jackson, Atl.
Lovett
S. Atlanta
Therrell
Westminster

Region 7

Subregion A
Adairsville
Armuchee
Coosa
Model
Pepperell
River Ridge
Rockmart

Subregion B
Calhoun
Chattooga
Coahulla Creek
Dade County
Gordon Central
Lakeview, Ft. Oglethorpe
North Murray
Sonoraville

Region 8

Subregion A
Banks County
Dawson Co.
East Hall
Fannin Co.
Rabun Co.
Union Co.

Subregion B
East Jackson
Elbert Co.
Hart County
Jackson Co.
Jefferson
N. Oconee
Oglethorpe Co.

CLASS A

Region 1

Subregion A
Baconton Charter
Baker County
Miller County
Mitchell County
Pelham
Seminole County

Subregion B
Calhoun County
Quitman County
Randolph-Clay
Stewart County
Terrell County
Webster County

Region 2

Subregion A
Atkinson County
Charlton County
Clinch County
Echols County
Lanier County
Ware County Magnet

Subregion B
Bacon County
Irwin County
Telfair County
Turner County
Wilcox County

Region 3

Subregion A
Bryan County
Calvary Day
Claxton
Savannah Christian
Sav. Country Day

Subregion B
Emanuel Co. Inst.
Jenkins Co.
Metter
Montgomery Co.
Portal
Treutlen
Wheeler County

Region 4

Subregion A
Dooly Co.
Hawkinsville
Macon Co.
Schley Co.
Taylor Co.

Subregion B
Brookstone
Central, Talb.
Chatt. County
Greenville
Marion Co.
Pacelli

Region 5

Subregion A
Aquinas
Glascock County
Lincoln County
Taliaferro County
Warren County
Washington-Wilkes

Subregion B
Ga. Academy – Blind
Georgia Military
Hancock Central
Johnson County
Twiggs County
Wilkinson County

Region 6

Subregion A
Darlington
Excel Christian
Ga. School – Deaf
Gordon Lee
Morris Innovative
Trion

Subregion B
Bowdon
Bremen
Mt. Paran Christian
Mt. Zion
N. Cobb Christian
Walker

Region 7

Subregion A
Atlanta International
Dekalb Arts
Fellowship Christian
Galloway
Holy Innocents
King’s Ridge
Mt. Pisgah Christian
Pace Academy
Pinecrest Academy
Providence Christian
St. Francis
Wesleyan

Subregion B
Ben Franklin
Eagles Land. Christian
First Presbyterian
Greenforest Christian
Landmark Christian
Our Lady of Mercy
Paideia
SW Atlanta Christian
Strong Rock Christian
Tech Charter
W.D. Mohammed
Whitefield Academy
Yeshiva

Region 8

Subregion A
Commerce
Lakeview Ac.
Rabun Gap
Riverside Mil.
Tallulah Falls
Towns Co.
Woody Gap

Subregion B
Athens Ac.
Athens Chr.
George Walton
Hebron Chr.
Prince Avenue Christian
Social Circle

Georgia High School Football Daily is a free email newsletter. CLICK to join the mailing list

YOU TELL US: Are you happy with where your school ended up in region placement? Why or why not? And what’s your opinion on going back to a two-year reclassification cycle?