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
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272 comments Add your comment
Shawn
December 4th, 2009
10:27 am
Carver(col) is going to be in AA? Is this a joke? I guess we can hand them the state title now. Maybe when the new school is built they will move back up.
George Ford
December 4th, 2009
10:36 am
Thomas County and Thomasville should combine and join 1-AAAAA. That would be a new power to reckon with!
JamesR1991
December 4th, 2009
10:36 am
EagleNationRising That’s an excuse. Traffic shouldn’t be a criteria. Westlake and Hughes are in a the same region as Newton which is down I-20. Both schools are closer to Alpharetta than Newton. Games between North and South Fulton can be played on Saturday. Atlanta Public Schools do it all the time because of stadium issues. Games start at 7:30 pm on Friday nights. With good planning I’m sure Alpharetta can make it to Westlake or Hughes in time. I know they can make it because Johns Creek and Hughes, two new schools played a 9th game during the week last season and it started around 6pm. Not sure how they made on time but they did.
GHSA needs to put Fulton County Schools within the same region.
Tommydawg22
December 4th, 2009
11:09 am
OTHER SPORTS- Please tell me you are not talking about Westminster in 2-A, plz tell me you are not comparing that little ole school with the big schools…
Voice of Reason
December 4th, 2009
11:17 am
Sounds like Darrin Muhammad has a bit of an axe to grind with regards to Union Grove. The GHSA oligarchy made its decision to place UG in Region 3 and not the other way around. I’m quite sure they’ll play the Region schedule that they’ve been handed.
B-Nasty — do you realize what you’re saying about the new Region 3-AAAA. Anytime you have Griffin in the same region, nothing is guaranteed. Historically speaking, they’ve had a good overall athletic program for quite some time now.
Union Grove has essentially been a AAAA school since the opening of the Woodland HS and Ola HS. I say lets compete against the schools that are similar and see where the chips may fall. I realize that the majority of the bloggers are narrow minded and think that football is the end all for HS sports, but that is so far from reality it stinks to high heavens. It’s only the beginning. Lets wait and see how things shake out. May the games begin.
DARRIN MUHAMMAD
December 4th, 2009
11:48 am
VOICE OF REASON, UNION GROVE CHOOSE TO DROP DOWN A CLASS WHO CARES WHAT REGION THEY WERE HANDED BY THE GHSA! PASS THAT ON TO THE BEARS FAN IN GRIFFIN!
Voice of Reason
December 4th, 2009
2:35 pm
Union Grove will be playing in a classification that is dictated by their FTE. They fall about midway within the classification numbers. UGHS didn’t choose to do anything…the GHSA determined that.
There is no logical reason why UGHS should petition to stay in AAAAA.
Raider/Bear Fan
December 4th, 2009
2:45 pm
Dang!! I was hoping E.P. would get back in the same region as Sequoyah. Had a good rivalry going with them until we moved up. P.S. GO BEARS!!!!!!!!
Warrior44
December 4th, 2009
2:58 pm
Does anyone know who is Coastal in Region 2-AA? Someone please let me know
glw
December 4th, 2009
3:47 pm
Warrior 44,
Coastal is supppose to be a new school from Savannah/Chatham Co. opening in 2011-12
SportsFan31313
December 4th, 2009
4:32 pm
Bryan,
Thanks for the info. I figured that since Savannah Arts does not have a football program.
Saintmarks
December 5th, 2009
6:57 pm
To avoid confusion of where a school is located (especially with so many new schools opening) I would like Georgia to do what is done here in Texas, listing the city first and then the name of the school. The USA Today rankings already do this. This would help one place a school that has a generic directional name (Northside, Central, etc) or named after people (Rutland, Callaway) or pretty subdivision sounding names (Woodland, Creekview, Creekside, Mill Creek, Sandy Creek) that all start sounding alike after awhile.
These would then be:
Columbus Northside
Warner Robins Northside
Macon Rutland
Hogansville Callaway
Cartersville Woodland
Stockbridge Woodland
Canton Creekview
Palmetto Creekside
Buford Mill Creek
Tyrone Sandy Creek
Or the name of the County School system if the associated town brings a problem, escpecially if it is a separate system, like Bartow Woodland.
Here in my town of McKinney in TX, we have three high schools known as McKinney HS (the original HS before suburban growth came), McKinney North HS and McKinney Boyd HS. The local students call them “High” “North” and “Boyd” but in the surrounding communities, most people list the city and name of the school together. Other nearby schools are Plano, Plano East and Plano West and Frisco, Frisco Centennial, Frisco Liberty and Frisco Heritage.
I like this system better than having to put a place name in parentheses when there are two or more High Schools with the same name: Lakeside (DeKalb) vs. Lakeside (Evans) since several school boards in GA can’t seem to come up with original names. Catoosa County, can’t you see that Rockdale County already had a Heritage HS? Same with you folks in Henry County with Woodland.
I am a Georgia native and still keep track of GA High School sports more avidly than the TX schools thanks mainly to the AJC online. Thanks for the coverage AJC.
Shibbermetimbers
December 6th, 2009
4:47 pm
Wow!! I like our chances in this new region for Stone Mountain. They are only losing 4 starters on offense and 6 on defense. Many 10th and 11th graders played on the defensive side of the ball. Their All County and All Region QB returns with an arsenal of potent weapons at his disposal. This group of guys are battle-tested as they competed with some of the best teams in GA from Region 6AAAA.
They are gonna be hard to beat. I heard that they have already started weight training. Sounds like the dedication is there.
AAA FAN
December 7th, 2009
7:26 am
Sandy Creek could win AAAA State Title , then move down to AAA.
Piratefan
December 7th, 2009
3:06 pm
Sandy Creek is a quality team. I saw them against Loganville. Impressive…and the fan support is great. You guys should do well in AAA next season. Would love to see a Sandy Creek/Stone Mountain matchup.
Hall County fan
December 7th, 2009
9:56 pm
Buford is afraid to come to AAA and being whupped on by Gainesville, in the game and in recruiting.
Jay-Z
December 8th, 2009
4:44 pm
GO EPHS RAIDERS!!!!
Informed
December 8th, 2009
11:11 pm
Why is it that Stephenson and MLK are seperated from other DeKalb County Schools??? All the schools in the region will be a long travel for MLK and Stephenson. And why is Langston Hughes in our region, they just opened. Shouldn’t they be going aginst Arabia Mountain and other 1st and 2nd year schools……And why isn’t Redan in our region… Redan was a neighborhood rivalry, and now we dont play them.. this schedule is messed up. And who is Westlake? I think South West Dekalb should replace Langston Hughes.
imnumberone
December 9th, 2009
8:27 pm
i would like to see southwest dekalb to play stephenson,redan,miller grove,ML king, mays in the same season
almighty1
December 10th, 2009
8:48 pm
Here’s the problem with Region 3 of 5A’s.
It doesn’t take into account what’s good for the athletes (other than, arguably, Camden’s).
Its all about football – there are other sports too.
Legitimate 5A’s playoff teams who play Region 3 usually get a free pass through the first round of nearly all sports (if you don’t play Camden).
Region 3 is a large part of the real reason for the North/south Brackets (I know its ostensibly travel) used in many sports like Tennis. Consequently, good Northern teams are often up against powerhouses teams in the first or second rounds while most everyone in the southern part of these brackets is just up against teams that are dog meat.
I give Camden credit for playing the system to their advantage – this is not their fault – its the GHSA’s for allowing it, and the administrators’ and ADs of the other region 3-5A’s schools for putting their personal interests ahead of their students.
Its time to change the rule – e.g., as follows:
Only allow playing up by one level at most, and if you do you have to demonstrate that you are competitive there across all sports.
If a school is isolated like Camden, have them split equitably to form two teams at a lower level. This gives each team one very close opponent (at the same school), plus it normally it puts them in proximity to other schools in that level – plus it gives more kids a chance to play.
Have completely different alignments for football (and possibly basketball and baseball) vs. what is used for all other sports.
Razorback14
May 15th, 2010
11:40 pm
Wow!! 4A-Region2 Div.B with 5 of those teams making the playoffs in baseball this year and only 3 of those teams with a chance to go in that region is unreal with Wayne and Ware on the other side. This will be playoff baseball every game.
Pissed Off
May 31st, 2010
12:47 pm
Why dont they put Stephenson and MLK in the region with its neighboring schools like SWD,Redan,Miller Grove,Lithonia, Mays and Douglass???? That would make it much easier for us so we wont have to travel all the way to the boonies to play schools like newnan and east cowetta