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Re-alignment will benefit some
Published November 18, 2009
One school is moving down, one is moving up, another is moving in and two others are staying put.
Such was the results for Walton County high schools of the biannual reclassification of member schools by the Georgia High School Association.
The announcement of re-classification, made last Thursday, is just the beginning of the process. On Dec. 2, GHSA will release its region alignments, after which schools will be allowed to appeal their placement.
Re-classification will be finalized in January.
Schools can petition to move up in classification or be placed in another region. But if everything goes as expected, it’s doubtful any local schools will be requesting a change.
Monroe Area, which spent the past two seasons in Class AAAA, will drop back to AAA next fall. The Hurricanes are expected to land in Region 8-AAA, where they had resided for 30 years before being bumped to 8-AAAA in 2008.
Nobody welcomes the change more than Monroe Area head football coach Matt Fligg. During their two tours through quad-A, the Hurricanes went 0-20.
“Football is a numbers game, and we just didn’t have the depth to deal with the injuries and other things that happen in football,” Fligg said. “We’re excited to be going back to 8-AAA because we think it will level the playing field for us.”
Walton’s newest school, Walnut Grove, is in Class AA this year but is slotted for AAA and will probably join Monroe in Region 8-AAA.
“We were a little surprised (about moving to AAA) because we didn’t realize (GHSA) was going to project us as having a full class,” said Walnut Grove head football coach Harris Rainbow. “If they had projected us with what we’ll actually have next year, we might haven ended up in double-A. But it is what it is and we’re ready to move forward.”
George Walton Academy will end its long-time affiliation with the Georgia Independent School Association and join GHSA next fall as a Class A school. It will likely be placed in Region 8-A.
Travel time was the decisive factor in GWA’s decision to join the GHSA. Most GISA members are located in Macon or below while most 8-A schools are within an hour’s drive or less of Monroe.
Loganville High School will remain in AAAA and Social Circle High School will stay in Class A.
Wherever the schools land, they’ll have to be content for a longer time. One major change the GHSA made to reclassification was the frequency of realignment, which will now be done every four years instead of every two.
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