AHSAA announces reclassifications, region changes starting in 2010

The Houston Academy-Providence Christian rivalry got a new twist to it Wednesday.

So to did the G.W. Long-Ariton and the Andalusia-Straughn rivalries.

All three became region battles in football and area games in basketball for the next two years following reclassification by the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

The AHSAA Central of Control approved the newest reclassification, football region alignments and basketball area alignments Wednesday at its quarterly meeting.

The latest reclassification and alignments go into affect for the 2010-11 academic year and also includes the 2011-12 year.

Six Wiregrass schools changed classifications, including four that are going up a class.

Moving up are Providence Christian and Ariton from Class 1A to 2A and Straughn and Headland from 3A to 4A.

Going down are Opp from 4A to 3A and Wicksburg from 3A to 2A.

The AHSAA reclassifies athletic programs every two years based off Average Daily Membership (ADM) figures from the first 20 school days after Labor Day. The figures are furnished by the State Department of Education for the upper three grades (10-12) plus ninth-grade holdbacks.

To balance private and public schools, each private school student counts 1.35 for classification.

Most of the moves in classification were anticipated by local schools.

“We were not surprised,” Providence Christian football coach Emory Latta said. “We felt like we would be in 2A as we had seen our numbers up for a year now.”

The Dothan private school increased by 44.55 students from the reclassification two years ago, jumping from the 21st biggest 1A to the 51st biggest school in the 71-class 2A.

In moving up, Providence Christian joined city rival Houston Academy in the same region in football and area in basketball. The two schools are located just 3.5 miles apart in the west side of Dothan.

In addition, Wicksburg, located in western Houston County, join the two after dropping from 3A.

Also in the region for football are Cottonwood, Houston County, G.W. Long, Ariton and Barbour County.

“It will be tough competition,” Latta said. “You are talking about Cottonwood, Houston Academy, Houston County, Wicksburg, Ariton — those are some good programs. It will be tough.

“We do like the (lack of) travel side and the potential for gates. The proximity of teams are closer, so that is better.”

Wicksburg coach Danny Whiddon said he was glad to see the new format for his program. The Panthers are back in 2A after playing two years in Class 3A.

“We feel year in and year out we can be more competitive in 2A,” Whiddon said.

Like Providence, Whiddon said Wicksburg will also benefit financially.

“Having Cottonwood and HA back on the schedule will help our gate,” Whiddon said. “Financially, we will be much stronger.”

Another team joining the 2A mix is Ariton. The Purple Cats are in 2A for only the second time. They were also there in 1998-99.

“We knew we would be close, but it does surprise me a little bit,” Ariton head football coach Rudy Free said.

“We are going to go from a competitive region, but not as deep from top to bottom as the one we are going into.”

In moving up, Ariton joins county rival G.W. Long in 2A. The two haven’t played as region foes since 2001.

“You couldn’t ask more for a rivalry than it is, but that does add more significance to the game,” Free said.

After six years in Class 3A, Headland is heading back to 4A.

“We knew it was coming,” Headland head coach Donnie Smith said. “We were the largest 3A (two years ago) and now we are 37th in 4A, so we lapped about half the field based on numbers. We knew we were going up, but we didn’t know how high.”

Of all the teams to move, Opp was perhaps the most surprising.

“I really didn’t think there was anyway to drop,” Opp head football coach Jack Whigham said. “It was a shock to me .

“We went from the fire to the fireplace in competition. We will be competing against more of an athletic region in football.”