Counted fortunate

Local high school teams should travel a little less and see each other more after the Georgia High School Association released its new six-classification numbers on Monday for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.

That is a welcome change for Northwest Whitfield, which currently competes in Region 7-4A, plays a 10-game football schedule and must travel to schools more than 100 miles one way.

“Anything that brings us closer to home, we’re happy about that,” Northwest Athletic Director Brett Harper said. “Regardless of where we fell, we felt we were going to be playing more of our more natural rivals.”

Those rivals include Southeast Whitfield, the largest area school in the GHSA with a projected 1,058 students — classification is based on full-time enrollment numbers — and Dalton (projected 975 students), who will join Northwest (projected 984) in Class 4A. North Murray (projected 804) and Coahulla Creek (projected 805) have been designated in Class 3A.

While Murray County (projected 625) has been placed in 2A with Morris Innovative (projected 559), Murray County officials said they may consider seeking a change, as all schools have until Dec. 5 to request a move to a higher classification. Christian Heritage (113 students), which is making its own transition from the Georgia Independent School Association and Glory For Christ Football League, will open its new era in Class A next fall.

After requests to change classifications are made, the GHSA will place teams in regions.

The GHSA Executive Committee met Monday in Thomaston before the Reclassification Committee placed teams in proposed classifications, with the Executive Committee unanimously rescinding a rule that would have allowed schools to remove some special education students from their count.

Dalton Public Schools Superintendent Jim Hawkins said the system projects that Morris Innovative, which opened in 2009, will expand all of its programs. He expects an increase in the number of students at Morris.

“What we’ve been working on is ultimately having a 600-student facility and be a true school of choice,” Hawkins said. “The SPLOST (an education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) was delayed, so we’ll be working at that to build a new facility. For now the old Fort Hill building won’t get us there, but it will be a good interim.”

Hawkins also said what the system adds to Morris will not detract from Dalton High.

“I’m not sure all the programs we’ll be doing,” Hawkins said, “but the idea is to make it different from the high school. We won’t be competing with the Dalton High School. Like our health career program is something Dalton does not have. Whatever we pick, academically or athletically, it will not compete with the high school.

“And this is consistent with what we said two years ago when Morris opened. This is not news to us because this is what we’ve been planning for all along.”

Athletic Director Ron Ward said Dalton High is confident the projections will be accurate. The GHSA Constitution and By-laws state “in the event that ... an existing school exceeds the projection by 5 (percent) or more, the school shall not be eligible for post-season play in any sport for the entirety of that reclassification cycle.”

“If we exceed our projections by a certain level, we’ll be penalized by the GHSA,” Ward said. “... We were looking at programming and response from students. It looks like we’ll be able to provide a choice for students. (Morris) has many pathways Dalton doesn’t offer.”

Based on the proposed numbers, most area schools will have opponents in Northwest Georgia.

Dalton, Southeast and Northwest are joined in Class 4A with Cass, a Bartow County school, and current Region 7-3A schools Heritage-Catoosa, Ridgeland, Gilmer and Pickens.

“We’re not surprised,” Ward said. “We’re glad to get in the position to be with some natural rivals and ‘frenemies.’ Natural rivals make for a good region.”

Southeast boys soccer coach Jamison Griffin, whose team advanced to the Class 3A semifinals last spring, said having Northwest and Dalton in the same region will provide challenges for the teams who advance to state.

“It’s a good thing,” Griffin said. “Obviously it’s more challenging for us because it makes it harder to win our region and get to the state playoffs. That’s always our goal here.

“I’ve always considered them as being a part of our region. We always play them. But the fact it will count toward region makes it that much more important. I have a great deal of respect for (Dalton coach) Matt (Cheaves) and (Northwest coach) Ryan (Scoggins). It really challenges us to raise the bar.”

North Murray and Murray County are again in separate classifications, but the two schools have switched places. North Murray will now be in Class 3A, while Murray County — which six years ago was in the state’s largest classification — has dropped to Class 2A.

The question for the Indians is whether or not the school will petition to play up and join North Murray and Coahulla Creek in 3A. Murray County Athletic Director Mitch Holcomb said the Indians expected to be placed in Class 2A, and administrators and coaches would be meeting today to discuss the school’s options.

“I don’t know what we are going to do,” Holcomb said. “We have been discussing it for a year now, and we want to do first what is best for the kids as far as competition and travel is concerned. We will meet with all of the coaches and get everyone’s input and see from there. There is a chance that we could petition to play up, but we will make a decision probably when we get back from the holiday.”

Coahulla Creek Athletic Director Jay Ashlock doesn’t anticipate a move up for his school.

“We’ll sit down with the administration and our coaches and talk about what the pros and cons are of moving and staying put,” Ashlock said. “I think right now, we’re going to be OK.”

North Murray moves into a classification that is packed with schools and has the lowest spread of enrollment, stretching from schools with 651 students to 854.

“When I was at Murray County, you had schools that had a 1,100 to 1,200 difference in student numbers in the same classification,” North Murray Athletic Director Roger Rainey said. “I think the discrepancy in the years past seemed to be a lot broader and a lot larger than what it is now. It seems to be a lot more fair.”

Along with Coahulla Creek, the Mountaineers will likely join a region with Cartersville, Ringgold, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, Sonoraville, Adairsville, Rockmart and Gordon Central. Other possible teams in the region are Central-Carrollton and Haralson County.

“I am concerned with Central and Haralson County,” Rainey said, “but other than that, everything is less than an hour travel time for us, and that would be about right.”

Christian Heritage joins Class A, where Darlington, Gordon Lee and Trion will be the shortest trips for the Lions. Geographically, the rest of that region would likely include Mount Zion in Carroll County, Excel Christian Academy in Cartersville and other private schools from north Metro Atlanta.

A region that big would still require less travel than GISA region opponents as far away as Monticello and LaGrange.

“We’re definitely excited about (moving to the GHSA),” Lions Athletic Director Chad Woodson said. “We’ve been looking forward to moving our athletic programs in that direction, so this is a good start for us. Obviously, we knew we were going to be a single-A school and be one of the smaller schools in the division ... it’s definitely going to be a challenge for us, but hopefully it will help us to grow our program.”

Making the move may also help the school attract some students, Woodson said.

“I think the majority of people at Christian Heritage are there for Christian education and academics,” he said. “But I do think there are some who would like to be competing (in the GHSA), possibly to have more exposure from an athletic standpoint. I’m not sure what numbers it will bring, but I do think there will be some excitement there that will help us retain our kids and grow some.”

Sports writer Chris Whitfield and sports editor Marty Kirkland contributed to this story.

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