Northwest Whitfield head football coach Josh Robinson on the sidelines during their prep football game against Ringgold at Ringgold High School on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015, in Ringgold, Ga.GHSAReclassification
The GHSA assigned schools to classifications this week starting with the 2016-17 year. Following is a list of northwest Georgia schools, student count and classification:Class AAAAAADalton (1,829 students)Class AAAAARidgeland (1,385)Southeast Whitfield (1,357)Class AAAAHeritage (1,328)Northwest Whitfield (1,327)LaFayette (1,227)Class AAASonoraville (1,097)Calhoun (1,084)Ringgold (1,047)Coahulla Creek (1,008)North Murray (997)Lakeview-F.O. (981)Murray County (980)Gordon Central (902)Class AAChattooga (826)Dade County (589)Class AGordon Lee (463)Trion (422)Christian Heritage (152)
The complete list, released Thursday following appeals, had few surprises for northwest Georgia schools.
However, the creation of a new Class AAAAAAA and the GHSA's move to level the playing field by forcing schools that have three or more percent of students living outside its county of designation to move up, will thin out the middle five classes.
Hardest hit in the area are Dalton, which will move up to Class AAAAAA, and current Region 7-AAAA members Southeast Whitfield and Ridgeland, which will join Class AAAAA.
"Our region will basically be the same except we're losing Ridgeland and Southeast and replacing them with Cedartown," speculated Northwest Whitfield coach Josh Robinson. "The core of my schedule won't change, but we'll be able to play Dalton again, which is always great for this area."
The GHSA will assign schools to regions Dec. 1, which will be an anxious time for area athletic programs that are likely facing increased travel.
The largest collection of area schools is in Class AAA, where the current Region 6 will have each of its members returning. There is, however, no guarantee the schools will remain together as the GHSA has to find a way to divide only 56 schools into eight regions.
"They have to have eight regions, so how they do that with 56 schools will be interesting," Ringgold athletic director and football coach Robert Akins said. "If they choose to bring Fannin County over and draw the line at Gordon County, we could end up losing Adairsville, Calhoun, Sonoraville and maybe Gordon Central."
Akins believes there is little chance the GHSA will elect to subdivide its regions due to lack of schools, so if a smaller region is put in place the headache of filling schedules begins.
"We might have to play five nonregion games, so finding opponents is going to be difficult," said Akins, who says several coaches already have contacted him about scheduling games. "You don't want to end up having to front-load your schedule with 4A and 5A schools."
The reclassification plan has 131 Class A schools, 93 of them that play football. Gordon Lee, which resided in Class AA the last four years, will rejoin Class A, where public and private schools are separated for the postseason.
"We're happy with the process," said Gordon Lee football coach Greg Ellis, whose school will be joined by old rival Trion and Christian Heritage in Class A. "Our region will likely go down the Highway 27 corridor. It's the best thing that could happen for us."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter at @youngsports22.