Major changes coming for Charlotte schools in athletic conferences and classifications
BY LANGSTON WERTZ JR.
DECEMBER 10, 2020 09:28 AM, UPDATED DECEMBER 10, 2020 04:01 PM
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/high-school/article247749840.htmlMajor changes are coming for Charlotte-area high schools if the first draft of the N.C. High School Athletic Association conference realignment proposal stands up.
Two longtime Mecklenburg County 4A schools, West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg, will drop to 3A, but will play in new 4A leagues.
Two reigning 3A state football champions, Weddington and Charlotte Catholic, will move to 4A and no longer play in the same conference.
The draft, created by the NCHSAA staff, seeks to place teams into conferences for four years beginning in the fall of 2021.
The NCHSAA said its Realignment Committee made “significant efforts” to focus on factors that were most important to the association’s 421 member schools. That led to the creation of 33 split conferences out of 61 new leagues. Split conferences includes teams from more than one classification. There are currently 10 split conferences throughout the state.
“The number of ‘split conferences’ in this alignment draft represents the Realignment Committee’s desire not to limit those,” NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said. “It also takes into consideration the protection of natural rivalries and strongly considers geography and travel time. Of course, this means the way of getting into the playoffs must be reviewed and updated. That will come later.”
Instead of just dividing schools by size, the NCHSAA employed a new system for realignment that uses three factors: Enrollment, athletic success by the school’s teams over the past three years, and the Identified Student Percentage — the percentage of the school’s students receiving free or reduced-price lunches.
Schools will have several opportunities to appeal and make suggestions in January and February before the NCHSAA Board of Directors votes on a final proposal in March.
New West Charlotte football coach Sam Greiner doesn’t need to wait until then. He said he is excited about the first draft.
West Charlotte has 1,577 students, which would make it the largest 3A school in the state. West Mecklenburg has 1,262 students.
Some schools in West Charlotte’s old conference, the I-MECK 4A, had more than 2,500 students, including Hough and Mallard Creek.
Greiner thinks his playing field was leveled in a big way. He thinks the new NCHSAA realignment system will put the Lions in a better position to compete, particularly in the playoffs, with teams in a similar weight class.
“Moving down to 3A is fantastic opportunity for West Charlotte to establish themselves, especially getting a new school (building) next year,” Greiner said. “And it’s a great time to rebuild a great tradition that’s been at West Charlotte for many years. I think we needed to be in a similar environment like 3A, where other people have the same struggles we have, and it makes it very competitive now. I’m extremely happy about the decision and ready to get to work.”
While West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg are moving down, Charlotte Catholic and Weddington — the state’s two preeminent 3A football powers — are moving up.
The NCHSAA currently subdivides its football state champions in each class, by enrollment. Smaller schools play in a Single-A playoff; larger schools in a Double-A format.
Last December, Charlotte Catholic won its third straight 3A state championship. Weddington repeated in 3AA.
Under the new proposal, Weddington will remain in the old Southern Carolinas 3A conference with Union County rivals Cuthbertson, Marvin Ridge, Piedmont, Porter Ridge and Sun Valley. All of those schools are moving up into 4A, except Porter Ridge. It had previously been in the Mecklenburg County-centric Southwestern 4A.
That Union County league had dominated state titles across many sports in 3A, but will now face stiffer competition against larger schools.
“We knew that Marvin Ridge would be moving up to 4A and most of our conference would as well,” Marvin Ridge athletic director Tom Jamerson said. “We prefer the geographical schools in our conference because it adds to gate revenues, less travel and less missed class time. I do think both are possible, but it will never be perfect. I have been an AD in three different states and each was different. ... In Texas, the state athletic association set the district conferences for you and, in Illinois, the IHSA allowed everyone to form their own conferences. Both have their pluses and minuses.”
▪ Charlotte Catholic, which had also been in the Southern Carolinas, would move into what is now the Southwestern 4A, joining Butler, East Mecklenburg, Independence, Myers Park and Rocky River.
Providence, which had been in the SoMECK 7, also moves into that league.
“(Playing) 4A is just a different beast,” Charlotte Catholic athletic director Kevin Christmas said. “It’s more physical and now you’re going to do that, day-in and day-out. I think we’re up for the challenge.”
Charlotte Catholic has played in the 4A class before, and won the 2015 N.C. 4A state football championship. The Cougars lost in the 2014 4A final. In 2016, Catholic won the N.C. 4A state basketball title.
Catholic’s proposed new league would include the largest school in the state (Myers Park, 3,688 students). With 1,187 students, Catholic will be one of the smaller 4A schools.
“I think that we will compete and we’ll give it everything that we can,” Christmas said. “The cards are little in favor of them in terms of enrollment numbers, but you know we’ll just try to persevere. We’re excited.”
▪ West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg would join a new version of the SoMECK 7, playing as 3A teams in a 4A conference with Ardrey Kell, Berry, Harding, Olympic and South Mecklenburg.
▪ The I-MECK 4A, perhaps the state’s toughest football and basketball league, will lose Lake Norman and Mooresville under the proposal. Garinger would join the conference, which would now include Hopewell, Hough, Mallard Creek, North Mecklenburg and Vance.
Lake Norman and Mooresville would join a league with AL Brown, Cox Mill, Hickory RIdge, South Iredell and the new West Cabarrus High.
That would mean all three conferences — the old I-MECK, Southwestern and SoMECK — would only include Mecklenburg County teams.
Hough High athletic director Masanori Toguchi, a member of the NCHSAA Board of Directors, is fine with the proposed changes.
He’s just not sure they’ll be the final ones.
“I’ve been through two or three realignments,” he said. “The first draft always changes. I’ve never seen first draft be the final draft. But, for Hough, losing Lake Norman and Mooresville is huge. That’s some of our natural rivalries, but we had talked about if we get broken up, we’ll continue to play out of conference. As far as Garinger, they were in a tough conference. We’ve been a tough conference historically. But it gives us another opponent. I haven’t played Garinger since we opened (in 2010).
“But I don’t think this will be the final draft. I don’t think so. But it could be. ... I just want to play whomever they tell we’ve got to play.”
(Click on the article link below to see the New Conference Splits Proposals)
https://www.highschoolot.com/unprecedented-number-of-split-conferences-in-first-nchsaa-realignment-draft/19422401/