AHSAA releases new reclassification

Published 9:25 am Monday, November 9, 2009

By By Adam Robinson
sports editor

Following a Wednesday board meeting, the AHSAA Central Board of Control released the 2010-2012 reclassification numbers.
T.R. Miller remained in class 3A and W.S. Neal remained in class 4A—both teams in region one for football. In basketball, T.R. Miller is now in area one while W.S. Neal is in area two.
While T.R. Miller remained in region one, they will welcome all but one new team to the region, as Bayside Academy is the only team that remained with the Tigers.
For W.S. Neal, all teams remained in region one except Andalusia, Clarke County and Hillcrest.
In football for T.R. Miller, the Tigers are now placed with Bayside Academy, Clarke County, Excel, Montgomery Academy, Montgomery Catholic, Trinity Presbyterian, and Washington County.
In basketball, T.R. Miller is with Bayside, Clarke County, Excel and Washington County.
For W.S. Neal in football, the Eagles join B.C. Rain, Escambia County, Jackson, Monroe County, Saraland (new school), Thomasville, and UMS-Wright.
In basketball, W.S. Neal has Hillcrest, Jackson, Monroe County, and Thomasville.
W.S. Neal is now the 49th biggest school in 4A out of 64 schools while T.R. Miller is the 26th largest out of 66 schools.
Every two years the Alabama High School Athletic Association reclassifies schools based on  enrollment. Enrollment is  based on the average attendance for 10th-12th graders and ninth-grade holdbacks.
T.R. Miller’s numbers showed 274 students compared to 285.55 last count while W.S. Neal had 329 compared to 307.87 last time.
At last count, T.R. Miller was the seventh largest in 3A while W.S. Neal was number 57 out of 67.
Riggs said in the classification before that, his team was thrown into the wiregrass area. The change pulled them that way and they went towards Dothan and played Pike County and other teams.
As far as finances, gate money and travel, Riggs said time would only tell how the new region plays out.
Riggs said his team would carry more people to the games than they would bring and that is because of the community.
The Tigers have been playing Clarke County recently and Riggs said they are totally not unfamiliar with the new teams. The only team they have not played is Montgomery Catholic.
Riggs noted that the playoffs would also be tougher. The reason is because of the regions there and Handley being placed in class 3A.
As far as the teams in the new region one, not counting T.R. Miller, records are 39-29 with two losing teams and five in the playoffs.
As far as the new schedule for the Tigers, Riggs will have to wait to see how the region games shape up. But, as far as non-region, he has some options already.
W.S. Neal head coach Kevin Jordan said his team’s new region is similar competitive-wise.
Travel-wise for the team, Jordan said it seems to be pretty similar also.
Scheduling for the Eagles, Jordan hopes to bring in some more gate money and revenue than was seen in this past season.