Unpacking new high school sports classifications: shake up changes Mountain 7 conference to Mountain 8

Oct. 26—Haywood County athletes will have better opportunities to compete at the state level this season thanks to some major changes in how teams are classified.

There are now new eight classifications based on school size for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. It replaces the previous four classifications — doubling the number of state champions crowned each year and narrowing the gap in enrollment between schools competing against one another for a title.

Pisgah and Tuscola landed in 4A, sitting about dead center among the schools in the new classifications that range from 1A to 8A. Both schools were 3A previously, which was the second largest of the four classifications.

Here’s a look at the new classifications and what they mean:

School size

—How it works: Classifications are based on a school’s student population. In 4A, teams range in size from 795 students up to 954 students. Pisgah and Tuscola sit at 852 and 851, respectively.

—What it means: This is big news for the Mountaineers and Bears. Once playoffs roll around, they’ll be facing teams much closer in size to themselves.

Several of the teams that the Haywood schools used to face in the playoffs are no longer in same state playoff bracket this season.

For example, teams like West Henderson, Erwin, Enka, A.C. Reynolds and Kings Mountain — which have larger school sizes — have moved to 5A or 6A and will no longer be competing with Tuscola and Pisgah for state titles.

“We’re very excited for the opportunity to compete against schools that are more equivalent to our size,” Pisgah Athletic Director Heidi Morgan said. “You think about past playoff games where we played against teams that are 6A or 7A. We competed and held our own against those schools.”

It presents an opportunity for Haywood athletes to compete in playoffs on a more consistent basis, now that they aren’t up against substantially larger schools.

“Now, you have a chance because you’re not facing a school that’s twice your size. In the past, we’ve been able to hang with schools within 300 kids of us, but if you get past that, it gets tough,” Tuscola Athletic Director Austin Chambers said.

While several top teams are moving out of Pisgah and Tuscola’s classification, many others are moving in from lower divisions. Squads such as Brevard have been powerhouses in lower classifications in recent years.

“There are some schools that came up to 4A that are going to be competitive, but at least it’s going to be equivalent to our school size,” Morgan said.

New look for conference

—How it works: While schools will be separated into 1A-8A classifications for regionals and playoffs, that’s not the case at the conference level. There’s not enough 4A schools in the region to make its own conference. So the conference Tuscola and Pisgah compete in — now the Mountain 8 — is a split-conference, meaning it includes both 4A and 5A schools. The conference will retain the same teams as last season, while adding Brevard to the mix.

—What it means: The road to a conference title is tougher than it has ever been for Pisgah and Tuscola. West Henderson, North Henderson, Franklin and Smoky Mountain all moved up to 5A this season. They won’t be teams that the Haywood schools have to worry about in the playoffs, but they will still be standing in the Bears’ and Mountaineers’ paths to conference crowns.

The 4A half of the conference includes Pisgah, Tuscola, East Henderson and the conference’s newest team, Brevard.

“It definitely makes our conference much stronger than it was,” Morgan said. “Brevard was a team that we tried to play in non-conference anyway because of the competitive nature of it.”

The Mountain 7 was a very strong conference in just about every sport last season. The now Mountain 8 is an even stronger version of that conference, having added Brevard, which was competitive in a majority of sports last season.

“A lot of conferences this side of the mountain are very one-sided. But in our conference, you never know who it’s going to be,” Chambers said. “It’s so competitive, and Brevard just brings another level of competitiveness.”

Playoff changes

—How it works: With so many conferences across the state now being split-conferences like the Mountain 8, the NCHSAA has eliminated the practice of designated conference champions being an automatic qualifier and receiving preferential seeding for the state playoff. Now, the process will rely solely on the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), which is determined by a combination of a team’s own record, their opponents’ records and their opponents’ opponents’ records.

—What it means: Previously, conference champions would be seeded first for the playoffs and then the at-large teams determined by RPI would be seeded behind them. Now, everyone will be thrown into the same pot, and the teams with the highest RPI will be in the playoffs. While conference champions are no longer guaranteed a spot, the overwhelming majority will still make it based on RPI.

Regions will also be slightly different, as well. Previously, all four classifications were split into an east and a west. Under the new system, the top 48 teams from across the entire state, based on RPI, will be selected. Then, those 48 will be split evenly between east and west — meaning some teams near the center of the state could be playing in both east and west regionals in different sports.

The 48 teams will be placed in a 64-team bracket, giving the top 16 seeds a first-round bye.

With 48 teams making the playoffs, just 12 teams in each classification won’t have a shot at the postseason.

The increased focus on RPI will likely lead to bigger non-conference games for teams looking for what could be a crucial edge in playoff seeding. RPI encourages teams to schedule tougher games in non-conference play in order to beef up their rating for the postseason.