By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
Every autumn in even-numbered years, high school sports fans across Mississippi start playing the numbers.
The numbers are the reclassification enrollment figures from the Mississippi Department of Education that will determine where the various high schools in the Mississippi High School Activities Association will compete in most of the sports the MHSAA fields.
The MHSAA takes the grade 9-12 enrollment of all its schools – this year, it’s 244 – and divides them into six classifications for all sports except volleyball, which still competes in a three-class system.
The 32 largest schools in the state make up Class 6A, the next 32 largest schools make up 5A, and the rest are divided somewhat evenly among the four remaining classes.
For most schools, there is little drama, but for the schools at the margins, there is intense interest, and for fans of all schools there is a big interest in which schools move up in class and which schools move down.
The numbers for 2018 – which sets the classes for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years – were announced Monday, and there are some surprises in there, although not for any of the nine MHSAA schools in Forrest and Lamar counties.
The classification assignments are not official, and region assignments won’t be announced until December. But it seems likely that the MHSAA will divide the four classes 4A-1A at 45 schools each, and we can make some unofficial deductions from that count.
First, the obvious. As expected, Oak Grove and Petal will remain in Class 6A, as has been the case since the MHSAA went to six classes 10 years ago. Oak Grove came in at 1,666 students, while Petal had 1,217.
The cutoff for 6A was 1,038, the enrollment for Pascagoula, which drops down to 5A. Also dropping down from 6A to 5A is Jackson Jim Hill, while West Harrison and Lewisburg move up.
Lewisburg going to 6A reflects the continued relentless growth of the schools in DeSoto County. It wasn’t all that long ago (2012, to be exact) that Lewisburg played Purvis for the Class 4A state baseball championship.
West Harrison for ‘Goula is a straight swap of Gulf Coast schools, but Lewisburg moving up, and Jim Hill moving down will shuffle the regions in 6A.
That means somebody from Region 2-6A is going to be assigned to Region 3-6A with OG and Petal, and that somebody will probably be Northwest Rankin.
That is not good news for the Warriors and Panthers in football. Jim Hill has been a pretty reliable W for the powers in 3-6A, but that will not be the case with NWR, which fields strong programs in most of its sports.
It’s possible, but not likely, that Jackson Murrah will move to 3-6A, but moving Northwest Rankin to the South makes more sense, as it would join Rankin County rivals Brandon and Pearl in the same region.
In Class 5A, it is no surprise that Hattiesburg will remain in 5A, but the surprise is that HHS came in at just 904 students. That is approximately a 33 percent decline in enrollment over the past 10 years.
And, like Oak Grove and Petal, reclassification won’t do the Tigers any favors, at least in football. Hattiesburg should stay in Region 4-5A, which should add Pascagoula and East Central.
Pascagoula has struggled some in 6A that past few years, but the Panthers have a solid tradition and figure to be an upgrade over West Harrison, which has had trouble fielding competitive teams since its founding in the late 2000s.
At the other end of the 5A count, East Central will move up from 4A, swapping places with Stone. The Tomcats have at times looked overmatched in 5A, but at others they’ve been competitive. Nevertheless, Stone should feel more comfortable in 4A.
It will be interesting to see how East Central fares in 5A. The Hornets have become a 4A powerhouse on the Coast, reaching the 4A state finals last season, and they will be among the favorites to return to the championships this year.
However, there is a big difference between a steady dose of Vancleave and Poplarville, good as those teams are, and a regular diet of Hattiesburg and Picayune.
Speaking of 4A, Sumrall, Purvis and Forrest County AHS will once again be rivals in 4A. All three are in the middle part of that class and don’t figure to be going anywhere – in either direction – for some time to come.
Among schools on the fringes of the Pine Belt, it appears that Columbia will once again spend the next two years in Class 3A, along with Seminary and West Marion.
There appear to be no real surprises among the smaller schools in the area, with one exception. It looks like Richton will finally be dropping down to Class 1A, where the Rebels will likely resume a rivalry with Lumberton, which seems to have settled permanently in the state’s smallest class.
Richton has been on the cusp of dropping down for the last few reclassifications and has just been able to squeeze back into 2A.
The Rebels will also become rivals with Sacred Heart, which barely stayed in 1A, where it should be the largest 1A school in the state. Richton will replace East Marion, which should move back up to 2A after a two-year sojourn in 1A.
East Marion getting back in 2A means the Eagles will again be in the same region with North Forrest, which stays in 2A, although not by a lot. These two schools are old rivals, and they played as non-region foes the past two seasons, with their game this year a wild 80-44 win for East.
As for Presbyterian Christian, the MAIS has yet to announce its enrollment numbers for reclassification, but it should be a foregone conclusion that PCS will be in whatever largest class the private-school association comes up with.
