By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
With the start of the high school football season approximately a month away, this seems like a good time to take an in-depth look at how reclassification will affect the various classes, both in the MHSAA and the MAIS.
Every two years, both associations divide their respective schools according to enrollment figures from the previous fall, and there are always some interesting tidbits that come out it.
Reclassification often means new region assignments, and with them occasionally come new, or renewed, rivalries in the newly reconstituted regions.
With that in mind, let’s look at each class and see how reclassification has changed the landscape for the upcoming season.
CLASS 6A
With Jackson Jim Hill moving down to Class 5A and Germantown moving up, someone had to move over from Region 2-6A to Region 3-6A.
Existing teams in 3-6A were hoping against hope that it would be Murrah and not Northwest Rankin, a middling JPS squad over a suburban tough, but those hopes did not come to fruition.
That means that Region 3-6A will include Oak Grove, Petal, Pearl, Meridian, Brandon, George County and Terry, to go with the newly-arriving Cougars.
What that says is that at least two pretty good football teams are going to be on the outside looking in when the Class 6A playoffs commence on Nov. 15.
That’s probably why Oak Grove coach Drew Causey and Petal’s Marcus Boyles loaded up their non-region schedules to get ready for what looks like an extremely tough battle for one of four playoff berths.
The Warriors have Wayne County, Gulfport, Hattiesburg and Louisiana powerhouse Archbishop Rummel for their non-region slate, and the Panthers have Hattiesburg, Harrison Central, Brookhaven and Laurel on theirs.
And when the two Pine Belt powers collide at Oak Grove on Oct. 4, the intensity will be even higher than ever, if that’s possible.
CLASS 5A
Reclassification didn’t do Hattiesburg any favors either. This year Region 4-5A will include former Class 4A power East Central, which replaces Stone in the region, and Pascagoula, which drops back down from 6A.
The Hornets have built themselves into one of the top teams on the Gulf Coast in recent seasons, reaching the Class 4A finals in 2017 and the semifinals last season.
It remains to be seen how well EC handles the move up a class, as the competition is noticeably tougher in 5A than in 4A, but there is no doubt that on paper at least East Central will be one of the teams in what looks like a wide-open playoff chase in 4-5A.
Pascagoula, meanwhile, struggled mightily in 6A, winning just five games the past two seasons, including a 1-10 record last year. But the Panthers were a perennial playoff team the last time they were in 5A, reaching the postseason all six seasons from 2011 through 2016.
CLASS 4A
Speaking of Stone, the Tomcats will join Region 7-4A for a Pine Belt-heavy group that includes Forrest County AHS, Purvis and Sumrall.
It will also revive what used to be a very hotly-contested rivalry between Stone and FCAHS that will be renewed on Nov. 1, the final day of the regular season in 4A. We’ll see how much the Tomcats’ time in 5A has helped their program now that it’s dropped back down to 4A.
Regardless, that doesn’t change the fact that Poplarville, the defending South State champs in 4A, remains the big dog in 7-4A. The Hornets have played for the Class 4A state championship two of the past three seasons, losing in the South State finals in 2017 to East Central.
Meanwhile, Stone’s assignment to 7-4A moves Lawrence County over to Region 6-4A, where the Cougars figure to like life a little better, although North Pike is back in the region after two years of seasoning as a 5A school.
CLASS 3A
There may not be a more competitive region, top to bottom, in any class in the state than Region 8-3A.
Get a load of this group: Columbia, Jefferson Davis County, Magee, Seminary, Tylertown and West Marion. I invite anyone to show me a gimme in that bunch.
Magee, enjoying a revival under veteran coach Teddy Dyess, moves over to join this region from 6-3A, Columbia is back in contention under Chip Bilderback, West Marion is always a tough out under veteran Brad Duncan and Tylertown is also a traditionally strong program.
Over in Jeff Davis County, longtime coach Lance Mancuso is taking no chances in preparing his Jaguars for five straight weeks of brutal conflict in the region. His team’s non-region schedule includes trips to Class 6A D’Iberville and Class 5A Hattiesburg.
Oh, and I should mention that North State in 3A gets a menacing newcomer in Noxubee County, which has long been a dominant force in Class 4A. Don’t be surprised if you see the Tigers at M.M. Roberts Stadium in December for the 3A finals.
CLASS 2A
In like fashion, North State in Class 2A gets a formidable newcomer in Charleston, a perennial championship contender in 3A that is dropping down this season.
Charleston won’t have to contend with defending state champion Scott Central, though, until the state finals, as the Rebels have moved from Region 4-2A to 6-2A, in other words, from North to South.
Closer to home, North Forrest gets an old familiar foe in Region 8-2A, as East Marion is back up to 2A after two years in 1A. The two sets of Eagles didn’t let their long-standing rivalry lapse during that period, and now it will once again be a critical region clash.
CLASS 1A
None of the six classes in the MHSAA have changed as much as the smallest group in the association.
Due to consolidation of schools in many parts of the state, Class 1A has dropped to just 36 football-playing schools. And of that number, just seven are located south of Interstate 20, considered the geographical dividing line between the north and south halves of the state.
Indeed, Region 4-1A, the southern-most region in 1A, includes schools located as far apart as Leake County, northeast of Jackson, and Resurrection Catholic, which is located on the Coast in Pascagoula.
Where the predominance of northern schools in 1A really comes into play is for the playoffs. Region 3-1A includes several schools in the Mississippi Delta, including four-time defending North State champion Simmons, located in Hollandale.
What that geographical divide means is that Lumberton, for example, could have to drive as far as Rosedale, a five-hour bus ride, to play West Bolivar, a solid 2A program dropping down to 1A this year, in a South State playoff game, or vice versa.
And you could have the quirk in the 1A championship game of having a South State champion that is north, latitudinally, of the North State champ. Go figure.
MAIS
And then we come to the private-school association, which apparently believes that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
The MAIS this year has radically redone its classification system, going to six classes, just like the MHSAA. Which would be fine if they had enough schools to make it work.
But therein is the rub. This fall, there will be 77 schools in the MAIS playing football, including exactly six in its largest class, 6A. And 28 of those schools are playing 8-man football in the two smallest classes.
All six of the teams in MAIS Class 6A will make the playoffs, which means those six schools will play 11 or 12 games (depending on their respective schedules) just for seeding purposes, with the top two teams getting a bye through the first round.
In the lower classes, you have just 10 schools classed as 4A, in three districts. Of the teams playing the 8-man game, which has proven popular with the MAIS small fry, nearly half of them – 13 in all – are located outside the state’s borders, in Arkansas and Louisiana.
If you think Lumberton to Rosedale is a long bus ride, how about the possibility of an MAIS Class 1A playoff game between Christian Collegiate, located in Gulfport, and Desoto, located in West Helena, Ark. Good luck with that.
At any rate, all 309 football-playing high schools in the MAIS and MHSAA will be gassing up the bus and getting ready to hit the road, beginning for some private schools as early as Aug. 16.
Stan Caldwell is a 35-year veteran sports writer in the Hattiesburg area, and most recently served as sports information director at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi.
