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1/23/13

SCHSL takes up realignment plan
Chris Dearing, The State

Schools would be divided into five classes for football

Many high school athletics directors and football coaches across the state believe the current system of crowning seven state champions in football cheapens the accomplishment.

The South Carolina High School League’s Executive Committee formulated a plan in December that proposes a new five-class system that would have 40 teams in each classification for football only. The remaining sports would remain in the current four-class system and award four state championships while football would award five.

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Playoff proposal would bring major changes for 5 area high schools

Posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 12:02 a.m.
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BY PHILIP M. BOWMAN

pbowman@postandcourier.com

Bishop England and Academic Magnet are among five area high schools that would be forced to compete in a separate playoff division for all sports if a Spartanburg County School District proposal is approved by the High School League.

Nine schools in Spartanburg are seeking to add an amendment to the High School League constitution that would force 15 schools around the state to participate in separate championship playoff series because those schools have countywide enrollment areas and can limit enrollment.

In addition to Bishop England and Academic Magnet, the other Lowcountry schools that would be affected are Charleston Charter, Garrett Tech and Military Magnet.

The schools would be allowed to compete in the High School League during the regular season, but would not be eligible for the playoffs in their regular classifications. The 15 schools would have their own playoff division.

Bishop England and Christ Church, two schools with highly successful athletic programs, seem to be directly targeted by the proposal.

“Without a doubt,” Bishop England athletic director Paul Runey said. “It’s because of the success Bishop England and Christ Church have had over the years.”

Bishop England and Christ Church, which is in Greenville, have the best Class AA and Class A sports programs in the state on an annual basis. The Athletic Directors Cup was founded in 2001 to honor the top programs in the state’s four classifications. Bishop England (Class AA) and Christ Church (Class A) have won the honor every year.

Christ Church athletic director R.J. Beach would not comment because he said he has not seen the proposal. The High School League’s Executive Committee studied the proposal Monday and is expected to release all proposals this week.

The proposed amendment to the High School League’s constitution will be voted on during the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association’s spring meetings March 6-10 in Charleston.

The other schools around the state that would be affected include Greenville Tech, Fox Creek, Brashier Middle College, Greer Middle College, St. Joseph’s, Southside Christian, Governor’s School, Calhoun Falls Charter and S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind.

The Spartanburg schools that made the proposal are Boiling Springs, Broome, Byrnes, Chapman, Chesnee. Dorman, Landrum, Spartanburg and Woodruff.

Academic Magnet athletic director Curt Hoffman concurred with Runey.

“It seems to be about success,” he said. “You have Christ Church at one end of the state and Bishop England at the other. The argument put forth is that these schools can recruit anywhere and can offer a tuition discount. It’s on the table, but I don’t see the proposal gaining any traction.”

Branchville High School, meanwhile, proposed a change that could affect only private, independent or parochial schools.

Branchville has a highly successful volleyball team that has reached the Class A state championship the last three years. But Branchville lost to Southside Christian in 2010 and to St. Joseph in 2011 and 2012. Both schools are private schools that would be affected by Branchville’s proposal.

It’s not the first time Bishop England’s sports program has been targeted.

In 2006, a year after Sports Illustrated rated the school as South Carolina’s top high school athletic program, Emerald High School proposed that Bishop England, a school with an enrollment of about 900 students in 2006, be reclassified from Class AA to Class AAA and compete against schools with enrollments of about 1,500 students.

Emerald, located in Greenwood, lost to Bishop England in four different state championship finals in the spring of 2005.

The proposal did not have enough support to gain approval by the High School League.

Follow Philip M. Bowman on Twitter: @pandcphil.

Why would the AAAA schools in Spartanburg care about AA or A programs? Just to show support for the small schools in the county?

It's surprising what schools are supporting this. I never really understood how private schools could play in the public school playoff system anyway.

You know the more I think of it, this really shows how petty the schools in Spartanburg can be. They can work together to help one or two schools with the ability to win championships. The whole while they continue to violate the girls civil rights, break Federal law, and do not even seem to care. Right now 3500 girls (county wide) are being screwed by the "Man", with little worry or group effort to correct the situation.

You can tell what matters to the good ole' boys in Sparkle city!

You would figure if they are breaking laws, as you say (I do not know the situation because I am new to the picture), that they would keep quiet. Are there any private schools that have an impact on their public school sports teams in that area?

Woodruff and Chesnee could be affected. Dorman. Boiling Springs. Byrnes, and Spartanburg are AAAA so no way this really affects them.

Boiling Springs got found out of compliance with Title IX, all the schools have the same middle school programs, and almost the same high school programs. All would fail an OCR audit.

You can just see where their priorities are, they are very transparent.

Dorman is adding girls middle soccer this year, but are adding boys soccer as well. We are adding a girls C team only, so we closed the 500 girls gap by 20, 4%, not very much this year. The OCR will be looking for the overall participation gap to close. Nobody in Spartanburg is really doing that. Byrnes has a survey planned, as well as Boiling Springs.

They are more worried about beating CC and those other guys, it seems.

I do remember the Boiling Springs issue. That was a hot button topic on here for a while.

Did you read the article? The 5 Divisions would only be for Football, which to me sounds great. I think having a, for example, 4-6 team in the play-offs would be ridiculous. Region Champ and Runner-Up and that should be it. Somewhere in the article it said, if Football does it, then all sports should as well. I completely disagree with that. I have not seen that much of a problem with the 4 division format for all other sports. Football is the only sport that really has been watered down by having multiple champions in a single division.

Now to the 15 Private schools. I, being from a 2A school, COMPLETELY understand the proposal to have the school that shall not be named and all other "private" schools play in their own set of Play-offs. Think about it, CC, BE, or Academic Magnet playing each other for a state championship? Wouldn't be a bad game to me. This would allow other schools the possibility to get their foot in the door make a run for a championship. But the drawback for the Private division would be that you would have about 4 or 5 teams playing for a championship every year (BE, CC, AM, St. J., SSC). If you look at 2A and 1A brackets over the past 5 years for soccer, Private school have made up a majority of the Upper/Lower State Champs and State Champs, excluding the occasional upset here and there. No matter what there are going to be winners and losers with whatever decision is made.

In the Lowcountry, the practical reality is this: Due to its unique situation, Bishop England enjoys better facilities, longer-tenured coaching staffs, a giant attendance zone, an established middle-school feeder system, and other "advantages" over its Class AA counterparts. While laudable, the school's success in a range of sports bespeaks a competitive advantage. I'm not for discouraging excellence -- just finding a way to level the playing field.

SCHSL 135 Day Enrollments (May 2013)

Class AAAA
1 WANDO 3,551
2 DORMAN 3,149
3 SUMMERVILLE 2,771
4 SUMTER 2,338
5 BOILING SPRINGS 2,336
6 JF BYRNES 2,244
7 WEST ASHLEY 2,136
8 MAULDIN 2,102
9 DUTCH FORK 2,097
10 HILLCREST 2,029
11 ASHLEY RIDGE 2,021
12 FORT DORCHESTER 1,996
13 GAFFNEY 1,991
14 SPRING VALLEY 1,989
15 CLOVER 1,972
16 CAROLINA FOREST 1,944 ----- 4A Big-16
17 ROCK HILL 1,941
18 WHITE KNOLL 1,916
19 LEXINGTON 1,843
20 SPARTANBURG 1,780
21 STRATFORD 1,748
22 GOOSE CREEK 1,737
23 TL HANNA 1,734
24 NORTHWESTERN 1,722
25 EASLEY 1,718
26 IRMO 1,707
27 WEST FLORENCE 1,704
28 JL MANN 1,685
29 WOODMONT 1,662
30 FORT MILL 1,658
31 WADE HAMPTON (G) 1,629
32 COLLETON COUNTY 1,626
33 LUGOFF-ELGIN 1,623
34 SOUTH FLORENCE 1,617
35 BLYTHEWOOD 1,603
36 RIDGE VIEW 1,603
37 BLUFFTON 1,600
38 WESTSIDE 1,593
39 RIVERSIDE 1,588
40 GREENWOOD 1,538
41 LAURENS 1,529
42 NATION FORD 1,518
43 SOUTH AIKEN 1,516
44 RIVER BLUFF 1,500 ----- new school
45 CANE BAY 1,487
46 CONWAY 1,467
47 SOCASTEE 1,456 ----- up from 3A
48 NORTH AUGUSTA 1,424
49 YORK 1,421
50 WESTWOOD 1,420 ----- up from 3A
51 GREENVILLE 1,420 ----- up from 3A
52 ST. JAMES 1,416 ----- up from 3A

AAA
53 HARTSVILLE 1,399
54 AIKEN 1,396 ----- down from 4A
55 RICHLAND NORTHEAST 1,396 ----- down from 4A
56 BEAUFORT 1,393 ----- down from 4A
57 SOUTH POINTE 1,392 ----- down from 4A
58 LANCASTER 1,392 ----- down from 4A
59 PICKENS 1,382
60 JAMES ISLAND CHARTER 1,379
61 CHAPIN 1,346
62 BERKELEY 1,327
63 AIRPORT 1,313
64 EASTSIDE 1,305
65 ORANGEBURG-WILKINSON 1,295
66 AC FLORA 1,259
67 NORTH MYRTLE BEACH 1,244
68 WREN 1,244
69 TRAVELERS REST 1,234
70 MYRTLE BEACH 1,213
71 UNION COUNTY 1,208
72 HILTON HEAD 1,189
73 MARLBORO COUNTY 1,180
74 MIDLAND VALLEY 1,177
75 LOWER RICHLAND 1,176
76 BLUE RIDGE 1,161
77 DREHER 1,142
78 CRESTWOOD 1,136
79 LAKEWOOD 1,114
80 GREER 1,095
81 WILSON 1,092
82 BEREA 1,084
83 BELTON-HONEA PATH 1,064
84 HANAHAN 1,047
85 RB STALL 1,034
86 DARLINGTON 1,031
87 DW DANIEL 1,025
88 BROOKLAND-CAYCE 1,013
89 WEST-OAK 980
90 PALMETTO 961
91 CAMDEN 951
92 WALHALLA 949
93 GEORGETOWN 933
94 EMERALD 914
95 SENECA 912
96 GILBERT 899
97 CHAPMAN 898
98 BROOME 897
99 SWANSEA 897
100 CHESTER 869
101 SOUTHSIDE 865
102 LAKE CITY 857 ----- up from 2A
103 MANNING 849
104 CLINTON 842

AA
105 DILLON 837
106 WOODRUFF 832 ----- down from 3A
107 PENDLETON 831
108 STROM THURMOND 812 ----- down from 3A
109 POWDERSVILLE 808
110 NEWBERRY 799
111 FAIRFIELD-CENTRAL 791
112 BATTERY CREEK 790
113 LAKE MARION 788
114 AYNOR 772
115 WACCAMAW 770
116 TIMBERLAND 763
117 COLUMBIA 761
118 LORIS 759
119 INDIAN LAND 759
120 MID CAROLINA 750
121 RIDGELAND-HARDEEVILLE 743
122 WADE HAMPTON (H) 740
123 PELION 738
124 MARION 732
125 KEENAN 727
126 EDISTO 726
127 CHERAW 713
128 LIBERTY 685
129 CRESCENT 685
130 CAROLINA 681
131 BARNWELL 681
132 GARRETT 672
133 BISHOP ENGLAND 664
134 KINGSTREE 661
135 SILVER BLUFF 647
136 CHESNEE 634
137 WOODLAND 627
138 CENTRAL 619
139 EAU CLAIRE 610
140 BUFORD 609
141 ACADEMIC MAGNET 609
142 ANDREW JACKSON 597
143 LEE CENTRAL 584
144 SALUDA 582
145 LANDRUM 576
146 ANDREWS 547
147 NORTH CHARLESTON 546
148 ABBEVILLE 545
149 BLACKSBURG 515
150 BATESBURG-LEESVILLE 514
151 MULLINS 513
152 NINETY SIX 511
153 CHESTERFIELD 511
154 WHALE BRANCH EARLY COLLEGE 490 ----- up from 1A
155 NORTH CENTRAL 453
156 JOHNSONVILLE 443 ----- up from 1A

A
157 GREENVILLE TECH CHARTER 438
158 CALHOUN COUNTY 427 ----- down from 2A
159 LATTA 420
160 FOX CREEK 418
161 BRASHIER MIDDLE COLLEGE CHARTER 417
162 C A JOHNSON 406
163 CARVERS BAY 403
164 GREER MIDDLE COLLEGE CHARTER 399
165 CHRIST CHURCH 392
166 BAMBERG-EHRHARDT 392 ----- down from 2A
167 ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC 390
168 BURKE 378 ----- down from 2A
169 LEWISVILLE 376
170 HEMINGWAY 361
171 HANNAH PAMPLICO 350
172 ALLENDALE-FAIRFAX 344
173 DIXIE 333
174 GREEN SEA-FLOYDS 327
175 SOUTHSIDE CHRISTIAN 318
176 MCBEE 304
177 WARE SHOALS 301
178 ST. JOHNS 301
179 WILLISTON-ELKO 300
180 EAST CLARENDON 299
181 WAGENER-SALLEY 298
182 LAMAR 286
183 CE MURRAY 282
184 ESTILL 282
185 LAKE VIEW 274
186 BAPTIST HILL 269
187 GREAT FALLS 266
188 RIDGE SPRING-MONETTA 245
189 DENMARK-OLAR 230
190 CHARLESTON CHARTER 227
191 BLACKVILLE-HILDA 224
192 MILITARY MAGNET 221
193 MCCORMICK 220
194 CREEK BRIDGE 208
195 TIMMONSVILLE 207
196 SCOTTS BRANCH 206
197 BRANCHVILLE 198
198 HUNTER-KINARD-TYLER 185
199 CROSS 177
200 NORTH 168
201 BETHUNE-BOWMAN 166
202 GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL/MATH 162
203 TAMASSEE-SALEM 160
204 WHITMIRE 131
205 CALHOUN FALLS CHARTER 114
206 LINCOLN 91
207 SC SCHOOL FOR DEAF & BLIND 83