Riverside is in a different division (AAA-III) while Eastside, JL Mann, and Greenville are in AAA-II. Don't think you can blame/credit football for the realigning of conferences. There was an objective of creating 8 conferences (4 upstate and 4 lower state). In the upstate that moved at least AAA from 3 to 4 conferences ... going from 7 or 8 schools per conference to 6. Athletic directors have had a lot of pressure in recent years to shorten their travel time ... so dropping a "required" home and away series for a 7 or 8 school conference to 6 helps. Also, the four conferences allows for a more equitable arrangement of play off brackets. Looking at a map, I dont see any "gerry-mandering" (?sp) of the conference groups. Might I have done it differently, perhaps, but it's not unreasonable. In terms of impact ... the biggest difference is that the AAA-II teams will have had a chance to play better in-conference matches, and will be better prepared for playoffs ... pretty much, IMO, driving the upperstate championship for soccer through that conference for the next three years.
