As it does every two years, the Alabama High School Athletic Association announced its reclassification of schools last week and reports associated with reclassification are always a little interesting.According to the reclassification numbers, Hoover High School is the largest public high school in the state with an average daily attendance of 1,902 students. That’s counting students in 10-12 grades as well as students held back in the ninth grade.
Hoover is in Class 6A, and there are no Class 6A schools in the immediate vicinity of Conecuh County. The largest Class 5A school in the Conecuh County area is Greenville High School in Butler County, which for classification purposes has 494 students.
Other schools around Conecuh County and their average daily attendance are as follows – Class 4A, Monroe County High School in Monroeville, 408; Escambia County High School in Atmore, 377; Andalusia High School, 338; Class 3A, Opp High School, 309; Straughn High School, 296; W.S. Neal High School in East Brewton, 293; T.R. Miller, 256; Excel High School, 253; Class 2A, Flomaton High School, 220; Class 1A, J.U. Blacksher High School at Uriah, 150; Red Level High School, 140; Pleasant Home High School, 122; Georgiana High School, 119; Florala High School, 90; McKenzie High School, 76; and J.F. Shields High School in Beatrice, 68.
Hillcrest High School in Evergreen, a Class 4A school, has an average daily attendance of 340 students.
John Essex High School near Demopolis is the smallest public school in the state that fields a football team. They have an average daily attendance of 53 students.
Paint Rock Valley High School in Princeton, which is north of Scottsboro, near the Alabama-Tennessee state line, is the AHSAA’s smallest school, with an average daily attendance of 14 students, that is, 1,888 less than Hoover.
It was also interesting to see that two Alabama Independent School Association schools, Prattville Christian Academy and Ellwood Christian Academy in Selma made the jump to the AHSAA. Ellwood Christian will compete in Class 1A, and Prattville Christian will compete in Class 2A.
On paper it looks like the changes will present Hillcrest with tougher schedules in football and basketball, but it’s nothing the Jags can’t handle. Schools have a tendency to rise to their level of competition, and Hillcrest’s current staff of coaches is more than capable of success under the new region and area alignments.
I’ve often wondered about how Sparta Academy would fair if they were to ever make the jump to the AHSAA. They’d likely be put in Class 1A and would likely compete in Region 2 against Geneva County, Red Level, Brantley, Pleasant Home, Kinston, Georgiana, Florala and McKenzie.
In basketball, they’d probably end up in Area 3 with teams like Red Level, Brantley, Georgiana, McKenzie and J.F. Shields. That would be very interesting.
I guess I’d be remiss this week if I didn’t make a prediction in the Iron Bowl.
Alabama’s got what’s probably the best defense in the nation this season, but Auburn’s well coached and loaded with talent. It’ll be a close one, but I look for Alabama to pull out the win, 28-21.
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