White County football coach Bill Ballard chuckled when asked about his team's 2016 schedule and challenges within Region 7-AAAA.
"Well, the glass half-full way to look at it is that we get a lot of non-region games, which has allowed us to put together an exciting schedule against a lot of local rivals that will be a good test for us and get our fans really excited," said Ballard, whose program will play Franklin County, Lumpkin County, Habersham Central, Rabun County, North Hall and Dawson County before turning to a 7-AAAA slate that includes Blessed Trinity and Marist. "Then you look at the fact that you have one school from Atlanta and one school from Roswell -- both state powers -- playing in a region that's more of a north Georgia region and you kind of scratch your head. That's the other side of it."
Welcome to the 2016 high school football season -- one in which teams located all over the state, and certainly here in northeast Georgia, will have to get used to new region foes after the dramatic reclassification alignments that the GHSA put in place during the close of the 2015-16 school year. In fact, there was not a single region within our coverage area that did not experience change, most with multiple teams leaving or coming. (NOTE: For a full look at each one of the regions within our coverage area, simply scroll down.)
The alterations splintered plenty of rivalries within regions -- both old and new -- as the addition of a seventh and largest classification spread each level thinner and necessitated a few region shifts that, on a map, resemble something more akin to modern art than a geographical section of the state. For instance, the annual intensity of Gainesville vs. Flowery Branch is no longer a reality, as the Red Elephants moved up to Class AAAAAA, while the Falcons remained in Class AAAAA.
Yet the changes have also brought with them opportunity -- the 10 regions within our coverage area now have an average of 6.7 teams per region, whereas during the last two years we covered eight different regions with 8.3 teams per league. That means programs now have the chance to schedule more non-region foes, which can produce more local rivalries -- even if there are no playoff implications on the line.
That's why old-school rivalry Habersham Central vs. Stephens County is back on the table and why Gainesville will take on West Hall in the season opener -- the first time the two have battled since 2011. It has also allowed for some very intriguing showdowns with no history -- such as Jefferson vs. Gainesville (the two storied city systems have never played).
Like all change, this latest is tinged with good and bad. And some schools have more complaints than others. Rabun County, for instance, cuts an isolated figure now, as Banks County is their closest Region 8-AA foe in a set-up that also sees the Wildcats pitted with Monticello (roughly 130 miles separating the two) and Putnam County (126 miles difference). And the luck of the draw sees Rabun traveling to both in 2016.
Schools like Habersham, however, are in a much more advantageous position than years past. Moving into Region 8-AAAAAA, the Raiders will face opponents that are more similar both geographically and population-wise (Gainesville, Winder-Barrow, Apalachee, Dacula, Lanier) than in either of their last two regions (the then-Gwinnett-based 7-AAAAAA and the then-Forsyth County and north Fulton-centric 6-AAAAAA).
It is a reclassiifcation that will surely need some adapting by schools, teams and fans -- just in time for another round of possible changes two school years from now.
2016-18 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL REGIONS CONTAINING NORTHEAST GEORGIA TEAMS
Regions listed from highest classification to lowest
(Area teams in bold)
REGION 5-AAAAAAA
Forsyth Central
Lambert
Milton
North Forsyth
South Forsyth
West Forsyth
REGION 6-AAAAAAA
Collins Hill
Discovery
Duluth
Mill Creek
Mountain View
North Gwinnett
Peachtree Ridge
REGION 8-AAAAAA
Apalachee
Dacula
Gainesville
Habersham Central
Lanier
Winder-Barrow
REGION 8-AAAAA
Buford
Cedar Shoals
Clarke Central
Flowery Branch
Johnson
Loganville
Walnut Grove
REGION 7-AAAA
Blessed Trinity
Chestatee
Marist
West Hall
White County
REGION 8-AAAA
Jefferson
Madison County
North Oconee
Oconee County
St. Pius X
Stephens County
REGION 7-AAA
Dawson County
East Hall
Fannin County
Greater Atlanta Christian
Lumpkin County
North Hall
Union County
REGION 8-AAA
East Jackson
Franklin County
Hart County
Jackson County
Monroe Area
Morgan County
REGION 8-AA
Banks County
Elbert County
Monticello
Oglethorpe County
Putnam County
Rabun County
Social Circle
REGION 8-A
Athens Academy
Athens Christian
Commerce
George Walton Academy
Hebron Christian Academy
Lakeview Academy
Prince Avenue Christian
Providence Christian
Riverside Military
Towns County
