TIFTON —
The Georgia High School Athletic Association voted Monday to expand from it’s current five classifications to six beginning next season.
Class A will have 22 percent of Georgia schools in it, while the other five classifications will have 14 to 17 percent.
So what does this mean for Tift County?
While region alignments have not been set in stone yet, the projection based on current enrollment numbers will put Tift in a region that includes all current members of Region 1-AAAAA.
In addition, the region might be adding Warner Robins, Northside (Warner Robins), Camden County, Effingham County and Brunswick.
In other words, Tift will be doing some travelling in the years to come.
“I’m disappointed in the decision. This feels like a civil war, all the schools in the north want expansion, while all the schools in the south don’t. They have several more schools up there than down here though, so they kind of get what they want,” said Tift County Athletic Director Rusty Smith.
Most recently the southern schools were outvoted on the issue of playing the finals at the Georgia Dome, where originally the semi-finals were played in Atlanta.
Right now Tift does not have to travel over 50 miles for any region opponent. Warner Robins is over 90 miles away, Kingsland is over 120 miles, Brunswick over 130, and Effingham County is over 170 miles away.
This won’t make much of a difference in football, other than the distance travelled, it’s the other sports that will suffer.
If a game is over 100 miles away they must be played on a weekend. Football is played traditionally on Fridays so it won’t be affected, but sports like basketball and baseball will have to schedule most of their region games on weekends.
While official region alignments will not be determined until December, right now it looks as though several south Georgia teams will be spending more time on the road than they will on the field.
Local Sports
AAAAAA is now a reality in Georgia high school sports
- Local Sports
-
-
Former Blue Devil hopes to be picked in MLB draft
In less than two weeks, from June 4-6, Major League Baseball will be holding its 2012 draft, fulfilling the dreams of several athletes who have worked for that moment most of their lives.
-
Mesoraco’s slam sends Reds over Braves 6-3
Rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco capped a series full of homers with his first career grand slam on Thursday night, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
The Reds completed their first four-game sweep of the Braves in Cincinnati since 1980 at Riverfront Stadium. They’ve won six straight, their longest winning streak since August 2010 when they started their push toward the NL Central title. -
Williams’ annual basketball camp coming up
The annual “Bouncing Through the Community with a Vision Fundamental Basketball Clinic" will be held June 23 at at the Tift County High Arena.
-
Barrentine does well on junior rodeo circuit
Brady Barrentine competed this past weekend in the Southern Junior Rodeo Finals in Ocala, Fla. This was his first year competing in the SJRA's rodeo season. He competed all year long in the breakaway roping, tie-down calf roping, team roping, ribbon roping and chute dogging.
- Local athletes compete in Special Olympics Georgia
- Purple Hurricanes wind up spring practice, hold spring game
-
Blazers win NCAA Division II national softball title
The Valdosta State Blazers are the 2012 NCAA Division II Softball National Champions after an impressive 4-1 victory over defending champion UC San Diego. The championship is Valdosta State’s sixth overall championship and first in softball. The win also marks the first softball national championship for the Gulf South Conference.
-
Blazers advance to final day of the season
-
Beachy throws shutout, Braves beat Marlins 7-0
Brandon Beachy threw a five-hit shutout, the first of his career, to improve the major leagues’ lowest ERA and the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 7-0 on Thursday night.
-
Courtney Albritton named All-American
Albritton took VSU and the entire Gulf South Conference by storm in just her freshman season. She was named the GSC's Freshman and Player of the Year while leading the conference in most categories. She is first on the VSU squad in runs scored (68), hits (91), doubles (19), triples (3), home runs (15), RBI (58), slugging percentage (.752) and stolen bases (13-13). - More Local Sports Headlines
-
