The NCHSAA released its third draft of its proposed conferences Friday, and there are changes for the conferences involving Chatham County schools, especially in the 1A classification.
The third draft is the final proposal from the realignment committee, and it reflects changes after schools appealed the second draft in person two weeks ago. Schools will have an opportunity to appeal the third draft to the NCHSAA Board of Directors before the conferences are approved.
After sharing the second draft’s “1A/2A Conference E” with Chatham Charter and other schools in the Triad area, Chatham Central is now in the third draft’s “1A/2A Conference F” alongside College Prep & Leadership (1A), North Stokes (1A), South Davidson (1A), Winston-Salem Prep (1A), Bishop McGuiness (2A) and South Stokes (2A).
Woods Charter went from being the only Chatham County school in a 10-member “1A Conference 2” in the second draft to once again joining Chatham Charter in the third draft’s “1A Conference 3” with Ascend Leadership, Central Carolina Academy, Clover Garden, River Mill Academy and Southern Wake Academy.
Carrboro, a 4A school, is no longer in the same 3A/4A conference with Jordan-Matthews (4A), Northwood (3A), Southwestern Randolph (4A), Uwharrie Charter (4A), Eastern Randolph (3A) and North Moore (3A) in the third draft. As the rest of the conference remained its own group (“3A/4A Conference B”) in the third draft, Carrboro joined the second draft’s “5A Conference 2” with Seaforth, Durham School of the Arts, Orange, South Granville and Webb to form a 4A/5A conference in the latest realignment proposal.
The latest draft still isn’t perfect as there may be some travel issues that still need to be worked out. For instance, Chatham Central, one of the smallest traditional public high schools in the state, went from having one close conference opponent in Chatham Charter to having its closest opponent being about 45 minutes away.
After the conferences are approved, the NCHSAA Bylaw Task Force will begin planning guidelines for playoff qualifiers, seeding and bracket size. There’s still much to consider before the new eight-class model goes into effect, such as state championship venues.