The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released its third draft of conferences Friday as it continues the transition to eight classifications ahead of the 2025-26 school year.
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.
Looking at the changes from the second draft to the third draft, the NCHSAA looks to have gone with smaller conferences and more three-class conferences. Coaches and school officials across the state have expressed concerns over travel distances and the difficulty with scheduling games in large conferences.
Starting in the 8A classification, one of the conferences most affected by the latest changes is the “7A/8A Conference A”. In the second draft, the split conference featuring schools in the Sandhills and greater Fayetteville areas included nine members: Hoke County (8A), Pinecrest (8A), Cape Fear (7A), Jack Britt (7A), Lumberton (7A), Overhills (7A), Pine Forest (7A), Purnell Swett (7A) and Richmond (7A). The third draft moved Cape Fear, Lumberton and Purnell Swett to a 6A/7A conference with Gray’s Creek (6A), Scotland County (6A) and Terry Sanford (6A).
Terry Sanford, Scotland County and Gray’s Creek were in a 5A/6A conference in the second draft along with six other Fayetteville area schools. Those six (Douglas Byrd (5A), St. Pauls (5A), E.E. Smith (6A), Seventy-First (6A), South View (6A) and Westover (6A)) formed their own conference in the third draft.
Davie County (7A) moved out of a 7A/8A conference in the second draft to “6A/7A Conference I” with North Iredell (6A), Statesville (6A), Lake Norman (7A), Mooresville (7A) and South Iredell (7A). The second draft’s “6A/7A conference H” previously included Alexander Central (6A) and St. Stephens (6A) with the schools now in the third draft’s “I” group, but those two schools moved to another 6A/7A conference with Freedom (6A), South Caldwell (6A), Watauga (6A) and McDowell (7A) in the latest realignment proposal.
Alexander Central and St. Stephens are now further from their new conference members in the mountains, though. In the second draft, its furthest trip for those schools would’ve been Lake Norman and Mooresville, but now, they could possibly have more 50-mile trips deeper into the mountains.
The middle of the state got a big shake up as well with “5A/6A Conference B” from the second draft taking Cummings (4A) and Graham (4A) and placing them in a 4A/5A/6A conference with Southern Alamance (6A), Williams (6A), Eastern Alamance (5A), Person (5A), Southeast Alamance (5A) and Western Alamance (5A). The conference from which Cummings and Graham left formed another three-class group (3A/4A/5A) with Bartlett Yancey (3A), McMichael (3A), Walkertown (3A), Carver (4A), Morehead (4A), Reidsville (4A) and Rockingham County (5A).
Out in the east, a large 3A/4A/5A conference got split up into two with Heide Trask (3A), Pender (3A), South Lenoir (3A), Clinton (4A), East Duplin (4A) and Southwest Onslow forming a 3A/4A group while South Columbus (3A), West Bladen (3A), Whiteville (3A), Fairmont (4A), Red Springs (4A) and South Brunswick (5A) formed its own three-class conference.
This change especially helped cut down travel distances between schools as Heide Trask is nearly two hours and 95 miles away from Red Springs and an hour and a half away from Fairmont.
Other changes in the smaller classifications mostly moved one or two schools around, but the large “1A Conference 2” group from the second draft got split into two conferences. The third draft’s “1A Conference 3” now includes Ascend Leadership, Central Carolina Academy, Chatham Charter, Clover Garden, River Mill Academy, Southern Wake Academy and Woods Charter, while a 1A/2A conference pulled from the original large group and other conferences to form “1A/2A Conference E” with Discovery Charter (1A), Excelsior Classical (1A), Falls Lake Academy (1A), Oxford Prep (1A), Vance Charter (1A), Eno River Academy (2A) and Henderson Collegiate (2A).
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.
