25-27 MHSAA Classifications

[SteelCurtain74]

appear to have been released.

https://www.capitalsportsms.com/msg...M11yHOCy1bGOmrJVOg_aem_zfriM6g2xJktzvsGYhkRZw

A couple of observations. Forest Hill did not move up to 7A as some thought they may. They are 6A at least for the next couple of years.

St. Andrews and Pisgah moved up to 3A.

Presbyterian Christian is rated as 3A region 8 with St Patrick, St Stanislaus, Tylertown and West Marion.

 

[patdog]

Couple of interesting swaps. Tupelo goes to district 1 with Oxford moving to district 2 in 7A. Assume Murrah is no longer independent with 7 teams in district 4 and 6 (including Murrah) in district 2. In 6A, George Co goes to district 3 with Pearl River Central to district 4.

also, in 5A not sure why Sumrall is in district 3 & Northeast Jones in district 4.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Couple of interesting swaps. Tupelo goes to district 1 with Oxford moving to district 2 in 7A. Assume Murrah is no longer independent with 7 teams in district 4 and 6 (including Murrah) in district 2. In 6A, George Co goes to district 3 with Pearl River Central to district 4.

also, in 5A not sure why Sumrall is in district 3 & Northeast Jones in district 4.

George County in 3 had been speculated by some folks— but I wonder about that too.

I suspect 3-5A went with the five closest South schools to Natchez.

 

[8dog]

Wild that PCS improved its travel situation but not by a ton and certainly not as much as they could have in 3A with Magee, Crystal Springs, and Seminary all nearby.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Couple of interesting swaps. Tupelo goes to district 1 with Oxford moving to district 2 in 7A. Assume Murrah is no longer independent with 7 teams in district 4 and 6 (including Murrah) in district 2. In 6A, George Co goes to district 3 with Pearl River Central to district 4.

also, in 5A not sure why Sumrall is in district 3 & Northeast Jones in district 4.

Wonder if they wanted Oxford to be in the same district as Starkville High? Otherwise I’m really not sure why you change that. Oxford is a little closer than Tupelo to the Desoto County schools.

 

[bulldoghair]

also, in 5A not sure why Sumrall is in district 3 & Northeast Jones in district 4.

I suspect 3-5A went with the five closest South schools to Natchez.

You had 3 schools in Jones County in 5a and they split them up. Could have put them with Wayne County, and then Sumrall. The entire district would have have been less than an hour between furthest schools.

 

[HWY51dog]

Yeah, I don’t understand switching Tupelo and Oxford. In football, Tupelo will not be challenged in the division, cake walk.

 

[patdog]

Yeah, I don’t understand switching Tupelo and Oxford. In football, Tupelo will not be challenged in the division, cake walk.

I suspect that's one reason. Break up the Division 2 gauntlet just a little.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I suspect that's one reason. Break up the Division 2 gauntlet just a little.

Tupelo will cakewalk that every year.

 

[patdog]

George County in 3 had been speculated by some folks— but I wonder about that too.

I suspect George County to Division 3 was to even up the divisions competitively. West Jones and Hattiesburg have had it pretty easy the last 2 years (although Terry isn't a bad team). After seeing Deuce Knight last Friday, I'm glad he won't be back for George County. He's pretty raw, but Auburn got a talented QB.

I suspect 3-5A went with the five closest South schools to Natchez

That makes sense.

 

[L4Dawg]

There are still a bunch of automatic playoff berths in the lower divisions. If you are taking four teams from each division four team divisions are just wrong.

 

[bulldoghair]

I suspect 3-5A went with the five closest South schools to Natchez

That makes sense.

Natchez is at least a 2.5 car ride from jones county, so that would be pushing probably 3 hours on a school bus. I haven’t checked but are these the closest schools to Natchez? The more classifications they add the worse the travel is for most. There is no consideration for kids as students or for their families. Districting ect should not be solely looked at through a sports lens. Reason and practical sense should be included with consideration for traveling distances and what might be best for kids as students and families. Just my opinion.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

Purvis and Sumrall moving to 5A is baffling to me. 25-30 years ago they were sleepy little towns and school was an attendance center. Growth of Hattiesburg area/Lamar County is real

 

[615dawg]

Word is they switched Tupelo and Oxford for football balance. Region 1 has been terrible in football. Region 2 teams went 4-0 in the first round this year against Region 1 teams. Moving Tupelo puts a good program in Region 1.

25 teams in 7A because Murrah and Meridian tied for 24th. MHSAA rules say both teams play in the higher class when there is a tie. This puts 7 teams in Region 4. Murrah is not allowed to go independent this season so they are all in in Region 2. They really thought they would drop to 6A and they were one of the schools that appealed and held this up.

Forest Hill missed 7A by 5 students

 

[HuntDawg]

Word is they switched Tupelo and Oxford for football balance. Region 1 has been terrible in football. Region 2 teams went 4-0 in the first round this year against Region 1 teams. Moving Tupelo puts a good program in Region 1.

Tupelo has some influence with the ol MHSAA. This is exactly what happened.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

Wild that PCS improved its travel situation but not by a ton and certainly not as much as they could have in 3A with Magee, Crystal Springs, and Seminary all nearby.

I wonder if they wanted to keep the three private schools together?

 

[bulldoghair]

Purvis and Sumrall moving to 5A is baffling to me. 25-30 years ago they were sleepy little towns and school was an attendance center. Growth of Hattiesburg area/Lamar County is real

And they didn’t even put them in the same district. Crazy. If I’m not mistaken based off numbers, Purvis, Sumrall, northeast jones will be the smallest 5a’s.

 

[615dawg]

Tupelo has some influence with the ol MHSAA. This is exactly what happened.

I mean, it really makes sense in this case.

 

[HuntDawg]

I mean, it really makes sense in this case.

i mean it makes sense if you are drawing lines to even the strength of sports.. but thats a bridge the MHSAA has never really crossed.

Im not saying I fault them... but you can look all over the state and there are stronger divisions in certain area's and certain sports than others

 

[8dog]

I wonder if they wanted to keep the three private schools together?

Probably a reasonable explanation. Frustrated fewer public schools who don’t like having to play schools that can recruit.

 

[Villagedawg]

Hard row to hoe for some of those. Schools have until Nov. 26 to give notice of appeal of placement. They said regions were based on mileage for each school.

 

[patdog]

Natchez is at least a 2.5 car ride from jones county, so that would be pushing probably 3 hours on a school bus. I haven’t checked but are these the closest schools to Natchez? The more classifications they add the worse the travel is for most. There is no consideration for kids as students or for their families. Districting ect should not be solely looked at through a sports lens. Reason and practical sense should be included with consideration for traveling distances and what might be best for kids as students and families. Just my opinion.

Natchez is just a long way from anywhere. Their natural district would be district 2 with Vicksburg, Provine, Lanier. But that would put them in the north with Cleveland as a district game. Probably still be easier travel on everyone if they did that though.

 

[HWY51dog]

I really think Oxford is the one that got screwed over, that’s going to be some long bus rides. Horn Lake will be better in the coming years but Tupelo can probably leave the starters at home for division games. I’m really surprised Center Hill is still 6A.

 

[Dawgfan61]

Wonder if they wanted Oxford to be in the same district as Starkville High? Otherwise I’m really not sure why you change that. Oxford is a little closer than Tupelo to the Desoto County schools.

Speaking as a Madison Parent Oxford is a lot closer to the Jackson area schools (Clinton, Murrah, Germantown, Madison Central) than Tupelo. For that reason it makes sense.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Natchez is at least a 2.5 car ride from jones county, so that would be pushing probably 3 hours on a school bus. I haven’t checked but are these the closest schools to Natchez? The more classifications they add the worse the travel is for most. There is no consideration for kids as students or for their families. Districting ect should not be solely looked at through a sports lens. Reason and practical sense should be included with consideration for traveling distances and what might be best for kids as students and families. Just my opinion.

They are the closest.

It’s all about access to US 84.

Sumrall to Prentiss via 42 and then 84 all the way…

South Jones would take 29 to 84..

 

[bulldoghair]

I hear that they are supposed to hear any appeals from school representatives on the 13th, and to hold off scheduling until after that. I’ve heard of one personally. Not sure if appeals make a difference?

 

[snoopdog]

Wonder if they wanted Oxford to be in the same district as Starkville High? Otherwise I’m really not sure why you change that. Oxford is a little closer than Tupelo to the Desoto County schools.

I figure Tupelo had to travel to Jackson for 3 district games for 3 years so they will alternate that for next round. Other than that, no clue.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I figure Tupelo had to travel to Jackson for 3 district games for 3 years so they will alternate that for next round. Other than that, no clue.

That’s a good point. I did not take into account what the other district looked like.

 

[patdog]

I figure Tupelo had to travel to Jackson for 3 district games for 3 years so they will alternate that for next round. Other than that, no clue.

Should have broken 7A into only 3 divisions. 7 coast teams + Oak Grove & Petal; 7 Jxn metro teams + Meridian; and 5 Desoto teams + Tupelo, Oxford & Starkville. Send half the central playoff teams north & half south.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Should have broken 7A into only 3 divisions. 7 coast teams + Oak Grove & Petal; 7 Jxn metro teams + Meridian; and 5 Desoto teams + Tupelo, Oxford & Starkville. Send half the central playoff teams north & half south.

Now patdog, that would make too much sense.

 

[615dawg]

Should have broken 7A into only 3 divisions. 7 coast teams + Oak Grove & Petal; 7 Jxn metro teams + Meridian; and 5 Desoto teams + Tupelo, Oxford & Starkville. Send half the central playoff teams north & half south.

I have been advocating for a North/Central/South regionalization for years.

4 teams from each region make the playoffs. Three region champs + top runner up get byes. Come up with a formula like other states. Seed the remaining and top seed hosts. If the two best teams are in the Central, they should have a shot to play for state.

Here's how it would have looked in 7A this year:

1. Brandon (Central Champion)
2. Tupelo (North Champion)
3. Oak Grove (South Champion)
4. Madison Central (Central) Runner-up, #3 in rating)

5. Starkville (North 2) vs. DeSoto Central (North 4)
6. Germantown (Central 3) vs. 11. Northwest Rankin (Central 4)
7. Ocean Springs (South 2) vs. 10. D'Iberville (South 3)
8. Petal (South 4) vs. 9. Oxford (North 3)

Quarterfinals would have been likely

Starkville at Madison Central
Germantown at Oak Grove
Ocean Springs at Tupelo
Petal at Brandon

Instead we got

Starkville at Tupelo
Germantown at Madison Central
Oak Grove at Ocean Springs
Petal at Brandon



In basketball you could have regional tournaments that would determine two teams to advance to state then have six team state tournaments. Our own little March madness where every team has a chance, Indiana/Alabama style.