Thursday, October 1, 2026
®
The World's Local News Source®
Cherryville, NC (WNN) - The recently revamped class size designations and radical conference realignments by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) have led to many questions, concerns, and rumors. Many within the community have asked us at Wise News Network if we could find out the motivation and true reasons behind the changes, and to dispel the rumors and misinformation. We will present what we have learned in this article.
The NCHSAA revisits the conference alignments every four years. This year, the school size classifications were doubled from four to eight. The classification was based upon each school’s ADM (average daily membership). The increase in classes led to the need for new conference creations and realignment for existing conferences. As a result, several multi-class conferences were formed, grouping some smaller 2A schools with larger schools from the 3A and 4A classifications. Naturally, during the current football season, there have been several lopsided games across the state.
WNN received comments and concerns from football parents and fans, especially regarding safety. The larger schools have a much greater player depth advantage when it comes to rotating players for rest. Smaller teams, such as Cherryville, do not have the ability to rotate players as much and play most of their starters on both sides of the ball, playing offense and defense. This gives the players very little rest. One football parent stated, "Some players never come off the field unless it's special teams, and they are worn out by halftime." Numerous studies have linked fatigued players to being prone to more injuries, not only in football but also in other sports.
Shelby Players tackle a Cherryville Player #6 Jevarious Mcelhaney, Cherryville vs Shelby - Football - September 19th, 2025
Rusty Wise (WNN)
Although smaller schools have held their own in other Fall sports, football is the one that draws the most attention due to larger community support, fans in the stands, and being much more visible. Naturally, the large number of blowout games across the multi-class conferences has led to some anger, frustration, and overall confusion. The biggest question has been, why?
NC Southern Piedmont Conference High School Football Scores 2A/3A/4A September 19th, 2025
MaxPreps
A seventeen-member committee met for many long hours over the course of several months to develop a plan for realignment across the state of North Carolina that would keep rivalries intact, reduce travel time, attempt to keep conferences close in number of teams, and stay competitive.
One complication came from only having four towns with schools of a certain size and very few 1A schools. Geographically, it became impossible to keep schools aligned strictly by classification. In all, three drafts were presented to member schools, and after the first one, 300 requests for changes were received; thus, a major overhaul occurred. The second draft still met with quite a bit of resistance, and another overhaul took place.
The third draft ended up being the final draft that was eventually approved after 10 hours of hearing appeals and deliberating on action. Out of 27 appeals heard concerning the final draft, only one was approved. The lone request accepted was for Cardinal Gibbons to play up one class.
According to the NCHSAA, each school was given plenty of time and opportunities to review the drafts. The final draft was approved by a vote of 16 to 1. The new realignment began with the 2025-2026 school year and will run through 2029. There is now a total of 64 conferences, with only 10 containing single classifications.
A press conference was held on March 5, 2025, to present the approved realignment and to field questions. A spokesperson for the NCHSAA stated that the new bylaws say ADM numbers are the sole determining factor for school classification.
Former performance, level of success, nor level of competition are to be used to determine class placement. When questioned about the Southern Piedmont 2A/3A/4A conference’s wide range of classifications and the level of competition in football, the spokesperson responded that smaller schools would benefit financially from the reduced travel time during the regular season.
He went on to mention that the gate (ticket sales) and attraction of seeing larger schools play were also factored into the equation by the committee. Aside from that, it was mentioned that athletes at smaller schools would hopefully be motivated to work harder during the offseason, thereby improving their performance as individual players and as a team.
I had the opportunity to speak by phone with NCHSAA spokesperson, Brandon Moree. He was very accommodating, as he took the time to walk me through the process, from first draft to final approval, and the football playoff process. He pointed out that the biggest challenge was dividing the entire state into the new 64 conferences, while considering the level of competition, traditional rivalries, and geographic location.
As an illustration, he said, think of the map showing the state of North Carolina. If you look at each single class of school, a conference might force hours of travel for some schools, resulting in lost revenue due to travel expenses and lost classroom time for students and coaches who are also educators.
This would produce significant hardships for schools with smaller budgets. After the initial draft was sent to member schools, drastic changes were made. Essentially, all three drafts underwent wholesale changes. The entire process that began in December 2024 and was ratified in March 2025 was an informative and transparent process. School principals and athletic directors were kept informed and encouraged to provide feedback.
He pointed out that even with an increase in the number of charter schools, they tend to be smaller in classification and have smaller budgets, which creates challenges in travel and makes it non-feasible to attempt to create a charter-only conference. I asked about the motion of revisiting realignment in two years instead of four being tabled. He stated he could not speak on that subject as he was not in a position to have that information. The board of directors will meet in December.
It will be up to them if they choose to discuss that matter. Mr. Moree is not privy to their proposed agenda and could offer no other comments on that subject. He went on to say that the goal in the realignment is competitive balance, which remains to be seen if that can be achieved or not. Again, the realignment is for all athletic competition, not just football. The most visible of the Fall programs is football, so it is currently getting the most scrutiny.
The structure for football playoffs has been changed. No longer will points differential be a factor, nor will automatic bids be awarded to conference winners. Seeding for the postseason will be based on MaxPreps’ RPI (rating percentage index).
This is a 40-40-20 weighted formula that determines the strength of the schedule. It consists of 40% being the team’s winning percentage, 40% being the opponent’s winning percentage, and 20% being the winning percentage of the teams the opponents faced. The 8A classification consists of the 32 largest schools in the state.
They will have a playoff bracket made up of 24 teams. Classes 1A-7A will each have brackets of 48 teams. If a class has less than 48 schools, all teams in that class will make the playoffs. There will be eight state champions, one representing each classification.
We reached out to several schools in the Southern Piedmont 2A/3A/4A for comments, concerns, or reactions to the realignment. Cherryville High School was very cooperative and willing to speak with us. The following is a statement issued by Matthew Powers, athletic director of Cherryville High School.
Matt Powers - Cherryville High School Athletic Director
Gaston County Schools
“Recently, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) undertook a major statewide realignment initiative, transitioning from four to eight classifications. This significant change required extensive work by the NCHSAA Board of Directors and the Realignment Committee. While this new structure presents both opportunities and challenges, it also raises concerns around competitive balance, travel distances, and the traditional East/West playoff structure.
As someone who grew up and coached under the old 4-class system for over 20 years, I understand both sides. The success of this change will depend on how schools and the NCHSAA work together.
Shawn Hubers, (left) Matt Powers (middle) and Scott Harrill addressing press in a press conference. Friday, May 10, 2024, by Mason Beam (WNN).
When the first round of realignment was released, Cherryville High School was grouped into a mixed conference similar to one we’ve been placed in years before, but with only six schools. Unfortunately, this configuration was mostly non-traditional schools and did not reflect the rivalry-based, and sport-wide competitive environment we had hoped for. Additionally, this alignment posed logistical challenges:
*Limited number of participating sports within the conference.
* Difficulty scheduling a full season of competitive games, schools would have to find six non-conference football games. In other sports with a higher number of contests, this number of non-conference games could have been over 16.
*Inconsistent home/away balance.
*Increased travel and lost classroom time.
*Loss of revenue. Cherryville High School Athletics, like all high school athletic programs, is dependent on ticket sales to provide athletic opportunities to all sports programs.
*Fewer opportunities to face traditional rivals. Traditional rivalry games would be challenging to schedule due to the disproportionate number of teams in local conferences.
*The potential to affect playoff seeding. The format for playoff seeding was not discussed until the realignment was complete.
In collaboration with other athletic directors across the region, we proposed two alternative conference scenarios focused on traditional, public high schools in our area.
*Proposed Conference Option 1 – Traditional 2A/3A:
*Cherryville
*Highland Tech
*Bessemer City
*Piedmont Charter
*Mountain Island Charter
*West Lincoln
*Lincolnton
*Proposed Conference Option 2 – Expanded 2A/3A/4A Mix:
Included the above schools, plus East Gaston and Stuart Cramer High School.
All athletic directors and administrators from these schools expressed support for the proposal, except for Mountain Island Charter, which had concerns about facing Lincolnton and West Lincoln, not the inclusion of the Gaston County 4A schools. This proposal demonstrated a good-faith effort by Gaston County Public Schools to be inclusive of nearby charter schools as well as across county lines.
The next alignment placed Cherryville in a conference with Shelby and Burns. It removed Piedmont Charter and Mountain Island Charter. We appealed this decision at every available opportunity and worked with other schools seeking an appeal to demonstrate how Burns and Shelby could better fit into other conferences; however, our appeals were denied. Only one appeal across the entire state in the final appeals process was approved by the board of directors.
Even though our appeals were not granted, it’s important to remember that this conference impacts all sports, not just football. The new alignment is similar to previous conferences Cherryville has been part of, especially before the rise in charter school enrollment. In fact, if you look at our traditional non-conference schedules over the past few decades, many of the schools now in our conference have been regular opponents.
This past year, Highland Tech (2A) won the Wachovia Cup, which is awarded to the school with the highest overall finishes across all sports in the conference. This proves that smaller schools can still compete and succeed at a high level across all athletic programs.
Cherryville High School is currently the smallest school by enrollment (ADM) in our conference, with roughly 50 fewer students than Highland Tech (2A) and 100 fewer than traditional conference rival Bessemer City (3A), whose ADM put them in a larger classification. School districts provide these ADM figures and form the basis for classification decisions.
We hope that at the 2-year review, the NCHSAA looks closely at school sizes and balance. Our main goal is to compete in a conference that supports strong rivalries, fair play, and equal opportunities across all sports, not just football. As with any major change, not everyone will be satisfied, but it’s our responsibility to prepare for the challenges ahead and continue advocating for all the student-athletes we represent.”
Several sides have given their perspective. Obviously, not everyone is satisfied with the current alignment. Currently, nothing can be done to tweak the changes. Hopefully, the Board of Directors will consider making additional changes in two years, instead of waiting for the planned four years.
When you have this many schools and conferences involved, it is impossible to please everyone; yet, it is becoming evident that there is still work to be done.
Our hope is that the information provided has helped to clear up most of the questions surrounding the recent realignment. Thank you to Mr. Moree of the NCHSAA and Mr. Powers of CHS for being willing to share information and address the process with us.
For further WNN articles and news stories, visit https://wisenewsnetwork.com
For more WNN video news stories, visit YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wisenewsnetwork
Contact WNN at newsdesk@wisenewsnetwork.com
North Carolina Press Association Member
©️Copyright 2025 Wise News Network. All rights reserved.
