Bryan County High School lost its appeal before the GHSA Reclassification Committee and as a result the Redskins will be facing some new opponents next year as they will be competing at the Class 2A level.

Bryan County has been in Region 3A-DII the last four years thanks to a successful appeal to move down from 2A but it didn’t go the school’s way this time around.

The GHSA reclassifies schools every two years and this year there were 454 schools who either stayed where they were, moved up or moved down. Classification is based on enrollment and Bryan County’s 490 students—500 when you add a 2.0 multiplier for five out of zone students—were just enough to bump it up.

Also moving up with the Redskins are current region peers Screven County, Savannah and Metter to form Region 3-AA along with Calvary Day School, Savannah Christian and Swainsboro as football playing schools along with non-football schools Woodville-Tompkins, Savannah Arts Academy and St. Vincent’s Academy.

Savannah Christian was initially placed in Class 3A but was one of 17 schools to successfully appeal. The Raiders were initially placed in 3A although their actual enrollment is 399 students. However, with 266 out of zone with the 2.0 factor applied that pushed their total to 931 for classification purposes.

The enrollment numbers used by the GHSA are based on the school’s full-time enrollment as of October. For the football playing schools their actual numbers with out of zone in parenthesis (2X) to be added are: Swainsboro 763 (0), Savannah 547 (26), Screven County 543 (1), Bryan County 490 (5), Metter 472 (14), Savannah Christian 399 (266) and Calvary Day 383 (220).    

As private schools Calvary Day and Savannah Christian will compete against the public schools in regular season play but will be competing against fellow private schools in Class 3A-A Private once the playoffs begin. With the ability to attract students and athletes from the greater Savannah area both of those schools have fielded dominant football teams the last several years.

Nothing changed for Richmond Hill as it will remain in the same region which will be in the reinstated Class 7A. The GHSA is not adding a class but rather it has combined the Class A-DI and Class A-DII classifications into one Class A. Schools will now compete in classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, A and 3A-A Private.

There is one minor change in Richmond Hill’s region in that it will consist of five teams next fall as Tift County has moved down to Class 6A.

From an enrollment stand point Richmond Hill is the third largest school in the region. Lowndes County is the largest with 3,059 (47) students followed by Camden County 2,828 (11), Richmond Hill 2,762 (22), Colquitt County 2,552 (10) and Valdosta 2,322 (50).

Schools seeking to be assigned to a different region in the same classification have until Nov. 17 to make a request to the GHSA.

And for those who wonder what the numbers are for the non-football playing schools in Region 3-AA: Woodville-Tompkins is at 692 (0), St. Vincent’s Academy 592 (120) and Savannah Arts 789 (0).

While Woodville, Calvary Day and SVA field highly competitive basketball teams the Saints and CDS excel at volleyball, too, whereas Savannah Arts girls just won their second straight state championship in cross country. SAA does not have basketball but it is also strong in wrestling.