Richmond Hill’s region could get cozier, while Bryan County’s region slate will take games west.

The Georgia High School Association on Monday released its proposed region realignments beginning with the 2016-17 school year, and with it would come changes for both of the county’s high schools.

RHHS would be in Region 2 of Class AAAAAA, along with Bradwell Institute, Brunswick, Effingham County and Glynn Academy. That’s a reduction of four teams from RHHS’s current region setup. Under the proposal, current region opponent Coffee would go to Region 1 in AAAAAA, while Ware County, South Effingham and Statesboro would go into Class AAAAA.

BCHS would remain in Region 2 of Class AA, but would have some new dance partners under the proposed alignment. Metter, Swainsboro and Toombs County move into the region alongside BCHS, Benedictine/St. Vincent’s, Vidalia, Bacon County and Jeff Davis. Moving out of BCHS’s current region alignment would be Long County, McIntosh County Academy and Groves.

Long County and Groves are slated for Class AAA, while MCA is set to go to Class 1A.
The top 48 schools in the state in terms of full-time enrollment would be in the newly created Class AAAAAAA.

According to GHSA.net, schools have until noon Monday to appeal for a lateral transfer within the same classification. The reclassification will be ratified Jan. 13.
Trey Robertson, assistant superintendent for Bryan County Schools, said Wednesday that he thinks the GHSA was fair in both schools’ cases. He said RHHS’s new region would be fair travel- and competition-wise, while BCHS’s new alignment puts it in a stronger region.

In terms of travel for BCHS teams, new region opponents Swainsboro and Toombs County are each about an hour away from BCHS, according to Mapquest.com. Meanwhile, the website has Metter about 23 minutes away. In comparison with outgoing region opponents, Long County is about an hour away; MCA about 1 hour, 15 minutes; and Groves about 41 minutes.