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FHSAA 1A Rural Division Approved, To Include Northview And Jay
November 22, 2010
The Florida High School Athletic Association’s new rural school division to include Northview and Jay high schools was approved Monday.
The new 1A Rural division includes 36 schools for football — 47 for other sports — with among rural schools with a student populations of 44 to 600.
“When the FHSAA originally went up to six classifications in team sports in 1999, we had 517 member schools, with 480 of those playing team sports. Now that we have 670 member schools and 650 of those in team sports, the number of teams in individual districts is too large,” said FHSAA Executive Director Roger Dearing. “Moving to eight classifications allows for fewer teams in each district, which allows for more flexibility in scheduling for the season.”
District 1-1A Rural includes Jay, Baker, Freeport and Northview, plus Central and Laurel Hills for volleyball only. For boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball, Northview and Jay joins Baker, Freeport, Holmes County and Vernon in District 3-1A.
With 549 students, Northview is the largest school in the two districts. Jay has a student population of 286.
The FHSAA plan approved Monday also includes an Urban Division 1A composed of the state’s small schools in larger cities across Florida.
Dearing recommended the approval of the new classifications for the 2011-2013 school years, allowing for schools to appeal between November and January with the final classifications to be approved in January, 2011. Every two years, the classifications would be restructured based upon student enrollment.
The invitation deadline for the new classification was September 15 for schools with students populations under 600 and located in areas designate rural by the Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.
Pictured above and below: Action from Northview’s 34-0 defeat of Jay earlier this season. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
17 Responses to “FHSAA 1A Rural Division Approved, To Include Northview And Jay”
Small schools have up and down years. Two years ago NHS was 2-8. There will always be better groups than others but at least we don’t recruit like the private schools. They should never have a down year. I am no expert but have been playing , around, or coaching since the early 60’s and small schools can compete some years and be 2-8 other years.
we know “class of 1999″ nothing is the same as the old days! if you took the level of compitition in todays teams against those back then, you would get the mud beat out of you.
To Uh huh.. You obviously haven’t came to a game this year! This team is pretty good! And I bet there coach will add a big school to there schedule next year to shut your mouth up!
If Northview keeps weakening the schedule they might actually win something. Northiview would be playing 5A in Alabama and probably would win about two games a year.
>>If you haven’t seen the fhsaa’s press release – here it is. Sounds like to me they are not creating a new division, but just renaming the 1A & 1B division to Rural & Urban.
Read the first line of the press release. It says the FHSAA “voted today to create a rural classification”. They say they are not renaming 1A & 1B, but they are creating the rural and urban classifications by moving teams between 1A and 1B. There are both urban and rural in each of those now. 1A, for instance, includes both urban and rural now.
It’s all semantics. But ever since this all began, the FHSAA had called it “creating” a new rural division. The odd part is that they have not said they are “creating” an urban division.
If you haven’t seen the fhsaa’s press release – here it is. Sounds like to me they are not creating a new division, but just renaming the 1A & 1B division to Rural & Urban.
8 Football Classes
1A Rural (36 schools) 44-600
1A Urban (48 schools) 47-280
2B (42 schools) 281-690
2A (42 schools) 691-1,099
3A (84 schools) 1,100-1,580
4A (84 schools) 1,581-1,925
5A (82 schools) 1,926-2,300
6A (81 schools) 2,301+
8 Classes (all others)
7A 2,260+
6A 1,892-2,259
5A 1,599-1,891
4A 1,217-1,598
3A 525-1,216
2A 162-524 (soccer begins here)
1A 18-161
Rural 44-600
We lost some key players to injury and finished the year with two straight losses Walton & Marianna -(1st round of the playoffs) ended the year 9-2.
Some have had better win-loss records, but none have played the level of competition that our 98′ team played. Any other team in Northview history would be lucky if they could get better than 0.500 against the schedule we played.
It was in 2001 that Northview won its first playoff game against Florida High.
Class of ‘99… Did NHS win a championship in ‘98 or was it sometime later that the school finally won its first playoff game?
Let us not mask disguise words here about rural and urban schools. Urban is code speak for private schools that are in large population areas that recruit players like colleges; however, these private schools have small populations which makes them powerhouses among public schools of like size. This way these private schools can win championships year after year. Just look at the 1A and 1B school polls and see how many public schools are in the top five. How about Catholic down in Pensacola, does it recruit players? YES, without question. And does Catholic go deep into the state competition in most sports? YES, again. Catholic as well as other recruiting schools (including West Florida Tech) should be placed in districts that are comparable with the largest schools in the area. In this case, that would be with Tate in 5A. If the FHSAA did this then private schools wouldn’t win 95% of the championships and the playing field would be leveled for those public schools who can’t recruit. Creating the rural school category is FHSAA’s attempt to do just that (level the playing field) without alienating and possibly having the high dollar contributors of private schools creating a league of their own.
549 kids and playin 1a teams. think thats an insult.
The districts have not been determined yet. The FHSAA will put that together later. The ones listed are just suggestions and probably not be what they are in the end. OH by the way spouter, Northview doesn’t have to compete in the Rural league, that is by choice. If you believe that it is best not to just contact the principal and a/d (in person) and convience them not to join and see where they will play if not in the Rural league. Come back with your competition comments when they or if they play an urban school in the FB playoffs.
When I was at Northview, we were not afraid to play and beat anyone. During the 98 football season we beat Atmore, Washington, Marrianna, Gulf Breeze, Navarre and Tate. All this while playing against district foes such as Walton and Catholic. Northview needs to get back to playing against good competition, so when they win we can be proud without wondering, “are we that good or are they that bad?”
As far as a rival, there is no doubt that Atmore should be on the schedule every year! Maybe even go pick-up one of the Brewton schools or even both. I think Flomaton would be a step down in competition level, but it would be a nice local game to play.
I would like to see Northview play Atmore or Flomaton on a yearly basis since they will have some flexibility with the schedule. Northview needs a rival, that’s what used to be fun in the old days when Ernest Ward played Century.
that wont be hard just play the same teams that they have been playin for years. it didnt stop us 2 years ago from playing bigger schools. yeah the bigger schools may have more talent but it is good to play those team so when you play in your smaller division games you will be ready to just run over them.
yep thats what it means Chiefs fan.same has the other schools wiill have to.
Only four football teams? Does this mean that NHS will have to find 7 other teams to fill out its football schedule to make 10 games?