Gilmer High will have a set of new region opponents starting with the 2022-2023 school year.
The Georgia High School Association reclassified its member schools by enrollment in October and announced new region assignments Nov. 12.
Gilmer was initially placed in Class 3A’s Region 7 with Hart, Stephens, Franklin, White, Lumpkin, and Dawson counties, plus West Hall and Pickens. Schools were able to appeal their region placement and Gilmer and Pickens did so last Thursday.
Head football coach Paul Standard, who also serves as county athletic director, presented Gilmer High’s appeal to move from Region 7 to Region 6. Travel and academic concerns were at the forefront of Gilmer’s proposal.
The GHSA’s reclassification committee made a motion to grant the appeal, which was approved by a 17-0 vote with Class 3A’s two representatives abstaining.
“Our initial thought (Nov. 12) was that we had been put into a region that included schools GHS had never been in the same region with before like Stephens, Franklin or Hart County,” Standard said. “That was our initial reaction, and at the exact same moment, was how much travel our students are going to have to endure during a school year to play athletics.”
GHS to Hart County is a five-hour round trip with minimal traffic, while treks to Stephens and Franklin both clock in at more than four hours of drive time. While this may have been feasible travel on a Friday night, football is the only sport afforded that luxury.
“My concern, as county athletic director and concerned educator, was that softball, volleyball, basketball, baseball, soccer, cheerleading and possibly track and those main team sports would be traveling on school nights multiple times per season to places that are over a 100 miles away,” Standard said.
“On a 4x4 block schedule, our kids have to get out early already for some sports. We would increase that, which means some students would be missing a fourth block class possibly 15 times a semester, and that’s not right if we’re going to talk about education first.”
Standard voiced concern for bus drivers of which there is already a shortage in Gilmer County. Gilmer does not have separate drivers for activity buses, so their late nights would be followed by early morning routes taking students to school.
Standard was not comfortable with the prospects of athletes making the late drive home after a long bus trip.
“We weren’t trying to run away from anybody,” Standard said. “Travel and time out of class for all of our other sports (that don’t play exclusively on Fridays) was our concern. Thankfully, the committee saw that and realized that’s what needed to be done for us and Pickens.”
Gilmer’s new Region 6 opponents will include Bremen, Adairsville, Ringgold, LaFayette, Ridgeland, Murray County, North Murray, Coahulla Creek, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe and Pickens.
Closer opponents typically leads to increased gate receipts and concession sales for home games, which puts GHS in a better financial situation.
“Without question, I can’t be more happy for all sports that they’re not going to have to make those long trips,” Standard said. “I’m sad we’ll be missing some of our more recent common opponents like Lumpkin, White and Dawson, but we’re certainly going to pick up some old common opponents.”
Most sports have different parameters that dictate how flexible they can be when it comes to scheduling. With a 10-game regular season limit for football, the Bobcats will play a full region schedule absent of nonregion opponents like Fannin County.
“I think we left a very strong football region, and we’re going into a very strong football region,” Standard said.
“You got Ringgold playing in the second round (last) week, you have North Murray who is really good and Adairsville who is extremely good and young, and they’re going to be strong.
He added, “I don’t know a lot about some of the teams right now, but Bremen is another playoff team and we have some natural rivalries with teams like Murray County, and Pickens is going to be a strong team.
“I’m excited for our school.”