TSSAA changes districts starting in 2009

A new classification plan has been voted on and approved for the 2009-2013 school years. The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s Board of Control voted 5-4 on Wednesday to approve the restructuring of the districts.
The classification for 2009-2013 will be set by each school’s enrollment 20 days into the 2008 fall semester.
Under the new system, called the Z-plan, there will be three regular-season classes of 16 districts each for football, basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball.
So what does this mean for the Warren County High School athletic programs? In short, they will no longer be in the same district as the Murfreesboro schools in any sport.
Warren County will now be part of District 6-5A, which includes Cumberland County, Stone Memorial, White, Coffee and Cookeville.
Franklin County and Lincoln County will be sent to District 8, which now includes Lawrence County, Shelbyville, Tullahoma and Columbia.
According to WCHS Athletic Director Andy Jacobs, the change is positive for all WCHS sports programs.
‘This is the first time that I know of that all athletic programs at the high school will be playing the same schools as district opponents,’ said Jacobs.
‘I like the idea of playing the same schools in basketball, football, baseball and softball. This new plan levels the playing field for rural schools. What the TSSAA is trying to do is to put all rural schools together, which will not only level the playing field but increases rivalries between schools and makes the rural schools more competitive. It’s hard for small county schools to play and be competitive against teams from larger cities. Another issue was the expense of traveling so this should cut down on the travel time, pairing more neighboring schools in the same district and in return save the school systems money.’
Under the new Z-plan, in 2009-2013, six Division I champions would be crowned. Division I has had a five-class plan since 1993. What the reclassification does is put 1A and 2A schools playing in the same district. A 5A school will be in the same district as a 6A school.
Under the new plan, Warren County would fall under a 6-A school, but would play in District 6-5A. The plan will have fluctuating numbers of automatic playoff berths and wild-card berths for each class. The top two finishers in each district will earn an automatic berth.
The other way to earn an automatic berth is by finishing in the top half of the district for that team’s playoff class. This means a team in Class AAA in a district with seven 6A schools and two 5A schools would have to finish among the top three 6A schools or be the top 5A school to secure an automatic berth.
The three classes might split when it comes time for the football playoffs, accounting for six state brackets.
There is, however, a chance that the number of brackets could remain at five if multiple Division I schools drop to Division II.
The TSSAA will select wild cards to fill out each of the brackets. The 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A brackets will feature 32 teams. The 1A and 2A divisions will have 24 teams because those classes should have fewer teams playing football.

districts of
local interest

Class A
District 6: Richard Hardy, Sale Creek, South Pittsburg, Lookout Valley, Van Buren, Whitwell, Marion County.
District 9: Boyd Christian, Middle Tennessee Christian, Eagleville, Community, Cascade, Forrest, Ezell-Harding, Franklin Road Academy.

Class AA
District 7: Bledsoe County, Chattanooga Central, Grundy County, Sequatchie, Signal Mountain.
District 8: Cannon County, Jackson County, Smith, York, DeKalb, Livingston Academy, Macon County.

Class AAA
District 6: Cumberland County, Stone Memorial, White, Coffee, Warren, Cookeville.
District 7: Blackman, LaVergne, Oakland, Riverdale, Siegel, Smyrna, Wilson Central.
District 9: Beech, Gallatin, Hendersonville, Portland, Station Camp, Lebanon, Mt. Juliet.