2012 Projected AAAAAA and AAAAA classes
Class AAAAAA Mill Creek 2,766 Norcross 2,709 Brookwood 2,560 Collins Hill 2,539 Berkmar 2,512 Peachtree Ridge 2,435 Meadowcreek 2,357 Lowndes 2,346 East Coweta 2,143 Camden County 2,127 Parkview 2,125 Central Gwinnett 2,105 North Cobb 2,061 Milton 2,058 Duluth 2,006 South Gwinnett 1,994 Walton 1,987 Grayson 1,978 Roswell 1,970 North Gwinnett 1,902 Newnan 1,845 Alpharetta 1,805 Campbell 1,800 Etowah 1,783 Lambert 1,775 * Colquitt County 1,749 Cherokee 1,741 Marietta 1,680 North Forsyth 1,679 * Shiloh 1,670 Bethany Bend 1,663 * McEachern 1,658 Tift County 1,649 South Forsyth 1,646 * Archer 1,631 Alcovy 1,609 Wheeler 1,605 Coffee 1,602 West Forsyth 1,598 * Hillgrove 1,596 Pebblebrook 1,588 Mountain View 1,581 Luella 1,560 Lovejoy 1,552 South Cobb 1,549 Newton 1,526 Lassiter 1,524 Langston Hughes 1,515 Kennesaw 1,513 Brunswick 1,509 Douglas County 1,502 * Harrison 1,491 Chattahoochee 1,487 Woodstock 1,483 Westlake 1,482 Centennial 1,480 Dacula 1,473 Valdosta 1,468 Druid Hills 1,450 Habersham Central 1,450 Effingham County 1,447 Johns Creek 1,443 Rockdale County 1,441 Tri-Cities 1,439 Morrow 1,431 Class AAAAA Allatoona 1426 North Paulding 1426 Lakeside, Dekalb 1425 Hardaway 1418 Sprayberry 1413 Forsyth Central 1401 Winder-Barrow 1400 Evans 1393 Northgate 1384 Creekview 1380 Lee County 1380 Glynn Academy 1366 Bradwell Institute 1365 South Paulding 1365 Woodland(Cartersville) 1357 Northview 1352 Mundy’s Mill 1351 Forest Park 1341 Houston County 1341 Flowery Branch 1332 Northside, WR 1330 Lakeside, Evans 1320 Greenbrier 1307 Richmond Hill 1306 East Paulding 1303 Hiram 1302 Apalachee 1300 Osborne 1300 Warner Robins 1296 Mt. Zion, 1295 Arabia Mountain 1295 Drew 1290 Pope 1290 Riverwood 1290 Kell 1279 Tucker 1277 McIntosh 1273 North Springs 1267 Paulding County 1248 Heritage 1244 Gainesville 1243 Union Grove 1236 Ola 1234 Miller Grove 1232 New Manchester 1232 Groves 1224 Sequoyah 1223 Ware County 1214 Northside, Col 1204 Cedar Shoals 1199 M.L. King 1194 Jones County 1194 Villa Rica 1187 Salem 1187 Brainbridge 1178 Rome 1168 Starrs Mill 1161 Harris County 1160 Lithia Springs 1154 Creekside 1153 Mays 1152 Stephenson 1148 North Atlanta 1148 Loganville 1147 Clarkston 1135 Whitewater 1131 Southwest Dekalb 1129 Clarke Central 1128 Grovetown 1128 TCC1128 Dunwoody 1124 * projected
The Heritage football team won its first Region 8-AAAA championship recently, and thanks to realignment by the Georgia High School Association it will be their last.
The GHSA recently reclassified all high school athletics on Nov. 21 and on Tuesday it will realign the regions.
Starting in 2012 there will be six classes, up one from the current system of five.
The local school affected most by the change will be Rockdale County, which now moves up to Class AAAAAA.
Rockdale, with 1,441 students will be the third smallest school in the new classification. Only Tri-Cities, with 1,439 and Morrow with 1,431, have smaller enrollment.
The only other current 8-AAA school moving to AAAAAA with Rockdale will be Habersham Central, with an enrollment of 1,450. The largest school in the class will be Mill Creek with 2,766 students.
Likely to join Rockdale in a new region will be Habersham Central and Newton County (1,526 students).
Both Salem and Heritage will be in the new Class AAAAA, along with most of their current region mates. Heritage and fall in the middle of the pack in AAAAA with 1,244 and 1,187 students, respectively.
The Patriots and Salem Seminoles should be in a similar region as they are now in 2012.
Joining them in the second-largest classification will be current 8-AAAA members Clarke Central (1,128), Cedar Shoals (1,199), Flowery Branch (1,332) and Winder-Barrow (1,400).
"It's almost a lateral move," Heritage athletic director Chuck Landy said. "Most everybody we were with is going with us. The more changes took place at the bottom end, with the smaller end schools, really."
Even though Rockdale, Salem and Heritage will no longer be in the same region when it comes out on Tuesday, Landy predicts the three schools will continue to play against each other.
"We'll keep playing each other, and hopefully however our region works out, us and Salem will still get an opportunity to play Rockdale in football."
Throughout the last couple of years, Region 8-AAAA has had 11 members, leaving no room for non-region opponents on the football schedule. However, next year the regions should be smaller, allowing for non-region school's such as Rockdale for Heritage and Salem.
