New realignment: It’s official

ASHEBORO — The final realignment plan for the 2025-2029 seasons has been approved by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, with only one minor variation to a conference involving Randolph County schools from the original plan that was released in December.

After the board met for more than 10 hours on March 3, hearing appeals from 26 schools, the final version for the very first eight-classification realignment was formally accepted by the NCHSAA Board of Directors, which is led by Dr. Stephen Gainey, the Randolph County Schools Superintendent. 

The board voted to adopt the latest proposal by a 16-1 vote and it was released to the public last Thursday.

The only change from the original plan involving any conference featuring a school in Randolph County was the deletion of Carrboro from a 3-A/4-A league that features Eastern Randolph, Southwestern Randolph, Uwharrie Charter, North Moore, Northwood and Jordan-Matthews. That conference will now be a six-team league instead of the originally planned seven.

Randleman (4-A) remains in a 4-A/5-A conference with 4-A members Central Davidson, Ledford, Lexington and HP Andrews and 5-A schools High Point Central and Montgomery Central.

Wheatmore, Providence Grove and Trinity will join Thomasville, East Davidson and West Davidson to form a conference of all 3-A schools.

Asheboro heads to a split 5-A/6-A conference. The Blue Comets, Eastern Guilford, Northern Guilford and Southeast Guilford will be the 6-A teams joined by 5-A teams Southern Guilford and Northeast Guilford.

The new realignment begins this fall.

“We’re excited,” AHS Athletic Director Wes Berrier said. “I think we will be very competitive in the new conference. They have some good teams in there. I feel really good about the new conference.”

There is one possible downside to the new league.

“Our gates might not be as good with some of the schools, so we may have to adjust the athletic budget a little,” Berrier said.

The new realignment means the current Piedmont Athletic Conference, which features seven schools from Randolph County, will be no more.

“It was fun,” RHS Athletic Director Jake Smith said. “Everyone knows everybody in the county. Travel was convenient for everyone. But change is always good now and then. We look forward to the new conference.”

The Tigers, the only Randolph County team in its new league, will schedule current conference members Providence Grove, Eastern Randolph and Southwestern Randolph next year for non-league games.

“The good part is we’re still going to be able to play common opponents, we’ll keep them going,” Smith said.

SWR Athletic Director Chris Chapman said the Cougars will miss the current PAC.

“I hate how it’s not everyone in the county,” Chapman said. “Except for UCA, we were all on the same school calendar. But overall, it’s not bad. We kind of thought it would stay this way after the first (draft) came out. We knew Carrboro wanted to stay with schools over there.”

Wheatmore, Trinity and Providence Grove were all thrilled to be put in the new conference with Thomasville, East Davidson and West Davidson. Athletic Directors Andrew Davis (WHS), Robert Mitchell (THS) and Cody Moran (PG) expressed their joy when the new realignment came out in December and nothing has changed.

“We had an AD meeting last week with all the teams that were potentially in the new conference and we all feel everyone has a chance, so it’s a breath of fresh air,” PG’s Moran said. “Except for maybe Trinity in wrestling, which would dominate most any conference, everything else can be a tossup. That couldn’t have been said the last few years. Going into this new season, everyone feels much better.”

The Board will now finalize a calendar for the 2025-2026 school year, determining dates for opening each sport as well as the start of each sport’s postseason.

The Board must also decide on how many teams will qualify for the playoffs in each sport in each classification.