Ashe Mountain Times

Ashe County is destined for familiar opponents, save for one, in the second draft of realignment presented this week.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association's realignment committee, setting up conferences for the 398 member schools in four classifications, created an eight-team league that includes the Huskies' program among four 2-A teams and four 1-A teams. Only Forbush High in East Bend is absent from what is the current nine-team MVC.

Forbush, a current MVC member, was aligned in a six-team league of all 2-A schools.

“Forbush has an outstanding bunch of people,” said Ashe County High athletics director Marc Payne. “We'd like to see them stay in our league. But with their position on the globe …”

Payne said the current membership of the MVC unanimously requested the league be retained with all nine schools before the process began, sending a letter to both the NCHSAA executive leadership and the realignment committee.

“They did the first realignment back in 1985, and this is the toughest we can ever remember,” Payne said. “It's made tougher by the charter schools who have requested membership, and some of them do not play all the sports, including football."

This second draft comes after the NCHSAA conducted two January meetings regionally, in Greenville for eastern schools and in Maiden for western schools. At those meetings, schools responded to the first draft in Decembder — a combination of a computer generated model without split classification conferences and input from the NCHSAA office that did include split classification conferences.

Schools have until March 1 to respond with concerns or suggestions to this second draft. On March 15, the realignment committee convenes to finalize conferences.

The next date in the process will be April 1, when appeals based on procedural errors are due in writing to the NCHSAA office.

At the May meeting of the NCHSAA board of directors, appeals will be considered and a vote by the board will seal the process.

Schools begin competing in the new realignment in 2013.

When the fall 2013 sports competitions begin, Ashe, North Wilkes, West Wilkes and Wilkes Central will be playing the 2-A class and Alleghany, East Wilkes, Elkin and Starmount will be competing in 1-A.

Starmount will be dropping from the 2-A ranks while North Wilkes and West Wilkes be rising from 1-A.

Forbush is in a league that includes Winston-Salem Carver, North Surry, Surry Central, South Stokes and West Stokes.