How does the VHSL divide up Regions?

[Virginiafan42]

You have one region with 18-19 teams in it and another one with 9. Can they actually divide the Regions up somewhat equally. And quit letting teams jump in and out of divisions during these mid-cycle moves just because they want to drop down since they can't win at the current division.

 

[CRF4Dan]

You have one region with 18-19 teams in it and another one with 9. Can someone at that place with the slightest bit of intelligence actually divide the Regions up somewhat equally. And quit letting teams jump in and out of divisions during these mid-cycle moves just because they want to drop down since they can't win at the current division.

The VHSL regions are based on geography. That is why you have disparity in the size of regions.

Nothing in the VHSL guidelines or rule book that says regions have to be even.

There is never going to be a perfect system.

 

[Virginiafan42]

The VHSL regions are based on geography. That is why you have disparity in the size of regions.

Nothing in the VHSL guidelines or rule book that says regions have to be even.

There is never going to be a perfect system.

Go look at some of these regions. You have teams that are 4 1/2 hours away from each other in the same region, while teams in another region are less than 2 hours away. How is that divided based on geography?

 

[warriorwrestling189]

Randolph-Henry to Arcadia is 4 hours 45 minutes.
Randolph-Henry to Strasburg is 3 hours 10 minutes

RH and Arcadia are in region 2A, which has 17 teams
Strasburg is in region 2B which has 9 teams

Nottoway and Amelia County are also closer to 2B teams than 2A teams

 

[Virginiafan42]

Handley to Heritage Leesburg is less than an hour but they are in a Region with teams almost four hours away when one region has 15 and another has 9. Somehow that geography does not look like it works right

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Like Danny said, there is no really good answer. But, I truly believe that the schools have either requested to be placed in a certain region, or accepted their placement without appealing it. I really doubt that any school is forced to be put in a region when there is reasonable option.

Also, there is NO requirement to play teams in your home region. There are District requirements, but even that has pathway to an exception.

I honestly don’t mean for this to sound smart ***, but if a school doesn’t want to travel 4 1/2 hours away, then don’t schedule a team that far away. I’ll agree with you, that is a long time to ride a bus. It severely diminishes the number of parents and fans that can attend. And it often makes it difficult to impossible to take the band, and sometimes even the cheerleaders.

To illustrate what extreme travel does, in 2015 Arcadia traveled to Clarke County for the first playoff game. A friend at that game said that they counted 7 people on the visitors side, and that included the school bus drivers. He also said that the CC fans actually cheered for the kids from Arcadia when they took the field. Incidentally, there wasn’t much to cheer for after that. I think the final score was 60-6?

 

[DinwiddieProud]

One additional factor that comes into play. We football junkies forget that it ain’t all about football. It encompasses every sport and activity. Maybe there are compelling reasons to want to be in a certain region regardless of the occasional long distance travel? Maybe it’s what the coaches and AD want for basketball, softball, etc.?

 

[CRF4Dan]

Like Danny said, there is no really good answer. But, I truly believe that the schools have either requested to be placed in a certain region, or accepted their placement without appealing it. I really doubt that any school is forced to be put in a region when there is reasonable option.

Also, there is NO requirement to play teams in your home region. There are District requirements, but even that has pathway to an exception.

I honestly don’t mean for this to sound smart ***, but if a school doesn’t want to travel 4 1/2 hours away, then don’t schedule a team that far away. I’ll agree with you, that is a long time to ride a bus. It severely diminishes the number of parents and fans that can attend. And it often makes it difficult to impossible to take the band, and sometimes even the cheerleaders.

To illustrate what extreme travel does, in 2015 Arcadia traveled to Clarke County for the first playoff game. A friend at that game said that they counted 7 people on the visitors side, and that included the school bus drivers. He also said that the CC fans actually cheered for the kids from Arcadia when they took the field. Incidentally, there wasn’t much to cheer for after that. I think the final score was 60-6?

That was going to be my next point. The regions really only come into play when it comes to the playoffs. No matter how you divide regions, there will be some travel come playoff time. I mean Region 5C includes teams from Richmond and as far west as Roanoke.

As you know Region 4B has teams as far north as Spotsylvania and as far south as you guys in Dinwiddie.

 

[DrefromVA]

There is an alignment committee that meets every two years. Major realignments happen every four years, with reviews conducted the two years in between.

One example I can give is how Franklin is in Class 1B instead of 1A. Committee chose to keep them in 1B because their district schools with similar size (Sussex, Surry, ARGS, and now Brunswick) are in the same district, so they just chose to keep them together.

Remember, schools can petition to be moved to different regions and classifications to VHSL.

 

[Anon1751902864]

My favorite head-scratcher is William Monroe leaving the Northwestern for the Valley District, where all the teams are region 3C, but they chose to stay in Region 3B for playoffs.

 

[Virginiafan42]

That was going to be my next point. The regions really only come into play when it comes to the playoffs. No matter how you divide regions, there will be some travel come playoff time. I mean Region 5C includes teams from Richmond and as far west as Roanoke.

As you know Region 4B has teams as far north as Spotsylvania and as far south as you guys in Dinwiddie.

Yes I get that it only comes into play for the region, but that does not answer the question as to why they do not divide them up geographically and more evenly. It could be done and from these answers, there does not seem to be a really good reason.

 

[SpartanO’Yore]

That was going to be my next point. The regions really only come into play when it comes to the playoffs. No matter how you divide regions, there will be some travel come playoff time. I mean Region 5C includes teams from Richmond and as far west as Roanoke.

As you know Region 4B has teams as far north as Spotsylvania and as far south as you guys in Dinwiddie.

Class 4 Region D has the state covered from northern to southern extremities. James Wood in Winchester is the state’s northernmost public high school, and George Washington in Danville is the southernmost public high school. East-West, the region stretches from Bealeton to Blacksburg.

 

[CRF4Dan]

Yes I get that it only comes into play for the region, but that does not answer the question as to why they do not divide them up geographically and more evenly. It could be done and from these answers, there does not seem to be a really good reason.

The VHSL would probably be the only ones who can answer definitevely. I would say it seems like it is a bigger problem for schools in Class 1-4 as that is where smaller more rural schools reside. I think because of that fact it is tougher to lump geographically. Maybe it would be wiser to go to 6 regions (don't laugh) for smaller classes.

Our state is so vastly different in population and growth that one size does not fit all.