MAIS Reclassification out...

[Maroon Eagle]

PDF File.

Initial thoughts:

1. VHDawg pays attention to Hillcrest again. The Cougars will be in 2-AAA-II.
2. Starkville Academy moves down to AAA-II and will be playing in the South with Hillcrest, East Rankin, and Copiah (as well as Prep, Parklane, and PCS).
3. Pillow moves up to AAA-I.
4. Schoolsmoving up toAA are Immanuel Christian, Riverdale, Laurel Christian, Sylva Bay, Wayne, and Trinity.
5. Oak Forest moves down from AAA-II to AA.
6. Class A has separate football andall-sports other than footballdistricts. There are 30 Class A 11-man teams competing in football. There are 16-17 Class A teams competing in 8-man football. One is to be determined. There are 53 Class A schools total.
7. Moving down to A are Cenla, Wilkinson Christian, and I think West Memphis (can't remember which Arkansas school is currently in AA).
8. In Class A there will be four 11-man football districts. The top four in each district advance to the playoffs.
9. In Class AA, there are six districts. No mentioning of how playoffs are done, so I presume wild cards will be in order again.

Edited to add these additional thoughts:

10. Mt. Salus and Clinton Christian (both private schools in Clinton) have been competing in separate districts during this cycle, will be in the same 8-man district in the next cycle (CCS moving down from 11-man to play 8-man), but will be in separate districts in the other sports. I know that Clinton Christian was founded by people who wanted to break from Mt. Salus but I didn't think that it was to the point where it appears (as perceived by me) that there is as little competition between the schools as possible.
11. Moving down to 8-man in addition to Clinton Christian are Russell Christian and Sharkey-Issaquena.
12. Moving up from 8-man to 11-man is Park Place Christian of Pearl.
13. CMI isn't listed in the reclassification for the next cycle. I know they've had difficulties the past few years. I don't know if they're leaving MAIS in all aspects or just athletics. Maybe 615 can shed some light?

 

[615dawg]

They are pretty much a diploma mill. The MAIS is good to get rid of them.

Not trying to sound racist but:

High School that operates in black church in the South = 99% chance its a diploma mill.

Other thoughts:

Park Place Christian is really growing. Good to see them move up to 11-man. They are starting to attract some younger parents in Brandon proper that do not want to send their kids to the Reservoir area (UCS, Pinelake) or to Pelahatchie (East Rankin). If Pinelake ever decides to go past eighth grade, I have a feeling that an already financially strapped UCS will be in trouble. The move to the MHSAA is excellent for them. I expect their enrollment to start going up.

Clinton has too good of public schools to support two private schools - Mt. Salus will probably be the survivor.

I loathe the AAA-II and AAA-I. Just make it AAA and AAAA or keep it AAA.

Note this: Hillcrest lost students year of year (to the tune of about 12, but still a net loss) and they moved up a classification. In this economy, private schools are taking a hit. There are about 20 or so private schools that are in really bad financial shape. Most of them are small, rural ones. Schools like Hillcrest that have huge mortgages on their buildings are having to cut back tremendously to stay afloat. Once Hillcrest pays off that elementary school, they'll be in great shape, but that $2 MM mortgage is killing them.

 

[o_GuitarDawg]

nm

 

[vhdawg]

....if you're going to change your organization's acronym from something perfectly good, like MPSA, it would seem like you'd try to have the good sense to pick an acronym that is available as a domain name. But NOOOOOO.....this so-called "MAIS", whatever the hell that is, has a website that is www.msais.com.

Nice job, morons....

 

[Maroon Eagle]

CMI may be closing, eh? Not unexpected if it happens, but still... And that will leave one predominantly minority school participating in athletics in MAIS.1

I like Park Place's location for the reasons you state. I thought it was a mistake some 20 years ago for UCS to leave the old Brandon Academy physical plant. Of course, this was before the big growth in Flowood but still... Hopefully Park Place will be successful.

I remember when AAA only consisted of eight schools over 30 years ago. I've often thought that MAIS should just return to that concept but rename that AAAA, create a new AAA division out of the six smallest AAA and six largest AA schools, the rest of the schools remaining from the old AA would be the new AA, and A would be the same.

I'm also surprised that there are two private schools in Clinton. I wouldn't be surprised if Mt. Salus is the survivor either if only because (if my recollection is right) they don't have a mortgage to pay on a building-- unlike Clinton Christian. I think Clinton Christian had a chance if they emphasized a chance to participate in athletics to boys who wouldn't be as successful at, say, Clinton HS. But being an unsuccessful 11-man team during this current cycle and moving down to 8-man in the next cycle makes me wonder if CCS will work.

As far as the schools in trouble are concerned, a lot of the academies in the Delta have obviously lost population-- not to mention schools closing in the past few years such as Central Delta in Inverness, Huntington in Ferriday, Union in Georgetown, East Holmes, Cruger-Tchula. Pine Hills closed but I think was revived at least for a little while but not in MAIS-- I don't know if they're still open.

And the number of schools playing 8-man football is increasing. More 8-man teams with roughly the same number of schools means fewer students are enrolled...

_________
1And that school is Alpha Christian of Hattiesburg-- a school located in a church whose minister was profiled in the Marcus Dupree ESPN documentary (yep, Ken Fairly).

 

[Statefan]

Byram, Gallman, and Pelahatchie are a long way from Starkville

 

[Maroon Eagle]

AAA in this cycle has eight teams in District 1 and six in District 2. I expected that to be the same in this cycle but it's not.

I suspect Starkville will have football schedules in 2011 and 2012 like so:

2011 - @ Parklane; @ East Rankin; @ Hillcrest; three district home games
2012 - @ Copiah; @ Jackson Prep; @ PCS; three district home games

Add Winston, Oak Hill, Heritage, and maybe Ackerman again and that's a ten game season.

Non-football scheduling, on the other hand, will be tough for the Volunteers.

 

[Paperdawg]

is that when those teams are playing away in football, they will bring the whole shootin' match-7th grade, JV and Varsity to the other team's place for a Friday afternoon-Friday night game slate. The next year the other team returns the favor. That way they SA won't have to go to Parklane for a Thursday night JH game, then have to play Parklane at home the next day, for example. I think they do this in other states.
I'm around Parklane and Copiah people pretty much on a daily/weekly basis, so this is a strong possibility.

 

[TheGodfather]

It hasn't been announced yet, but Pinelake has bought UCS.

 

[615dawg]

but didn't think it had legs. Can you PM me with details?

It makes a lot of sense.