AHSAA NEW CLASSIFICATIONS: Local teams caught in 'Competitive Balance Factor' web
Fresh off its state championship win over Cherokee County, Catholic’s football team will move up to Class 5A due to the competitive balance factor. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The Alabama High School Athletic Association released its 2024-25 and 2025-26 classification for fall sports on Monday, with Alabama Christian, Montgomery Academy and Trinity all in the same Class 3A region for football, while St. James moved up to 4A and Catholic to 5A based on Competitive Balance Factor.
The classification numbers also apply to volleyball and cross country, where St. James drops from 6A to 5A in volleyball and Catholic drops from 5A to 4A in cross country.
Catholic, which won the 4A state championship earlier this month, was bumped to 5A by Competitive Balance Factor and will be in a region with Andalusia, Carroll, Charles Henderson, Eufaula, Greenville and Headland. While 5A is generally the weakest classification, Region 2 includes the 2023 5A runner-up (Eufaula) and 4A champion (Catholic), along with the 2022 5A runner-up (Charles Henderson) and 4A champion (Andalusia).
“I can stress out about it or be sad or be happy, but you get who you play,” Catholic coach Kirk Johnson said. “I like our draw. We’ve got some good solid draws in that region. It’s the same way it was going into the last region with us, Andalusia and Montgomery Academy, teams that had all made deep playoff runs. Now we have four of them. We just want to play. The difference is, these (5A) teams bring large crowds.”
St. James, which won the 3A state championship in 2022 and advanced to the semifinals this season, was bumped to 4A by Competitive Balance Factor and will be in Region 3, a rural region that includes plenty of travel by the Trojans and region rivals Bibb County, Booker T. Washington, Bullock County, Handley, Talladega, Tallassee and West Blocton.
While the Trojans are moving up, Montgomery Academy is moving down after failing to reach the threshold in Competitive Balance Factor. The Eagles, along with Trinity, Alabama Christian, Houston Academy, Northside Methodist, Slocomb and Wicksburg, are in 3A Region 2.
ACA is the only Capital City Conference team not elevated by Competitive Balance and will be in 3A Area 5 with Dallas County and Thorsby.
The most interesting aspect of the football classification, which takes place every two years based on enrollment figures, has Prattville competing in 7A Region 3 with Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County and five Birmingham-area schools for the first time since 7A was added in 2014. G.W. Carver, which absorbed the student population of Sidney Lanier, will be in 7A Region 2 for the first time in school history.
Both Carver and Prattville will be competing in the same area (Area 4) in volleyball, along with Dothan, Enterprise and JAG.
In 6A Region 2, Pike Road will return with its 2022-23 opponents, minus Lanier which closed and Carver which moved up to 7A. The Patriots will add Julian, which dropped from 7A, and Rehobeth, which moved up from 5A.
In volleyball, the region is split into two areas, with Pike Road joined by Park Crossing, Rehobeth and Russell County in a wide-ranging Area 3 and Stanhope Elmore and Wetumpka joined by Julian and Montgomery Academy, which is bumped to 6A by Competitive Balance Factor.
In 5A volleyball, Trinity and Catholic are both elevated to 5A by Competitive Balance Factor and will be in Area 6 along with Holtville, Marbury and St. James. Brew Tech will be in Area 3 along with Andalusia, Charles Henderson and Greenville and Elmore County will be in Area 7 with Beauregard and Valley.
In 4A volleyball, Prattville Christian will be elevated by Competitive Balance Factor and will be joined in Area 5 with LAMP, Tallassee and Booker T. Washington.
Former Alabama Independent School Association member Autauga Academy will be competing in the AHSAA’s Class 1A Region 4 next fall, along with Autaugaville, Billingsley, Ellwood Christian, Keith, Maplesville, Notasulga and Verbena.
In volleyball, Billingsley finds itself in Area 7 with Breakthrough Charter School, Francis Marion and Maplesville, while Autauga Academy, Autaugaville, Notasulga and Verbena will compete in Area 6.
Private schools faced an additional burden placed on them last April by the Central Board, which noted that “all private schools are under the CBF,” preventing any private schools from dropping in classification if they reached the lower threshold of points regardless of whether they were elevated by Competitive Balance Factor.
In 2022, the Central Board attempted to prevent Alabama Christian from dropping from 4A to 3A based on enrollment, citing the same interpretation, but ACA won the appeal and was permitted to drop because no athletic program had ever been elevated by CBF.
All of the schools who remained at their old classification in Monday’s classification despite a drop in enrollment were athletic programs that had been previously elevated by CBF.
AHSAA Football Classifications and Regions for 2024-25 (River Region teams only)
Class 7A
Region 2
Auburn
G.W. Carver
Central-Phenix City
Dothan
Enterprise
JAG
Opelika
Smiths Station
Region 3
Hewitt-Trussville
Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa
Hoover
Oak Mountain
Prattville
Thompson
Tuscaloosa Co
Vestavia Hills
Class 6A
Region 2
Park Crossing
P. Julian
Pike Road
Rehobeth
Russell Co
Stanhope Elmore
Wetumpka
Class 5A
Region 2
Andalusia
Carroll-Ozark
Charles Henderson
Eufaula
Greenville
Headland
Catholic
Region 4
Beauregard
Central-Clay County
Elmore County
Holtville
Marbury
Sylacauga
Valley
Class 4A
Region 3
Bibb Co
BTW-Tuskegee
Bullock Co
Handley
St. James
Talladega
Tallassee
West Blocton
Class 3A
Region 2
Alabama Christian
Houston Academy
Northside Methodist
Slocomb
Montgomery Academy
Trinity Presbyterian
Wicksburg
Region 3
Dallas Co
Greensboro
Prattville Christian
Southside-Selma
Sumter Central
Thomasville
Thorsby
Wilcox Central
Class 1A
Region 4
Autauga Academy
Autaugaville
Billingsley
Ellwood Christian
Keith
Maplesville
Notasulga
Verbena