Bridgeport High School Principal Mark DeFazio  has confirmed that the Indians will  remain in Class AA for the next  four years. Word of the reclassification began leaking on multiple media sources today and the Tribe will stay put. And now the WVSSAC has also confirmed that the numbers on the reclassification are good.

 

“We were fairly certain we were going to remain in Class AA, but we’re kind of flabbergasted about how they changed it,” said DeFazio.  “I don’t think anyone other than those that made the decision saw where they would divide the schools.”

 

Along with Bridgeport, all of the schools currently in Class  AA in the Big 10 that were thought to potentially move up – Robert C. Byrd, North Marion and Fairmont Senior -  are all still in the ‘AA’ classification. According to the numbers, the cutoff point was under 932 students for Class AA, which is nearly 200 students higher than the previous cutoff.

 

Officially, the WVSSAC has schools with enrollments of 0 students to 459  as Class A and from 499 to 932 as Class AA. Anything above the 932 mark is Class AAA for the next three years.

 

That does mean there will be some changes in the Big 10 Conference. Elkins and Lewis County High School will go from Class AAA to Class AA. Only Buckhannon-Upshur and Preston will remain as Class AAA schools, which could result in schedule changes, particularly in football where teams are required to play a certain number of teams in their own classification to be eligible for the postseason.

 

“We’re not sure what this will do to the future of the Big 10,” said DeFazio. “We’re certain that it’s going to cause scheduling problems for Preston and Buckhannon.”

 

Bridgeport is the 10^th largest Class AA among 44 schools with 762 students. Elkins is fifth with 833, Fairmont Senior is at No. 6 with 811, Robert C. Byrd at No. 7 with 780 and North Marion comes in at No. 8 with 775 students. Lewis County was lower than all of the schools listed with 757 students. Liberty, Lincoln and Grafton, as anticipated, will remain in Class AA.

 

Lincoln County High School is the largest Class AA school at 871 students. Man is the smallest ‘AA’ with 460 students.  Along with 44 Class AA schools, there are now just 29 Class AAA schools and 54 Class A schools. That, said DeFazio caught him off guard.

 

“In the past the WVSSAC was always concerned about dividing the  three classes as equally as possible in the terms of number of schools in each class,” said DeFazio. “That’s certainly not the case here.”

 

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