Tag: realignment

The AIA released today the teams that appealed their division placements. Surprisingly there were only four for football. Unsurprisingly, three of them were Notre Dame, Salpointe, and St. Mary’s.

However, the fourth one was odd – Tucson Santa Rita decided to appeal up to D2 from D4.

To me, this makes no sense. A D4 Southern sectional that includes Tucson-area schools Sabino (who didn’t appeal), Palo Verde, Empire, and Rio Rico would seem to be a good fit for Santa Rita – for sure an easier path to the playoffs.

Instead, Santa Rita opted for the massive D2 Sonoran sectional which now will include Salpointe, CDO, Cienega, and Ironwood Ridge.

If it’s travel times they’re doing it for, maybe that makes sense. The D4 sectional would have also included trips to Safford, Florence, Globe, and Fountain Hills. The Safford trip is probably the most daunting of them all since Safford is the only D4 school in Southeastern Arizona (Douglas is D3).

In any case, given that information, I’ve updated the sectional projections now to include the new appeals. I’m 99% confident that this will end up being the final version the AIA comes out with, and 100% confident that if any changes are made, it will involve less than 8 teams switching sectionals.

Teams with a * next to their enrollment numbers indicate the school appealed to the listed division.

Division 1	teams = 39		Division 2	teams = 42		Division 3	teams = 39		Division 4	teams = 35		Division 5	teams = 39		Division 6	teams = 32
East Valley			Sonoran			Kino			Northeast			Southeast			East
St. Mary's	602 *		Santa Rita	1115 *		Amphitheater	1323		Ganado	597		Baboquivari	275		Cibecue	75
Carl Hayden	2255		Salpointe Catholic	1150 *		Douglas	1379		Alchesay	608		Pusch Ridge	279		Rock Point	126
Central	2301		Cholla	1734		Catalina	1382		Holbrook	689		Miami	314		Ft. Thomas	132
Desert Mountain	2352		Catalina Foothills	1736		Williams Field	1382		Tuba City	708		San Manuel	350		Superior	138
North	2416		Canyon del Oro	1746		Higley	1441		Window Rock	728		Tanque Verde	355		Mogollon	150
Pinnacle	2438		Sahuaro	1771		Campo Verde	1500		Snowflake	739		Morenci	368		Joseph City	154
Desert Ridge	2517		Flowing Wells	1775		Sahuarita	1502		Show Low	777		Tombstone	380		Duncan	161
Brophy	2532		Pueblo	1855		Apache Junction	1614		Payson	788		Benson	380		Salt River	164
Skyline	2649		Ironwood Ridge	1879		Casa Grande	1650		Winslow	792		Thatcher	400		Pima	207
Westwood	2923		Marana	1953		Vista Grande	1655		Blue Ridge	876		Bisbee	407		Veritas Prep	228
Mesa	3334		Marana Mt. View	1964		Nogales	1704		Monument Valley	912		Willcox	422		Shonto Prep (F)	142
Mesa Mt. View	3369		Cienega	2048		Queen Creek	1711		Chinle	1099		San Carlos	433
Red Mountain	3442		Rincon/University	2072		Poston Butte	1725
			Desert View	2119
West Valley			Central			Skyline			Western Canyon			Western Sky			South
Tolleson	2195		Notre Dame Prep	919 *		Cactus	1429		North Pointe Prep	490		Arizona Lutheran	187		Patagonia	73
Kofa	2263		Bradshaw Mountain	1731		Youngker	1434		Parker	530		Phoenix Christian	223		Rancho Solano Prep	80
Valley Vista	2286		Shadow Mountain	1749		Verrado	1454		South Pointe	586		Tempe Prep	232		Ajo	134
Mountain Ridge	2355		Sunnyslope	1807		Desert Edge	1496		Wickenburg	720		Westwind Prep	257		St. David	143
Boulder Creek	2374		Cactus Shadows	1827		Shadow Ridge	1500		Chino Valley	812		Yuma Catholic	264		Gila Bend	148
North Canyon	2397		Prescott	1858		Sunrise Mountain	1611		River Valley	878		Canyon State Academy	304		Valley Union	154
Sandra Day O'Connor	2413		Barry Goldwater	1879		Glendale	1639		Page	1012		Antelope	305		Gilbert Christian	155
Westview	2514		Marcos de Niza	1897		Yuma	1650		Estrella Foothills	1060		Valley Christian	329		San Pasqual	155
Cibola	2515		McClintock	1908		Dysart	1651		Buckeye	1206		Northwest Christian	364		Ray	171
Maryvale	2581		Camelback	1937		Agua Fria	1654		Cortez	1225		Tonopah Valley	370		Valley Lutheran	190
San Luis	2616		Deer Valley	1956		Liberty	1660		Mingus	1260		Bourgade Catholic	406		ASDB (F)	52
Alhambra	2690		Perry	2114		Peoria	1682		Coronado	1295		Santa Cruz	439		Hayden	125
Trevor Browne	2808		Chaparral	2127		Copper Canyon	1708					San Tan Foothills	475
			Horizon	2160
Southeast			Desert West			Northern			Desert Sky			Northeastern Sky			West
Buena	2222		Betty H. Fairfax	1814		Saguaro	1437		Seton Catholic	542		Rough Rock	166		Fredonia	84
Sunnyside	2313		Apollo	1842		Tempe	1443		Globe	555		Williams	237		Ash Fork	91
Basha	2320		Raymond S. Kellis	1843		Sierra Linda	1535		Fountain Hills	753		Red Mesa	320		Orme	114
Corona del Sol	2390		La Joya	1860		Coconino	1537		Safford	804		Sanders Valley	338		Joy Christian	114
Mesquite	2452		Gila Ridge	1867		Moon Valley	1548		Florence	833		Scottsdale Christian	342		Salome	135
Mountain Pointe	2648		South Mountain	1873		Mohave	1551		Coolidge	844		St. Johns	342		Bagdad	138
Gilbert	2763		Independence	1937		Thunderbird	1561		Empire	1042		Greyhills Academy	375		Beaver Dam	144
Desert Vista	2929		Lake Havasu	1956		Greenway	1600		Combs	1140		Many Farms	409		Mayer	163
Highland	2957		Ironwood	1989		Paradise Valley	1603		Rio Rico	1236		Pinon	423		PDSD (F)	59
Tucson	3021		Kingman	2059		Maricopa	1612		Sabino	1253		Round Valley	445		South Ridge	~180
Dobson	3081		Centennial	2118		Flagstaff	1641		Palo Verde	1255		Camp Verde	446
Chandler	3191		Willow Canyon	2159		Arcadia	1680					Hopi	455
Hamilton	3431		Cesar Chavez	2169		Washington	1702					Sedona Red Rock	489
			Millennium	2184

After considering a lot of discussion surrounding some of the appeals (see the previous post) and looking at the way the sectionals are currently arranging, I really have some issues that I’m trying to work through.

One of them is the obvious appeals for the four major Catholic schools: Seton Catholic, Notre Dame Prep, St. Mary’s and Salpointe Catholic. All four are currently in D4 due to enrollment numbers.

Notre Dame is most likely only appealing up one division (from D4 to D3). Seton, in the last 4 years, has appealed up to 4A-II, so if they continue that trend, they too will appeal to D3.

St. Mary’s and Salpointe have historically appealed all the way to the highest division to play. Both schools have a very competitive history, with each owning a couple of Region titles, and both are usually playoff teams.

However, with the new divisional and sectional breakdowns, it might make more sense for St. Mary’s and Salpointe to take the path of Notre Dame and Seton and only appeal up to D3. (If that happens, look for Vista Grande to appeal up to D2 to play with Casa Grande, and Sabino to appeal up to D3 as well.) There are several benefits to playing in D3 – competition, travel times, and in some cases a renewed rivalry.

For example, Salpointe would play in the Kino (Southern) sectional along with other Southern Arizona high schools Amphi (a historical rival dating back to the 1950’s), Sabino, Catalina, Douglas, Sahuarita, and Nogales. Seton Catholic would also be placed in the Kino sectional as well. The travel times for the remainder of the section (Williams Field, Tempe, Vista Grande, Campo Verde, Apache Junction, Queen Creek, and Poston Butte) are not too much of a stretch. St. Mary’s would play in the Skyline (Western) sectional along with West Valley schools Cactus, Desert Edge, Liberty and Peoria. Notre Dame would be placed in the East Sky (Northcentral/Eastern) sectional along with Saguaro.

Already many of the Catholic HS sports are classified as D3 or D2 in some cases. Arguments could be made to move these four to D2, but of them, only St. Mary’s and Salpointe would seriously consider it – the Salpointe AD has stated that he’d prefer all his sports to be in the same division, even though all appeals are on a sport-by-sport basis. If the majority are already in D3, it’d make it easier for him if he just based his appeal on that and moved everything to D3. If he wants absolutely no travel times, an all Tucson region in D2 might be the ticket.

On a personal note, I’d love to see these schools all compete in D4. Seton has a history already with the schools in D4 (the old 3A conference), and it would be no stretch to include Notre Dame, Seton, and St. Mary’s in the Western Canyon (Western) sectional, which would pit them against the perennial West powers Chino Valley and Wickenburg. On the Southern side of the fence, Salpointe staying home in D4 would cause Sabino to stay home as well, matching up several Tucson-area schools in that sectional (Sabino, Santa Rita, Palo Verde, Empire, and Rio Rico) along with Salpointe. The travel times there would not be bad either, with the remainder of the sectional including Florence, Coolidge, Globe and Fountain Hills, Safford being the farthest travel time for any school. (Yes, there would be a little perverse pleasure in seeing the horror on the faces of the Rim Country AD’s who would know that the path to the championship was no longer guaranteed from the old 3A East schools, but I digress…)

Realistically though, I believe that Salpointe and St. Mary’s will end up in D2, with Notre Dame playing D3 and Seton staying D4. Call it a gut feeling.

On Monday 10/18/10, the AIA released its Initial Placement (IP) list, where they classify all the members schools by division for football.

We already knew that there would be 6 divisions for football – five 11-man and one 8-man. Initially, I had tried to create a projected realignment based on previous enrollment numbers, with the understanding that there would be some changes because some schools would see movement due to increased or decreased enrollments.

After reviewing the IP and comparing to my initial projections, I wasn’t far off. In my initial projections, I had Divisions 1-3 with 39 teams each, D4 with 38, and D5-6 with 35. The IP has D1 with 40, D2 with 39, D3 with 40, D4 with 36, D5 with 39, and D6 with 31. And remember, I’m only counting football schools, even though the IP encompassed more than that – like Xavier Girls Prep and Bowie High School, for example.

Some highlights – Tolleson, Boulder Creek, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Pinnacle are all D1 instead of my projected D2, while Casa Grande, Horizon, and Cesar Chavez slipped to D2 from a projected D1. Nogales, Sunrise Mountain, Copper Canyon, Yuma, Liberty, and Vista Grande dropped to D3 from a projected D2 – Liberty I knew that might happen, but I was trying to even out the sectionals so I bumped up Liberty to projected D2. Tempe, Douglas, Youngker, Coconino, and Flagstaff came in at D3 also, though I projected them at D4. North Pointe Prep and South Pointe also ended up at D4 instead of D5, but Sedona and Round Valley ended up dropping to D5. No real surprises in D6, though I had projected Tempe Prep, Tanque Verde, and Hayden to end up there.

Overall, out of 225 football schools, I nailed 190 schools (84.4%) – not bad considering I was working with data over two years old.

Now the other issue is to determine who’s going to appeal their placements. We know for sure that the following schools will appeal their placements: Salpointe Catholic (D4), St. Mary’s (D4), Notre Dame Prep (D4), and Seton Catholic (D4). I am projecting that the following schools will also appeal their placements: Round Valley (D5), Yuma (D3), and possibly Sabino (D4).

The AIA has specific rules for appealing placements (8.1.10), which include geography, number of athletic programs at the school, last four years of student enrollment (to determine if the enrollment is varying wildly), and competitive history over the last four years. (The AIA made it a point this year to note that teams are no longer allowed to appeal down a division, and driving time instead of mileage will be the main factor for geography.) In these cases, the AIA would be hard pressed NOT to grant the appeals of the first four, and the latter three would be petitioning based on travel times (RV, Yuma) and competitive history (Sabino). Lastly, and this is important, schools are being allowed to appeal placements on a sport-by-sport basis. That means, for example, that a school that appeals a football placement doesn’t have to factor into their appeal their basketball team too.

Some people on the forums have made specific comments regarding why certain teams should be moved up or down. Some of these comments are pretty thoughtful (“while total enrollment is a factor in a quality football program, it matters less than people think. Dobson is the 6th largest school in AZ … and would likely struggle if they played Fairfax”), others show a distinct lack of intelligence (“part of the reason [Salpointe] play[s] in the highest division is so they don’t have to play too many of the good Tucson teams and lose.”)

That said, here’s an updated look at the projected sectional alignments now that we know where teams will be placed in each division.

Division 1	teams = 40		Division 2	teams = 39		Division 3	teams = 40		Division 4	teams = 36		Division 5	teams = 39		Division 6	teams = 31
East Valley			Sonoran			Kino			Northeast			Southeast			East
Carl Hayden	2255		Cholla	1734		Williams Field	1382		Ganado	597		Hayden	125		Cibecue	75
Central	2301		Catalina Foothills	1736		Tempe	1443		Alchesay	608		Baboquivari	275		Rock Point	126
Desert Mountain	2352		Canyon del Oro	1746		Amphitheater	1323		Holbrook	689		Pusch Ridge	279		Ft. Thomas	132
North	2416		Sahuaro	1771		Douglas	1379		Tuba City	708		Miami	314		Superior	138
Desert Ridge	2517		Flowing Wells	1775		Catalina	1382		Window Rock	728		San Manuel	350		Mogollon	150
Brophy	2532		Pueblo	1855		Higley	1441		Snowflake	739		Tanque Verde	355		Joseph City	154
Skyline	2649		Ironwood Ridge	1879		Campo Verde	1500		Show Low	777		Morenci	368		Duncan	161
Gilbert	2763		Marana	1953		Sahuarita	1502		Payson	788		Tombstone	380		Salt River	164
Westwood	2923		Marana Mt. View	1964		Apache Junction	1614		Winslow	792		Benson	380		Pima	207
Highland	2957		Casa Grande	1965		Vista Grande	1655		Blue Ridge	876		Thatcher	400		Veritas Prep	228
Mesa	3334		Cienega	2048		Nogales	1704		Monument Valley	912		Bisbee	407		Shonto Prep (F)	142
Mesa Mt. View	3369		Rincon/University	2072		Queen Creek	1711		Chinle	1099		Willcox	422
Red Mountain	3442		Desert View	2119		Poston Butte	1725					San Carlos	433
West Valley			Northwest			Skyline			Western Canyon			Western Sky			South
Tolleson	2195		Cactus Shadows	1827		Cactus	1429		North Pointe Prep	490		Arizona Lutheran	187		Patagonia	73
Kofa	2263		La Joya	1860		Youngker	1434		Parker	530		Phoenix Christian	223		Rancho Solano Prep	80
Valley Vista	2286		Barry Goldwater	1879		Verrado	1454		South Pointe	586		Tempe Prep	232		Ajo	134
Mountain Ridge	2355		Marcos de Niza	1897		Desert Edge	1496		Wickenburg	720		Westwind Prep	257		St. David	143
Boulder Creek	2374		McClintock	1908		Shadow Ridge	1500		Chino Valley	812		Yuma Catholic	264		Gila Bend	148
North Canyon	2397		Deer Valley	1956		Sunrise Mountain	1611		River Valley	878		Canyon State Academy	304		Valley Union	154
Sandra Day O'Connor	2413		Ironwood	1989		Glendale	1639		Page	1012		Antelope	305		Gilbert Christian	155
Pinnacle	2438		Perry	2114		Yuma	1650		Estrella Foothills	1060		Valley Christian	329		San Pasqual Valley	155
Westview	2514		Centennial	2118		Dysart	1651		Buckeye	1206		Northwest Christian	364		Ray	171
Cibola	2515		Willow Canyon	2159		Agua Fria	1654		Cortez	1225		Tonopah Valley	370		Valley Lutheran	190
Maryvale	2581		Horizon	2160		Liberty	1660		Mingus	1260		Bourgade Catholic	406		ASDB (F)	52
San Luis	2616		Cesar Chavez	2169		Peoria	1682		Coronado	1295		Santa Cruz	439
Alhambra	2690		Millennium	2184		Copper Canyon	1708					San Tan Foothills	475
Trevor Browne	2808					Bradshaw Mountain	1731
Southeast			Desert West			East Sky			Desert Sky			Northeastern Sky			West
St. Mary's	602		Shadow Mountain	1749		Notre Dame Prep	919		Seton Catholic	542		Rough Rock	166		Fredonia	84
Salpointe Catholic	1150		Sunnyslope	1807		Saguaro	1437		Globe	555		Williams	237		Ash Fork	91
Buena	2222		Betty H. Fairfax	1814		Sierra Linda	1535		Fountain Hills	753		Red Mesa	320		Joy Christian	114
Sunnyside	2313		Apollo	1842		Coconino	1537		Safford	804		Sanders Valley	338		Orme	114
Basha	2320		Raymond S. Kellis	1843		Moon Valley	1548		Florence	833		Scottsdale Christian	342		Salome	135
Corona del Sol	2390		Prescott	1858		Mohave	1551		Coolidge	844		St. Johns	342		Bagdad	138
Mesquite	2452		Gila Ridge	1867		Thunderbird	1561		Empire	1042		Greyhills Academy	375		Beaver Dam	144
Mountain Pointe	2648		South Mountain	1873		Greenway	1600		Santa Rita	1115		Many Farms	409		Mayer	163
Desert Vista	2929		Independence	1937		Paradise Valley	1603		Combs	1140		Pinon	423		South Ridge	approx. 200
Tucson	3021		Camelback	1937		Maricopa	1612		Rio Rico	1236		Round Valley	445		PDSD (F)	59
Dobson	3081		Lake Havasu	1956		Flagstaff	1641		Sabino	1253		Camp Verde	446
Chandler	3191		Kingman	2059		Arcadia	1680		Palo Verde	1255		Hopi	455
Hamilton	3431		Chaparral	2127		Washington	1702					Sedona Red Rock	489

Looking at this, I see a couple of things jump out at me –
D1 throws Salpointe and Sunnyside in with Desert Vista, Mountain Pointe, Basha, Chandler and Hamilton in the Southeast. Easily the toughest sectional in the state. The East Valley is a close second, with all the Mesa and Gilbert schools along with Brophy and Central. West Valley brings up the rear with Maryvale, Boulder Creek, O’Connor, Pinnacle, Mountain Ridge, and Westview grouped together.
[EDIT: After a good suggestion, I moved Kofa, Cibola, and San Luis to the West Valley, St. Mary’s, Mesquite, and Dobson to the Southeast, and North and Carl Hayden to the East Valley. While Carl Hayden is inconvenienced a little more, the travel time saved by the Yuma schools makes it the correct decision.]

Over in D2, you’ve got Millennium, Centennial, Marcos de Niza, Cactus Shadows, Horizon and Perry in the Northwest, and the Sonoran is an all-Tucson sectional + Casa Grande, who may turn around and appeal up if Buena and Sunnyside appeal down from D1. The Desert West groups Kellis, Apollo, Prescott, Lake Havasu, and Chaparral.

D3 was the biggest headache to try and group, and I’m still not satisfied with the outcome. On the one hand, the Kino sectional is pretty tough with Williams Field, Amphi, Apache Junction, Queen Creek and Poston Butte who is tearing up the competition in the Independent schedules this season. On the other hand, the East Sky is also no slouch with Notre Dame, Saguaro, Thunderbird, Greenway, Arcadia, and Washington. The poor Skyline sectional groups Liberty, Cactus, Bradshaw Mountain, Desert Edge and Peoria with a bunch of mediocre teams like Glendale, Dysart, and Agua Fria.
[EDIT: Again, noticing some disparity in travel times, I moved Vista Grande to Kino, Saguaro to East Sky, and Yuma to Skyline.]

The path to a D4 championship no longer goes through the Rim Country, it now goes through the South if Sabino stays in D4. Try navigating a gauntlet of Seton Catholic, Florence, Fountain Hills, Coolidge, Empire, Sabino, Santa Rita, and Palo Verde, and the latter two are not exactly easy outs by any stretch (even though both are having down years this year). The Rim schools at least get the Rez schools to beat up on, the South gets… Globe and Rio Rico. Ouch. Wickenburg in the West now has to contend with Mingus and Buckeye, in addition to the usual suspects of Chino Valley and Estrella Foothills and occasionally Parker.
[EDIT: Switched Seton Catholic with Cortez from Western Canyon to Desert Sky – Seton is farther south in Phoenix than Cortez, so that made way more sense, though I do expect Seton along with Rio Rico to appeal up to D3.]

D5 was easily no contest. Sedona Red Rock and Santa Cruz, dropping down from 3A/D4 to D5, will at least benefit from the change in competition. The Southeast will continue to have its hands full with Willcox, Bisbee, Thatcher, Miami, Pusch Ridge Christian, and Morenci leading the way. The Western Sky once again groups most of the private schools like Arizona Lutheran, Phoenix Christian, Yuma Catholic, Valley Christian, and Bourgade Catholic, along with Canyon State Academy and Tempe Prep. The Northeastern Sky will have some new faces as Scottsdale Christian gets to take on St. Johns, Williams, and Red Mesa. Round Valley, if it stays in D5, makes this a more competitive sectional than at first glance.
[EDIT: Checking travel times and finding Sedona-Yuma was an hour longer than Sedona-Red Mesa HS, I swapped Sedona and Northwest Christian.]

Finally, D6 really doesn’t have much new to it other than Pima and Ray come back to 8-man football, and D6 welcomes Gilbert Christian and Rancho Solano Prep to the South to face perennial powers St. David, Valley Union, and Valley Lutheran.

So, I was doing a little tinkering and decided to see if I could project what the AIA realignment might look like for football starting in 2011. (My first attempt ignored the fact that regions are being done away with in favor of sections – I have since updated this to remedy that oversight.)

To do this exercise, I used the current enrollment figures as listed at the AIA website. Now, of course, there’s going to be movement, but given that the initial placement and subsequent placement appeals process will take place beginning Oct. 18, it’s not going to be far off.

To wit, what we do know is that there will be six divisions for football – Divisions 1 – 5, with Division 6 being strictly 8-man football.

We also know that there are going to be approximately 40 teams in each of the first five divisions, or close to that number. We also know that each division will have three sections.

So, I went through this, keeping in mind not only enrollment but also attempting to preserve region groupings by location wherever possible. There were some assumptions that had to be made on which schools would petition up or down, but some of those were relatively easy based on the schools’ past histories. Schools that appealed their placements are noted with a + or – next to their number indicating they petitioned up or down. An (F) next to a school indicates the team usually plays a freelance schedule but would otherwise be placed in that division/sectionals.

Division 1	39 teams		Division 2	39 teams		Division 3	39 teams		Division 4	38 teams		Division 5	35 teams		Division 6	35 teams
East Valley			Sonoran			Kino			Northeast			Southeast			East
Horizon	2311		Vista Grande	1800		Catalina	1404		Round Valley	514 +		Baboquivari	278		Cibecue	107
Desert Mountain	2339		Nogales	1821		Sahuarita	1412		Alchesay	709		Pusch Ridge	299		Superior	142
Dobson	3019		Flowing Wells	1825		Higley	1418		Snowflake	712		San Carlos	334		Rock Point	142
Mesa Mt. View	3225		Cienega	1834		Amphitheater	1450		Ganado	744		Tombstone	341		Duncan	153
Mesa	3639		CDO	1838		Palo Verde	1484		Holbrook	752		Miami	353		Ft. Thomas	159
Red Mountain	3556		Marana	1877		Campo Verde	1500		Show Low	820		San Manuel	368		Joseph City	163
Skyline	2412		Perry	1891		Cholla	1645		Tuba City	822		Bisbee	388		Mogollon	172
Westwood	2874		Ironwood Ridge	1913		Queen Creek	1700		Winslow	824		Morenci	390		Rough Rock	180
Desert Ridge	2397		Pueblo	1960		Poston Butte	1725		Window Rock	842		Benson	414		Veritas Prep	191
Mesquite	3451		Marana Mt. View	1964		Combs	1735		Payson	848		Thatcher	429		Pima	215
Gilbert	3127		Marcos de Niza	1965		Sahuaro	1750		Monument Valley	890		Willcox	443		Salt River	238
Highland	3097		Desert View	2090		Catalina Foothills	1759		Blue Ridge	914		Santa Cruz	504		Shonto Prep (F)	134
Corona del Sol	2522		Rincon/University	2116		Apache Junction	1764		Chinle	1058
West Valley			Northwest			Skyline			Grand Canyon			Western Sky			South
Carl Hayden	2277		Sunrise Mountain	1786 +		Shadow Ridge	1500		Sedona Red Rock	523 +		Arizona Lutheran	185 +		Patagonia	91
Central	2265		Liberty	1805		Sierra Linda	1535		Parker	527 +		Westwind Prep	293		Gilbert Christian	121
St. Mary's	778 +		Copper Canyon	1921		Mohave	1536		Wickenburg	785		Phoenix Christian	303		Ajo	139
Brophy	2506		Millennium	1990		Desert Edge	1549		Chino Valley	829		Yuma Catholic	327		St. David	142
North	2549		Barry Goldwater	2034		Buckeye	1599		River Valley	930		Antelope	350		Hayden	151
Westview	2317		Deer Valley	2039		Cactus	1627		Page	1044		Canyon State Academy	374		Valley Union	164
Alhambra	2905		Ironwood	2080		Verrado	1650		Estrella Foothills	1097		Valley Christian	399		Ray	169
Maryvale	2637		Sandra Day O'Connor	2125		Peoria	1659		Coconino	1204		Bourgade Catholic	402		Gila Bend	171
Trevor Browne	2902		Centennial	2144		Glendale	1680		Mingus	1235		Tonopah Valley	425		Tempe Prep	220
Mountain Ridge	2492		Willow Canyon	2175		Agua Fria	1714		Cortez	1278		San Tan Foothills	525		Tanque Verde	244
Valley Vista	2338		La Joya	2207		Bradshaw Mtn	1747		Youngker	1347		South Pointe	654 -		ASDB (F)	79
Cesar Chavez	2592		Tolleson	2238		Dysart	1775		Flagstaff	1443 -
North Canyon	2449		Boulder Creek	2253		Raymond S. Kellis	1775
Southeast			Desert West			East Sky			Desert Sky			Northeastern Sky			West
Desert Vista	2920		Apollo	1804		Notre Dame Prep	945 +		Seton Catholic	547 +		Williams	247		Fredonia	87
Mountain Pointe	2446		Shadow Mountain	1854		Maricopa	1473		Globe	641		Red Mesa	328		Ash Fork	88
Cibola	2355		Independence	1866		Saguaro	1476		Safford	793		Scottsdale Christian	341		Orme	128
Kofa	2513		Prescott	1938		Greenway	1548		Fountain Hills	824		St. Johns	352		Bagdad	137
San Luis	2461		Camelback	1958		Williams Field	1550		Coolidge	905		Northwest Christian	400		Salome	139
Hamilton	3345		Kingman	1974		Paradise Valley	1578		Empire	907		Sanders Valley	413		Joy Christian	150
Chandler	3226		Betty H. Fairfax	2000		Arcadia	1590		Florence	1046		Pinon	416		Beaver Dam	161
Basha	2455		South Mountain	2001		Thunderbird	1620		Rio Rico	1157		Greyhills Academy	428		Valley Lutheran	174
Casa Grande	3320		Gila Ridge	2025		Washington	1630		Santa Rita	1291		Many Farms	430		San Pasqual	175
Buena	2591		Chaparral	2037		Moon Valley	1688		Coronado	1317		North Pointe Prep	451		Mayer	185
Salpointe Catholic	1191 +		Lake Havasu	2060		McClintock	1778		Douglas	1346		Camp Verde	466		Rancho Solano Prep	215
Tucson	2974		Yuma	2110		Sunnyslope	1784		Tempe	1347		Hopi	468		PDSD (F)	74
Sunnyside	2264		Pinnacle	2174		Cactus Shadows	1794		Sabino	1374

Division 1 is the easiest aside from Division 6, in that it’s all 5A-I schools plus the biggest 5A-II schools.

Division 2 contains the remainder of the 5A-II schools and the biggest 4A-I schools + Liberty.

Division 3 is the smaller 4A-I schools and the majority of the 4A-II schools.

Obviously the biggest change is in Division 4, which was the old 3A Conference. However, if you looked at the previous conference listing, you had to know that was going to have the biggest set of changes. For one, the current 3A Conference only has 28 teams, while the 4A and 5A conferences have over 60 each! For another, 7 teams will be added to the division that have never played there before. Sedona, Parker, Round Valley, and Seton all are playing up since the estimated cutoff is 600 students.

Division 5 is pretty much unchanged since it was all 2A to begin with. I seriously considered moving Round Valley (514) to D5 but then considered that RV competes well in 3A anyway. However, given that South Pointe recently canceled their season for lack of players, and Santa Cruz and San Tan Foothills have low enrollments, those three had to be moved down to D5. Arizona Lutheran, however, has always “played up” and they continue to do so in D5.

Division 6 (8-man) was the biggest headache. Trying to map out disparate locations for the smallest schools in the state was no joy, but I think I figured out where teams should be placed. Some assumptions – Pima, Tempe Prep, Hayden, and Ray all move “back” to D6, while Rough Rock becomes a new entry to D6 along with newcomers Gilbert Christian and Rancho Solano Prep.

Could it be better? Sure, but what I’ve mapped out is pretty kosher, plus it’s feasible for most schools’ travel budgets too. Of course, not everyone’s travel budget will be nice (Rock Point, Fredonia, Beaver Dam), but then again, when you live in the very corners of the state, you’re going to have some travel nightmares.

Do I think that the AIA will consider this? Normally, I would say no, but the scary thing is – it’s actually attainable AND reasonable. It’s not exclusionary, it actually does depend on several schools petitioning up or down (so it accounts for some small movement), and its sets itself up for growth.

Come Oct. 18, we’ll see what happens. The AIA will be releasing the initial Divisional placement at the Executive Board meeting that day, with the appeals set to be heard from Oct. 19 – 25. The preliminary placements will be announced on Nov. 2, and the final placement will be on Nov. 15. Then the whole process starts over again as sectionals are created (Dec. 6), appealed (Dec. 7 – Jan.6), and finalized (Jan. 18).