STEENS — Greg Watkins has seen plenty of change in his time as a coach in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS).
Whether it has been at East Holmes (West), Winona Christian, Hebron Christian (Pheba), or his current home at Columbus Christian in Steens, Watkins’ eight- or 11-man football teams often have been some of the smallest in the state’s private school association.
Things won’t be any different this season, as Columbus Christian will move from Class A to Class AA in the MAIS’ latest round of re-classification. This year, though, the shuffling the organization does every two years to realign schools based on enrollment has seen more change than usual. Not only did the MAIS add a fourth classification, AAAA, to accommodate the state’s 14 largest schools, it also moved Class AA and Class A into the same classification.
Earlier this month, the MAIS also welcomed three new schools — Natchez Cathedral, St. Aloysius, and Greenville St. Joseph — that left the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) after that organization voted to uphold a rule that prohibits out-of-state students from participating in athletics and activities. All three schools will compete in Class AAA.
For Watkins, who coaches football and boys basketball and is the athletic director at Columbus Christian, a new school year brings an opportunity for his football program to build on its first district title and its first home playoff victory in that classification in a new class. For the MAIS, Watkins believes the changes will make the organization stronger.
“I think it is good that they put four classes,” Watkins said. “Football wise, it is more like three classes because A and AA are playing together, so you have got some smaller schools playing against predominantly bigger schools.”
The breakdown
MAIS divided the 14-team AAAA into two divisions. All six teams in Division I will make the playoffs. Six of the eight in Division II will make the playoffs.
Jackson Prep, which has won 21 titles (more than twice as many as any other MAIS school), and Madison-Ridgeland Academy are considered the front-runners.
In AAA, Heritage Academy, Starkville Academy, and Columbus Academy are the only schools that didn’t move up to AAAA. All of the schools were in AAA, Division II last season. Sixteen of the 22 teams in this classification will make the playoffs. A formula that assigns power points to games will be used to determine the field. The five district champions will be the top five seeds based on their power-point averages. The system determines its points based on the size of school that is played, victories, and wins by opponents.
Thirty-two teams from three states (Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas) make up a new AA, which features six districts and includes A schools. Twenty-three of the teams are in Mississippi. Six are in Louisiana. Like AAA, 16 teams will make the playoffs. A formula that awards power points also will be used to determine the seeding for playoffs.
Central Academy (Macon) and Hebron Christian (Pheba) will remain in a 19-team eight-man league.
Victory Christian (Columbus) also plays eight-man football, but it plays in the Alabama Christian Athletic Association (ACAA).
Kickoff is Friday
Watkins feels Columbus Christian, which used to be known as Immanuel Christian, is a “little bit ahead of where we are four years ago” in terms of the program’s progress. He said the school’s enrollment is “a little bit behind that” but the school is “steadily climbing” there.
At 7 p.m. Friday, Columbus Christian will continue that “climb” when it opens its football season against Heritage Academy in the season opener for both teams. Even though Heritage Academy is a larger school, Watkins is excited to play what he hopes is the first game in the creation of a new rivalry.
Heritage Academy coach Barrett Donahoe also feels the MAIS’ changes for the next two years will benefit his school. Heritage Academy will be in the same district as Starkville Academy, Leake Academy, and Winston Academy.
“We feel it is going to be a positive for us,” Donahoe said. “Traditionally, Heritage Academy was a AA school for a number of years. It is just in the last 10-12 years that Heritage Academy has moved into the largest classification.”
Donahoe said Heritage Academy was the 14th largest school two years ago in that round of realignment. Starting this cycle, Donahoe said Heritage Academy is the ninth-largest school in a 24-team AAA.
Donahoe said schedules for his athletic teams will more manageable from a travel standpoint and because all of the schools are going to be similar sizes. As a member of Class AAA, Division II, Heritage Academy had to compete against larger schools like Jackson Academy, Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Magnolia Heights, Washington School, and Pillow Academy, just to name a few.
Donahoe believes the number of lower classification schools, especially the ones that play eight-man football, was the driving force behind the latest changes. He said things will be different for what was the AAA North because the reclassification means rivalries Heritage Academy and Starkville Academy created no longer exist. But he said alignments go through cycles every two years, so there always is change.
Oak Hill Academy first-year football coach Chris Craven also welcomes the changes. His team will be in a district with Columbus Christian, Carroll Academy, and Winona Christian. Deer Creek Academy, a Class A school, also will be in the district, which is one of six in the largest of all of the classifications.
“I think it was a very good decision to go to four classifications because it evened the playing the field among a lot of schools,” Craven said. “There is always going to be somebody who is just barely out. I remember on year we stayed in AAA classification before they had AAA because we had two students too many, and we would have been a top-tier AA school.”
Craven said that came six or seven years ago during a reclassification, which happens every two years, just like the Mississippi High School Activities Association. The enrollment figures the classifications are based on are the school’s enrollment for grades 8-11, which will be 9-12 the following school year.
For Oak Hill Academy, Craven feels the move to streamline A and AA and to make a AAAA classification will keep schools with smaller numbers on more of an equal footing with schools of similar sizes. With 16 players in grades 10-12 expected to dress out for varsity action this season, Craven hopes he doesn’t see an opponent with 60-70 players across the field for the next two seasons.
Just as there was a disparity in school enrollments in the larger classification, Watkins feels two divisions in AA would have helped alleviate that issue. Entering this season, Watkins said Columbus Christian was the smallest AA school in the state, while Winona Christian is the largest AA school in the state.
Watkins, who is in his 18th year as a coach and fifth at Columbus Christian, said Columbus Christian has added four new high school rooms for this school year, so he feels the school is growing. He hopes the growth continues and enables the school to get to the middle of the pack, or even the top of the classification, in terms of athletic competition.
Until that happens, Watkins understands change will remain part of the equation.
“I kind of wished they would have divided AA into two divisions, but maybe that is in the near future,” Watkins said. “We have to play the hand that was dealt us.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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