West Caldwell asking NCHSAA about returning
to Class 2A based on decline in enrollment
HobbsDailyReport.com
CHAPEL HILL – The new average daily membership (ADM) numbers that will be used Saturday when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) prepares brackets for the state football playoffs were released Wednesday.
The ADMs are adjusted annually and play a factor in the seeding process for the football postseason as the NCHSAA tries to keep the enrollment gaps among the smallest and largest schools in a bracket as low as possible.
The football playoffs will again be classified as 1A, 1AA, 2A, 2AA, 3A, 3AA, 4A and 4AA with eight state champions crowned.
The playoffs begin a week from Friday (Nov. 16). They were delayed by one week when hurricane-related weather impacted scheduling — primarily in Eastern North Carolina — and the NCHSAA extended the regular season by one week.
South Fork 2A
Only one school in the conference, North Lincoln, has a higher ADM than a year ago – by two – and Lake Norman Charter stayed the same.
The rest of the six schools in the league dropped in ADMs, led by a decline of 62 at West Lincoln and a drop of 60 at Newton-Conover.
Northwestern Foothills 2A
Hibriten, with the largest ADM in the conference, grew by 18 students.
Four different schools in the seven-team league – Bunker Hill, East Burke, Fred T. Foard and Patton – are down more than 100 students, led by Patton’s decline of 139.
Northwestern 3A-4A
Alexander Central is down by 308 students and only two schools, Hickory and Watauga, gained in ADMs.
McDowell remains the largest school by ADMs (1,751), and West Caldwell — still the smallest at 912 — is down 142 students.
West Caldwell has petitioned the NCHSAA board of directors to allow it to go back to Class 2A next season as the current largest-to-smallest gap in the conference is now 803 students. The margin last year was South Caldwell-West Caldwell and it was 785 students.
West Caldwell has made inquiries about moving from the Northwestern 3A-4A to the Northwestern Foothills 2A, which would give the latter conference eight schools.
AVERAGE DAILY MEMBERSHIP
SOUTH FORK 2A
School Current Last year Net
N. Lincoln 988 986 +2
E. Lincoln 901 913 -12
Newton-Conover 856 916 -60
Bandys 842 862 -20
W. Lincoln 840 902 -62
Maiden 832 867 -35
LN Charter 805 805 Same
Lincolnton 775 835 -60
NORTHWESTERN FOOTHILLS 2A
School Current Last year Net
Hibriten 1,034 1,016 +18
Fred T. Foard 886 991 -105
E. Burke 884 991 -107
Bunker Hill 866 968 -102
W. Iredell 860 945 -85
Patton 821 960 -139
Draughn 618 713 -95
NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A
School Current Last year Net
McDowell (4A) 1,751 1,835 -84
S. Caldwell (4A) 1,649 1,839 -190
Watauga 1,410 1,347 +63
Alex Central 1,210 1,518 -308
Hickory 1,205 1,031 +174
St. Stephens 1,159 1,274 -115
Freedom 1,146 1,206 -60
W. Caldwell 912 1,054 -142