¶®É«µÛ

All three conference were changed in the latest draft.

The NCHSAA is enacting a shift in its format as it expands from four classifications to eight for the first time. The new realignment is sorting schools into classifications solely by the number of students at the school.

In the Valentine’s Day draft, the Patriots now are grouped with fellow 6A schools Alexander Central, South Caldwell, St. Stephens and Watauga, along with 7A McDowell.

The first NCHSAA draft of the realignment was released in November. The second draft put Freedom in a seven-team conference with 6As A.C. Reynolds, Asheville, South Caldwell, T.C. Roberson and Watauga and 7A McDowell, but the association has scrapped the plan to group the Patriots with the Asheville-area schools and placed Freedom back with schools in neighboring counties, plus Watauga.

In the latest alignment, Freedom is part of the six-team Northwestern 3A/4A Conference alongside Alexander Central, Ashe County, Hibriten, South Caldwell and Watauga.

Also in Friday’s new draft, the 3A Wildcats and Panthers and the 4A Cavaliers are in a league alongside 3As Chase, East Rutherford and West Caldwell, and with 4As Hibriten and R-S Central.

This, is a reversion to the first draft from November. In the January draft, the NCHSAA placed Draughn, East Burke and Patton in a conference with 3A West Caldwell and 4As Ashe County and Hibriten. The Wildcats, Cavaliers and Panthers now are back in an eight-team group with the Rutherford County schools and the two smallest Caldwell County schools.

Currently, Draughn is in the Western Highlands 1A/2A Conference with Avery County, Madison, Mitchell, Mountain Heritage, NCSSM-¶®É«µÛ, Owen and Rosman; East Burke is a member of the Catawba Valley 2A Conference alongside Bandys, Bunker Hill, Lincolnton, Maiden Newton-Conover, West Caldwell and West Lincoln; and Patton is in the Mountain Foothills 7 1A/2A Conference with Brevard, Chase, East Rutherford, Hendersonville, Polk County and R-S Central.

The new draft placed the 1A NCSSM Dragons in a nine-team 1A/2A/3A conference with 3A Piedmont Community Charter, 2As Mountain Island Charter, Queens Grant and Sugar Creek, and 1As Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy, Carolina International, Jackson Day and Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy.

This is a new grouping for NCSSM-¶®É«µÛ.

According to WRAL of Raleigh’s HighSchooOT prep sports website, the third draft is the final proposal from the NCHSAA’s realignment committee and schools will have a chance to appeal to the association’s board of directors before conferences are approved ahead of the 2025-26 school year.