By Sonny Jones
East Bladen is going from having the fewest students in the Southeastern 2-A Conference to having the second-most students among the four 1-A teams in the combined Waccamaw 1-A/2-A Conference next season.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association approved East Bladen’s mid-realignment request in late November to move from the 2-A classification to the 1-A classification. Whether the average daily membership (ADM) numbers released recently was a factor isn’t clear, but those numbers show that East Bladen belongs in 1-A.
HighSchoolOT.com was the first to report the numbers Monday.
Realignment is done every four years and the most recent one began with the 2021-22 academic year. However, ADM, which is provided by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and shows student enrollment from the first month of the academic year, had not been counted since the 2019-20 academic year since many schools weren’t having in-person instruction.
Therefore, the NCHSAA had to use 2019-20 ADM numbers as part of its 2021-22 realignment process. ADM accounted for about half of the formula used for realignment. The NCHSAA also used Identified Student Percentage and State Cup standings. It’s never simple, is it?
West Bladen, with 689 students, now will have the fewest students based on ADM in the Southeastern 2-A Conference beginning with the 2023-24 academic year, but there will be 18 2-A East schools with smaller enrollments.
East Bladen, with its 537 ADM, will be the fourth-largest 1-A East team, trailing only Waccamaw-member Pender (724), North Moore (589) and Warren County (562).
It’s interesting to compare the 2019 ADM with the 2022 ADM to see how the numbers have changed. For example, West Bladen gained 17 students from 2019 until 2022 and East Bladen lost 48 students. Pender, which had 579 students based on the 2019 ADM and is a 1-A school, now has 724 students in the 2022 ADM, which is more than Waccamaw 2-A members Whiteville (657) and South Columbus (689).
Here are the 2022-23 ADM figures and the increase or decrease for each school from 2019-20:
Southeastern 2-A Conference
St. Pauls: 1,177 (175 increase)
Red Springs: 857 (109 increase)
Clinton: 841 (35 increase)
Fairmont: 838 (38 increase)
Midway: 749 (26 decrease)
West Bladen: 689 (17 increase)
East Bladen: 537 (48 decrease)
Waccamaw 1-A/2-A Conference
(2-A) Heide Trask: 762 (47 increase)
(1-A) Pender: 724 (145 increase)
(2-A) South Columbus: 689 (29 decrease)
(2-A) Whiteville: 657 (30 decrease)
(1-A) East Columbus: 393 (20 decrease)
(1-A) West Columbus: 392 (10 decrease)
Here are the ADM numbers from 2019:
Southeastern 2-A Conference
St. Pauls: 1,002
Clinton: 806
Fairmont: 800
Midway: 775
Red Springs: 748
West Bladen: 672
East Bladen: 585
Waccamaw 1-A/2-A Conference
South Columbus: 718
Heide Trask: 715
Whiteville: 687
Pender: 579
East Columbus: 413
West Columbus: 402
BOWLS, BOWLS, BOWLS
Heading into the home stretch attempting to watch every bowl game. A couple of games might be difficult to find a replay. So far, I have watched 36 of 42 bowl games either live or on-demand.
Games played: 42 (through Jan. 2)
Games watched live: 22
Games streamed: 14
Games to watch: 6 (Sun, Arizona, Music City, Reliaquest, Citrus, Cotton)
• ROSE BOWL: Penn State 35, Utah 21
(Played Monday, Jan. 2, watched Monday, Jan. 2)
Boom! Penn State scored on 88-yard pass play, an 87-yard run and two short runs out of the old school T-formation. Utah had to play without starting quarterback Cam Rising for much of the second half because of a knee injury. He had to leave last year’s Rose Bowl with a head injury.
• ORANGE BOWL: Tennessee 31, Clemson 14
(Played Friday, Dec. 30, watched Monday, Jan. 2)
Two orange teams — one in orange jerseys and white pants and the other in white jerseys and orange pants — in the Orange Bowl. The team in the orange jerseys won behind the strong arm of quarterback Joe Milton, who threw for three touchdowns and 251 yards, although the team in the white jerseys ran an Orange Bowl-record 100 plays from scrimmage and outgained the opponent 484 yards to 375.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 1920 — Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells pitcher-outfielder Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 plus a $350,000 loan.
POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY
• SOCCER: Newcastle United at Arsenal, 2:45 p.m., USA
• NHL: Carolina at N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m., BALLY SOUTH
• NBA: Washington at Milwaukee, 8 p.m., NBATV
• NHL: Dallas at Los Angeles, 10 p.m., ESPN
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com.
About Author
