The NCHSAA’s first draft of the 2021-2025 Conference will divide the current Three Rivers Conference, but West Bladen and East Bladen will be together in a split 1A/2A league.
Under this proposal, East Bladen and West Bladen will join current Three Rivers members St. Pauls, Fairmont and Red Springs as Class 2A members of a 7-team league with 1A teams Lakewood and Union.
The four Columbus County schools who are now part of the Three Rivers – South Columbus, East Columbus, West Columbus and Whiteville – will join Heide Trask and Pender in another conference. Whiteville, South Columbus and Trask will be the 2A members of that league.
This first draft was done by NCHSAA staff. “The number of ‘split conferences’ in this alignment draft represents the Realignment Committee’s desire not to limit those,” said Commissioner Que Tucker. “It also takes into consideration the protection of natural rivalries and strongly considers geography and travel time. Of course, this means the way of getting into the playoffs must be reviewed and updated. That will come later.”
Member schools may submit their concerns or suggestions to the NCHSAA through an online form by January 8th, 2021. The Realignment Committee will reconvene on January 13, 2021 to review submissions from schools and make adjustments as appropriate to the first draft.
The second draft of conference alignments will be sent to the membership on January 14, 2021. Once the second draft has been posted, schools will have the opportunity to submit an appeal in writing by January 21, 2021. All appeals will be virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the 2017-2021 draft of the Realignment Plan was submitted, the Bladen schools were placed in a league with Wallace-Rose Hill, East Duplin, Spring Creek, Clinton and others that would have produced lengthy travel times for most of their games. The Bladen schools appealed and were allowed to join the Three Rivers Conference.
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