Football schedules now set as reclassification has little impact on Bob Jones, James Clemens

Bob Jones football schedule is now set for upcoming 2014 season
(FILE PHOTO/CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON-  The long-awaited reclassification of sports teams from across the state was announced this week in Montgomery by the AHSAA. The biggest news was the creation of a new seventh classification for the 32 largest high schools in Alabama.  The changes take effect with the 2014-2015 school year and last two years.

Both Bob Jones and James Clemens are now in Class 7A, Region 4 for football. Their opponents are all familiar: Buckhorn, Sparkman, Hazel Green, Huntsville, Grissom, and GadsdenCity make up the eight team region. Former rivals Austin, Decatur and Florence are now in 6A.

“We were not surprised that they created the 7A classification, it had been discussed for some time,” said Bob Jones Assistant Principal and Athletic Director John Wilson. “We are pleasantly surprised to have GadsdenCity in our region, but not much impact as far as different teams. We will still be playing mostly teams we are familiar with. Our concern was the travel and the amount of travel if they had put some Birmingham teams in our region, so we are happy with the outcome.”

Using average student enrollments in grades 10-12, James Clemens just got in 7A by six at 1008. Bob Jones is the eighth largest high school at 1,467. Hoover is the largest in the state at 1,978. Sparkman is third at 1,756.

The AHSAA touted the new plan as providing more opportunities for championships at smaller schools and less divide among the largest and smallest schools in any classification.

Class 7A schools will still play 10 regular season games but now have the option of playing a non-region game instead of a jamboree game on August 21-22 and then taking an open week during the season.

Both Bob Jones and James Clemens moved quickly to fill out their football schedules after the announcement was made. Bob Jones will play Muscle Shoals in a jamboree and then host Decatur as the first regular season game. Other non-region opponents are Austin and Florence. Bob Jones and James Clemens will meet the second week of the season just like the last two years. Bob Jones will travel to Gadsden City in the fourth week of the season.

James Clemens travels to East Limestone for a jamboree then to Athens to open the season. Home games against Bob Jones and Hazel Green follow then at Buckhorn. The Jets travel to Gadsden City the seventh week of the season. Other non-region opponents are away to Mountain Brook and the last week of the season is to be determined.

Both team’s schedules are online.

Four teams from each of the four regions will make the playoffs and after round 3 the 7A teams will get a week off before playing in the championship game on Wednesday of the following week. The Super 7 Championships will begin on Wednesday at 3 PM and on Thursday the schedule will revert back to prior years for Class 3A, 1A, and 5A on Thursday and Class 4A, 2A, and 6A on Friday.

One change is in basketball where Bob Jones and James Clemens will be in the same area with Hazel Green and Sparkman. This new area alignment will be for baseball, softball, soccer, and volleyball. Currently, the two Madison high schools are in different areas.