GHSA moves Gainesville back to stacked region, tweaks postseason, class format

The Georgia High School Association’s executive committee ratified the 2026-28 regions and classifications after tweaking them and also made a few changes in its Postseason Ranking Formula for next school year.

Here are the most notable decisions that the committee made in its Wednesday meeting.

Gainesville moved back to Region 7-6A

The executive committee reversed Gainesville’s successful appeal to move from Region 7 to Region 8 in Class 5A.

The reclass committee on Nov. 17 approved the lateral region transfer that would’ve kept Gainesville out of a region with five north Fulton County schools, including football powerhouses Milton and Roswell.

Brad Hayes, athletic director of fellow Region 8-6A member Jackson County, motioned the decision to reverse course. If Gainesville had joined Jackson County’s Region 8 with other Athens-area schools, Region 7 would’ve had only six teams, making it harder for those schools to fill their nonregion schedules.

Region 8 would’ve had nine teams with Gainesville, allowing for only one nonregion opponent in football, which could be a disadvantage in the GHSA’s postseason rankings.

“A motion was made by a committee member to move them from one region to another,” GHSA executive director Tim Scott said. “There was really no significant mileage difference in travel for them (Gainesville) in either region, and one of the big things about that is when we went through the reclassification committee, and the reclassification committee approves some things, we made one region a nine-team region while another region was a six-team region.

“With us going to the PSR and being able to schedule some games, they felt like that could be affected, and so that’s why they made the move there.”

Gainesville athletic director Adam Lindsey confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his school did not ask to move back into Region 7.

Lindsey was surprised when Gainesville’s initial appeal to move out of the region was approved on Nov. 17.

“At the end of the day, that’s what’s best for Gainesville athletics, for us to be in Region 8,” Lindsey said after the appeal was approved. “So excited about it, but it’s a shock.”

The executive committee does have the power to realign regions after the reclassification committee has heard all appeals.

“Once the reclassification committee has approved everything, then it has to go to the full executive committee for ratification,” Scott said. “At that time, the full executive committee can hear other appeals, move schools if they feel they need to, balance something. I mean, the committee can do quite a bit there, but it’s a normal process that we go through.”

Cook, Lakeside win reclassification appeals

The executive committee also approved reclassification appeals for Lakeside of DeKalb County and Cook.

Lakeside told the committee it had reported incorrect enrollment data to the GHSA in November. The new numbers moved the school from Class 7A to Region 4-6A.

Cook appealed on the basis of the GHSA’s isolation rule, which allows schools that average more than 100 miles of travel to other region schools to move to another classification. Cook was moved from Class 3A to Region 1-2A.

“They presented their case on that, missing class time and having kids out late at night,” Scott said. “So the committee approved to move them.”