GHSA Finalizes Competitive Classes for 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 School years

All Appeals have been heard and tentative regions announced

On November 10, the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) finalized its state classifications for the next two academic years. / Corey Jones

The last data has been input, and the calculators have been stowed for two more years in regards to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) sports classifications.

New GHSA Classifications are set after appeals

Last week, the GHSA announced the re-class pending Monday's appeals. The classifications are based on student enrollment combined with a multiplier for students outside the school zone. Schools of every demographic, big or small, urban or rural, and public or private, are affected. Including many schools with teams ranked in High School on Sports Illustrated All Class Computer Rankings.

The return of Class 7A

For the past two years (including the current), Georgia has had Classes from 1A-6A, but is bringing back class 7A. Class A is currently divided into two classes, but that distinction will go away next fall.

Several teams that were set in every class from 7A to 2A appealed to move down. Some schools actually appealed to move up in classification. Over a dozen schools were allowed to move down in class. GHSA executive director Tim Scott commented that the appeals were mostly over a discrepancy in the accounting.

"A lot of (the appeal) is because a school makes a mistake filling out a form. ... They show us evidence of the mistake and show us how it should be corrected. That's real important. You've got to make sure it's correct."

Moving Down

When schools request to move down from their assigned classification, it can be about travel.

"We have some schools that a routine trip is two and a half to three hours," said Scott.

Or, it can be about being competitive, but that's up to interpretation. "When you look at the big spectrum, somebody may feel like, 'Hey, I've not been very competitive because we haven't made deep runs into the state playoffs.' Another school may say, 'I haven't been competitive because I haven't made the state playoffs.' "

Arabia Mountain, Lakeside-Evans, Meadowcreek, and Osborne all dropped out of 7A. Arabia Mountain plunged down two spots to 5A, and the others will be in 6A. Drew is the only school dropping from 6A to 5A. Central-Macon and Douglas won their appeals and will reside in 4A.

Dropping from 4A down a notch are Cross Creek, Johnson (Savannah), and KIPP Atlanta Collegiate. Gordon Central, Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe, Mount Vernon, and Savannah Christian will make the move from 3A to 2A. Lanier County and Twiggs County will compete in Class A instead of their original 2A slot.

If some of the appeals may not have been strictly based on numbers, That's okay. "I want people to battle for their schools. I want people to battle for their young people," said Scott.

Movin' on Up

A handful of schools opted to punch up in classification. Scott said that the process to move up a weight is basically a formality: "When they request to move up, we grant that request."

No schools requested to move into the state's highest class, 7A. Cedar Shoals and Walnut Grove did jump from 5A to 6A. Catholic schools, Benedictine, and Marist were accepted into 5A. Marist's inside the perimeter, neighbor Pace Academy jumped from their original 3A spot to 4A.

Rivals McNair and Towers both moved from 2A to 3A and are set once again to play in the same region moving forward. Non-football playing schools Johnson (Augusta), Coretta Scott King, Davidson Fine Arts, and Technical Career Magnet will all be in the crowded Class 2A.

Notables

Two powerful football schools on the appeals list that will be staying put are Thomas County Central and Creekside. TCC is currently ranked No. 3 and Creekside is currently ranked No. 6 in High School on SI's Georgia High School Football Top 25 State Rankings. They were slotted to jump to 6A and will remain there.

Aug 29, 2025; Waynesboro, Georgia, USA; A Benedictine athlete is tackled during the Burke County and Benedictine high school football game at Burke County High School. Benedictine won 41-0. Mandatory Credit: Katie Goodale - Augusta Chronicle/USA TODAY NETWORK / Katie Goodale-Augusta Chronicle/USA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On the other hand, as noted, powers Marist and Benedictine are ranked No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, in the computer poll for Class AAAA, but are accepting the challenge of a step up in class.

The state's classifications are set for the next two years, the regions will be cemented next week, but the heavy lifting is nearly complete, and there is satisfaction in the results and process at the GHSA offices in Thomaston. "The reclassification committee did a great job. (Associate director) Don Corr did a great job. I'm thankful setting of the classifications and regions. I'm thankful for the way the day went."

Final GHSA Classifications: 2026-27 thru 2027-28

Class 7A
Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
Camden County	Carrollton	Campbell	Archer
Colquit County	Douglas County	Harrison	Grayson
Lowndes	East Coweta	Hillgrove	Lakeside-DeKalb
Richmond Hill	Northgate	Kennesaw Mountain	Newton
Valdosta	Paulding County	McEachern	North Atlanta
	Westlake	Pebblebrook	Rockdale County
			South Gwinnett
Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8
Cherokee	Alliance Academy	Berkmar	Buford
Etowah	Denmark	Brookwood	Central Gwinnett
Marietta	Forsyth Central	Duluth	Collins Hill
North Cobb	Innovation Academy	Norcross	Dacula
North Paulding	Lambert	North Gwinnett	Discovery
Walton	North Forsyth	Parkview	Mill Creek
Wheeler	South Forsyth	Peachtree Ridge	Seckinger
	West Forsyth

Class 6A
Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
Bradwell Institute	Coffee	Creekside	Alcovy
Brunswick	Houston County	Hughes	Chamblee
Effingham County	Lee County	Lovejoy	Decatur
Glynn Academy	Northside-Warner Robins	McIntosh	Dunwoody
Greenbrier	Thomas County Central	Morrow	Heritage-Conyers
Grovetown	Tift County	Newnan	Meadowcreek
Lakeside-Evans	Veterans	Northside-Columbus	Midtown
South Effingham		Tri-Cities	Shiloh
		Woodward Academy
Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8
Alexander	Creekview	Alpharetta	Apalachee
Chapel Hill	Kell	Gainesville	Cedar Shoals
East Paulding	Lassiter	Johns Creek	Clarke Central
Hiram	Pope	Lanier	Habersham Central
New Manchester	River Ridge	Milton	Jackson County
Osborne	Rome	Mountain View	Loganville
South Cobb	Sequoyah	Riverwood	Walnut Grove
South Paulding	Woodstock	Roswell

Class 5A
Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
Benedictine	Eagles Landing	Banneker	Arabia Mountain
Evans	Jones County	Central-Carroll	Drew
Groves	Locust Grove	Griffin	Dutchtown
Jenkins	Ola	Harris County	Eastside
Richmond Academy	Perry	LaGrange	Forest Park
Statesboro	Union Grove	Lithia Springs	Jonesboro
Ware County	Warner Robins	Starrs Mill	M.L. King
Wayne County		Whitewater	Mundys Mill
			Stockbridge
Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8
Cross Keys	Blessed Trinity	Allatoona	East Forsyth
Druid Hills	Cambridge	Cartersville	Flowery Branch
Jackson-Atlanta	Centennial	Cass	Jefferson
Lithona	Chattahoochee	Cedartown	Johnson-Gainesville
Mays	Marist	Dalton	Madison County
Southwest DeKalb	Northview	Villa Rica	North Oconee
Tucker	Sprayberry	Woodland-Cartersville	Winder-Barrow
	St. Pius X

Class 4A
Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
Bainbridge	Baldwin	Harem	Fayette County
Cairo	Howard	Liberty County	Hampton
Columbus	Mary Persons	Long County	Luella
Dougherty	Peach County	New Hampstead	McDonough
Hardaway	Spalding	Southeast Bulloch	Mt. Zion-Jonesboro
Monroe	Troup County	West Laurens	North Clayton
Shaw	Upson-Lee	Windsor Forest	Riverdale
Spencer	Westside-Macon		Sandy Creek
Westover			Woodland-Stockbridge
Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8
Clarkston	Chestatee	Adairsville	Cherokee Bluff
Douglass-Atlanta	Dawson County	Calhoun	East Hall
Greater Atlanta Christian	Gilmer	Heritage-Catoosa	East Jackson
North Springs	North Hall	Northwest Whitfield	Hoschton
Pace Academy	Pickens	Ridgeland	Monroe Area
Salem	White County	Southeast Whitfield	Oconee County
Stephenson			West Hall
Stone Mountain
Westminster

Class 3A
Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
Carver-Columbus	Callaway	Appling County	Burke County
Cook	Central-Macon	Beach	Butler
Crisp County	Jackson	Brantley County	Cross Creek
Jordan	Lamar County	Islands	Hephzibah
Kendrick	Northeast	Johnson-Savannah	Morgan County
Sumter County	Pike County	Pierce County	Thomson
Worth County	Rutland	Tattnall County	Washington County
	Southwest	Toombs County	Westside-Augusta
Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8
Haraison County	Carver-Atlanta	Coahulla Creek	Barrow
Holy Innocents	Cedar Grove	LaFayette	Elbert County
KIPP Atlanta Collegiate	Columbia	Murray County	Franklin County
Lovett	Hapeville	North Murray	Hart County
North Cobb Christian	McNair	Ringgold	Hebron Christian
Temple	Miller Grove	Rockmart	Lumpkin County
Therrell	Redan	Sonoraville	Stephens County
Wesleyan	South Atlanta		Union County
	Towers

Class 2A
Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
Bacon County	ACE Charter	Bryan County	Aquinas
Berrien	Bleckley County	Calvary Day School	Davidson Fine Arts
Brooks County	Dodge County	Metter	Glenn Hills
Fitzgerald	Dublin	Savannah	Jasper County
Jeff Davis	East Laurens	Savannah Arts Academy	Jefferson County
Thomasville	Vidalia	Savannah Christian	Johnson-Augusta
		Screven County	Josey
		St. Vincents Academy	Laney
		Swainsboro	Putnam County
		Woodville-Tompkins	Social Circle
			Technical Career Magnet
Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8
Ben Franklin Academy	Armuchee	Chattooga	Athens Academy
Coretta Scott King	Bremen	Christian Heritage	Banks County
Drew Charter School	Coosa	Dade County	Commerce
Eagles Landing Christian	Darlington	Dalton County	Oglethorpe County
Greenforest Christian	Heard County	Fannin County	Prince Avenue Christian
Landmark Christian	Model	Gordon Central	Providence Christian
Paideia	Mt. Zion-Carroll	Gordon Lee	Rabun County
Southwest Atlanta Christian	Pepperell	Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe
Stilwell Arts
Trinity Christian
Utopian Academy
W.D. Mohammed
Washington
Whitefield Academy
Region 9
Atlanta International
DeKalb School for the Arts
Fellowship Christian
Galloway
Kings Ridge
Mount Vernon
Mt. Bethel Christian
Mt. Paran Christian
Mt. Pisgah Christian
St. Francis
THRIVE Christian
Walker
Web School

Class 1A
Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4
Baker County	Atkinson County	Claxton	Dooly County
Calhoun County	Baconton	Emanuel County Institute	Hawkinsville
Early County	Charlton County	McIntosh County Academy	Telfair County
Miller County	Clinch County	Montgomery County	Turner County
Pataula Charter	Echols County	Portal	Twiggs County
Quitman County	Irwin County	Savannah Classical	Wheeler County
Randolph-County	Lanier County	Savannah Early College	Wilcox County
Seminole County	Mitchell County	Steam Academy
Southwest Georgia STEM	Pelham	Treutlen
Spring Creek
Stewart County
Terrell County
Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8
Georgia Military County	Central-Talbotton	Atlanta Classical	Greene County
Georgia School for Innovation	Chattahoochee County	B.E.S.T. Academy	Lake Oconee Academy
Glascock County	Crawford County	Bowdon	Lincoln County
Hancock County	Furlow Charter	Elite Scholars Acaemy	Taliaferro County
Jenkins County	Macon County	Greenville	Towns County
Johnson County	Marion County	Manchester	Warren County
Wilkinson County	Rainey-McCullers	Northwest Classical Academy	Washington-Wilkes
	Schley County	Trion	Woody Gap
	Taylor County
	Webster County