Quote Originally Posted by hoard View Post
The VHSL never "wants" to have combined districts, but if (when) Abingdon ends up as the only AA school in far SWVa what's the better alternative? Without a combo district, you either have to...

1) Force them into the River Ridge with Pulaski, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Salem, Hidden Valley, and Cave Spring (plus Carroll County would probably end up there as well). Think Abingdon or any of the RRD members are going to be happy with that arrangement? --OR--

2) Allow them to play down in Group A. Now Abingdon might be for that, but I'd say few, if any, Group A schools would.

IIRC, the Eastern Shore and Dogwood ceased being combined districts mainly because the AA schools in those leagues (Northampton, Appomattox, Gretna, Dan River, maybe another I'm forgetting) got small enough to drop down to Group A and there was no longer a need for the combo setup.

It's not the ideal arrangement, but it's the lesser of three evils so to speak.

As for Tazewell, what makes you think they favor joining a district with Graham over joining Richlands? Tazewell is just as close to Richlands geographically and they are each other's biggest rival (Graham's is Bluefield, WV). If forced to choose between a CMD with Richlands, Lebanon and the Bristol-area schools or the MED with Graham and the likes of Galax, Fort Chiswell and Grayson, I'd be willing to bet Tazewell would take the CMD in a heartbeat.

I agree that all other factors being equal, Graham would rather be in Region C for travel purposes, but if they have an opportunity to rejoin Tazewell and Richlands, even in Region D, they might go that route. Also, Richlands is much closer to Region D schools than they are Region C--they can get to any school in SWVA (except for Lee and TW) in 90 minutes tops. That isn't the case for them with the Three Rivers and Pioneer schools in Region C.
The biggest thing about Abingdon being able to get a hardships and drop to D2 is it opening the gates so to speak as Lee did for some Eastern teams to drop. Then we would be back to square one with the unfair enrollment advantages in certain Divisions.If all sports were to go to a format like football is doing before Abingdon would be affected then Abingdon could go Independent since District Champs will no longer get auto bids to playoffs. As for Tazewell I dont think the VHSL would allow them to choose what Region they want to join. That is what makes me think they will go to Region C. But then again that may not even be a factor by the time they decide to drop. Regions may be done away with in all sports by then.