East Section Small School Enrollment Cutoff Goofup

[area1guy]

Most small schools in East Section should be enraged by the current enrollment cutoff for small schools. Holston out of Area 1 is the largest school in East Section with a 8th grade enrollment of 140+. Whoever made this decision did the schools with 8th grade enrollment between 30 and 50 a disservice.

 

Real small schools in East Section should let TMSAA have an earful.

[4th&goal]

Quit whining. If want to see a huge difference look at the large schools. When you compare Sweetwater, Athens, Cherokee, and even North to schools like Science Hill there is a much larger difference.

[area1guy]

Quit whining. If want to see a huge difference look at the large schools. When you compare Sweetwater, Athens, Cherokee, and even North to schools like Science Hill there is a much larger difference.

 

 

So maybe that's a problem also that TMSAA should address. Just because its may be unfair on the large end does not make it ok on the other side. Maybe there should be 3 different groups. TSSAA recognized the issue at the high school groupings and tried to level the playing field with the new classifications.

 

Whining or not, its not fair, especially to the small schools with an 8th grade enrollment of 30-40 students. Assuming 50% are boys, you have a pool of 15-20 to get a team.

[jhoop12]

I am from Holston and I am sorry you feel that way...our small and large cutoff in upper east tennessee was set by the large schools, we at Holston had no say in the number, we just go play where they tell us to play, the reason for the cutoff is we have so many large schools in the 250-550 range, the gap between a science hill with near 600 8th graders, plus schools like sevier and robinson from kingsport with 300 8th graders is a much bigger gap than our 140 to your 40-60 8th graders, our numbers vary with the year, our 6th grade class has about 115, i do agree with you that there should be 3 divisions, we at holston have been pushing for 3 divisions for years, we finally go 3 divisions passed in area 1 for football small 0-100, intermediate 100-175, large 175-up, we crown 3 area 1 champs in football, we were told we could not do that in basketball because of the sectional setup, we have talked to the TMSAA about doing it in basketball and the say Area 2,3, and 4 have to do the same thing to make it work, i urge you to get the ball rolling in those 3 areas and form 3 divisions as we have in area 1

[sshsvbdad09]

Good points. While it is clear Sullivan's 50 or 60 8th-graders shouldn't be playing Science Hill's 600, it is not so clear where you should draw the line. From some of the comments, however, it sounds like the other areas are not using 150 8th-graders as the cutoff. Can someone from Areas 2-4 confirm? If not, this is the first thing that should be fixed.

 

No whining if Mary Hughes boys win. With only 150 total grades 6-8, they really are SMALL.

[hopalot]

We(Midway) lost to Holston, but they played better than we did that night.

 

The enrollment cutoff is an issue that needs to be dealt with, but not Holston's fault. Someone will always be the largest small school or the smallest large school.

[area1guy]

We(Midway) lost to Holston, but they played better than we did that night.

 

The enrollment cutoff is an issue that needs to be dealt with, but not Holston's fault. Someone will always be the largest small school or the smallest large school.

 

 

Points well said. Obviously if your winning against a larger school its not an issue, but when you loose in your Area it stings (and we did).

 

I have totally lost track with the progress of the East Sectional Small Schools boys. Who is the favorite? Who are the go to players for the teams left?

[hopalot]

Points well said. Obviously if your winning against a larger school its not an issue, but when you loose in your Area it stings (and we did).

 

I have totally lost track with the progress of the East Sectional Small Schools boys. Who is the favorite? Who are the go to players for the teams left?

 

 

 

FWIW, We only have around 75-80 8th graders this year. Next year we only will have around 60-65.

 

Semi-finals:

Holston vs. Rogersville

 

Mary Hughes vs. Lenoir City

 

I'd say Rogersville and Mary Hughes are favored. But any of these four teams could win it all.

[area1guy]

I will confess to supporting Newport in Area 1. We are only in the 60-70 range for 8th graders (I think.)

 

I do hope that TMSAA would consider moving to 3 groups in East Section.

 

Mary Hughes does have that one big kid that plays inside, but Rogersville has a great point guard.

[chief87]

Rogersville has about 70 eighth graders. I have seen all teams left except for Lenoir City. It seems to me that what we do have left is a bunch of teams with good players on each team but none of them too one dimensional. I would like to commend the boy from Petros on how well he handled himself against Rogersville. He was really guarded well all night and doubled teamed most of the time and he had a great attitude and gave the game his all.

[4th&goal]

TMSAA needs to go to 3 divisions. Cherokee, North, Athens, and Sweetwater all have between 175- 190 8th graders. We can't compete with schools with 600. Just look at who is in the finals. Science Hill boys and girls.

[area1guy]

The largest of the Small Schools won the boys Championship (Holston).

 

The largest of the Large Schools won the boys Championship (Science Hill).

 

Now tell me numbers in enrollment doesn't matter.