Georgetown’s appeal of realignment placement denied

Georgetown’s bid to change homes for the 2016-2018 realignment was denied by the South Carolina High School League on Thursday.

Principal Craig Evans and other officials – citing monetary, time and media constraints – were asking to be moved from a Class AAA region involving teams in or closer to the Charleston area in favor of another that is set to include Aynor, Loris, Waccamaw, Dillon and Lake City.

However, the appeal was shot down by a vote of 13-1.

“Obviously we’re upset about it,” Georgetown football coach and co-Athletics Director Bradley Adams said. “We’re just a little confused. They said it was more geographically friendly for us to be in the region they put us in.”

The lost appeal means the Bulldogs’ first two years in the new five-class SCHSL system will be in Region VII-AAA. The other schools there include Bishop England, Hanahan, Lake Marion, Manning and Timberland.

Three of those schools and one from the aforementioned Region VII-AAA were against the move, according to the appeal paperwork Georgetown initially filed. That likely cut down the school’s chances of a successful appeal.

The school is allowed to file a secondary appeal and go in front of an appellate panel next week. It has until Friday afternoon to declare if it wants to do that. Adams said school officials will decide Friday morning.

However, the appellate board also appears to be an uphill climb based on the lopsided view of the initial appeal board and the aforementioned number of schools attempting to block Georgetown’s move.

In the initial paperwork the school filed to the SCHSL, it stated that its average travel to the Lowcountry region sites would be an average of 15 miles per trip longer. The school previously stated the added travel would essentially undo all of the help it received via a district mandate for the four county programs to play each other in non-region games each year.

The difference, the school said, is magnified considering all of Georgetown’s sports across the varsity and junior varsity levels.

The school is also worried about what media coverage will look like. Currently, it receives coverage of its sports from outlets in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee, something officials believe will decease given more games against teams not located in those two areas.

Georgetown was the only area school to file a direct appeal to the SCHSL executive committee. However, via a letter of support, Conway nearly ended up dropping from the top level of the new five-class system into a beach-heavy Class AAAA region that also includes Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, St. James and Marlboro County.

Essentially, Conway officials offered to take the place of Wilson, which was attempting to move into a region closer to its school. That vote was denied, but by a narrow 9-5 count.

The decision leaves the Tigers in a Class AAAAA region that also includes Carolina Forest, Socastee, Sumter, South Florence and West Florence. Wilson, barring an appellate board reversal, will remain with Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, St. James and Marlboro County.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Georgetown’s appeal of realignment placement denied."