The Tennessee Secondary School Athletics Association has released each of its member schools’ reported enrollment numbers for the 2022-2023 school year, and it appears that Oneida will be moving up to Class 2A for basketball, Scott High will be moving down to Class 3A for football, with an outside shot of moving down to Class 2A for basketball.
The new enrollment numbers will be used to set classifications for the next two school years, beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.
Oneida reported an enrollment of 415, up from 386 two years ago. Scott High reported an enrollment of 695, down from 815 two years ago. It had been widely anticipated that OHS’s enrollment would be up slightly, while SHS’s enrollment would be down. Scott High has lost a number of students to home-schooling and online academies during the covid pandemic.
TSSAA voted earlier this year to leave the classification structures unchanged across all sports, meaning there will be six public school classes for football, four for basketball, baseball and softball, and three for soccer.
It should be noted that the projections that follow are mere speculation based off what is known. There are several unknowns that make it more difficult to know exactly how the classifications will play out. TSSAA will make those classifications official in the weeks ahead.
Among the unknowns: Private schools that choose to compete in the public school ranks using the TSSAA’s multiplier; schools that choose to play up a classification; and schools that may have dropped a sport in the past two years.
Football
Oneida is currently in Class 2A and Scott High is currently in Class 4A. Under the current classification, the cut-off between Class 1A and Class 2A is 374 students, while the cut-off between Class 2A and Class 3A is 541 students, and the cut-off between Class 3A and Class 4A is 761 students. There are 49 schools in each of the state’s six classifications.
Based on the new enrollment numbers, it appears to be a certainty that Oneida will remain in Class 2A, while it appears likely that Scott High moves down to Class 3A.
It appears that the new cut-off for Class 1A will be about 360 students, slightly lower than two years ago. The cut-off for Class 2A will be about 510, and the cut-off for Class 3A will be about 710.
If those projections wind up being close, Oneida will likely remain in a region with Rockwood and Wartburg. Monterey and York Institute will probably remain in Class 2A, as well. The only potential caveats: Rockwood is close to being small enough to fall into Class 1A, while York is close to being large enough to fall into Class 3A. And when it comes time for region pairings, TSSAA prefers to avoid placing teams from different time zones in the same districts and regions as much as possible.
As for Scott High, the numbers are close, but it appears likely that the Highlanders will drop into Class 3A even though the cut-off between Classes 3A and 4A appears likely to decrease. That would place the Highlanders back in the same classification with former region foes like Alcoa, Austin-East, Gatlinburg-Pittman, Pigeon Forge and Kingston.
Basketball, Baseball and Softball
Oneida is currently in Class 1A and Scott High is currently in Class 3A. Under the current classification, the cut-off between Class 1A and Class 2A is 386 students, the cut-off between Class 2A and Class 3A is 700 students, and the cut-off between Class 3A and Class 4A is 1,228 students. There are 83 teams in each of the state’s four classifications.
It is a near certainty that Oneida will move from Class 1A to Class 2A; the Indians are the largest Class 1A team in the state under the current classifications. What remains to be determined is whether Scott High will drop from Class 3A to Class 2A, which would likely result in Scott and Oneida being paired in the same district.
By best-guess projections, based on the enrollment numbers, the new cut-offs will be around 388 for Class 1A and 681 for Class 2A. If that is accurate, Oneida will be in Class 2A, and Scott High will be in Class 3A.
However, those numbers are likely to shift somewhat, based on the factors mentioned above.
Should Scott High remain in Class 3A for basketball, its district opponents — Anderson County, Clinton and Halls — may not change.
Should Oneida move up to Class 2A, which appears likely, the Indians would face a new district slate. None of the Indians’ current district opponents appear likely to move up, though Wartburg would be the most likely to make the move, with an enrollment of 383.
Other teams in Class 2A from this general area include Alcoa, Austin-East, Kingston, York Institute and Monterey.
Soccer
Oneida is currently in Class 1A and Scott High is currently in Class 2A. Under the current classification, the cut-off between Class 1A and Class 2A is 665 students. There are 86 teams in each of the state’s three classifications.
Oneida will certainly remain in Class 1A for soccer. It appears likely that Scott High will remain in Class 2A — though, again, it will be close.
The bottom line
It appears that Oneida will remain in Class 2A for football and in Class 1A for soccer, while moving up to Class 2A for basketball, baseball and softball.
It appears that Scott High will remain in Class 3A for basketball, baseball and softball, and in Class 2A for soccer, while moving down to Class 3A for football. However, there is a slight chance that the Highlanders could move down to Class 2A for basketball, baseball and softball.
It bears repeating that the above projections are based in large part on the classifications that are currently in place and there are a number of other factors that will come into play that could result in slight shifts to the numbers.
TSSAA will finalize the classifications for the next two school years within the next couple of weeks.
This story will be updated if errors are realized.
