THOMASVILLE — The potential for the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) to move from its current eight classifications back to six would benefit South Georgia’s traveling issues.

The GHSA board of trustees is scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss and possibly vote on reducing the number of classifications, beginning in 2024. 

The potential move would greatly impact the Thomasville Bulldogs who were realigned to Class AAA beginning next school year, joining Carver-Columbus and Columbus and Crisp County in Region 1.

“I think going to six classes would be a way to reduce travel, obviously. We would probably not be in a region with Columbus schools if they went to six classes. That would definitely affect who’s in our region,” Thomasville athletic director Jeremy Rayburn said. “If you cut it back to six, I think that would help. I don’t know that it solves all of your South Georgia problem. But it would definitely help your South Georgia problem.”

The meeting will address Georgia’s SB 328, which among other things, would require the GHSA to pay for schools’ travel when it exceeds 75 miles. It is approximately 145 miles from Thomasville to Columbus and 84 miles from Thomasville to Cordele.

“The GHSA sent something out last week basically saying that if that goes into effect the association would be broke from football season by itself just from the number of trips and that’s not counting the 25 other sports that have to make those other trips as well,” Rayburn said.

The expansion to eight classifications, which has been the norm since 2016, allowed for more schools to compete for state championships. However, the playoff pool has become diluted, Rayburn contends.

“One thing that you hear people talk about is, if you cut a class out, that’s 32 less teams going to the playoffs. We’ve got so many that go now, making it to the state playoffs is not as important as it used to be,” Rayburn said. “When I was in elementary school, one team from each region made it to the state playoffs. You played an actual region championship game the second week of the postseason. Then they went to where two teams got in and then eventually all four go in. It’s diluted it a lot.”