West-Oak wins final appeal, Football only moves to 2A-1

[SF Band dad]

Final SCHSL realignment forces schedule changes for Anderson-area schools
IndependentMail.com
Kennington Lloyd Smith III, Anderson
Published 9:36 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2020

West-Oak High School, which remained in Region 3A-1 after the initial realignment filed a petition to the SCHSL to move to Region 2A-1 for football only. After two failed appeals, West-Oak took its case to an appellate court where their appeal was granted.

As West-Oak moved down one classification, the remaining teams in their region: Belton-Honea Path, D.W. Daniel, Pendleton, Seneca and Wren were left without a game on their schedule.

< Excerpts - Full article at the headline link >

[icoachfb53]

That move is NO easier for WO.

[88SuperPower]

What was the reason for the move?

[Onion Rings]

beat-down avoidance??

[RoadWarrior98]

Must be hard times to say please let us go down to 2A and we won't compete for a playoff spot. Hate that for them.

[88SuperPower]

That can't be the justification for asking for the move/appeal. There has to be another reason.

[stretch]

That can't be the justification for asking for the move/appeal. There has to be another reason.

From what I know they’re a team that could be able to compete in 2-3 years and the coaches and administration don’t want the players confidence destroyed by losing to Wren, Daniel, and BHP by 70 points in region games, not saying it’ll be much easier going against a team like Abbeville, but still presents winnable games for them in that region.

[bringthewood]

It won't matter. You cannot win at WO. They used to be in basically the same region they appealed to be moved down to, and couldn't win. One of their opponents always gave the kids the week off when WO was the opponent.

[88SuperPower]

I just don't see why they would allow them to move based on their inability to compete. Will future schools be given the same treatment when their swimming team is not competitive and they want to move down to avoid losing.

[AHS14]

The really aggravating thing about this is the schedule impact. Everyone in their AAA Region is forced to find another one game, while everyone in the AA Region now has to drop somebody or make other adjustments to accommodate for adding West-Oak. No offense to West-Oak, but this region is already weak enough in football. You lose what was likely to be a competitive non-region game and instead have to go on the road and play someone that has only won 2 games in 4 years.