As athletic teams at Brevard High approach the end of the 2024-25 school year, we start looking toward the future. The NCHSAA realignment of the state’s high school divisions coming into effect for the 2025-26 has stirred things up.

Brevard, once a 2A school, will be reclassified as 4A by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

Along with the new division, we will be put into a different conference called the “Mountain 8.”

This conference combines 4A and 5A schools and will include the following:

Tuscola High

Pisgah High

East Henderson High

Smoky Mountain High

Franklin High

North Henderson High

West Henderson High

Brevard would be the smallest school by population in this conference, with a total of 789 students. BHS will compete with schools in the 5A division such as West Henderson and Franklin, which have more than 1,000 students.

Athletic Director Josh Galloway said he’s excited for the new conference.

“It’s gonna be better all around,” Galloway said.

He talked about how “similar” these schools are to us in the “nature of competition.”

He had mixed feelings about the new realignment of divisions, commenting on how there will be too many teams playing in a state playoff, going from just four state championship games currently to eight.

Principal Mick Galloway said BHS was in this conference a few years ago.

“Top to bottom, a much more competitive conference in men’s and women’s across all sports,” he said. This conference will bring back some “natural rivalries that span for decades.”

Principal Galloway said it will financially help our school when it comes to playing these rivalry teams by pulling a lot of fans out to watch.

“Pisgah, Tuscola and West Henderson will be the money games,” he said, due to rivalries from past years.

With the new division realignment and conference, we don’t know for sure how we will compete with the new high schools, but we know that “we’re gonna have some challenges,” Principal Galloway said.

Visit the NCHSAA website for more information about the realignment, including conferences and classifications.

By Maddie Galloway. Images provided by InProcess. To view more photos, visit https://inprocess.me/