KANAWHA COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – Eleven West Virginia high schools have won their appeals to return to their original classifications for West Virginia high school football.

The eleven schools that appealed their new classifications were Frankfort, John Marshall, Oak Hil, Petersburg, Preston, Sissonville, Spring Valley, St. Albans, St. Marys, Tyler Consolidated and Wayne. With the approved appeals, they will now move down one classification from where they were newly classified.

The WVSSAC says they received the Review Board’s opinion reversing the Board of Directors’ reclassifications of those schools in football for the 2024-2025 academic year. The reclassifications originally came following a pilot period of four classifications – AAAA, AAA, AA and A – for basketball. The WVSSAC says its Board of Control then voted 117-16 to extend the four classifications expansion to additional sports.

“We received notification of the Review Board’s decision on Monday and are working through the implications at this time,” said David Price, WVSSAC executive director. “We respect the governance process in place and will do our best to work through the logistics of these changes so close to the start of competition.”

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The changes from the appeal include:

• John Marshall, Oak Hill, Preston, St. Albans and Spring Valley will move from Class AAAA back down to Class AAA.
• Frankfort, Sissonville and Wayne will move from Class AAA back down to Class AA
• Petersburg, St. Marys and Tyler Consolidated will move from Class AA back down to Class A.

Sissonville High School Principal Gene Smith, Ed. D., announced the decision for Sissonville on the school’s Facebook page .

According to Smith, that AAA classification would have had Sissonville’s sports teams competing against high schools that have nearly double the number of students they have enrolled. Smith says Sissonville HS has “held firm in” their support of the WVSSAC’s mission but says the school should not have been reclassified to AAA in the first place.

“From the outset, Sissonville High School has argued that the competitive balance formula transfer law, and the failure of the Board of Directors to consider the advice of the WVSSAC Executive Directors improperly classified Sissonville High School as a AAA school,” Smith said.

Smith also praised the Board of Review for rejecting the claim of “this is how we always do it,” and hearing out the appeals in the reclassification.

“As we move forward, I cannot predict what will happen with classifications beginning in the school year 2025 and beyond, but what I can predict is my support for the youth of the greater Sissonville Community and the youth across the state. Our students deserve a fair, competitive match, and we will always fight to ensure they receive it – win or lose. In closing, I would like to thank everyone that has supported our cause and the other appellate schools. Our collective effort was instrumental in this process,” Smith said.

However, this ruling just stands for this football season. It will be reviewed in the spring.

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