Will York and Lewisville continue realignment appeals after rejections this week?

Both York and Lewisville had realignment appeals shot down by the South Carolina High School League executive committee on Wednesday and Thursday, and both schools will continue their appeals to the appellate committee on Aug. 29.

The 2018-20 realignment plan, released earlier this month, would move York into the 5A classification and Lewisville into the 2A ranks. Neither school would be replaced in the region it left. Both schools submitted plans to appeal in mid-August and the appellate committee is their last recourse before the realignment plan is finalized.

York and Lewisville were not alone in getting rejected this week. Most of the other 25 appeals were denied over the course of a long two days with a few exceptions. The results got so predictable that Lou Bezjak, The State newspaper’s high school sports reporter, began Tweeting humorous GIFs when appeal outcomes were delivered.

“It was kind of like, ‘next!’” said York athletic director Joey Moore. “Disappointed obviously.”

Moore said that York’s contingent arrived at the SCHSL headquarters in Columbia just as Lugoff-Elgin’s group was leaving the building. L-E had just been denied and didn’t offer the York folks much hope as they entered. The Cougars’ appeal was subsequently rejected 13-0.

Lewisville AD Rusty Pemberton felt the same sense of hopelessness when he arrived the following day, Lewisville’s appeal being one of the final ones heard before Thursday’s lunch break.

“It seemed as though they just didn’t want to be there, the executive committee. Every head was down, and I understand because it was a long two days,” Pemberton said. “But their body language when (we) walked in there was just ‘let’s get through this.’ It was real depressing.”

Lewisville’s appeal argument revolved around several points:

▪ The SCHSL moved to five classifications two years ago to restore competitive balance; the new realignment would undo all of that work by making the classifications markedly different in size, while magnifying gaps in enrollment within each classification.

▪ Lewisville moving up to 2A would bury less popular sports in the 1A ranks, such as cross country and soccer, sports in which the school has girls and boys’ teams. Taking Lewisville, Dixie and Hannah-Pamplico out of 1A would leave around 10 teams or less playing those sports in the classification. Pemberton tried to make clear to the executive committee Thursday that he was thinking about other sports too and not just football.

▪ Lewisville’s enrollment ranking actually went down a spot, and the Lions wouldn’t be replaced in their region or in the 1A ranks, so leaving them where they are wouldn’t impact any other schools directly.

Lewisville’s appeal was struck down 15-0.

York’s appeal had some similarities, including the fact it wasn’t replaced in its region or in 4A. Both schools will go from one of the biggest in their current classification to the smallest in their new one, an obvious motivation for appeal.

Many of the appealing schools were asked by the executive committee if they had submitted an alternate proposal back in the spring. If it had been made clear that the SCHSL would change number of schools in each classification to less even distributions, York and Lewisville - both straddling the line between different classifications - might have submitted alternate proposals. Not knowing that would happen, neither did.

One more thing Lewisville and York have in common: neither school's ADs received an explanation for why the numbers of schools in each classification were changed. Perhaps they’ll find out from the appellate panel next week.

Both schools will have to pay for their second appeal - if they lose - to cover the travel costs of the appellate committee members to and from the SCHSL’s headquarters, a bill that could hit as much as $500, according to Pemberton. Again, that’s only if York and Lewisville lose their appellate appeals, but based on this week, they better have the checkbook ready.

This story was originally published August 25, 2017 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Will York and Lewisville continue realignment appeals after rejections this week?."