Sports
State league’s realignment drops Waccamaw High from 3A to 2A
Waccamaw High sports teams are scheduled to compete in Class 2A for the next two school years.
The move down from Class 3A, where the Warriors currently compete, is part of a realignment by the S.C. High School League that was announced last week.
Amondre Johnson, Waccamaw’s football coach and co-athletic director, said the move to 2A will come with “some adjustments,” but also a chance to compete against new opponents.
“We look forward to new challenges and still high level competition as Class AA has several great teams, some old and some new to the class,” Johnson said. “It’s exciting to travel to other schools and compete against some really good programs that we may otherwise not have had the opportunity to compete against.”
Schools that are unhappy with being switched to a new classification can appeal to the high school league’s executive committee, which means the new realignment won’t be official until early next year.
Georgetown, Loris, Aynor and Marlboro County, who are now in Region V-AAA with the Warriors, are scheduled to remain in 3A.
That’s disappointing to Waccamaw boys basketball coach Chris Overbeek.
“I don’t like the fact that we’ve lost some long-time region rivals,” he said.
Overbeek is also concerned about the amount of travel. Under the realignment, the closest 2A school to Waccamaw is Timberland, which is 56 miles away.
The high school league will announce new regions once all the classification appeals are settled. Schools will then have an opportunity to appeal their region placements.
Coaches cannot finalize their schedules for the 2026-27 school year until the regions are settled.
“We look forward to the finalized regions expected to come out in February where we know exactly where we stand and can start to prepare to compete,” Johnson said.
Girls soccer coach Mark Sanchez is also worried about the amount of travel. He wonders if some girls won’t want to play because they don’t want to sit on a school bus for hours.
“You’re a student-athlete,” Sanchez said. “You have to balance things in life.”
The girls soccer team is a few years removed from back-to-back 3A state championships.
State rankings in high school soccer are affected by a team’s strength of schedule. Sanchez is also worried that teams in larger classifications won’t want to play a 2A team.
Realignment occurs in two-year cycles. Classifications are based on enrollment.
Under the current alignment there are enough schools in Class 5A to have two divisions, but not enough schools in Class 1A to hold state championships in every sport.
The high school league sought to remedy the problem in 1A with the proposed realignment.
With an enrollment of 698, Waccamaw would be the ninth largest of the 41 schools in 2A. Charleston Charter Math/Science (759 students) would be the largest. Blacksburg High (492) would be the smallest.
Waccamaw girls volleyball coach Katie Morris said the move down to 2A won’t change who the Warriors are.
“The competition will still be strong. It’s simply a new challenge,” she added. “We’ll keep working hard and continue to strive to be the best program we can be.”
Baseball coach Cam Schildt is so focused on the 2026 season that he didn’t realize Waccamaw’s enrollment was close to dropping the Warriors to 2A.
“Whatever the decision is, I am looking forward to the challenge,” he said.
With an enrollment of 2,929, Dorman is the largest high school in the state and would be at the top of the 40 schools in 5A. Lucy Garrett Beckham (1,458) is the smallest 5A school.
Of the 42 schools in 4A, TL Hanna (1,561 students) is the largest and Colleton County (981) is the smallest.
Six schools – Airport (1,042 students), Wren, Daniel, Greer Middle College, Pickens and Lower Richland – have larger enrollments than Colleton County but are in 3A. Loris (738) is the smallest 3A school.
Andrews (393 students) is scheduled to move down to 1A, joining Carvers Bay (342).
The move would mean the athletic contests between the two schools would be for more than just county bragging rights; it would also have playoff implications if the schools are in the same region.
Ninety Six (489 students) would be the largest of the 66 schools in 1A. S.C. School For the Deaf and the Blind (44) would be the smallest.
