Richmond Hill High School will compete in Class AAAA next fall rather than play up a level, a school official said Tuesday.

But the Wildcats won’t know the schools they’ll share a region with until after the Thanksgiving Holiday, which could make life interesting next fall.

"It’s a gamble," said Assistant Principal Wade Wright. "We declared AAAA thinking we have the best chance of playing the closet to home against the best competition."

Among the area high schools which have been classified AAAA in the latest round of region alignments are Effingham County, South Effingham, Brunswick and Glynn Academy.

Schools which belong to the Georgia High School Association compete in one of five classifications based on student population -- with A being the smallest and AAAAA the largest.

Richmond Hill has been a AAA school for the last eight years, but a projected population of more than 1,400 students next fall put the Wildcats and Lady Wildcats into the AAAA ranks.

Schools have the option of playing up a classification, and Richmond Hill considered playing in AAAAA because of the proximity of Savannah schools -- which have made up the bulk of Region 3AAAAA for years.

"It’s a difficult decision," Wright said. "Coaches had input, and after discussions the coaches decided AAAA would probably be best for each individual program."

At the Nov. 19 school board meeting, some Bryan County Board of Education members stressed a need to reduce travel. Currently, the Wildcats compete in region 3AAA, which is made up mostly of schools located near Augusta or Macon.

 More on this story is in Wednesday's Bryan County News.