Pine Bluff High School's stay in Class 5A football will be short-lived.
Pine Bluff will be reclassified to 6A in football and remain in 5A for other sports for the Arkansas Activities Association's cycle beginning in the fall 2024 semester and ending in the spring of 2026, according to data released by the AAA on Thursday.
Every two years, the state's governing body for secondary-school athletics classifies its member high schools based on enrollment with one grouping for football and another for other sports.
Given the upcoming merger between Dollarway and Pine Bluff high schools, Pine Bluff is ranked the 29th-largest public high school in Arkansas. The top 16 schools are classified as 7A in football and 6A in other sports, while the 17th through 32nd-largest schools are 6A in football and 17th through 48th-largest are 5A in other sports.
Pine Bluff was the 41st-largest with 726.67 students when the last reclassification was done in June 2021. That moved the Zebras down to 5A starting in the 2022 football season after years in 6A.
"We just have to react like everyone else reacts," Pine Bluff Athletic Director and boys basketball Coach Billy Dixon said. "The numbers are what they are. For us, we take that as a challenge. We had a lot of excitement with football this past year, and we have a chance to add more infusion to our program. I look for continued improvement in football."
Pine Bluff improved from a 2-7 mark in the 2021 season, its most recent in 6A football, to 5-4 as a 5A program last season under first-year coach Micheal Williams.
Depending on how the football conferences are aligned, Pine Bluff could renew rivalries with Sheridan, El Dorado and Texarkana, which will move back up to 6A in 2024. Sheridan, the largest southeast Arkansas high school with 973 students, competes with Pine Bluff and White Hall in the 5A-South Conference for other sports.
Coaches get to voice their opinions through their athletic directors before conference alignments are finalized, Dixon said. A challenge for some schools has been dealing with longer road trips when they move to a higher classification, and Pine Bluff took on teams from the northeast corner of the state such as Jonesboro, Marion and West Memphis in the 6A-East during the 2020 and 2021 football seasons. A date for when new conferences will be announced has not been revealed.
"We played on the 6A level. We know it's tough. It's a grind, but we play to compete," Dixon said. "The great thing about football is, they're all on a Friday and Saturday is a recovery day."
Pine Bluff currently plays in the 5A-Central Conference in football, along with neighbors White Hall and Watson Chapel. White Hall will remain 5A in all sports with 729.33 students, and Watson Chapel will continue with 5A football and 4A in other sports with 522 students.
Other football classifications for southeast Arkansas high schools:
4A – Monticello (all sports, 397.33 students); Hamburg (all sports, 371.67); Warren (all sports, 358.33); Crossett (all sports, 357); Stuttgart (all sports, 352.67); Star City (all sports, 327.33); McGehee (3A in other sports, 264)
3A – Dumas (all sports, 241.33); Drew Central (all sports, 234.33); Lake Village Lakeside (all sports, 195.67); Rison (all sports, 193.67); Fordyce (2A in other sports, 176.33)
2A – Dermott (1A in other sports, 70)
8-man – Woodlawn (2A in other sports, 138)