KINGWOOD — The first football game for Preston High School is still over two weeks away, but the Knights have already picked up one victory in 2024.
Late Monday night Preston, along with 10 other schools, was granted the right to change its WVSSAC classification in football for the upcoming 2024 season. PHS will compete in Class AAA instead of Class AAAA this year in football only.
Preston, which is the lone school in the county, consolidated in 1992 and has made the state playoffs in football just three times in the history of the school.
The last time the Knights made the playoffs, in 2019, they finished the regular season 4-6 and lost to Martinsburg, 84-0, in the first round.
“I think this gives us a chance to be competitive,” Todd Seymour, PHS principal, said. “We are a rural school in a rural county; it gives us an opportunity to compete against similar schools.”
Currently, Preston enrolls roughly 1,100 students in the high school in a county that is 650 square miles. Many of those potential student-athletes have bus rides that are 45 minutes-to-an-hour long.
“Some of our students can’t participate in sports because they won’t get home until 8 p.m. or later,” Seymour said. “We have more of a chance to be competitive in Class AAA instead of Class AAAA.”
The appeal process for Preston, and the other 10 schools, was arduous.
First, the appeal was heard by the WVSSAC Board of Directors, and it was denied. The group of schools then went to the WVSSAC Board of Review which sent it back to the Board of Directors. The appeal was once again shot down before the Board of Review made its decision on Monday.
“The big point we made is that the reclassification was to bring about better competitive balance,” Preston County Superintendent Brad Martin said. “Not only for football but for all the impacted sports, this is going to give us a more-level playing field.”
The WVSAAC made the move to a four-class system for football, baseball, softball, volleyball, cheer, girls’, and boys’ basketball in December of 2023. The new classification was supposed to look at enrollment along with other factors such as competitive balance.
Martin said that Preston does fall within the enrollment guidelines but falls short on competitive balance. Especially in football, where the Knights have played for 32 years and just recently picked up their 100th win in school history. The school is averaging just 3.2 wins per season in its existence.
Seymour and Martin are both hopeful that the Board of Directors will look at the classifications and put all the Preston sports into Class AAA moving forward.
“We are happy for football this year,” Seymour said. “But our hope is that eventually all sports will move to Class AAA and it will be permanent.”
Preston will still play its regularly scheduled opponents this season including Class AAAA teams University and Woodrow Wilson along with Class AA opponent Phillip Barbour and the rest of their Big Ten Conference schedule.
“It doesn’t change anything this year schedule-wise for us,” PHS head football coach Mark Deep said. “But if we can stay in Class AAA it really does open things up for us. There’s a chance where we might not have to go more than an hour and a half for a game. That would be great for our students, our coaches, and our community.”
Deep said that Seymour, Martin, and community member Craig Jennings were instrumental in getting the Knights’ classification changed.
“Who benefits from Preston being Class AAAA? Nobody,’” Jennings said. “It doesn’t help Martinsburg to come in here and beat us by 80. It hurts them and us — no one wants to get their heads beat in. We aren’t asking to move down to Class A, we just want to be competitive and give our student-athletes the best opportunity.”
Other schools also winning the appeal are Frankfort, John Marshall, Oak Hill, Petersburg, St. Albans, St. Mary’s, Sissonville, Spring Valley, Tyler Consolidated and Wayne.
Class AAAA will see the biggest change as Preston, John Marshall, Oak Hill, St. Albans, and Spring Valley move to Class AAA. That means Class AAAA will consist of just 20 schools with 16 of those making the playoffs.
Frankfort, Wayne, and Sissonville are moving from Class AAA to Class AA while St. Mary’s, Petersburg and Tyler Consolidated are moving from Class AA to Class A.
By ERIC HERTER
TWEET @DomPostSports
