Whitewater

High School will join sister schools Sandy Creek and McIntosh, as well

as Coweta County neighbor Northgate, in Region 4-AAAA in its inaugural

season of varsity athletics under the Georgia High School Association's

realignment proposal for the 2004-06 seasons.

The GHSA predicts

the new school, which opens in August with a freshman class, will have

1,356 students when all four grades are filled in three years. It will

add 11th-graders and begin playing varsity football in 2005.

McIntosh, meanwhile,

gets a break and moves down from AAAAA. With an enrollment of 1,489, the

Peachtree City school has had the distinction of being among the smallest

in the big-school class, which includes 4,000-student Collins Hill High

in Gwinnett.

In addition

to current members Northgate and Sandy Creek, other 4-AAAA schools will

be Alexander, Chapel Hill, Creekside, Douglas County, Haralson County,

Lithia Springs, Villa Rica and Woodward Academy.

Fayette County

(2,253 projected) and Starr's Mill (1,863) both remain in 4-AAAAA, with

East Coweta and Newnan. Lovejoy, Mundy's Mill and Union Grove round out

that seven-school region.

Landmark Christian

and Our Lady of Mercy Catholic will work hard to flesh out a full 10-game

schedule in their Region 5-A, where many of the 13 schools don't field

football teams.

There are other

changes across the state.Traditional rivals like Brookwood, Parkview,

Dacula and Collins Hill in Gwinnett County are being split across two

regions. In middle Georgia, big-school powers Warner Robins, Northside

and Westside Macon are dropping down to 3-AAAA to join Griffin and Upson-Lee

in what will surely be a dog-eat-dog football region.

In far South

Georgia, the big-school dynasty in Region 1-AAAAA has been reduced to

just five teams: Lowndes, Valdosta, Colquitt, Tift and Coffee.

Schools have

30 days to appeal the proposed classifications. For complete listings,

visit www.ghsa.net.