In the middle of high school boys basketball sectional week, football is hardly a front burner topic.
But the Decatur Central football program notched a victory Tuesday, one that had nothing to do with points on the scoreboard and everything to do with the number of students in the school.
Tuesday, the Indiana High School Athletic Association released the enrollment numbers it will use to reclassify teams for the 2013-14 and '14-15 school years. (Go to http://blogs.indystar.com/preps/ for links to the complete lists.)
Under the new six-class football system, Decatur Central's enrollment of 1,922 students makes it the second-largest Class 5A school.
So instead of battling programs in its sectional such as Ben Davis (4,687), Pike (3,031) and Avon (2,608), Decatur Central now figures to see the likes of Westfield (1,821) and Zionsville (1,808).
"It's more of an apples to apples situation now in terms of the enrollment disparity," Decatur Central coach Justin Dixson said. "What's good for us is that we're playing schools in the postseason now that are much more comparable to the schools in our conference. There's not the huge gap that there was before."
The IHSAA will set the classifications for each sport within two weeks and the realignment for team sport sectionals will be approved at the IHSAA executive committee meeting on April 29.
Though the reclassification isn't official, here are some of the other significant storylines based off the IHSAA enrollment numbers:
* The local teams that will make up the new 6A class in football look to be Ben Davis, Carmel, Warren Central, North Central, Pike, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Avon, Franklin Central, Fishers, Lawrence Central, Tech, Center Grove, Brownsburg, Lawrence North, Perry Meridian and Southport.
* The local 5A teams will be Decatur Central, Westfield, Zionsville, Whiteland, Franklin and Martinsville. Cathedral has a 4A enrollment (1,238 students), but will move up to 5A by winning back-to-back state titles under the IHSAA's tournament success factor.
"There are a lot of good football programs in 5A," Dixson said. "It'll be an interesting tournament."
* Class 4A will have a new look with Bishop Chatard also moving up under the tournament success factor. Plainfield is one of the largest 4A football schools and it appears Danville will move up to 4A as one of the smallest schools in the class. Northwest and Beech Grove are also poised to move up to 4A.
* One of the biggest changes in baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball will be Roncalli moving back down to 3A after two years in 4A. Northwest and Mt. Vernon, both ranked in the top-10 in boys basketball in 3A, will likely move up to 4A for the next two-year cycle. Shelbyville and New Palestine again figure to be among the smallest 4A programs.
* Marshall and Herron both look to move from 2A to 3A in basketball and Washington figures to be right on the 2A/3A cutoff, probably a small 3A.
* IPS-turned-charter schools have taken a significant enrollment hit. Manual (466 students) and Howe (346) will both drop from 3A to 2A and Arlington (289) figures to fall from 3A to Class A for basketball. Marshall (3A), Washington (2A), Manual (2A) and Shortridge (A) are expected to add football programs.
* Brebeuf Jesuit will be on the dividing line between A and 2A in soccer after spending the first two seasons in 2A.
