For the next two years, some travel plans changed while some remained the same for the local high school football and basketball teams.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association recently released its reclassification for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 academic years.

In football, Class 4A Cherokee County has four different opponents than last season in the same Region 6.

Gone are Guntersville, Saks, Douglas and Boaz. In are Hokes Bluff, Locust Fork, Oneonta and St. Clair County. The holdovers along with CCHS are Ashville, Alexandria and Jacksonville.

Sand Rock faces a similar situation in Class 2A, Region 6. The Wildcats and fellow Region 7 holdovers Fyffe, Ider, Section and North Sand Mountain lose Piedmont, Brindlee Mountain and Westminster Christian and welcome in Geraldine, West End and Westbrook Christian.

The four local Class 1A squads will stay put, as Region 6 will once again feature Cedar Bluff, Gaylesville, Spring Garden, Collinsville, Gaston, Valley Head, Skyline and Woodville.

Piedmont moves from 2A Region 7 to 3A Region 5 with Glencoe, Leeds, Pleasant Valley, Tarrant, Walter Wellborn, Weaver and White Plains.

In basketball, CCHS receives a much more reasonable travel schedule by leaving Area 14 and DAR, Guntersville and North Jackson and joining up in Region 12 with Alexandria, Hokes Bluff and Jacksonville.

Sand Rock also enjoys a complete region makeover. The Wildcats bid farewell to Piedmont, Pleasant Valley and White Plains and greet Geraldine, West End and Westbrook Christian.

There is just one alteration in Class 1A, Area 12, as Asbury joins Area 13 holdovers Cedar Bluff, Gaylesville, Spring Garden, Collinsville and Gaston.

Piedmont’s Class 3A, Area 10 opposition will be Glencoe, Pleasant Valley, Weaver and White Plains.

Alignments are made for each sport in each class, based on the number of schools participating in a sport. Some programs include two or more classes in a division.

The current two-year classification period ends with the 2007-08 school year. The new alignments will go into effect in the fall of 2008.

In the football alignment where travel was a major factor, regions are uneven with 7-, 8- and 9-team groupings. Regions with seven teams will leave weeks 1, 5 and 10 open for non-region games and schedule their six region games over the other seven weeks (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9).

Regions with eight teams will leave weeks 1, 5 and 10 open for non-region games and schedule region games on the other seven weeks (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9).

Regions with nine teams will leave week 10 open and draw for the other week to leave open for non-region games. Each team would then have eight weeks to schedule its region games.

The AHSAA contributed to this story