Navarre appeals move to Class 7A

Navarre High School has appealed the tentative reassignment of the Raiders’ football program to Class 7A, citing student population and financial considerations as reasons to remain in 6A.

“Our enrollment was only six students above the cutoff for 6A,” NHS athletic director Scott Murphy said last week after officially appealing the Florida High School Athletics Association’s proposal to assign Navarre to a new District 1-7A with Cantonment Tate, Crestview and Niceville – all of which also played in Class 6A in 2012.

According to the FHSAA website, schools with 1,872 or more students enrolled would be placed in Class 7A. Murphy said Navarre’s enrollment for reassignment purposes was 1,878.

“We feel, if we make a playoff run like we did last year (to the Class 6A semifinals), we’ll have to play some schools with 400 or 500 more students than us,” Murphy said. “We can compete with anybody, but we’re a very small 7A school. We feel it’s better to play in the same class as other school’s our size.”

For the complete story, see the Jan. 24 issue of Navarre Press or subscribe online.