By Randy Capps
You might have learned in philosophy class that the only certainty in life is change. While Heraclitus never witnessed a down of high school football, he managed to describe the North Carolina High School Athletic Association very well.
The powers that be conducted the most unique realignment in history this spring, splitting member schools into eight classifications.
This shift has scattered the 10 public and charter schools in the county into seven different conferences, reinforcing some old rivalries for some, while throwing others into a group of unfamiliar foes.
Below is the list of 2025 leagues for the public schools in Johnston County. Even though Neuse Charter isn’t a football-playing member of the association, we’ve included its conference affiliation in this list as well.
These conferences hold for all the sports, of course, but since this is the football preview issue, that’s what we’re focused on here:
2025 NCHSAA Conferences
Cap 8A
Corinth Holders, Athens Drive, Broughton, Enloe, Leesville Road, Millbrook, Rolesville and Wakefield
With an average daily membership of 2,253, Corinth Holders is the lone county school to find itself in an 8A league. Plenty of familiar faces for the Pirates, but certainly a tough neighborhood.
Greater Neuse River 7A
Clayton, Cleveland, Smithfield-Selma, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, South Garner and Southeast Raleigh
Clayton and Cleveland are playing in a league very much like the one they’ve been in – even down to the Greater Neuse River name. The headline here is Smithfield-Selma, which has an ADM of 1,617. That’s at the bottom of the 7A classification, but it’s quite a step up in competition for the Spartans.
Carolina Pines 6A
South Johnston, West Johnston, Harnett Central, Lee County, Southern Lee, Triton, Union Pines and Western Harnett
South and West Johnston are joined together in a potentially fun and competitive league that spans four counties. The travel budget is likely going up for these folks, but we should get some good games out of it.
Three Rivers 4A
North Johnston, Eastern Wayne, North Lenoir, North Pitt, SouthWest Edgecombe, Washington and West Craven
Speaking of travel, North Johnston will be doing some of that, too. Seven schools from six different counties make up the new Three Rivers 4A, and that means that the Panthers’ closest conference rival is about 45 minutes away (North Lenoir).
Quad County 2A/3A/4A
American Leadership Academy(2A), Louisburg (3A), Wake Prep (3A), Bunn (4A), Nash Central (4A) and Roanoke Rapids (4A)
The lower you get in classification, the more spread out the schools tend to be. That’s why the new Quad County is a three-classification league. ALA has the distinction of being the lone 2A school in this league, which means the Patriots won’t be easing into their first season in a NCHSAA conference.
Swine Valley 2A/3A
Princeton (3A), Rosewood (2A), Goldsboro (3A), James Kenan (3A), Midway (3A), Spring Creek (3A) and Wallace-Rose Hill (3A)
The excellently named Swine Valley 2A/3A is the new home for the Princeton Bulldogs, and with a good group of familiar teams in the fold, this league has the potential to be the most interesting of the new conferences.
Diamond Nine 1A/2A/3A
Neuse Charter (1A), East Wake Academy (2A), Franklin Academy (2A), Raleigh Charter (2A), Research Triangle (2A), Roxboro Community (2A), Triangle Math and Science (2A), Voyager Academy (2A) and NCCSM – Durham (3A)
Think of the new Diamond Nine as the catch all for the smaller Triangle area teams. Neuse Charter is the smallest member of this league, by some distance, but with eight league games on the docket in most sports, at least scheduling non-conference games will be easy.
Podcast alert
The JoCo Sports High School Football Podcast (we’re still workshopping that name) is coming this month to a listening device near you. Randy Capps and Justin Roy are back to break down each week’s games, chat with media members and coaches and deliver prep football content focused solely on Johnston County.
Catch it wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
For questions and sponsorship opportunities, email randy@jnowmedia.com.
