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Jan. 15—Fox Creek's move up to Class AAAA is official.
For the second time this week, the school's appeal to move down to Class AA — or remain at Class AAA — was denied by a South Carolina High School League body, with Thursday's 4-2 vote by the league's appellate panel solidifying another move up in classification for Fox Creek.
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Josh Trahan, the school's executive director, again made his plea based off of enrollment figures, roster and coaching staff sizes, facilities and a history that suggests the Predators wouldn't gain any athletic advantage by moving down in class. However, just as the SCHSL executive committee ruled in a 10-6 vote, the appellate panel stuck to the application of the league's three-times multiplier applying to students from outside of a school's designated attendance zone.
Next up on the league schedule will be the region assignments within each classification, though Fox Creek's region for the 2026-28 realignment cycle should have several local neighbors. Aiken High, Midland Valley, North August and South Aiken will all remain in Class AAAA, with half of the current Region 4-AAAA slated to move elsewhere — Airport and Gilbert were reclassified to Class AAA, Brookland-Cayce won its appeal to move down to join them, and Gray Collegiate Academy's appeal to stay in Class AAAA failed so it will move up to Class AAAAA.
The next question will be who could potentially join the region, should the SCHSL stick to its proposed plan of having six or eight members in each region. Brookland-Cayce would have been the nearest choice, geographically, but travel concerns were the main reason the school was allowed to move down a class rather than being in a region full of schools an hour or more away. The nearest Class AAAA schools, like Greenwood, Irmo and A.C. Flora, would all be in the same boat.
This is the fifth move in classification in Fox Creek's 21-year history. The school started as a member of Class A and remained there from 2005-16 before moving up to Class AA for the next four years. The Predators were in Class AAA from 2020-2022, then back to Class AA the next two years, then back up to Class AAA currently. Fox Creek was slated to move to Class AAAA two years ago but successfully appealed to Class AAA.
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