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Classification vs. Rivalry

Can contests withstand team movement?

Ravenswood Athletic Director Chris Michael stands in the school’s gymnasium. Michael said any event at Ravenswood which features Ripley as an opponent is worth numerous times more in revenue than any other school the Red Devils play. Photos by Jeff Baughan

RAVENSWOOD/RIPLEY – Every four years West Virginia picks a governor. Not on as grand a scale but it also happens every four years  – the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission issues its classification of schools.

The latest SSAC classifications moved more schools down a classification than up. Those latest classifications sent more schools tumbling to Class A than others. Ravenswood and Ritchie are two schools which found itself looking to fill schedules with schools that remained AA or higher.

It’s made athletic directors and football coaches fill its schedules with teams to keep it competitive for a playoff spot. Along the way, however, it’s ending rivalries. The same rivalries which have always produced big gates which help sustain other athletic budgets.

It’s becoming for some schools, classification versus rivalry and gate versus game. There are few schools which are willing to keep a AAA vs A game. In fact, there are only two. Marietta has an enrollment of approximately 900 students, which is below the SSAC’s enrollment cutoff for Class AAA.

Ripley-Ravenswood will be such a game this year. Logan-Man was another but that game was a season opener and the gate was always huge. Reclassification has made the three Logan County schools Class AA for the next four years. The three teams have played each other for the gate for years.

Ripley Athletic Director Kevin Lough sits at what serves as the ticket booth for any Vikings’ athletic event at the school, the road leading to the stadium. Lough said keeping a Class A team on the football schedule at the end of the season causes concern for a possible playoff berth but is worth anywhere from $10,000-$16,000 gate for Ripley.

How much longer Ripley-Ravenswood continues to play is up in the air. Both schools athletic directors have said they are trying to keep the game scheduled in the future, although it may be the season’s last game. The game is at 7:30 p.m. kickoff Nov. 4 in Ravenswood this season.

West Virginia’s sports are based upon the sectional and/or regional playoffs for state tournament berths with the exception of one – football. The gridiron sport is based upon a point system where teams are seeded based upon a weekly average.

For example, if an AAA team beats another AAA team, the victory is worth 12 points. If an AAA team beats an AA team, it’s worth 9 points and a AAA win over an A team, it’s worth 6 points. For the points total, it makes no sense for a AAA team to play a A team. That leaves the business end of the game. Tickets equal dollars. Dollars equal budgets. Athletic directors smile more when black ink totals are greater than red ink totals.

The gate of that rivalry affected by the classification shakeup usually doesn’t change. A rivalry is a rivalry. Records usually don’t matter although the weather can affect the attendance, which affects the amount of parking collected, concessions collected and booster money raised. All of which adds to the final total of the night.

“The gate at Ripley for a Ripley-Ravenswood game can be anywhere from $10,000 to $16,000 depending on the records and the weather,” said Kevin Lough, Ripley athletic director. “That’s not counting concessions. That pays a lot of bills, buys a lot of equipment and uniforms, helps with the non-revenue sports.

Ripley has faded down the stretch, losing its last four games to emerge from its bye week at 2-6. Having AA Roane County next and A Ravenswood to finish the season won’t matter this year. The three point difference for beating Roane is easier to overcome. Beating Ravenswood leaves a six point-deficit on the table for the Vikings if it wins. Playoffs berths have been decided by a point. So you see why Ripley would prefer at least a AA game to end the season.

While Lough said the game could be moved to another week, being in the Mountain State Athletic Conference through 2018 binds the hands somewhat of schedule making. Moving the game to the season opener is to be considered but doubtful according to Lough. “We have for years been opening with Parkersburg South, but they belong to the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference and they only have so many slots. And getting them move to the final game of the season won’t happen as South finishes the season with a game against Parkersburg.”

Meanwhile, Ravenswood Athletic Director Chris Michael has already seen three AA teams end series with the Red Devils. “First of all, Roane County has dropped us and Ravenswood has played Roane in some form or fashion, namely as Spencer High School, every year since the 1920s and that’s extremely disappointing.”

Clay and Braxton have both dropped Ravenswood as well.

“Now, we’ve already replaced Clay and Braxton with Wirt and Doddridge but they were the same as Roane. Braxton and Clay are AA,” he continued. Ravenswood lost to Roane but defeated Wirt and Doddridge. “Because of the loss of points associated with playing a Class A school. I understand, it’s the points system. But we’re really trying to keep Ripley on the schedule. Ravenswood-Ripley packs the place. It’s good for the schools, the communities, everyone involved with the game.”

Michael understands the rivalry more than most, being a 1991 Ravenswood graduate, but has coached at both. Some coaching overlapped in the school year as he was the head volleyball coach at Ripley while being an assistant girls basketball coach under Butch Varney.

“Let me put it this way,” he said, “if we had the right team on the schedule; I mean the absolute right team on the schedule, we make maybe half as much as we do with a Ripley game. With teams with shrinking budgets, a game like that is vital to an athletic budget.”

About $6,000-$10,000 game vital.

While the game is vital for Ravenswood, the only time the Red Devils appear on Ripley’s basketball schedules is during the Vikings’ girls holiday tournament. “The play dates didn’t work for us,” Lough said. “Tried as we could, we couldn’t get playing dates scheduled. It was disappointing.”

Both said it was football along with boys and girls basketball which pays a lot of bills for the other sports, which “at Ripley there are 16 teams for 12 sports here (the same for Ravenswood. Neither school has swimming). A lot of the sports, you have parents and not much more for attendance,” said Lough. “For football, we have about 16 payroll workers here. We’re also looking at replacing the turf at the football field in a year or two. That’s going to be about $100,000 or more.”

Ripley is the smallest Class AAA school in West Virginia with 933 students and Lough said the school could have been a AA school if not for those other 33 students.

“By the time the next classification rolls around in 2020, we could be AA. We could both be AA for that matter,” Lough said. “It’s not that far-fetched for it to happen. We leave the MSAC in 2018 so we will have some more schedule flexibility, the other MSAC schools have indicated they still would be willing to play, so we will see what happens.

“But we are going to have to do what is best for Ripley,” he added. “We will take that into consideration with the school administration and the board of education with what our plans are.”

Michael said there are several factors which must be looked at when seeking a new opponent. “We ask the principal or the athletic director what kind of crowd do they bring,” said Michael. “We talk about the ease in getting to their school, is there somewhere in the town for our people to eat at, is there somewhere for us to eat at afterwards, fuel. They come here and we have to figure for extra concessions, extra help for ticket takers, extra police for crowds and traffic. Those are extra expenses.

“There are some sports which don’t bring us a lot of expenses,” he added. “But then again, they don’t bring us a lot of revenue either.”

Ravenswood’s athletic events are spread throughout the town. “We have the football field by the school and even though they’re close, the baseball field and tennis courts are on city property,” he said. “The softball and soccer are at Ravenswood Grade School at Eastwood. We have two gyms with the campus. We play a volleyball quad. We have teams playing in each gym and having to switch gyms.

“The basketball games, the girls play in the gym by the classroom and the boys play in ‘The Pit,’ he said. “We have a lot of different dynamics. We have a lot of bleacher capacity in either gym. But it would be a significant amount of money for us whenever we host a game with Ripley.

“For example, our gate for volleyball against Ripley. We call it the match for ‘The Net.’ We have that one match here against Ripley and we will make four times the amount of money we would make against another team.”

Ravenswood, according to the enrollment figures from the SSAC, has 433 students, 500 less than Ripley. It is also the largest Class A school in West Virginia. Twenty more than Williamstown, 24 more than Ritchie and 42 more than St. Marys.

SSAC rules state AAA and AA teams must play at least six games to qualify for the playoffs. West Virginia has but 29 Class AAA teams and 44 Class A teams. There are also 44 Class AA teams.

“So you see there are only so many teams we can work with,” said Michael. “We got Wahama back on our schedule but we’re starting to look across the (Ohio) river to teams like Southern and Eastern as to filling our schedule.” The two teams closest to Ravenswood other than Ripley, Roane and Sissonville, are both Class AA. “The only schedule a classification makes a difference in is football,” said Michael.

“If you’re going to play AAA football in West Virginia it can require a lot of travel unless you live along I-64 in Putnam and I-77 in Kanawha,” said Lough. “It can be a drain financially. The rules give us a bit of flexibility with being able to schedule. But you have to look at the Ohio schools. It did a reclassification and teams like Marietta and Warren dropped to a AA value even though their numbers stayed the same. Therefore, the number of points available to anyone on their schedule dropped.

“Sometimes, the rivalry today has to drop by the wayside because of conference schedules,” Lough said. “There’s a lot of schools facing this situation today. They won’t play schools because of the reclassification.”

There’s 62 students between Ripley and the largest Class AA school, Lincoln County High School, a Class AAA school last year, 933-871. There a 27-student difference between the smallest AA school Man, and Ravenswood, 460-433.

“When we lose Ripley off the schedule we not only lose dollars,” said Michael, ” we lose the environment, the excitement of the event, the pressure, the intensity but it also takes away from kids moments during the game which will help to prepare them for events later in life.

“Sometimes you get a rival back,” Michael said. “That’s good for fans, the school, the community. Sometimes you make new rivals. But just because we’re dropping to Class A doesn’t mean we’re going to come into the area and dominate. You have some of the best all-around Class A athletic programs in West Virginia right here with Williamstown and St. Marys in football and basketball; Ritchie and Doddridge in track. We have a lot of challenges here to be successful.”

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