The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) finalized what athletic conferences will look like during the 2025-2029 realignment period on Monday. A first draft was previously released back on Dec. 18 with a second draft getting posted on Jan. 21 and a third draft on Feb. 14. Here is a breakdown of how the realignment will impact Scotland and all of the other schools in the current 3A/4A Sandhills Athletic Conference (Union Pines, Southern Lee, Lee County, Hoke County, Pinecrest and Richmond) during the next school year:
-Scotland will be placed into the 6A/7A Conference B as a 6A school with the other 6A teams being Gray’s Creek and Terry Sanford. The 7A schools in the conference are Cape Fear, Lumberton and Purnell Swett.
-Union Pines, Lee County and Southern Lee are set to join the 6A Conference 1. The rest of the conference is composed of Harnett Central, South Johnston, Triton, West Johnston and Western Harnett.
-Hoke County, Pinecrest and Richmond will head to the 7A/8A Conference A with Richmond joining as a 7A team while Hoke County and Pinecrest are competing as 8A schools. The other teams in the conference consist of Jack Britt, Overhills and Pine Forest, who will all be 7A teams.