Make no mistake about it. That was never the South Rowan High School athletic family.

Thanks to something called realignment, the Raiders realized over a decade ago they were stuck in no-man’s land. Only neighboring Davie County could call itself a country 4A. Therefore, it was either go to Charlotte or go to Winston-Salem.

South picked Winston-Salem and hasn’t been happy since.

There is no fever pitch surrounding high school sports in that big city, a dead town that never supported the hockey team and still doesn’t seem to care about Wake Forest.

But now, with new realignment figures, South may never, ever have to dread going to the big city again.

South athletics director Larry Deal met with representatives from four other schools — Davie, South Iredell, North Davidson and Central Cabarrus — Thursday in hopes of a five-team rural league. The proposal will be submitted to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

“We hoped it would’ve happened last time,” Deal said. “I think for the first time in 12 years since we’ve been 4A, it gives us a school besides Davie. Charlotte can be within itself and Winston-Salem and Greensboro can be within themselves.”

Deal also likes the fact that all five schools represent a different county.

“That will leave them to play their natural rivals,” he said. “Winston-Salem schools don’t bring anybody. It killed us at the gate.”

In a perfect world, Deal would have been looking at a 7-team league, including East Rowan and Northwest Cabarrus.

But the cutoff for 4A schools was 85. Havelock, with 1,315 students, was the final 4A school.

East was at No. 90, just 30 students off at 1,285. Northwest was No. 98 at 1,239.

Worth Roberts, the East athletics director, was biting his fingernails.

“We knew we’d be close but we’re glad that we’re not 4A,” he said.

Roberts feels the Mustangs will remain in the South Piedmont Conference, which has gone from a five-team league to a nine-team league in the last two realignments.

Roberts and football and baseball coach Jeff Safrit think the SPC might be a six-team league with East, West Rowan (1,130 students) and four Cabarrus schools — Northwest, Concord, Kannapolis and a new school, Southwest Cabarrus.

Safrit said he wouldn’t have flinched had East gone 4A.

“Idon’t actually consider it a scare,” Safrit said. “If we played in a rural conference, we’d be OK. Some 3A leagues are better than 4A. I don’t know many schools who would want to play in the South Piedmont Conference.”

The days of making those long travel plans to Union County may be over, too. One projected league has Piedmont, Sun Valley, Parkwood, Weddington (a new school) and Anson County — which drops from 4A — as a new league.

In 2A, North Rowan and Salisbury won’t be affected that much. Salisbury athletics director Raymond Daugherty feels the teams will still be in the Central Carolina 2A Conference.

High Point Central (going to 3A) is the only school the CCCwill lose and Central Davidson, which dropped a classification to 2A, would be the perfect fit, considering East Davidson, Lexington and Ledford are already in the league.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if North Stanly left the CCC. The Rocky River is losing Parkwood, so North might go over and join neighbor West Stanly.

Daugherty spoke for most coaches when he said, “With schools’ populations changing as rapidly as they do, I have no problem with realignment every four years. The biggest problem I have is that you base our numbers and then, it’s two years. The whole situation could change drastically in two years.”

But overall, the coaches seem happy with their projected leagues.

Especially South Rowan.

“We just have to keep our fingers crossed,” said Deal.

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