The Empire football program’s appeal to remain in 4A and not switch to 3A was granted Thursday by a conference committee while five other local schools — including Salpointe Catholic — were denied their appeals.
The AIA initially placed Empire in 3A when classifications were announced Dec. 12.
Empire coach George Kelly posted on Twitter (X): “Time to focus on this coming year. We are changing the game here at Empire! Big things coming!”
Thank you, AIA, for granting us back to 4A. @SOAZFootball @JavierJMorales @ehsravensfb @EmpireAthletic1 Time to focus on this coming year. We are changing the game here at Empire! Big things coming! pic.twitter.com/akvtqPzK8y
— George Kelly (@coach_GKelly) January 10, 2025
Schools had until Tuesday to appeal the classifications.
Empire and Salpointe as well as Nogales, Morenci, Flowing Wells and Ironwood Ridge filed an appeal.
The conference committee denied Salpointe’s request to move to 5A from 6A, in which it has competed since the 2022 season. Salpointe’s appeal was mostly based on the amount of travel required to the Phoenix area because no other Southern Arizona school is in 6A.
The conference committee also denied Nogales, Flowing Wells and Ironwood Ridge going from 5A to 4A and Morenci from 3A to 2A. All of those appeals were based on level of competition.
Schools can continue the appeal process to the AIA executive board with a deadline of Tuesday. Those appeals will be heard by the executive board in a meeting Jan. 21, when a final determination of the conference alignments will be posted.
Regions within each conference will be announced Feb. 18.
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