While other sports move up to 6A, Maricopa High School’s football team will remain in the 5A conference, according to information from Arizona Interscholastic Association.

In January, the teams will learn their region assignments. For the past two years, Maricopa has been in one of the toughest regions in the state, 5A San Tan. MUSD Athletic Director Jake Neill had predicted the unpredictability of the realignments for football.

“With something new like this yearly realignment for football it was tough to know what to expect. The process for alignment is completely different for football then it is for all of the other team sports,” Neill said. “Knowing what conference we will be in is nice, but finding out about our region next month will be even better information for us.”

In other MHS sports that use the 1A-6A designation (6A being the largest), baseball, basketball, softball, soccer and volleyball move from 5A to 6A starting next school year. They are in the Desert Southwest region.

In the football conversation, the system rated each team based on the past three seasons rather than enrollment, with 2019 making up 50% of the rating. Three football teams currently in 5A San Tan are moving to 6A – Casteel, Higley and Williams Field.

Varsity head coach Brandon Harris was circumspect about the alignment, saying all he can control is the building of his program, which is what he’s working on. Like Neill, he awaits the region assignments.

MHS is assigned to Division I (the largest category) in cross country, track and field, swimming, tennis, golf and beach volleyball. Wrestling has not yet been determined.