Beginning this fall, Porters Chapel Academy will get a chance to play against the big boys in the Mississippi Private School Association.

PCA, which has been in the Class A – the MPSA’s lowest classification – since it opened in 1973, will be moved up to Class AA in the organization’s new realignment plan.

The final plan, including district lineups, will be voted on at a meeting of the MPSA’s Athletic Activities Commission on Feb. 2, MPSA executive director David Derrick said.

&#8220I was a little surprised that that didn’t happen the last time they did it. I think we were on the edge of the Class A-Class AA line the last time realignment occurred,” PCA headmaster Gwen Reiber said. &#8220I think it signals development in our program. We’re looking at it in that light. It’s an opportunity for us. We’re going to work on upgrading our facilities and hopefully our success will draw students to us.”

Reiber added that PCA’s enrollment was not close to the line this time, and the school did not appeal the move up to Class AA. The MPSA bases its classifications on secondary enrollment, from grades 8 through 11, as of Sept. 1. The 14 largest schools are placed in Class AAA, the next 28 in Class AA, and the remainder – about 60 schools – in Class A.

&#8220We were not on the bottom of that group, so we did not even pursue that,” Reiber said of an appeal.

The two programs that will be most affected by the move up are PCA’s best – baseball and football. PCA’s football team has reached the playoffs the last two seasons, and advanced to the Class A North State championship game this season. The baseball team has advanced to the postseason for seven straight years, won a Class A state title in 2003 and lost in the state finals in 2001 and 2004.

Randy Wright, PCA’s head coach for football and baseball, was confident both programs could not only stay competitive, but compete for championships in Class AA.

&#8220Our goal in every sports program is to win a state championship, and in football we’re going to go in with the goal of winning a state championship, regardless of the classification,” Wright said. &#8220We feel like we’re one of the elite programs in single-A, but if they move us up, they move us up.”