It’s that time of year again — well, that time of every two years to be precise — when the Mississippi High School Activities Association and Mississippi Association of Independent Schools shakes things up and realigns their classifications and divisions.

We went into the changes for the MAIS, and St. Aloysius and Porter’s Chapel Academy in particular, elsewhere in today’s edition.

The MHSAA will release its new region lineups in December, but the enrollment numbers they’re based upon are out. From those, educated guesses can be made about where teams will be placed. The 32 largest schools are placed in Class 6A and the next 32 in 5A.

After some speculation that it might drop to Class 4A, Vicksburg High will remain in 5A for at least two more years. It is the 21^st largest school in Class 5A, 129 students above the cutoff.

For football, it also appears that Vicksburg’s Region 2-5A will remain largely the same. Germantown is moving up to Class 6A, but Provine is scuttling down a class and should slide into that spot. The other six region members — Callaway, Neshoba Central, Ridgeland, Cleveland Central and Canton — should remain unchanged.

Warren Central, meanwhile, is now the 14^th largest school in the state, meaning it will stay in Class 6A for the foreseeable future. WC had been as low as the mid-20s at various points in the past decade.

The bad news for Warren Central’s football team is that Region 2-6A, already one of the most competitive in the state, looks like it’s about to get even tougher.

Germantown, a regular playoff team in Class 5A, should replace Provine in Region 2-6A. Murrah also seems likely to move to the South out of geographical necessity. After that is where things really get interesting.

There is a 9-7 split between schools in far north Mississippi and central Mississippi. Six Class 6A schools are in Desoto County and won’t be split up. The other three are northeast Mississippi powers Oxford, South Panola and Tupelo.

Tupelo will almost certainly stay in Region 1-6A. That means either Oxford or South Panola seems destined to join Warren Central, Clinton, Madison Central, Northwest Rankin, Starkville, Germantown and Greenville in the new and — somehow — improved Region 2-6A.

The 2019 and 2020 football seasons ought to be mighty interesting if that comes to pass.

Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com