Football 6A-West, others in 5A-West

Siloam Springs will play in the 6A-West football conference for the 2018-20 Arkansas Activities Association reclassification cycle, but the Panthers will be in the 5A-West Conference for all other sports.

The AAA determined last year that football will have six classifications from 2A to 7A, with the largest 16 teams in 7A, the next largest 16 in 6A, and the next 32 in 5A, and so on for football only.

However, for all other SSHS sports — baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and track and field — the breakdown is the largest 16 teams are in 6A and the next 32 are 5A, followed by 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A.

This means Siloam Springs will compete in Class 5A for those sports.

The 32 teams in 5A were broken up into the 5A West, East, Central and South with Siloam Springs in the West Conference along with Alma, Beebe, Greenbrier, Greenwood, Little Rock Christian, Russellville and Vilonia.

There won’t be any conference tournaments in volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and soccer to determine postseason eligibility like there have been the previous two seasons.

“For us, this does away with the conference tournaments and the seedings and allows our team to earn their state playoff qualification during the regular season,” said athletic director Kevin Downing. “We play 14 conference games and that’s how you earn your spot. It’s not coming down to a conference tournament.”

Siloam Springs previously played in the 5A-West Conference in 2011-12 prior to

moving up to Class 6A from 2012-18.

“It goes back to the way they used to be,” Downing said. “It’s going to have a feel of what it was like prior to the changes three cycles ago when we moved up to 6A.”

The top four conference teams will advance to the playoffs in volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and soccer. The top six advance in the 6A-West in football as Siloam Springs competes with Benton, El Dorado, Greenwood, Lake Hamilton, Little Rock Hall, Russellville and Sheridan.