ROCKINGHAM — As Richmond Senior High begins competition in the second season of the Mid-South 7A/8A Conference, Raider fans of all sports are still learning the intricacies of the NCHSAA's split-conference format.
The 2026-27 school year will be the sixth year that Richmond has been a part of a split conference, but questions and confusion often still pop up across multiple sport seasons about playoff eligibility and seeding for schools in split conferences. One of the most common misconceptions is that automatic playoff berths are determined only by games played against schools within the same classification.
In reality, all conference games count toward the conference standings, regardless of classification. While schools may ultimately compete in different playoff brackets, they compete in one conference during the regular season, and every conference contest impacts the standings that determine conference championships and automatic playoff berths.
Some Richmond fans have already seen a real-world example of how this works.
During the 2021-22 school year, Richmond Senior joined a split conference for the first time as a member of the Sandhills 3A/4A Conference. That league included Richmond, Pinecrest High School and Hoke County High School as the 4A members, while Scotland High School, Union Pines High School, Lee County High School and Southern Lee High School competed as 3A members.
At the time, many fans believed Richmond simply needed to finish ahead of Pinecrest and Hoke County to earn the conference's automatic 4A playoff berth. While success against those schools certainly improved the Raiders' chances, it did not guarantee postseason qualification.
Richmond's softball team proved that point that same school year during the spring of 2022.
RO file photo
Against fellow 4A members, Hoke County appeared to have the advantage. The Lady Bucks defeated Richmond twice and Pinecrest once, while Richmond swept Pinecrest but was swept by Hoke County. Looking strictly at games involving the conference's 4A schools, the standings were:
If only games among the 4A schools had counted, Hoke County would have secured the conference's automatic 4A playoff berth.
However, split conferences do not operate that way.
The games against the conference's 3A schools counted exactly the same in the standings as the games against the 4A schools.
Richmond split its season series with eventual conference champion Scotland and swept its remaining games against the conference's 3A opponents. Those results gave the Lady Raiders a 9-3 conference record.
Hoke County, meanwhile, lost both games to Scotland and split its series with Union Pines. Those three losses, combined with its loss to Pinecrest, left the Bucks with an 8-4 conference record.
As a result, Richmond (9-3) finished with the better overall conference record and claimed the conference's automatic 4A playoff berth despite losing to Hoke County twice and trailing the Lady Bucks in games played solely among the conference's 4A members.
The 2022 softball season provides a clear reminder that conference standings are built from the entire conference schedule, not a classification-only subset of games.
That lesson may become even more relevant for Richmond moving forward.
With the Raiders now competing in the Mid South 7A/8A Conference, Richmond finds itself on the smaller side of the split conference as a 7A member. Pinecrest and Hoke County are the conference's only 8A schools, while Richmond is competing against three other 7A programs — Pine Forest, Jack Britt, and Overhills
As a result, some fans may assume games against Pinecrest and Hoke County have little impact on Richmond's pursuit of a 7A automatic berth. In reality, those games could prove extremely important.
Victories over the conference's 8A schools could help Richmond overcome a head-to-head disadvantage against another 7A team or create separation in the overall standings. Likewise, losses to 8A opponents could negatively affect Richmond's chances even if the Raiders perform well against the other 7A schools.
Simply put, games against schools in a different classification can be the difference between earning an automatic berth and missing one.
The easiest way to understand a split conference is to think of it as one conference made up of schools from multiple classifications. Classification determines where a team is placed for postseason play, but conference standings are determined by the results of the entire conference schedule.
For Richmond and every other school in a split conference, the bottom line remains the same:
Every conference game matters. Every conference opponent matters. And when it comes to conference championships and automatic playoff berths, the entire conference schedule counts.
