Why a Georgia high school football power wants to keep playing in an NC league
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Rabun Gap seeks to remain in NCISAA despite expiring out-of-state bylaws.
- School leaders cite location, tradition, and competitive history as reasons.
- Formal decision pending, impacting future scheduling for NCISAA programs.
Rabun Gap School, one of the highest-ranked teams in the football-rich state of Georgia, wants to continue to play for a state championship in North Carolina.
The private boarding school is located a few miles from the N.C. border and the Eagles have competed since the 2003-04 school year in the N.C. Independent School Athletic Association, long before they became a national power in high school football.
In August, NCISAA executive director Omar Ramirez told The Observer that current bylaws which have allowed out-of-state teams to compete in his association would expire at the end of the current school year. Westminster Catawba School in Rock Hill, which also has been in the NCISAA for years, told The Observer that it was planning to join the S.C. Independent Schools as a result of the bylaw change in the N.C. association.
Rabun Gap athletic director Dale Earnhardt and football coach Derek White, however, wish to remain in the NCISAA — and said so on Friday when their team visited Charlotte’s Providence Day School. Providence Day beat Rabun Gap, 55-34, in a battle of nationally-ranked teams and in a rematch of the 2024 N.C state championship game that Rabun Gap won — in Georgia.
“We’re still trying to figure everything out,” Earnhardt said. “I think we want to (stay), but I think it’s really in the hands of other people right now.
“I’m hoping we’ll find out something in the next month or so because we’ve got people in our conference in the Asheville area that want to find out whether we’ll be in or out because of future scheduling.”
According to Earnhardt, the boarding school that is nestled in the northeast corner of Georgia and within a couple miles of North Carolina and about 10 miles from South Carolina, has 415 high school students.
“My fingers are crossed,” Earnhardt said. “I’m a North Carolina guy who grew up in Salisbury. “We know North Carolina and been friends with these people for a long time.”
Rabun Gap has won at least one football playoff game in each of the past five years. The Eagles’ boys soccer also won its fourth N.C. state title last fall.
White, Rabun Gap’s football coach since 2022, is assuming he’ll be in the NCISAA moving forward.
“My attitude is that we haven’t received anything in a formal writing,” he said. “So we’re here. We’re a mile and a half from North Carolina and been here for more than 20 years and never had a violation.
“So our leadership is going to do what’s right and I’m going to coach this football team.”
White actually is somewhat surprised there’s a question about his school’s NCISAA membership.
“Rabun Gap has been in the NCISAA for over 20 years,” he said. “Why do they want us out now? That’s the question that needs to be asked.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 5:30 AM.