North Kitsap High School athletes will compete against teams from smaller schools next year.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association finalized its reclassification of state high schools Dec. 18 and North Kitsap, along with Port Angeles and Olympic high schools, will move from the 3A to the 2A class.

The move will likely prompt the formation of a new 2A football league with Olympic, Klahowya, Kingston, Port Angeles, Sequim and North Mason high schools.

Other North Kitsap sports teams will remain in the combined 2A-3A Olympic League and will continue to compete against the same opponents in the regular season. In the postseason, North Kitsap teams will face opponents from smaller schools.

The 2A class includes schools with enrollments of 513 to 1,085 students after the reclassification. North Kitsap has 1,044 students and is the eighth-largest school in the class.

North Kitsap spent the last two years as part of the 3A class, which included schools with enrollments between 919 and 1,280 students. The 3A class now includes schools with 1,086 to 1,303 students.

The activities association decided to reorganize its school classification system this fall to distribute schools more evenly among its six classes. The classes with the smallest schools — the 1B and 2B divisions — now have 62 schools each. The next largest class — the 1A division — has 65 schools. The classes for the largest schools — the 2A, 3A and 4A divisions — now have 66 schools each.

Prior to the reshuffle, The 2A division had just 55 schools and the 4A division had 78.

Twenty-two smaller schools opted to move up or stay in the 3A class during this year’s reshuffle, causing North Kitsap, previously one of the smaller 3A schools, to be pushed down into the 2A class.