2014 VHSL Realignment

Beginning with the 2014 state championship series, the Virginia High School League completely overhauled the structure of postseason play. Existing districts were no longer the first level of state tournament qualification, instead being replaced by entirely new Conferences. Existing regions were replaced by northern & southern regions or eastern & western Regions within each of six new classes, themselves replacing the former three-class system (Group A, Group AA, Group AAA).

The format of the state Scholastic Bowl tournament also changed; instead of three eight-team double elimination tournaments, it became six four-team round robin tournaments.

In a controversial decision, Maggie Walker and Thomas Jefferson (VA) were no longer required (or allowed) to play in the highest class (which is now class 6), and were put in their appropriate enrollment groups, which were the new classes 2A and class 5A respectively. After the 2018 VHSL Realignment, these classifications were simply renamed 'Class 2' and 'Class 5'. The 2014 realignments paid little heed to geographic realities; thus, Maggie Walker, for instance, played against teams such as Nandua (a school located on the Eastern Shore), which is approximately 2 hours 41 minutes from metropolitan Richmond.

Difficulties in geographic coverage within Conferences resulted in the 2018 VHSL Realignment, which kept relatively the same structure, but eliminated Conferences, reinstituted Districts and (now-smaller) Regions, which optionally fed into "Super Regions" (essentially the former larger regions of 2014-2017). Playoffs were only required to begin at the Regional level.