By Will Wright
The Herald-Zeitung
Published February 03, 2006
New Braunfels, Canyon and Smithson Valley didn't see shadows on Groundhog Day, as the University Interscholastic League's biennial realignment saved the 4A schools from excessive travel and kept the Rangers right where they are.
The Unicorns and Cougars will compete in a new District 26-4A that includes both Schertz schools, both Hays schools and Del Valle and Lockhart, which last competed in their district two seasons ago. Gone will be the travel to Burnet, Marble Falls and Lake Travis, as well as excursions to Dripping Springs.
Each of those four schools joined an eight-team north Austin district with Pflugerville schools Connally and Hendrickson, Elgin and newly elevated Manor.
So, for the next two years, anyway, both New Braunfels schools will travel no more than one hour to an opposing football or basketball game. Softball, baseball, volleyball and academics should also align in the same district, although soccer redistricting won't be determined until later this spring.
It's a big relief to officials in the New Braunfels and Comal school districts, whose travel budgets took a hit the past two years. And their students will no longer arrive home after midnight because of playing in a district game.
“Travel is big,” Canyon athletic director and football coach Les Davis said. “Just the fact that we now can all drive to San Marcos for a meeting. The furthest school is going to be Del Valle, and that's not very far.”
There will be more district games due to the switch from a six-team to eight-team league, but the competition level should remain the same. Both New Braunfels schools compete regularly in nondistrict with those in the Schertz and Hays districts. Lehman joined District 27-4A competition in all sports except football this school year.
“I think it's going to be a fun district. It's competitive — there are some really good teams in there,” New Braunfels athletic director and football coach Chuck Caniford said.
Caniford doesn't expect to see the level of play in 26-4A drop off in football, where the exits of two-time champion Lake Travis and playoff contender Burnet will be filled by Hays Consolidated and Clemens, both 5A playoff schools in 2005.
“I know that they're going to be really good football teams — there will be a lot of teams that are going to be really good,” he said.
This will be the first time since 1998 that New Braunfels has competed in an eight-team district.
“I personally like it,” Caniford said. “First, I won't have to get kids fired up to play five games that don't mean anything. The games that count start a lot earlier. Second, in a six-team district, you can't afford to have a bad night. Because so many crazy things happen in an eight-team district, you can almost afford to recover if things don't go right.”
Caniford said the only difference an eight-team league will present to other sports is having to adjust tournaments and preparation prior to district play.
“Those sports will have to get done what they need done a lot faster,” he said. “It's the same in football, where we no longer will have the luxury of five games to get ready for district.”
Among those sports is volleyball, where defending state 4A champion New Braunfels gets another tough competitor.
“In volleyball, you have the defending state champion (New Braunfels), a regional finalist in 4A (Canyon) and a regional finalist in 5A (Hays), So I'd say that sport is going to be pretty well represented,” Davis said. “It's the same in basketball, where Del Valle usually has pretty good boys and girls teams.”
Smithson Valley will stay in District 26-5A, which simply substituted Converse Wagner for SA Lee. Lee, which submitted an average daily membership (ADM) of 1,968 students, fell below the new cutoff for Class 5A, which now begins at 1,985 students.
“They took one out, put another in and here we go again,” Smithson Valley athletic director and football coach Larry Hill said. “We knew this could happen. . . We expect Wagner to be very competitive right off the bat.”
There's an upside and a downside to the Rangers' placement. Their travel and league opponents won't change, but the competitiveness of the district will remain the same — even though they'll be four playoff teams next year.
“You'll get four, but you can get five or six playoff teams out of this district,” Hill said.
There was a major move in San Antonio's outlying 5A district. The current District 25-5A lost San Marcos and Seguin to an Austin district and saw Clemens and SA Jefferson drop into 4A. That left East Central, Highlands and Southwest open, and they were placed into a new 27-5A — with three Corpus Christi schools and Victoria Memorial.
“You would think that they would've put us in with San Marcos and Seguin and those three San Antonio schools and tried to make something that would've been of some sense, but I'm not sure that's what goes into their big picture,” Hill said of the UIL.
Smithson Valley, which loses 52 seniors, will play a brutal nondistrict schedule that almost got worse Thursday.
“We had The Woodlands and Odessa Permian, but we couldn't find a third game,” Hill said. “Then, some sports marketer came up with putting us with (Southlake) Carroll.
“At the time I had no options and neither did (Dragons coach) Todd (Dodge). But, about an hour after that, we both found games.”
And so, the Rangers will play Kerrville Tivy for its third nondistrict contest.
Eagle Pass dropped in enrollment because of the addition of Eagle Pass Winn, and both 4A schools opted up to stay in 5A, where they will join seven Laredo schools in 29-5A. The eight North Side high schools had been projected to form their own district, but instead were joined by Del Rio in the new 28-5A.
In District 28-4A, it was feared Boerne would move into 5A and that Fredericksburg would fall into 3A. Neither happened, and both schools will stay where they are in a new 27-4A that includes current foes Alamo Heights and Kerrville Tivy and add Lee, Edgewood and Memorial. Medina Valley dropped into 3A.
Statewide, several new schools meant beefed-up districts in Class 5A and 4A. There are five nine-team districts in 5A and one 11-team loop in 4A, in Fort Worth. The cutoff separating 4A from 3A rose from 900 to 950 and it increased from 390 to 415 in 3A; 190 to 195 in 2A and 189 to 194 in Class A.
Defending Division II football champ Lewisville Hebron was among schools moving into 5A. Belton wound up staying in 5A, while the UIL moved Brownwood into a 16-4A league with Copperas Cove, Killeen, Waco High, Waco Midway and Waco University.
In Class 3A, there are four four-team leagues throughout the state. That includes the new 26-3A, where Marion will join LaVernia, Luling and South San West.
Schools unhappy with their alignments have until Feb. 13 to file an appeal with the UIL, which will conduct those hearings in Austin on Feb. 20.
In other moves, the UIL deemed that six-man football is so big, it should have two champions. Schools with fewer than 59 or fewer students will compete in Division II, while schools with 60-99 students will be aligned in Division I.
This season's first day for football practices will be Aug. 7 (for schools without spring training). The first Zero Week games will be played beginning Aug. 31 and the day for district certification will be Nov. 11.
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It's gonna be interesting. C'mon August!!
