CORPUS CHRISTI — Thursday was realignment day for UIL football, volleyball and basketball teams across Texas. Local coaches gathered at the Education Service Center for Region Two in Downtown Corpus Christi, to see who they'd be paired up with in their districts.
"You don't second guess it. You put your head down, and you keep moving forward and you work. This is the challenge of a schedule," Sinton Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Michael Troutman said.
Here's a break down of the changes for football realignment in divisions 2A through 4A.
Starting in 2A-Division 2, Ben Bolt drops from Division 1 to Division 2 and will join a district with Agua Dulce. The Agua Dulce Longhorns are fresh off a district championship. Included in the district is La Villa, Woodsboro and Bruni.
In 2A-Division 1, the Refugio Bobcats are expected to be a top dog once again. They now have a district made up of several Coastal Bend teams. The district includes Freer, Premont, Riviera Kaufer, Santa Maria, Skidmore-Tynan and Three Rivers.
The lone Coastal Bend district in 3A-Division 2 remains unchanged with Banquete, George West, Hebbronville, Monte Alto, Odem, Santa Rosa and Taft.
3A-Division 1 is where the shakeups begin. Bishop, West Oso and Orange Grove all drop from 4A-Division 2 into 3A-Division 1. Bishop will join District 16 with Falfurrias, San Diego and Santa Gerturdis Academy, among four other teams.
West Oso and Orange Grove join a large District 15 that should prove to be competitive with Aransas Pass, London, Edna, Goliad, Mathis and Palacios.
The potent District 16 in 4A-Division 1, which included teams like Calallen, Alice and Kingsville is no more.
"It's crazy what happened today with Alice going to the Valley, then Victoria West moving North. It threw everything through a loop, but we were able to fill our schedule and we're excited about it," King Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Ruben Garcia said.
The H.M. King Brahmas drop to Division 2 into a four team district.
"It was a little surprising. We thought we'd be in a five team district at the least or an eight team," Garcia said. "So, having a four team is very different. But, we're going to treat it like everything else. Yeah, it's an automatic playoffs, but our goal is to win the district championship and then a bi-district championship and so-on and so-forth."
With just a three week district schedule, Garcia said King has tentatively scheduled Edgewood Memorial out of San Antonio for a week seven game. They'll also play some Corpus Christi schools with Ray week three, King week four and Moody week five.
The other Coastal Bend district in 4A-Division 2 gets a nice competitive bump. Sinton and Ingleside will stick together in a match up that has had district champion implications the last few years.
"I don't think that match up (is) ever going to go away. I think our enrollment at each school is so close to one other, I think we'll forever be paired with one another. So, I don't ever see that game going away," Ingleside Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Travis Chrisman.
"It's always a good match up. We have the same type of kids and Coach Chrisman does a great job over there. It's always a big time rivalry to go over there or them to come over to us and our kids get after it. It's something we look forward to every year," Troutman said.
Robstown will stay in that district, as well. Newcomers will include Rockport-Fulton who drops from Division 1 and the Cuero Gobblers will round out the district. Cuero has been a team that makes deep playoff runs including a trip to the state semi-finals in 2022.
"It makes it a very good district. Not complaining about the district before, but you add another team in there that's competitive, that has a history of a good football program. Coach over there does a hell of a job. So, it's going to be Friday Night football. That's what it's all about," Troutman said.
"All predictions pointed to Cuero, so we inevitably accepted that was going to happen. So, we're excited to compete with them too and then just getting the rest of our schedule filled," Chrisman said.
Last, but certainly not least is 4A-Division 1. Beeville remains in a district with Port Lavaca, Floresville and La Vernia. However, they'll welcome in Bay City and El Campo.
As previously mentioned, Alice and H.M. King depart their former district to move up and down respectively. That leaves a district with Calallen, Tuloso-Midway, Hidalgo Early College, Pharr Valley View and Zapata. Just last season the game between Calallen and Alice was a heavy decider in Alice's district title run. Never fear because that match up will live on.
"No Alice anymore for a long time, but we already had them scheduled for a non-district game anticipating this move. No more Kingsville. Kingsville went down to Division 2," Calallen Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Steve Campbell said.
Campbell said going into last season they had to replace 33 seniors. This upcoming season, it's going to be another tall task to replace 25 seniors.
Calallen's competitive spirit doesn't end there. Campbell said there's a lot of work to do in the off-season just based off the non-district schedule they've put together.
"It's going to start off very competitive. We're going to play Gregory-Portland first game. Alice the second game, like I said," Campbell said. "We rescheduled that game with that team out of Mexico. Then we're going to play Carroll. Cal's (Neatherlin) doing a great job over there at Carroll, it's going to be a tough game. And then, we have Rockport-(Fulton) and then we have Sinton. And then, that Sinton game is right before district."
2A Division 2
District 16
Agua Dulce
Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco
La Villa
Woodsboro
Bruni
2A Division 1
District 16
Freer
Premont
Refugio
Riviera Kaufer
Santa Maria
Skidmore-Tynan
Three Rivers
3A Division 2
District 16
Banquete
George West
Hebbronville
Monte Alto
Odem
Santa Rosa
Taft
3A Division 1
District 15
Aransas Pass
Corpus Christi London
Corpus Christi West Oso
Edna
Goliad
Mathis
Orange Grove
Palacios
District 16
Bishop
Falfurrias
Lyford
Progreso
Raymondville
Rio Hondo
San Diego
Santa Gertrudis Academy
4A Division 2
District 15
Cuero
Ingleside
Robstown
Rockport-Fulton
Sinton
District 16
Kingsville King
La Feria
Port Isabel
Rio Grande City Grulla
4A Division 1
District 15
Bay City
Beeville Jones
El Campo
Floresville
La Vernia
Port Lavaca Calhoun
District 16
Corpus Christi Calallen
Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway
Hidalgo Early College
Pharr Valley View
Zapata
For a full breakdown on the realignment of Corpus Christi Independent School District teams and the rest of 5A schools you find that here.
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