Post by flowtowntigers on Dec 9, 2021 6:09:26 GMT -6
Smithson Valley, MacArthur and Wagner moved down to Class 5A
The Rangers learned their place for the next two school years on Wednesday when the UIL released its conference cutoff numbers for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
Smithson Valley’s enrollment of 2,086 is below the Class 6A threshold of 2,225-plus.
“I don’t know if we have a whole lot of reaction to it,” Smithson Valley football coach Larry Hill said. “Obviously, we are going to be playing different folks than we’ve played in a long time, but we are going to have fewer people to do it with. You just play with the cards they deal you, and these are the cards we got dealt.”
Other notable movements include MacArthur of North East ISD, Wagner of Judson ISD and South San moving from 6A to 5A. Also, Sotomayor, the newest high school in Northside ISD set to open in the fall, immediately begins varsity play in 2022 and will be placed in 6A.
Class 6A is the only conference not divided into divisions for football. The cutoffs are determined by enrollments figures that were turned into UIL in October.
Districts can petition to have their schools play in higher classifications or divisions. This usually occurs to maintain travel costs. The UIL will release its alignments on Feb. 3, 2022.
Hill said Smithson Valley’s enrollment has been in decline since the opening of Pieper, the fifth high school in Comal ISD that began classes in the fall.
“We thought that would probably most likely occur, and now it has,” Hill said.
Smithson Valley and New Braunfels Canyon, also of Comal ISD, are aligned in Class 5A Division I for football. Pieper has a 5A Division II enrollment.
Comal ISD’s other two schools — Davenport and Canyon Lake — will be in Class 4A Division I. Davenport opened two years ago and will be playing its first season of varsity football next fall.
Smithson Valley last competed in 5A (then 4A) in 2010-11 when Canyon Lake opened.
MacArthur, one of seven schools in North East ISD, has an enrollment of 2,142. It is the only North East school with a 5A number.
North East ISD athletic director Kelly Parker said there are no plans to petition MacArthur to move to 6A.
Wagner, which has competed for the last two years in 6A, is headed back to 5A. The Thunderbirds previously competed in 5A from 2018-20. Wagner was over the 6A cutoff in the last realignment by 13 students. With 2,200 students, Wagner is 25 students below the 6A line for the upcoming realignment.
South San (2,108) moves to 5A after years of struggling as a 6A football program. The district’s declining overall enrollment and the re-opening of the South San West Campus contributed to the drop. West Campus (354) began classes in August. West Campus begins varsity football next fall in Class 3A Division II. The school last played football in 2007.
Sotomayor, whose nickname — Wildcats — was determined last week, will open next fall with freshmen through junior classes. A posting for the head football coach job closes Friday.
The Wildcats will face a challenge competing as a first-year varsity program.
“It is a challenge, but it is an opportunity to build a new tradition,” Northside ISD athletic director Stan Laing said. “Naturally, there are going to be some growing pains, but there’s nothing more exciting than going through growing pains and a brand-new program. We are really excited for that community to be able to experience that right away.”
Sotomayor will be the 12th high school from Northside ISD to play football. The limit for football districts is 10 teams. In the last realignment, Clark and Brandeis created District 28-6A with the seven schools from North East ISD.
One possibility is keeping Clark and Brandeis with the six North East ISD schools that will compete in 6A and add a school to take MacArthur’s place. That could be another Northside ISD school or adding another area school such as East Central, which comes from one high school district.
“We can speculate all day long as far as what UIL is going to do,” Laing said. “We’ve had a great relationship with North East in regard to our schools competing there. It wouldn’t hurt our feelings to continue to have our schools over there because of the respect we have for them.”
San Antonio ISD, which had to petition to keep its 5A schools together last realignment, will not have that problem this time. Its seven 5A schools fall within the Division II range. They’ll likely have new district partners. Memorial and Kennedy of Edgewood ISD currently share a district with SAISD. Memorial (1,203) and Kennedy (1,124.5) have 5A Division I enrollment figures.
dhinojosa@express-news.net
The Rangers learned their place for the next two school years on Wednesday when the UIL released its conference cutoff numbers for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
Smithson Valley’s enrollment of 2,086 is below the Class 6A threshold of 2,225-plus.
“I don’t know if we have a whole lot of reaction to it,” Smithson Valley football coach Larry Hill said. “Obviously, we are going to be playing different folks than we’ve played in a long time, but we are going to have fewer people to do it with. You just play with the cards they deal you, and these are the cards we got dealt.”
Other notable movements include MacArthur of North East ISD, Wagner of Judson ISD and South San moving from 6A to 5A. Also, Sotomayor, the newest high school in Northside ISD set to open in the fall, immediately begins varsity play in 2022 and will be placed in 6A.
Class 6A is the only conference not divided into divisions for football. The cutoffs are determined by enrollments figures that were turned into UIL in October.
Districts can petition to have their schools play in higher classifications or divisions. This usually occurs to maintain travel costs. The UIL will release its alignments on Feb. 3, 2022.
Hill said Smithson Valley’s enrollment has been in decline since the opening of Pieper, the fifth high school in Comal ISD that began classes in the fall.
“We thought that would probably most likely occur, and now it has,” Hill said.
Smithson Valley and New Braunfels Canyon, also of Comal ISD, are aligned in Class 5A Division I for football. Pieper has a 5A Division II enrollment.
Comal ISD’s other two schools — Davenport and Canyon Lake — will be in Class 4A Division I. Davenport opened two years ago and will be playing its first season of varsity football next fall.
Smithson Valley last competed in 5A (then 4A) in 2010-11 when Canyon Lake opened.
MacArthur, one of seven schools in North East ISD, has an enrollment of 2,142. It is the only North East school with a 5A number.
North East ISD athletic director Kelly Parker said there are no plans to petition MacArthur to move to 6A.
Wagner, which has competed for the last two years in 6A, is headed back to 5A. The Thunderbirds previously competed in 5A from 2018-20. Wagner was over the 6A cutoff in the last realignment by 13 students. With 2,200 students, Wagner is 25 students below the 6A line for the upcoming realignment.
South San (2,108) moves to 5A after years of struggling as a 6A football program. The district’s declining overall enrollment and the re-opening of the South San West Campus contributed to the drop. West Campus (354) began classes in August. West Campus begins varsity football next fall in Class 3A Division II. The school last played football in 2007.
Sotomayor, whose nickname — Wildcats — was determined last week, will open next fall with freshmen through junior classes. A posting for the head football coach job closes Friday.
The Wildcats will face a challenge competing as a first-year varsity program.
“It is a challenge, but it is an opportunity to build a new tradition,” Northside ISD athletic director Stan Laing said. “Naturally, there are going to be some growing pains, but there’s nothing more exciting than going through growing pains and a brand-new program. We are really excited for that community to be able to experience that right away.”
Sotomayor will be the 12th high school from Northside ISD to play football. The limit for football districts is 10 teams. In the last realignment, Clark and Brandeis created District 28-6A with the seven schools from North East ISD.
One possibility is keeping Clark and Brandeis with the six North East ISD schools that will compete in 6A and add a school to take MacArthur’s place. That could be another Northside ISD school or adding another area school such as East Central, which comes from one high school district.
“We can speculate all day long as far as what UIL is going to do,” Laing said. “We’ve had a great relationship with North East in regard to our schools competing there. It wouldn’t hurt our feelings to continue to have our schools over there because of the respect we have for them.”
San Antonio ISD, which had to petition to keep its 5A schools together last realignment, will not have that problem this time. Its seven 5A schools fall within the Division II range. They’ll likely have new district partners. Memorial and Kennedy of Edgewood ISD currently share a district with SAISD. Memorial (1,203) and Kennedy (1,124.5) have 5A Division I enrollment figures.
dhinojosa@express-news.net