When the University Interscholastic League unveiled its biennial reclassification and realignment for football and basketball Friday morning, about the only surprise was how few surprises there actually were - at least locally.
“There’s always speculation (about what will happen),” Temple athletic director and head football coach Bryce Monsen said. “But we weren’t surprised with the new alignments.”
For Temple and area Class 5A schools, the biggest change for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years is the addition of Copperas Cove to the district. Now Temple, Belton, Cove, Harker Heights, Killeen Ellison, Killeen Shoemaker, Bryan and College Station A&M Consolidated will be in eight-team District 12-5A instead of seven-team 13-5A.
“It’s a great district,” Monsen said. “Copperas Cove played for the Class 4A (Division I football) state championship two years in a row and is returning to 5A. Coach (Jack) Welch has been there a while and really has that program going.
“They were good before they dropped down to 4A (two years ago) and will make the district much more competitive.”
In other classes, Cameron Yoe barely remained above 3A’s minimum cutoff; Gatesville was sent from 17-3A to 7-3A in Region I; and Troy and Rosebud-Lott were shipped out of 25-2A - whose holdovers include Academy, Jarrell, Rogers and Salado - for 16-2A and 20-2A, respectively.
Welch had been prepared to rejoin the Temple-Belton district and was glad to be reunited with some old rivals.
“It’s good because of the proximity of the schools,” he said. “We have three Killeen schools and Temple and Belton nearby. We wanted to keep playing Temple and A&M Consolidated when we dropped, but we knew there wasn’t much for them to gain by playing a 4A school.”
While the district did add Cove as expected, it didn’t add any other schools as had been rumored.
“I don’t know where everybody gets information,” Monsen said. “Like everyone else, we heard about the possibility of Georgetown coming here. And we all heard about Abilene and (San Angelo) Central coming. But I’m not surprised (none came) because no one ever knows until it comes out.”
Georgetown ended up in 16-5A along with the four Round Rock schools, Leander, Cedar Park and up-from-4A Cedar Park Vista Ridge.
Abilene and Central were rumored to join the Temple-Belton district because Abilene Cooper was dropping to 4A and the UIL could have opted to consolidate two small West Texas districts.
The UIL did consolidate the districts (which is why the local district now is 12-5A instead of 13-5A) but the UIL put Abilene with some Fort Worth-area schools and kept Central with the 2-5A West Texas district - which now has 10 teams.
Cove’s old district, 16-4A, took a hit as Brownwood fell to 3A. With that, Killeen jumped to 25-4A, joining Lampasas and five Austin-area schools, including Hutto after it rose from 18-3A.
Hutto had been expected to move up and Yoe coach Mike Mullins thought his school might drop to 2A, but Yoe’s enrollment figure of 437 kept it just above the 430 cut line to stay in 3A.
It will remain with Rockdale and Taylor in the new 24-3A, which also includes new school Bryan Rudder, Caldwell, Madisonville and Navasota.
Gatesville was moved from 17-3A to 7-3A in Region I with China Spring, West, Whitney, Hillsboro and Glen Rose.
In 2A, 25-2A becomes a seven-team district as Troy and Rosebud-Lott move out but former member Lexington moves back in.
Rosebud-Lott moved to 20-2A with Jewett Leon, Franklin, Hearne, Marlin and Teague. Troy shifted to 16-2A along with area schools Bruceville-Eddy and Moody, plus Clifton, Crawford, Hamilton, Hico and McGregor.
Those changes mean that the current members of 25-2A will not only be in three different districts next season, but also in three of the state’s four regions.
Troy coach Grady Rowe was expecting the change and is fine with the new district.
“We were in it before,” he said. “We just add in Hico and Hamilton. I’m surprised we gained them, but not surprised we moved north.
“We are familiar with these schools and it’s similar to (25-2A) with some good schools. It will be interesting.”
As expected in Class A, Bartlett, Granger, Holland and Milano remained together in 26-A (previously 27-A) along with Thorndale and Thrall, though Burton was moved out. The district will be 27-A for basketball and include Austin Harmony Science.
In Class A’s Six-Man Division I football ranks, Buckholts retained Calvert and Lometa as District 16 opponents and added Prairie Lea. For Division II basketball, Buckholts will compete in 26-A with Burton, Calvert, Dime Box, Fayetteville, North Zulch, Richards and Round Top-Carmine.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
