Wildorado’s Tyler Espenson carries the ball during a game last season. The Mustangs play be in Class 1A Division II and be in a district after a two-year outlaw schedule. [Ben Jenkins/ Press Pass Sports]
UIL realignment is like Christmas to many schools in the area. Coaches and athletic directors spend hours crunching numbers, drawing lines, staying up nights trying to figure out where their school will land.
In Class 1A there will definitely be a shakeup in both Division I and Division II concerning the Texas Panhandle districts.
Outlaw programs such as Wildorado and Claude are entering district play, while Darrouzett tries to renew a program that ended in 2012.
Springlake-Earth made the move down to Six-man for the first time in school history after deciding against the move in past realignment years.
Kress is moving back into the Division I realm after six years in Division II, which resulted in three playoff appearances for the Kangaroos. Miami will be replacing Kress in Division II after turning in an enrollment of 52. Besides the two moves, the Six-man ranks will lose Higgins, as the school closes its doors in May.
There could be big changes coming in the Amarillo-area for Six-man, but there are two teams to keep an eye on specifically, as wildcards.
Valley is a team that has been placed in Region II in the past, and by some predictions, it could happen again. Another team that is up in the air is Wildorado. The Mustangs are new to the scene and are the furthest northwest out of all in Class 1A. The biggest question is, will the newbies go east, or will they go south?
Wildorado in Division II is stuck in no man’s land with the nearest opponent being almost an hour’s drive in either direction.
During the previous realignment, a six team district didn’t exist,, but never count the UIL out for doing something no one saw coming. That being said, the more logical prediction is for Wildorado to go south to form an all-new district.
Here’s how I see the districts most likely playing out come Monday.
UIL 2020-21 & 2021-22 Conference cutoff numbers
Conference 1A
105-below 220 schools
Division I
104.9-59.5. 77 schools
Division II
59.4-below 76 schools
Tommy King’s Class 1A realignment projections
Division I
District 1
Claude
McLean
Valley
White Deer
District 2-1A
Happy
Kress
Nazareth
Springlake-Earth
District 3-1A
Meadow
Morton
Lorenzo
Petersburg
Whiteface
District 4-1A
Crowell
Knox City
Paducah
Vernon North Side
Spur
Division II
District 1-1A
Darrouzett
Follett
Hedley
Miami
Lefors
District 2-1AGroom
Hart
Lazbuddie
Silverton
Wildorado
District 3-1A
Amherst
Anton
Cotton Center
Whitharral
District 4-1A
Benjamin
Guthrie
Motley County
Jayton
Patton Springs