UIL realignment: Trinity, Bell, Richland join San Angelo Central in new football district
San Angelo Central football is part of the Metroplex for the next two seasons.
Thursday’s UIL realignment added the Bobcats to District 3-6A with Euless Trinity, Hurst L.D. Bell, Haltom, Richland, Weatherford and Abilene.
“We talked about getting a road trip together for non-district so we could get used to potentially making a charter bus trip in the playoffs,” Trinity football coach Chris Jensen said. “Well, we don’t have to do that now.”
Round trip from Euless through Abilene to San Angelo and back, is 516 miles.
According to Goggle maps, driving from Euless though Abilene to get to San Angelo takes 3 hours, 56 minutes, and it’s a distance of 258 miles.
The basketball teams and volleyball are also in the same district with San Angelo Central.
Also, Fort Worth schools Paschal, Trimble Tech and Young Men’s Leadership Academy are in 4-6A with Arlington schools and North Crowley.
Tech and YMLA are magnet schools, and FWISD can file an appeal to move them to 5A or 4A districts.
6A growth
Area teams from Tarrant County added Haslet Eaton, Mansfield Lake Ridge and Mansfield Summit to 6A for this realignment, increasing the number of 6A districts from three to four.
Currently the teams are grouped in 3-6A, 4-6A and 5-6A. Beginning next fall it’s 3-6A, 4-6A, 5-6A and 7-6A.
Power district
Of the eight teams in the new 7-6A, seven made the 2017 playoffs: Lake Ridge, Summit, Mansfield High, DeSoto, Grand Prairie, South Grand Prairie and Waxahachie.
Cedar Hill missed the post season because of a forfeit, snapping a 12-year streak that included three state championships.
Region I expands
Fewer 6A schools in west Texas — which the UIL realignment includes in Region I — has resulted in Duncanville, Dallas ISD schools Molina, Skyline and White, and Richardson ISD schools Berkner, Lake Highlands and Peace in District 8-6A next fall.
In the new 5A football divisions, Fort Worth South Hills and Saginaw Boswell are in 3-5A Division I with Arlington Heights, Azle, Granbury, White Settlement Brewer, Crowley, Chisholm Trail and Saginaw.
Perennial powerhouse Aledo is in 5-5A Division II with Arlington Seguin, Burleson Centennial, Burleson, Everman, Cleburne, Joshua, Midlothian and Waco University.
District 4-5A Division II is Justin Northwest and Fort Worth schools Carter-Riverside, Eastern Hills, North Side, Poly, Southwest, Wyatt.
In 4A Division I football, staff writer Kevin Lonnquist correctly predicted District 6-4A Division I with Kennedale, FW Diamond Hill-Jarvis, FW Dunbar, FW Western Hills, FW Benbrook, FW YMLA, Lake Worth and Castleberry.
The UIL, which organizes extra-curricular activities for the state’s approximately 1,200 public and charter schools, conducts a biennial realignment of competitive districts to account for population shifts and the opening of new schools.
This story was originally published February 1, 2018 at 9:44 AM with the headline "UIL realignment: Trinity, Bell, Richland join San Angelo Central in new football district."