CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The landscape of Texas high school football landscape got a real shake-up today as the UIL revealed its new district realignments which are done every two years.
And for high school coaches, these biennial announcements are some of the most important days of the year.
We knew some teams would be moving down to Class 4A or others opting up to 5A but today teams found out what districts they would be in. And for the most part, the Coastal Bend’s biggest powers will be staying close to home which is a huge perk because it saves the districts time and money.
“On behalf of Flour Bluff ISD, we'd like to thank Dr. (UIL Director of Athletics Susan) Elza for allowing us to opt up,” Flour Bluff football coach Chris Steinbruck said.
District realignment for the 2020 and 2021 football seasons has been announced. Flour Bluff and Gregory-Portland are two of the big winners today as each school district opted up to Class 5A Division I so they could stay local.
“It made a whole lot more sense to me just to go across the bridge and play schools our size than go all the way to San Antonio,” Gregory-Portland football coach Rick Rhoads said. “So it really worked out really, really good for us.”
And that is the key. Flour Bluff and Gregory-Portland will avoid making the long haul to San Antonio or the valley on Thursdays and Fridays, saving the school money and keeping students in the classroom.
“It was the best thing to do for us for our students,” Steinbruck said. “There would be way too much class time missed and then obviously with tight budgets the travel costs will really hurt our district and our students.”
Corpus Christi ISD is another winner for the same reason. While Miller drops down to 4A, separating itself from the rest of the district, they won't be traveling far for any of the Bucs’ district games.
“We can play with our schools here and keep pretty much all the 5A games local and 4A-wise, football wise, for nondistrict we will travel a few games there but the 4A district, everyone is close and we are familiar with each other.”
Teams are able to start talking to other schools to schedule games, but nothing can become official until Feb. 26.
