County teams learn their district destinations
By Beth Foley
Staff Writer
The Lavaca River Showdown will now open the 2024 high school football season after the UIL moved Industrial High School moved out of district with neighboring rival Edna.
The UIL released its reshuffled districts for football, basketball, and volleyball on Feb. 1. Other sports will be released later in the spring. The biannual realignment takes effect in August.
Edna remained in Class 3A Division 1, while Industrial shifted to Class 3 Div. 2. Ganado remained in Class 2A Div. 1.
Cowboys athletic director and head football coach Jimmie Mitchell said he was pleased to see his team stay where it’s been in Region 4.
“We’re happy about it,” Mitchell said, adding that he was glad to see the district grow to eight teams. “It’s pretty much people we’re familiar with. We don’t have to play as many pre-district games.”
While some had speculated that Edna might move into Region 3’s District 12-3A Div. 1 with Hallettsville and Yoakum, Mitchell said he would rather stay one of the northernmost teams in Region 4.
“With us, it’s familiarity,” Mitchell said. “Region 3 is a tough region. Overall, we’re happy.”
The Cowboys’ first non-district game will be against Industrial, since they are no longer in the same division. Which team will host the game this fall is still being worked out as both schools finalize their schedules, Mitchell and Industrial AD/head football coach Craig Nairn each said.
Just because they’re leaving Edna, which lost in the state semifinals in 2023, doesn’t mean the road to the playoffs will be any easier for the Cobras. They’re moving into District 14-3A Div. 2 with state runner-up Tidehaven, East Bernard, Boling, and Van Vleck.
“I think it’s a pretty tough district, top to bottom,” Nairn said. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us. Tidehaven played in the state championship game. We’ve played Boling and they’re always a pretty tough ballgame. We’ve scrimmaged East Bernard and they’re a really tough team. Rice and Van Vleck are super athletic.
“There are no cake walks. It’s tough. It’s by far the best district in Region 4.”
Ganado AD/head coach Josh Ervin said that the Indians were looking forward to seeing some district opponents that they had faced in the past.
“It’s going to be fun to play teams we haven’t played in a couple of years,” Ervin said. “We’re excited about the season. It’ll be good competition with quality opponents. I think it’ll be good to get us ready for the playoffs.”
Each class and division can be viewed online or downloaded from the UIL website at https://realignment.uiltexas.org/.
Edna Football
Most of District 15-3A Div. 1 stayed put, including Edna.
The Industrial Cobras are out, dropping to Division 2, and the Corpus Christi West Oso Bears and the Orange Grove Bulldogs are in, raising the number of teams District 15-3A Div. 1 to eight. District teams include Edna (436), Aransas Pass (449), Corpus Christi London (540), Corpus Christi West Oso (537), Goliad (431), Mathis (406), Orange Grove (517), and Palacios (381). Enrollment numbers are in parentheses.
Edna’s non-district games will be against Industrial, Bay City, and Refugio, with an open date on the fourth Friday prior to the start of district.
Industrial Football
Industrial moved into District 14-3A Div. 2, and will have familiar foes and much shorter bus trips for road games.
District 14-3A Div. 2 consists of Industrial, Rice Consolidated (356), Boling (311), East Bernard (301), Tidehaven (282), Van Vleck (337), and Wallis Brazos (308).
The Cobras would have slipped down to Division 2 even if their enrollment had stayed the same as in 2021. The UIL set the enrollment numbers for Class 3A Division 1 to be between 369 and 544 students. When schools had to turn in their enrollments last fall, Industrial turned in 343 students, a drop of 24 students from the previous snapshot date.
Ganado Football
Although Ganado stayed put in District 25-2A Div. 1, their district foes changed somewhat.
Skidmore-Tynan and Three Rivers were moved west. District 25-2A, Div. 1 now consists of Ganado (214), Bloomington (249), Danbury (228), Flatonia (210), Kenedy (240), Schulenburg (250.5), and Weimar (199).
Basketball and Volleyball
Basketball and volleyball districts remained the same for all three county schools.
District 25-3A basketball and volleyball are still Edna, Industrial, Rice, Columbus (537.5), Tidehaven, Hallettsville (437), Palacios, and Yoakum (484).
District 27-2A volleyball consists of Ganado, Flatonia, Louise (156), Schulenburg, Shiner (181), and Weimar (199).
District 28-2A basketball consists of Ganado, Bloomington, Flatonia, Louise, Schulenburg, Shiner, and Weimar.