(This is an archive story, please refer to the byline for journalist’s name)
By Madi James
On Monday, Feb. 3, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) announced a new alignment for all Texas high school districts based on enrollment numbers from the previous school year. This alignment will be starting in the 2020 school year and will be effective through 2022.
UIL arranges schools into classifications that range from the 1A-6A and is based on the number of students enrolled in that district. Schools within each classification are divided into a region based on enrollment numbers. Then they are divided into smaller districts for athletic and academic competitions.
For the 2018-2020 season, Brewer football competed in 5A-Region One- District three competing against Azle, Crowley, Fort Worth Arlington Heights, Fort Worth, Boswell, Fort Worth South Hills, Chisholm Trail, Granbury, and Saginaw.
For football, they are still in the same region and district, but new teams such as Abilene Cooper, and Northwest are now in the district, while Azle, Crowley, Fort Worth Arlington Heights, Granbury, and Saginaw still appear in the mix.
In 2019-2020, all sports excluding football were placed in 7-5A-Region One, competing with Azle, Colleyville Heritage, Fort Worth Boswell, Chisholm Trail, Grapevine, North Richland Hills, Birdville, and Saginaw.
After The realignment, all sports other than football are now in 5-5A Region One along with, Aledo, Azle, Granbury, Wichita Falls, and Wichita Falls Rider.
After the UIL classification shakeup, where do Brewer’s sports stand as a whole? For the most part, coaches and athletes are satisfied with the new classifications, there are still some small setbacks.
“Three of the teams in our current district are some of the top teams in 5A, but they are getting moved out of our district, ” Coach Alyson Stallcup said. “Really the only trade-off is that we are now playing against Aledo and they are ranked first in 5A.”
With all of the changes comes some small setbacks, but the Fightin’ Brewer Bears will take any challenge head-on and work hard to overcome it.
“I think the new alignment will be a good motivator for us,” Baseball Coach Keegan Howard said.