Shuffling the deck: UIL surprises Coastal Bend with realignment moves

The University Interscholastic League offered the Coastal Bend a curveball on Thursday with its biennial realignment.

For months the expectation was that Alice, rising to Class 5A Division II, would join five CCISD schools and Gregory-Portland to form the core of a new football district.

Instead the Coyotes, fresh off a district championship in Class 4A, were shipped south to the Rio Grande Valley as part of a five-team District 15-5A Division II, combining with Sharyland, Sharyland Pioneer, Mission Veterans Memorial and Roma.

"We definitely got a curveball on a 3-2 count," Alice athletic director J.R. Castellano said. "We definitely planned to be with G-P and CCISD and Victoria West. We had worked out a couple of non-district games, but they threw us down south in a five-team district and we were scrambling around looking for three or four non-district games.

"We are looking forward to playing different blood down south and bringing back old rivalries in non-district in the Coastal Bend."

The move, combined with Victoria West being grouped in a San Antonio-centric district, left CCISD's five D-II teams (Carroll, King, Miller, Moody and Ray) in a six-team district with Gregory-Portland.

The move guarantees the district will qualify a minimum of three teams in the playoffs with Veterans Memorial fighting for a fourth spot in Class 5A Division I.

"I am almost flabbergasted," Carroll coach Cal Neatherlin said. "We thought Alice would be in there for sure. It just changed the dynamics. Six team district and four of them get in the playoffs, we are big-time excited for sure."

With Miller and Veterans Memorial's recent success, the other four CCISD schools have experienced postseason droughts with an opportunity for several to be ended this season after the district broke from their longtime decision to opt all schools up and decided to let the teams play where they fell in 2024-26.

Ray has not been to the playoffs since 2018, with Carroll and King's absence from the postseason dating back to 2016. Moody owns the Coastal Bend's longest playoff drought, dating back to 2004.

"This will be my 10th year at Ray and we have been in a district with 11 teams and 10 teams and nine teams," Texans coach Craig Charlton said. "The first year we were Class 6A and we were in a district of six. It is refreshing to be able to pick up some games, see some different schools.

"Now we have time to develop some kids before we hit district play and get after it."

Going South

Alice was not the only school to find itself traveling to the Rio Grande Valley for district play as Veterans Memorial and Flour Bluff found their home for the next two years will also be in the area.

The Eagles and Hornets, which have played in five of the last six Region IV-5A Division I finals (two against each other), will tackle a district including Brownsville Rivera, Donna, Donna North, Harlingen South, PSJA North, PSJA Memorial and Weslaco East.

"It went pretty much how we thought," Veterans Memorial coach Ben Bitner said. "It was most likely going to be the Valley and most likely going to be eight or nine teams. Not a lot of surprises.

"Our kids know that all the games matter. It starts early, you have to be good early and getting better every week."

Flour Bluff, who will likely have a new athletic director and head football coach this fall after Chris Steinbruck was named finalist to fill the vacant superintendent position in the district, played in a southern district the last two seasons in Class 5A Division II.

"I think it is good and there are some quality teams in our district, and we are going to have our hands full," said interim athletic director Clynt Elwood. "They will be very physical and well-coached. Our guys know from year-to-year and in any district the expectations never change. The foundation is there."

Noteworthy

• Bishop saw a 180-degree turn this realignment. After competing in a four-team district in Class 4A Division II, the Badgers returned to Class 3A Division I and are now in an eight-team district.

• In turn, Kingsville, which moved to Class 4A Division II, is now in a four-team district was tasked with finding seven non-district games.

• Movement between Class 4A and Class 3A created the largest Class 3A Division I districts in the state (eight schools) with Coastal Bend schools split among them.

London, West Oso, Aransas Pass and Orange Grove were sent north into District 15-3A Division I while Bishop, Falfurrias, San Diego and Santa Gertrudis Academy were sent south to District 16-3A Division I.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: UIL Realignment brings unexpected changes to Coastal Bend