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UIL Realignment 2024: All 6 CCISD schools will remain in Class 5A; Alice back to 5A

quinton martinez and len hayward, corpus christi caller times
·6 min read

The University Interscholastic League announced the cutoff numbers for the 2024-26 realignment, and all six Corpus Christi ISD schools will remain in Class 5A.

In numbers announced Friday morning by the UIL, the enrollment range for Class 5A is 1,315 to 2,274, and that means that Carroll, King, Miller, Moody, Veterans Memorial and Ray will all remain in the classification. But there will be some changes in terms of divisions for football.

The range for Class 5A Division I is 1,903 to 2,274 and Division II is 1,315 to 1,902. Veterans Memorial, which turned in an enrollment of 2,014 in October, will be joined by Flour Bluff in Class 5A Division I. Carroll (1,893), Ray (1,601), Gregory-Portland (1,500), Miller (1,397), Alice (1,364), King (1,362) and Moody (1,332) will all be classified in Division II for football. Alice returns to Class 5A after a recent stint in Class 4A.

Alice athletic director J.R. Castellano, fresh off a district title season, said he is excited to rekindle some matchups with CCISD schools as he expects the program will be grouped with the five Division II programs along with Gregory-Portland.

"It is good for the Coastal Bend to be able to see some of these matchups that have we have not seen for the last couple of realignments, like Alice-G-P along with bringing back Alice-Carroll and Alice-Miller," Castellano said. "You know, no matter the sport, when you are paired with the Coastal Bend it is always going to be competitive."

CCISD athletic director Brenda Marshall said the district was unsure if the smaller schools could fall into Class 4A and whether Carroll would stay with Class 5A Division I, but in the end, five of the six district schools remained together in Division II.

For non-football sports, there is a strong likelihood that all of CCISD along with Alice, Gregory-Portland and Flour Bluff, will form a nine-team district, which Marshall said helps for travel purposes.

Flour Bluff interim athletic director Clynt Elwood said while it is nice to see where the line is specifically, the expectation was that the school would be competing back in Class 5A Division I after two years in Division II.

"It gives us a chance to look around and see what district we may be placed in, but the expectations at Flour Bluff will not change no matter what division we are in," Elwood said. "It definitely gets us excited again about football season."

After a two-year hiatus, the Yorktown Showdown will resume in football with Veterans Memorial and Flour Bluff almost certainly becoming district-mates once again, something Elwood is excited about.

Big changes at West Oso

For years, West Oso has seen several of its longtime district partners fall into a smaller classification, but many of those matchups will be rekindled as it moves from Class 4A to 3A during next realignment after turning in an enrollment of 537.

Athletic director Cheryl Fillmore has always been confident about sports that feature more individual matchups, but said the move will have its greatest impact on football and other large team sports.

"In Class 4A we don't have the pool to choose from that many of our opponents do," Fillmore said. "But it is more than about numbers. You can go down and still not be successful. We have to keep our focus on developing our kids and hopefully we will be able to compete even more on a level playing field.

"I'm happy for our football program. We've had struggles with numbers and being able to match up for a while. This will help us quite a bit."

Orange Grove and Bishop will also return to Class 3A in all sports, including Class 3A Division I in football, giving the Coastal Bend nine schools in that division as London narrowly remained, missing the Class 4A cutoff by five students.

Class 4A changes

Kingsville and Rockport-Fulton will shift from Class 4A Division I to Division II after both made the playoffs this fall as smaller schools in their division.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the Pirates played in Division II in a district with Sinton, before moving to Division I over the last two seasons, but the new numbers once again will return them to the lower division.

First-year Kingsville coach Ruben Garcia said he felt strongly the Brahmas were competitive in Division I and now have greater expectations as one of the largest Class 4A Division II schools.

"It is a good opportunity for our program going forward," Garcia said. "We were within two points against (Tuloso-Midway) and one point against Zapata. We had a chance to make the playoffs. Dropping to DII is good as well. I am confident with what we have returning that we are going to be competitive and have a shot at making the playoffs."

Ben Bolt will remain in Class 2A but move to Division II for football.

The UIL will officially announce new districts in February 2024.

2024-26 UIL Realignment Cutoffs

Class 6A — 2,275 and above

Class 5A — 1,315-2,274

Class 4A — 545-1,314

Class 3A — 254-544

Class 2A — 105-253

Class A — 104.9 and below

Football Division Cutoffs

Class 5A

Division I — 1,903-2,274

Division II — 1,315-1,902

Class 4A

Division I — 957-1,314

Division II — 546-956

Class 3A

Division I — 369-544

Division II — 254-368

Class 2A

Division I — 181.5-253

Division II — 105-181.4

Class A

Division I — 61.4-104.9

Division II — 61.4 and below

2024-26 Corpus Christi-area enrollments for football

CLASS 5A DIVISION I

Veterans Memorial 2,014

Flour Bluff 1,963

CLASS 5A DIVISION II

Carroll 1,893

Ray 1,601

Gregory-Portland 1,500

Miller 1,397

Alice 1,364

King 1,362

Moody 1,332

CLASS 4A DIVISION I

Calallen 1,179

Tuloso-Midway 1,111.5

Beeville 1,023

CLASS 4A DIVISION II

Kingsville 934

Rockport-Fulton 898

Robstown 735

Sinton 600.5

Ingleside 595

CLASS 3A DIVISION I

London 540

West Oso 537

Bishop 524.5

Orange Grove 517

San Diego 455

Aransas Pass 449

Mathis 406

Falfurrias 386

Santa Gertrudis Academy 383

CLASS 3A DIVISION II

Hebbronville 325

Banquete 294

Odem 273

George West 262

Taft 258

CLASS 2A DIVISION I

Skidmore-Tynan 230

Refugio 217

Three Rivers 204

Premont 196

Riviera 194

Freer 189

Port Aransas 184 (does not play football)

CLASS 2A DIVISION II

Ben Bolt 140

Woodsboro 133

Agua Dulce 127

CLASS 1A DIVISION I

McMullen County 79

Benavides 73

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: UIL realignment: All Corpus Christi schools still Class 5A for 2024-26