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The University Interscholastic League announced their biannual realignment Thursday.
For the second realignment in a row, Head Coach Del Van Cox and his team are headed into District 3-6A Division I play, which will lead the school east to the metroplex. This year, however, only Haltom and Weatherford are common opponents to the last two years. The Eagles also added state power Euless Trinty and former Little Southwest Conference rival San Angelo Central to the mix. The other newcomers are Richland and L.D. Bell from Hurst.
Abilene High Head Coach Del Van Cox said "I figured we would go east or had a good chance at it, but I didn't realize that Central would go east and I think that's a big shot for them. It worked out, I had a good schedule if we went east and I was able to come through with that, but it was a little uncertainty we went west. We had actually already talked to the Euless Trinity head coach and kind of agreed to play if we went west and we ended up being in the same district. I never that would have happened but that's the way it happened."
The Cooper Cougars are headed up to Amarillo to play games in District 2-5A Division I play. The Cougars are adding all three class 5A schools in Amarillo. They are going to face Amarillo, Amarillo Palo Duro, and Amarillo Caprock, as well as Lubbock High, Lubbock Coronado, and Lubbock Monterey in district play.
Cooper High Head Coach Todd Moebes said "It was somewhat what we expected and we certainly felt prepared going into it with the teams that we already had scheduled. The release of our district is going to be very tough, teams that we are familiar with. Our non-district is going to be very tough to get us prepared for it. Obviously, we're very familiar with Lubbock schools, Monterey and Coronado got us last year and they are very strong again with as many returners as they have coming back."
The Wylie Bulldogs move up from class 4A to 5A this year, and they are another school that's going to do a lot of traveling in the next two years. The UIL grouped the Bulldogs in District 3-5A Division II, where they will take on Canyon Randall, Plainview, Lubbock Cooper, Wichita Falls, and Wichita Falls Rider.
Wylie High Head Coach Hugh Sandifer said, "One of the biggest challenges is going to the be travel. We already drew our district schedule and we have three out of town games and two at home. We go to Canyon one week and the next week we turn around and go to Lubbock to play Cooper. It's travel for all of us, but it's going to be something that we'll obviously have a little wear and tear on. We're going to probably have seven new opponents in non-district and district so that's exciting just getting to play new people."
Dist. 3-6A
Abilene High
Euless Trinity
Haltom
L.D. Bell
Richland
S.A. Central
Weatherford
Dist. 2-5A
CHS Cougars
Amarillo
Ama. Caprock
Ama. Palo Duro
Lubbock
L. Coronado
L. Monterey
Dist. 3-5A Div. II
Wylie
C. Randall
L.Cooper
Plainview
WF Rider
Wichita Falls
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