RGVSports.com
The University Interscholastic League announced its cutoff numbers and preliminary enrollment figures for the upcoming 2018-20 reclassification and realignment period on Wednesday. Five schools in the Rio Grande Valley are expected to change classifications, but none of the changes will take place until the UIL’s official reclassification and realignment announcement on Feb. 1, 2018.
According to Wednesday’s preliminary numbers, Donna High and Donna North will make the jump from Class 5A to 6A. Both Donna North (2,310) and Donna High (2,195) reported enrollment figures above the UIL’s Class 6A cutoff of 2,190 students.
“There will be better competition now,” Donna North boys basketball coach Jose Perez said. “Any time you have to go up, generally speaking, it’ll be a different challenge. The schools that we’ll be competing with will have a lot more athletes to pick from based on their numbers. We’re going to have to adjust and move forward with it.”
La Joya Palmview turned in an enrollment figure of 2,162 — less than 30 students off of the Class 6A cutoff.
Palmview football coach Margarito Requenez implied the decision of whether or not to petition the change will be made higher up in the La Joya ISD ranks.
“As of right now, I still don’t know. My AD (Alex Guajardo) is the one answering all these questions,” Requenez said. “We’re looking at what we can do right now. … The last that he commented was that we’re not going to petition to move up. It’s still up in the air, but as of right now, we’re staying at what we turned in.”
Requenez, who took over the Lobos in the middle of the 2013 season and has led his team to the postseason in three of his four full seasons as head coach, said competition will be stiff no matter what classification Palmview is sent to.
“I’m not saying it would benefit us or it wouldn’t,” Requenez said. “As you look at the districts if we were to be 6A, there’s good competition there. And if we do stay at 5A, there’s definitely good competition there. It just depends what UIL wants to do.”
Sister high school La Joya Juarez-Lincoln will stay in 6A with an enrollment of 2,572, but Huskies football coach Tommy Garcia says Palmview will still be an annual opponent, at least on the gridiron.
“We scheduled Palmview already for the second week, because our coordinator said that the community would like to see it,” Garcia said. “I think it’s going to be a directive that we have to play each other.”
McAllen Rowe turned in a enrollment of 2,161.5 — under the 6A cutoff — but will continue to compete with fellow MISD schools in 6A, according to head football coach Bobby Flores.
PSJA Memorial (1,952) and PSJA Southwest (1,925) are also projected to drop from 6A to 5A based on the latest enrollment numbers.
“Looking at the 5A teams, they are all quality schools that have had a lot of success,” PSJA Memorial football coach and athletic coordinator Michael Uribe said. “So, the way it looks now, whether it is 6A, 5A DI or 5A DII, it’s going to be very competitive. The one thing that I can say is, regardless, we will be paired with schools with the same enrollment. Obviously that allows us to compare apples to apples.”
“We anticipated it the whole time,” PSJA Southwest football coach and athletic coordinator Michael Evans said. “The last time they did a realignment, I think the cutoff was 2,175. In 2016, we are at 1,925. That’s below the cutoff line, and PSJA Memorial is at 1,952. We knew we were going to be a Division I 5A team coming into the next realignment.”
Even if all four PSJA ISD schools are unable to play every year, the possibility of PSJA Southwest and PSJA Memorial being in the same district after moving together presents an intriguing rivalry.
“With us being the two youngest schools in our PSJA ISD family, it is good to start our own traditions and new things,” Uribe said. “We have been around now for a little over 20 years, and they have been around for less than 10. We have a lot of similarities, and I think it’s a good game to have with each other.”
“Any time we play a PSJA school, it’s a rivalry,” Evans said. “If that is the only one we play next year, it will absolutely be a big rivalry game. We work really well together, but any game against a PSJA school, we treat it as a rivalry. That’s bragging rights for your community and everything.”
Mission Veterans’ enrollment is projected at 1,933 students after the school posted 2,060 during the previous round of UIL realignment in 2016. Mission Veterans petitioned for a move up to Class 6A in 2016 but elected not to this time around. The Patriots are expected to compete as a member of Class 5A Division I.
“I told our athletic director, Coach (Letty) Ibarra, that I wanted to get a feel for what this new thing is, so we decided not to opt up,” Mission Veterans football coach David Gilpin said.
While the districts are not set as of yet, Mission Veterans joins fellow Class 5A Division I Valley schools PSJA Memorial, PSJA Southwest, La Joya Palmview, Brownsville Lopez, Brownsville Pace, Brownsville Porter, Brownsville Veterans and Rio Grande City.
Rio Grande City’s 2,132 projected enrollment separates it from Starr County rival Roma, which has 1,803 students. That figure lands the Gladiators in Class 5A Division II with Valley schools Edcouch-Elsa (1,445), Mercedes (1,276), Sharyland High (1,709), Sharyland Pioneer (1,766) and Valley View (1,448).
Rio Grande City football coach Aaron Garcia said he won’t let potentially separate districts end the county rivalry.
“I spoke with (Roma) coach (Frank) Villanueva today, and we’re working on playing Week 1 next year and the year after,” Garcia said. “It’s a big game for our county and our communities. It’s bragging rights for one city for 364 days. That’s why we needed to make sure we schedule it.”